The element of surprise is a classic tactic. Your foe benefits from it as much as you. Criminals, by definition, do not follow the law, and they certainly do not fight fairly either. They will use surprise and trickery to their benefit, so do not allow them to catch you off guard!
When strong, avoid them. If of high morale, depress them. Seem humble to fill them with conceit. If at ease, exhaust them. If united, separate them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise. --Sun Tzu
Burglars and rapists regularly enter the homes of their victims in the middle of the night. They primarily do it to have the element of surprise, and you are most vulnerable while you're sleeping. Therefore, your home should be well secured at night while you sleep.
This may seem paranoid at first, but look up the statistics before you decide.
All the way back to early human history, dogs have been used for security. They acted as a sentinel, to give advanced warning, while people slept. You may not want a dog, or perhaps where you live does not allow you to have one.
As you know from my previous posts though, the primary concept of security is "defense in depth." Even if you lock up your place well at night and have a dog, you should also have other layers of defense. A window vibration triggered alarm is a great additional layer to consider.
The device shown above is installed on a sliding door. It is a Doberman Security SE-0106 Vibration Triggered Window Alarm and one of many inside my home. They are battery powered and have an on and off switch.
The devices resolve two issues at once.
The first issue is being caught off guard as you sleep, and the second issue is your neighbors not hearing a burglar breaking the glass or defeating the window lock to enter your house while you're away.
It is incredibly easy to defeat a typical home window lock, and breaking the glass can also be done very quietly. The image below will hopefully show you how easily the lock mechanism can be worked from the outside.
Any thin object, such as a knife, can be placed between the top and bottom window pieces. Then the object is used to wedge the locking mechanism to the side, and that will release the lock. The process can be done quickly and usually without any notification to those inside.
The window vibration alarms however prevent both tactics. Breaking the glass or defeating the lock create vibrations on the window's surface, and the alarm will sound. Only switch them on at night while you sleep or when you're leaving for vacation to avoid nuisance alarms.
The devices are legal no matter where you are, easy to install, inexpensive, and very effective. If you have questions about them or other residential security products, please feel free to ask below. I'll gladly assist my fellow Steemians with their residential security as my time allows.
