Security Products:
Home Window Security
Reinforcement

NO security products can guarantee burglary prevention - but will likely protect you if used with the guidance in Home Security - Overview.

Along with doors, home window security needs to be fortified and included in your Alarm System or DIY Home Security Systems.

Police are searching for a man who snatched a 7-year-old girl from her bedroom. The abductor quietly climbed through a bathroom window of the family's home and headed for the young girl's room. He woke her and took her out of the home through her bedroom window. Still groggy, the child followed the man through the back yard to a side gate. When he tried to lift her over the gate, she became more coherent and started screaming. ... At some point, the girl's parents were awakened by a loud noise, possibly that of the bedroom window slamming shut. When they heard the girl screaming, they jumped into action and rescued her.
Excerpted from The Alameda Times-Star (CA) – 11 September 2003

Burglars and rapists often peep in the windows of targets to help make their plans. Cover and lock them always.

The rape victim left her window open to cool her apartment on a humid summer night. She awakened to find a man on top of her and threatening to hurt her. "The whole time I was pleading with him, 'Please don't hurt me,'" she said. "The terror of not knowing whether I was going to live or die was worse than anything physically I was going through that night."
Excerpted from The Grand Rapids Press (MI) – 24 September 2003

On 10 August 1990 in Dickinson TX, while eight-year-old Jennifer Schuett was asleep in her first floor apartment bed, a man crept through her window, kidnapped her, took her to his vehicle, and drove away. ... Jennifer recalls how he raped her. When she came to, she noticed that she could not hear her voice as she called for help; her throat had been slit and her voice box cut. ... She was rushed to a hospital 12 hours later when a group of children walked through the field and one child stumbled upon her foot.
Excerpted from The Examiner.com (by Charisse Van Horn) – 25 September 2009

• Storm windows, quickly removed by a burglar with a screwdriver, and ones with easily cut vinyl frames, are poor security products.
• Butterfly locks on double-hung windows. Older models can be opened from outdoors with a knife-blade slipped between the panels. Replace them with modern window security locks.
• Pins: close a double-hung window, drill a hole through the inner panel (on both the right- and left-hand sides where the panels overlap) and halfway into the outer panel, then slip a bolt or nail into the holes. Slant the holes downward so the bolts won’t fall out if jostled. Drill more holes three inches higher to allow partial opening for ventilation.

WINDOW TYPES
• Sliders: Horizontally sliding windows can be secured the same way as Sliding Door Security Hardware and Home Window Security.
• Casement (or hopper) windows, hinged on the vertical edge, are opened/closed with a geared crank, can be forced open. Fortify them with Simple Home Electronics.
• Louvered or jalousie windows, with horizontal slats and opened/closed with a geared crank, can be forced open. Fortify them with security products in Simple Home Electronics.
• Basement windows are targets for a skinny burglar. Install window security bars. And fortify them with Simple Home Electronics. Otherwise, doubly fortify the door coming from the basement with the security products in Door Reinforcement.
• Upper-floor windows need good security products if reachable by outside stairways, roofs, tree limbs, or ladders.

GLASS TYPES

Glass windows: Burglars can use a glasscutter to quietly remove the ordinary sheet (annealed) glass. Other poor security products are standard plate and float glasses. Instead, alarm them - see Simple Home Electronics, Alarm Systems, and DIY Home Security Systems. Or choose a stronger material (but make sure you can always open the window from the inside to escape a fire):

1. Wired glass has a wire mesh sandwiched between two layers of ordinary sheet glass. Though little more impact resistant than sheet glass, it is used in fire doors to resist intense heat.
2. Tempered glass – such as that used in patio-doors. Different grades are from 3 to 7 times stronger than ordinary sheet glass and resist impact or a glasscutter.
3. Laminated glass has a layer of PVB plastic sandwiched between two layers of ordinary sheet glass. Some grades are impact and bullet resistant.
4. Acrylic (Plexiglas) is 17 times stronger than sheet glass. Some grades are bullet resistant.
5. Polyester window film (or armorcoating) available at hardware stores. The best grades, able to withstand attacks from baseball bats, iron bars, axes, and some bullets, are very expensive.
6. Polycarbonate is approximately 30 times stronger than acrylics and offers superior impact and bullet resistance – some grades can withstand armor-piercing bullets. (Polycarbonate tends to yellow over time.)
7. Security Window Guards: Chain-link screens, iron bars, aluminum curtains, security window shutters (the "rolling shutters" used on some storefronts), and folding security window grills offer fortress-like protection. But the first four can trap you inside thus are banned by fire departments for homes. However, key-operated decorative folding security window grills allow escape if the key is readily available. Make sure all family members and guests know how to escape through them.

Burglary Prevention: OTHER OPENINGS

Jack Manes crawled through the pet doors in the homes of two Santa Rosa women and sexually assaulted them.
Excerpted from The San Jose Mercury News – 15 December 2003

Houses often have various unique openings that allow a skinny burglar (or child accomplice) to squeeze through. Secure vents with a heavy metal mesh and tamper-resistant round head carriage bolts. Secure cellar doors with security products as described in Door Reinforcement. Window air-conditioners can be removed by a burglar from outdoors. Alarm them with security products in Simple Home Electronics, or:

Burglary Prevention Hardware, Burglar Alarm Equipment, and Personal Safety Devices

Overlapping layers of protection provide superior burglary prevention.

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