Making Your Home Secure
I am just sharing these very important guide for you to read and apply accordingly. Reference of original write up is at bottom of this article.
1. Hold a household meeting
Make home security a habit, with every member of the household—including kids—agreeing to a routine that should include such simple rules as:
- Use door and window locks. It costs nothing and takes little energy. Make it a habit to lock every door and window when leaving, after entering, and before bedtime. BUT mind you, if 'they' manage to break into the house, all doors will be broken. Perhaps you need to reconsider locking 'every' door.
- Do not open the door to uninvited or unwelcome visitors.
- Close and lock the garage door.
- Secure your home even if you’re doing work around the house and yard.
- Use your alarm system all the time, even when you take a quick trip to the store or visit next-door neighbors. (Learn about important alarm contract clauses.)
2. Call on the police
Many municipal police departments offer complimentary home inspections. An officer walks through your home and recommends simple, cost-effective changes to tighten security. BUT in Malaysia, keep this number handy in your handphone 03 2266 2222. This is the Police hotline number. You can call from anypart of the country and they will direct your message to the nearest police station. Put this no in the your speed dial.
3. Organize a burglary
This is a fun, useful exercise to do with a trusted neighbor or friend or your children friends: Allow them to roam through your house for three minutes, find as many small valuables as possible, and remove them from your house. Let the ersatz burglar demonstrate how easy it is to find valuables. Then hide them from real burglars. That might mean buying a small safe that bolts to the floor, renting an off-premises safe-deposit box, or stashing jewelry and cash in unorthodox places. You can return the favor for your neighbor.
Be smart with your keys.
4. Remove the 'hidden' house key
The key under the mat, inside the mailbox, beneath a rock—everybody hides a house key. Problem is, burglars know your hiding places. Instead, give it to a trusted neighbor.
5. Place keys and garage-door remotes in a smart spot
Don’t leave car and house keys and remotes near the door or otherwise visible inside your house. Secure them inside a cabinet or a drawer to keep them hidden.
6. Add foreboding signs
Post security-company signs or window stickers near all entryways—whether you have a security system or not. Maybe you have signs/stickers on hand from a previous contract with a security firm, or maybe you can get some from a friend. In addition, post a few “Beware of Dog” signs in visible spots, say at the front of the house or on a gate to the backyard.
7. Lock up the ladder
Don’t store a ladder outside. A burglar, perhaps posing as a handyman or contractor, could use it to gain access to a second-floor window or balcony.
Check our buying guides for entry doors, door locks, and windows. And find the best homeowners insurance policy.
8. Light up the outdoors
If you don’t have them already, buy and install outdoor lighting with infrared motion sensors and install one near each point of entry. Replace any burned-out lightbulbs and put your porch lights on timers. Find the best bulbs for outdoor uses.
9. Install timers
When you leave for work or appointments or go on vacation, you can create a “someone’s at home” look using timers on lights and TVs. No surprise, there are lots of gadgets available.Fake TV, for instance, simulates the flickering lights of a television, and from outside, it appears that someone is watching TV.
10. Secure air conditioning units
Unsecured window air conditioners could provide an easy entry point for a crook. Use an air conditioner bracket, sliding window lock, or corner braces.
11. Eliminate hiding spots
If your shrubbery is too tall, bushy, or not well spaced, you’re providing a nice hiding spot for a potential burglar. Trim and prune plantings.
12. Check windows
Are the window locks operable? If not, get them fixed or replace them. Also consider installing aftermarket window locks, which let you open the window a few inches while still keeping it secure. Another alternative is to use inexpensive window-break alarms. Check our home window buying guide.
13. Assess doors
Okay, so you’re probably not going to be able to install new doors by yourself over a weekend. But you can inspect your front, side, and back doors. Replace hollow (read: low-quality and easy-to-breach) doors with solid-core (made of wood or metal) or metal-clad doors. Check our buying guide for entry doors.
Sliding-glass doors have a latch to close them but are often an easy point of entry for burglars. To make one more secure, place a wood dowel cut to size or an adjustable safety bar in the interior floor track, or consider adding a floor bolt.
Electric garage doors are not a common point of entry—as long as they are closed. “I can drive you down almost any street in America and find a garage door that is open and the inner door is unlocked,” McGoey says. “Homeowners have to treat all the doors like the front door and close it.”
14. Replace weak locks
Locks are the weakest point on a door. Make sure you have a grade 1 or grade 2 dead-bolt lock that penetrates the door frame. It’s not necessary to get one at a specialty locksmith; these can be purchased at a big-box home store. The strike plate—the stationary piece that the bolt enters—must be heavy duty, made of solid metal or brass, with six three-inch-long screws that penetrate the door jamb and the door frame. Check out our door lock buying guide and read about the $10 part that will make your door lock safer.
—Susan Feinstein
Improving
your home security reduces the chance of you becoming the victim of a burglar.
How To Improve Your Home Security
Do:
- If your budget is limited, focus on doors, locks, windows and perhaps a small safe for your valuables. you can make your own safe too. Almost all safe are heavy because in the thick wall is just a cement. Try make your own. The best place is in the floor, or at bottom past of your cupboards.
- Always identify 2 or 3 companies that provide
the security you need to compare quality and price. Cant think in Malaysia.
- Choose a supplier/contractors by:
- Looking for products with the Secured by
Design Police Preferred Specification logo, as these meet our high
standards
- Recommendation from friends
- Those you personally know
- Check ID before allowing visitors into your
home
- Suggest areas of home security you would like
to improve to your potential suppliers and ask for a written quote
detailing the work and the cost. Compare prices with competitors before
agreeing
- Save money by
using your DIY skills to fit approved products
Don’t:
- Never discuss your security needs with
doorstep or telephone callers
- Do not agree to work without a written quote
detailing the work and cost
- You should not disclose personal information
like health problems or high risk items including jewellery until you have
decided on your supplier and believe it’s essential for their work
- Under no circumstances go to your bank or cash
machine with an installer or salesman.
- Only pay for
the work once the job is completed to your satisfaction. You can ask a
friend or family member for a second opinion
NOW OUR OWN VERSION
- use CCTV. can use dummy too. Click this for more info. http://securityandsafety.blogspot.my/2011/06/cctv-problems.html
- if your house has compound, make sure it is clean and clear. Search for CPTED in google to understand more.
- keys. put a tag. write on the tag the address which you do not know. if fallen to wrong hands, its OK
- spare keys. try not to have. if so, tucked together with car keys
- NEVER keep keys in shoes, under door mat etc
- grills. make sure it is locked from inside. for emergency [escape], have keys hang close, but hidden.
- avoid things to show this is a Malay Chinese or Indian house
- dont hang bra and panties in the open and easy for people to see
- keep clean and tidy
- tell neighbours, during emergency, you will blow whistle. keep whistle handy. all neighbours must have whistle too
- any strange car in neighbourhood, ask friends, info police
- have whatsap group, share info
click here for latest security courses for your security staff
http://securityandsafety.blogspot.my/2015/08/kursus-penyelia-keselamatan_12.html