| Many of us view our homes as a refuge and a | | | | inventory of my security status and strengthen |
| safe place away from the workaday world and | | | | any weak areas. Granted, I was only a tenant in |
| the stresses of traffic, both in human and vehicle | | | | this duplex, but my safety was important no |
| terms, that must be dealt with in order to | | | | matter where I lived. So, I double checked all the |
| conduct our personal business and live our lives. | | | | window hardware to ensure it was solid and |
| And yet, while we are away from such refuge, | | | | tightly screwed into the wood frames. I checked |
| FBI statistics note that approximately every 15 | | | | the locks on the doors to test how effective |
| seconds a burglary occurs in the United States. If | | | | they were as a deterrent to unauthorized entry. I |
| we were to extrapolate that data we are looking | | | | replaced one of the light bulbs on the porch to |
| at about 240 burglaries every hour, or 5760 | | | | ensure that the porch was well lit, plus I added |
| burglaries every 24 hours. | | | | another light that was hidden and wired to a |
| As defined by the FBI, a burglary is a | | | | switch inside my apartment that allowed me to |
| non-confrontational property crime that occurs | | | | turn it on as I felt necessary. And even after |
| when we are not at home. And if you have ever | | | | checking and double checking, I was on edge for |
| experienced a burglary of your own home, or if | | | | most of the night and I was able to sleep only in |
| you have ever walked in while a burglary is in | | | | short stints. It wasn't so much that I was afraid |
| progress, you know the sick and overwhelming | | | | the thieves would come back that night, it was |
| feeling of having been violated. Any sense of | | | | more a realization of how lax I had become in |
| security, personal or otherwise, is destroyed. | | | | maintaining my own personal security and |
| While I was an undergraduate student in Austin, | | | | personal safety. |
| Texas, I walked in on just such a burglary. I had | | | | Do not wait. We all need to be ahead of the |
| just returned from having dinner with some | | | | curve. Check your windows and doors. Make |
| friends and was returning home to begin my | | | | certain your porch lights work and if you can, use |
| nightly studies. The door was locked so I used | | | | motion sensor flood lights to turn the darkness |
| my key to enter the apartment. I immediately | | | | into a well lit, easy to see area. If you have plants |
| sensed that something was wrong. Then, I | | | | and shrubbery that hides your porch or provides |
| noticed my stereo amplifier was not in its place. | | | | cover at night, cut it back. Clear the area so |
| What was going on, I wondered? | | | | intruders can be easily seen. |
| Since the apartment was a part of a duplex, and | | | | I was lucky in many ways. I arrived before the |
| the hallway ran the length of the residence from | | | | thieves had completed their inspection of my |
| my front door and into the kitchen, I had clear | | | | refrigerator and I was able to keep my property |
| view of the two young men standing with the | | | | - and my groceries. However, what if one of |
| refrigerator door open, apparently trying to decide | | | | them was more serious and had been carrying a |
| what to have for dinner after a hard day spent | | | | gun? And what if he had decided shooting me |
| ripping other people off. I quickly grabbed the axe | | | | was more to his liking? I had an axe handle, but |
| handle I kept standing in the corner of my living | | | | against a gun I could not consider the odds to be |
| room and charged down the hallway. | | | | in my favor. |
| I was mad and I was hurt by their brazen | | | | This incident occurred some time ago. Today, |
| attitude and I wanted to serve notice that there | | | | there is a whole host of personal and home |
| would be a cost associated with attempting to | | | | security products available to us as consumers. |
| steal what little I had in terms of property. I was | | | | We can possess nonlethal weapons for personal |
| a student who was recently discharged from the | | | | self defense such as stun guns or pepper spray |
| U.S. military so, I had little worth stealing. I charged | | | | or mace pepper spray. There are personal alarms, |
| down the hall but they must have heard one or | | | | both hidden and in easily identifiable forms. We can |
| more of the expletives I emitted as I went | | | | now purchase easy to install Nanny Cams and |
| forward, and in a flash, they were out the back | | | | security systems for our homes and businesses |
| door and over the fence before I could even get | | | | and we do not have to be engineers to install high |
| passed the open refrigerator door. | | | | tech, wireless cameras with infrared LED's for |
| My property was wrapped in my bed sheet in the | | | | recording in near total darkness. |
| middle of my bed where the thieves had left it. | | | | The security systems of the 21st century can be |
| As I put the items back where they belonged a | | | | monitored on your home personal computer or |
| wave of uncertainty overwhelmed me and I | | | | your protable laptop or pda while you are out and |
| thought about what had just occurred. I had been | | | | about, and you are able to control direction, pitch, |
| working from the assumption that because I | | | | and zoom for your cameras from any of these |
| knew I did not have much property there would | | | | devices. Just as each of us has a responsibility to |
| be no motivation for anyone to rip me off. | | | | our nation, our cities and our towns to be |
| Wrong! No matter what you might think, no | | | | law-abiding citizens, we also must assume more |
| mater how little you might have, everyone is a | | | | responsibility for our family, home and business |
| target. It is only a matter of the opportunity you | | | | security as locales grow and public treasure falls |
| offer to a criminal, and you may not even realize | | | | farther and farther behind the needs of |
| you have made such an offer. | | | | communities and the citizens who reside in them. |
| Then and there I decided I needed to take an | | | | |