Home Security:
Walk-In

Home Security - What you can learn from crime victims about home defense.

Walk-In: An intruder can breach your home security by simply walking in through your unlocked door, or climbing through an unlocked window, or using a stolen copy of your key. Roughly half of the 8,000+ home intrusions daily (U.S. - 2.9 million annually) are through unlocked doors or windows.

"In the past eight months, four slayings in unlikely places have left residents deadbolting doors, turning on alarms and taking note of every car on their streets. Residents say the shock of killings so close to home has shattered their illusion that living where they do is a barrier to violent crime. "It's really true that you always think its going to be in somebody else's neighborhood," a neighbor said. "We've lived here for 14 years, and this is the first concern we've had about it being dangerous."
Excerpted from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 25 July 2004

Criminals know that most people in “safe” neighborhoods have ridiculous home security by leaving their doors unlocked – many even brag about it. Criminals often simply try doorknobs then just walk-in. Some predators sneak in while you’re outside busy with a chore. If you do happen to notice this, first get a neighbor to call the cops before you rush back inside to rescue your family – because you might get trapped in a Survival Options - Hostage Taking situation and your best bet is to have help already on the way.

A sexual predator is suspected in a series of rapes since 1994. In all the attacks, the suspect has entered the homes through an unlocked door or open garage door. In many of the instances the victims were in their yards when the suspect entered their homes and surprised them when they went inside. The attack Monday occurred around 9:30 a.m...
Excerpted from The Munster Times (IN) – 05 June 2002

A man is suspected of committing nine home invasions. The most violent occurred when Jacques Sénécal was fatally shot during a robbery of his home. The man used the same methods to gain entry into the houses he targeted – via windows left open during warm weather.
Excerpted from The Montreal Gazette – 24 January 2008

Early Sunday morning, a man and a woman were awakened by a group of intruders who attacked them. It was unusual on the island, where residents consider themselves to be insulated from the problems of mainland cities. ... “This is the safest place to live in the world,” said a neighbor. Most residents don’t lock their doors.
Excerpted from The Kingston Whig-Standard (Ontario) – 20 May 2003

The people around here never used to bother to lock the house. But all that's changed now that an 81-year-old widow was robbed and shot to death in her house. Her unsolved slaying has shattered the easy rhythm of life on the horse farms and estates of Northern Virginia's hunt country. ... Seclusion, which once seemed peaceful, has become threatening. In the countryside, the closest neighbor is often a mile or two away. The closest deputy, usually much farther.
Excerpted from The Washington Post – 01 September 2001

Secluded areas greatly benefit predators: there are few, if any, witnesses to see them or hear their victims screaming. Secluded homes need more – not less – home security protection for all five types of invasions, not only a Walk-In.

He broke into the home, stole the game system and camera, and pawned the loot but realized camera accessories were missing, police said. The next day he entered the same house through an unlocked door and found a 16-year-old girl lying on the couch. She confronted him, and after a struggle, he stabbed her to death.
Excerpted from The Chicago Sun-Times – 18 July 2004 [even after a burglary, it was unlocked!]

Christy Curry Laing knows this: Her life is never going to be quite the same. And she doesn't want others to suffer the way she did. "Always lock your doors for home security," she says. ... Laing, Jay Randolph Monroe VI, and Karen Minshew were robbed and kidnapped at her home. Laing and Monroe went to get groceries. Minshew stayed behind to take a shower. Laing didn't lock the door when she left. When they got back, there were guns pointed at their heads.
Excerpted from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 08 May 2003

The robbery took place as six friends were eating dinner. Police said the teen gunmen entered the house through an unlocked front door and forced the three men and three women to take off their clothes. One woman was taken to another room and raped by the men.
Excerpted from The Oakland Tribune – 19 November 2004

When predators see parked cars swarmed around a house for an apparent party, they know that home security is ignored - the door is likely unlocked and they can simply walk in with guns and have everyone at their mercy.

Three men stormed into the home of a couple and tied them up before robbing and assaulting them. The male homeowner told police that he and his wife were watching television when one suspect knocked on the front door and asked for someone by name. The man told the suspect that there was no one there by that name and closed the door. As he was returning to the television room, the man heard his wife scream as several men armed with guns confronted him in the hallway. The men had entered the home through an unlocked back door.
Excerpted from The Business Gazette (MD) – 02 November 2006

He was peeping through windows when he came across an apartment's unlocked bathroom window, police said. Serial killer Timothy Krajcir said he climbed in, then hid in a shower stall and ambushed the woman when she entered the bathroom.
Excerpted from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch – 24 January 2008

Two paroled burglars followed a mother and her daughter when they left a supermarket, then entered their Cheshire CT home via an unlocked rear door. They severely beat their husband/father, Dr. Petit, and then spent six hours raping, torturing, and finally killing the mother and two daughters. ... Their deaths shattered the sense of security in this upper-middle class neighborhood of professionals and colonial-style homes with well-kept lawns. A neighbor said, "It's just awful to think it would happen to a family like that in this community. You don't think about those things happening."
Excerpted from the Danbury News-Times, Torrington Register Citizen, and New Britain Herald reports – 24-26 July 2007
Also see The Petit Family Massacre

HOME SECURITY - PREVENTING A WALK-IN

Westborough's image as a quaint, small-town hamlet was shattered by a serial rapists' 10-day reign of terror. The rapist entered through unlocked doors. Since the attacks, some residents have inevitably become complacent about home security
Excerpted from The Westborough News (MA) – 20 August 2004

Yes, it is tempting to be careless, but many thousands of predators are out there somewhere looking for careless prey. Do you really want to take the chance that one will never choose you? The home security solution is so simple:

Always keep all doors locked, windows guarded, and keys protected even while visiting a neighbor, working in the yard, and so on. Granted, that may be a slight hassle but you can simply keep a key on a wristband or better yet, install a keyless touch-pad deadbolt lock. Also install a panic-button alarm system.

Both inexpensive yet very convenient items are available with remote-control pocket fobs. Now you can easily enjoy home security by keeping your home locked while in the yard as well as instantly summon help in any emergency – be it criminal, medical, or fire. See Door Reinforcement as well as Simple Home Electronics and:

Complete Home Defense: burglary prevention and the best home security products - from home security hardware to burglar alarm equipment

Safeguard your home security even if you live in Sleepy Valley - predators like to prowl where the prey least expect them.

Prevent the vast majority of home intrusions - whether by burglar or invader by making sure all your family members use these home security strategies. Of course, predators will always find prey – but the most cautious targets will be spared.

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