How to defend yourself from thieves in the house

How to defend yourself from thieves at home: strategies and solutions

Defending yourself from thieves at home might seem like an impossible task, but some precautions are enough to keep thieves away from our homes and avoid raids.

It is impossible to have a security device that protects us 100% from theft in the apartment, but it is possible with even cheap devices to make the intrusion more complicated by wasting time for the bad guys.

For house rats, time is an important factor because the more time passes, the higher the risk of getting caught. Most thefts occur during the day, although in recent years thefts at home at night have increased even in the presence of the owners.

Prevention is essential to keep thieves away. It is not necessary to equip yourself with a weapon and try to imitate John Wayne but it is sufficient to observe some precautions that "advise against" thieves to enter.

Even thieves today have specialized, they know up-to-date techniques to break into homes but above all, before making a theft, they study the habits of the inhabitants and the house. Before entering they know times and habits and how the house is arranged and the type of alarm. They supervise houses and inhabitants and make a classification following a code of thieves' symbols or even leaving marks on the intercoms.

It is not enough to put a siren on the balcony, it is necessary to prevent by identifying the critical points of the house and try to secure them, at least to make life difficult for the thief.

Economic anti-thief solutions

There are also economic anti-thieves solutions: you don't necessarily have to spend a large amount to keep them away.

Regardless of the price, there is no security device that protects you 100%, but there are burglar-proof systems on the market that help you live more peacefully.

Sometimes they are multiple systems combined with each other. Let's see some of them:

• as an alternative to the security door, which could be very expensive, you can install burglar-proof bars . These anti-intrusion bars can be applied to both doors and windows.
• To protect the windows but also the doors you can install grilles, making sure that the grates do not have a structure that becomes potential holds for climbing to the upper floors. To hinder the entry of thieves into homes from the cornices and surrounding walls, Windowo offers for sale some barriers with spikes that are also excellent for balconies. To prevent theft from ascent, bollards are available for pipes and gutters .
• The alarm system , to be more effective, should also protect the external perimeter. It must ring before the thief enters the house. In this regard, specialized companies recommend placing objects that should be moved within the radius of its cells, so as to sound the alarm immediately.
• You can buy peepholes with an integrated camera that record the movements in front of the house.
• The home automation security kit with sensors and cameras for doors and windows that you can connect to your mobile phone to receive all notifications of what is happening in your apartment in real time can be a valuable aid.

How thieves choose houses

We often ask ourselves how thieves choose houses, why mine and not my neighbor's?

The most important parameters according to the carabinieri are the following:

• homes where there is a lower risk of getting caught such as a home that is not very busy . When we leave for a leisure or business trip, if we do not have an alarm, we seek the collaboration of the neighbors who can occasionally give us a look at the house and we insert a timer to switch on the radio, the lights or even the television so, if the house should be kept under control, it gives the impression that there is always someone there.
• House in an isolated area . In this case it is essential to have security systems at the access points of the house such as an armored door,windows with railings and shatterproof glass and balconies with barriers and bollards. Guard dogs are also a deterrent to thieves.
• Homes located in dark areas , those that have an easy escape route such as penthouses and detached villas.
• Houses on the ground floor or mezzanine floor where you can see the precious objects that are in the house such as paintings, silverware and porcelain. A professional thief, after having spotted a house potentially to be burgled, lurks nearby to learn more about the movements of the people who live there. But above all, it takes information on the work activity of tenants to understand if it is in front of a wealthy family and only after having verified if it is worth it does it take action.

Symbols of thieves

It is said quite widely that, to choose houses, thieves use codes or rather symbols with which they classify the house.

If you find signs next to the intercom or mailbox , strange marks like scratches, it means that you have been observed and filed.

With these symbols the thieves indicate what are the characteristics of the house and its components. We have not had confirmation that this is true but we have collected a legend of symbols, given the broad belief that this does not cost anything to check:

• Rhombus with the four empty sides - uninhabited house.
• X - a house that constitutes a goal.
• Four small circles or a squared C - rich house with a lot of profit.
• An overturned house - people who give money.
• 12 or 012 - house with alarm system.
• An arrow at an obstacle - always inhabited house or danger.
• An L with an arch on it - a newly burgled house.
• M, P, N, D - indicate the times when it is preferable to steal, respectively morning, afternoon, night and Sunday.
• A circle with a V in the center - a house already searched and in which nothing was found.
• Bars - home to avoid.
• Horizontal line and oblique line - house with the presence of a dog.
• A crossed circle - a friendly family.
• An open rectangle with an upside-down F - people giving jobs.

What to do to avoid thieves in the house

To limit the access of apartment rats, we must take preventive action and secure the access points of the house through a careful analysis of the potential criticalities of our home.

If, for example, you have a garden, you must avoid that trees but also walls or fences become a foothold for climbing and entering. There are thieves acrobats, so when considering the possibilities, don't think about an able-bodied person.

It is better to illuminate the outdoor spaces including the garden door because the darkness facilitates the intrusion. An excellent solution could be to install photocells in front of the gate and the door to the garden that turn on only in the presence of someone.

If you have external general light meters, it is necessary that they are not visible or accessible to anyone, so it is better to close them under lock and padlock.

After taking care of the exterior, reinforce the entrances to the house - doors, windows, verandas and balconies. Get in the habit, even when you are at home, to close the front door with the pushbuttons because an X-ray plate or an old flexible plastic card, such as a phone card or a credit card, inserted into the door is enough to open it easily.

When you leave the house, pull down all the shutters and remember not to leave the key under the doormat but not even in the car because our details are included in the vehicle registration document, including the address.

If, on the other hand, you're going on a trip, follow these tips before leaving your home unattended:

• ask a neighbor to empty the mailbox and leave him a duplicate key in case of an emergency.
• Do not leave the mat up in front of the entrance door.
• If possible, put a timer on the radio or lights to give the impression that someone is there.
• Before leaving, make an inventory of the precious objects that you cannot take with you; this could also be useful to the Police if needed.
• Avoid giving information to friends via social networks as thieves may see it too. You will only post vacation photos once you get home.

How to defend yourself from thieves at night

According to ISTAT data, almost 35% of thefts take place at night. The night hours are chosen because they are the ones where there is less passage, they are the least busy and therefore thieves have greater freedom of action and can act undisturbed. If before only late-night hours were privileged, recently the night for thieves begins earlier and they begin to act between 18 and 22.

Also from an ISTAT survey we know what are the most frequent ways in which thieves enter the house. The break-in usually takes place via a balcony, a window, a garage or a door left open. Therefore, to avoid intrusions, these access routes to the house must be protected, always trying to:

• always lock the door, avoiding to leave a duplicate under the doormat. This precaution is always valid, both for the night and for the day and especially when you leave the house unattended even for a short time.
• Protect the windows with grilles and shatterproof glass.
• Protect balconies with barriers and bollards.
• Illuminating the outside of the house, darkness is the best ally of thieves. For example, installing external photocells that light up when people pass by could be a good solution.
• If the house is bordered by walls or fences, it is necessary to avoid that they give handholds to enter.
• External light meters, you have to make them inaccessible to outsiders.
• If you want to install an alarm system, put a peripheral one that also controls and protects the outside. We advise you not to place it too close to the access points, so it will activate when the thieves are still far away.
• If you live in an isolated place, having a guard dog in your home can be a good deterrent.
• For those who live in condominiums it is important to sensitize all the other inhabitants of the building to always close the door and the common gate, as well as the stairs leading to the garages. When you leave the common garages by car, you must leave only after the entrance has closed.