Do you know what time of day the majority of home invasions occur?
Well, it isn’t during the night when you’re home asleep. Instead, most home invasions occur during the day while people are at work. I bring this up because this morning I got a call from my brother who lives in Salt Lake City, UT.
He called to tell me that he was finally getting an alarm for his house. The reason is that he works for the city and knows a lot of guys in the police department and he hears about all of the home invasions that occur during the day.
Of course, Salt Lake City is not an anomaly, home invasions occur during the day in every city across this country. In fact, when I was working for the Agency, I remember hearing about an employee who got arrested for breaking into homes during the day. Apparently, he was some kind of pervert and would break into the homes and steal women’s clothes and underwear.
Now…
The good news about home invasions during the day is that most people are at work, so you may lose some possessions, but no harm will come to you. However, with summer being here, that’s changing for a lot of households.
Kids are home for the summer and some of them may not leave the house at all. (Especially if you happen to have teenage boys who are addicted to video games and won’t leave the house until they’re forced to return to school in September.)
If you’re one of the families that are going to be home during the day now, it is critical you put some home security in place, if you don’t have it already. If money is tight you don’t have to do anything drastic, but alarm systems are rather inexpensive these days and you can have the alarm on while you’re in the house during the day.
If you really can’t afford an alarm system…
A cheap alternative is a doorstopper alarm. I use these all of the time when I am traveling and staying in hotels.
In addition to getting an alarm, make sure your house looks occupied. Park a car in your driveway, but make sure the garage is closed. Most criminals just want quick loot and won’t bother you if they think you’re at home. However, the true psychopaths will, which is why you need the alarm and, of course, a firearm.
Personally, I carry a gun in my pocket when I’m at home. I realize most people probably don’t want to do that, so at least have a firearm close by in a quick opening safe.
An alarm, a gun and an occupied-looking home are truly simple measures that anyone can take. With the economy still in the dumps and people desperate for money, home invasions aren’t going away anytime soon, so please take care of yourself and your family this summer.
