Your house has been broken into, or you’ve been carjacked. Even if the thieves took nothing of importance, you still feel a little vulnerable. It’s an emotional experience to know there was a complete stranger in control, whether they were rummaging through your private belongings or pulling you from your car at an intersection. Coming to grips with an attack like this can take a very long time, and as the innocence with which you viewed the world shatters, you’re probably not going to ever feel truly safe again. But often, these attacks are born out of opportunity. The motivation to strike is a direct result of a lack of good judgment on our part, as it was something we did that presented the chance, making the attacker stop and take notice. Of course, some acts are totally random and there’s nothing you can do to prevent them, but there’s a few ways you can take an active role in preventing those with bad intentions from causing a crisis that can ruin your life.
Don’t advertise your valuables
It doesn’t matter if it’s your brand new laptop, or the last can of baked beans as food supplies run dry in your town after the SHTF. Keep anything that may tempt a thief out of plain sight. It can be as simple as drawing your curtains closed at night, or keeping your garage door down when you’re working in the yard. If you’re advertising everything you own to everyone who walks past your house, eventually you’ll attract someone who decides they want what you have, and are willing and able to take it by force.
Lock it down
Make it a habit to always lock the doors behind you. Come home from shopping? Flick the latch shut once you walk into your home. Heading out for a drive? Lock your doors as soon as you get seated in your car. Carjackers will have a harder time getting in if they can’t reach in and grab you, and you’ll never turn around and be surprised by an intruder in your kitchen if they can’t get into your home without making a ton of noise getting through the lock. Heck, I even recommend getting a deadbolt for your garage, so you can fasten it securely when you’re going out of town and not just rely on the electronics. It’s better to be safe than sorry in my opinion.
Be wary of strangers
If someone you don’t know comes to the door, remember that staying safe is your priority, not a little bit of embarrassment because the gas-man or the delivery driver thinks you’re rude for talking to them through a locked door. Faking a UPS uniform, or even a police officer is relatively easy, and you should be absolutely certain the person out there is who they say
オンライン カジノ they are, before you open the door at all. Security camera’s and a peep-hole here can help you to stay safe in your home, but you also need to be careful of what you say to the random people in your life. The cashier at Wal-Mart doesn’t need to know you’re heading to Tampa for the summer, and you never know who else may be listening.
Making your house lived-in
Going away for a vacation should be an enjoyable time, and the last thing you want to see when you get home from a trip is your front door hanging off its hinges. When you’re away for a long period of time, have your lights and electronics on timers to make it appear someone is home, and ask one of your neighbors to empty your mailbox, and dump their garbage in your can and put it out for collection. If you’re going away for an extended period, consider hiring a landscaper to come and maintain your lawn and the garden, or to shovel out the snow during the winter. Neglecting these presents the biggest flags your house is unattended, which is almost an open invitation for a burglar.
Keep your mouth shut
Never, ever give out your personal information to someone you didn’t call first. It doesn’t matter if they say they’re your bank, the phone company, or even that they’re going to cut-off your power. You can never be sure of the authenticity behind the person calling, and there are many scams like this where well-meaning homeowners found themselves in significant financial strife because they didn’t follow this rule and gave out private information to the wrong people. Simply hang up, then call the provider back directly to discover if there is even a problem.
Drive defensively
This one can be a hard habit to change, especially if you live in a larger city. When you’re driving, you should always leave a path of escape, and it’s most critical when you’re rolling up to a stop sign or a red light. Once you stop the car, you’re an easy target. There’s a reason why most car-jackings occur at red lights, because normally, we just pull up right behind the guy in front of us, right? But doing this can make it impossible should you need to floor it and escape. The trick is to leave enough room for you to pull across into another lane and make a rapid exit, even if the car in front doesn’t move.
Prepare in advance
You can save a ton of heartache by preparing for the worst right now. Collect all the information documenting everything that’s valuable in your home, along with the date of purchase and its value, the serial numbers, and a video record of everything you consider precious. If you give your insurance company a call they’ll be able to tell you the specific things they need, and then store all of these documents securely in another location so even if your home is burnt to the ground, you’ll be able to make a claim for everything that was lost. Preventing a crisis from striking your family is about staying aware, and using a little common sense. All of these techniques are easy to implement, but it’s their simplicity that most of us are taking for granted. 40% of break-ins in the United States occurred through an unlocked door or window, which demonstrates that even though we know the right things to do, we’re often not doing the right things ourselves. It’s up to you to keep your family safe.
