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How security conscious are you?

Amber St. Clare

Amber St. Clare

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
1,708
I was talking to someone last night who said that she lives in a safe neighborhood and NEVER locks her wndows, doors or garage. She says she could walk out naked and no-one would beother her!

I was stunned that in today's day and age someone could be, in my opinion, so reckless. We live in a "safe" area and my doors are always locked, at nite the windows are shut and I put my alarm on. If I want to go in the pool I lock both doors (front and side} and sit out in the back with a key.

My husband says at times I go to extremes, and I know if something happens to someone it is usually done be someone known to the victim, but I just can't relax (if I'm home alone without locked doors). Maybe I've read way too many true crime books.

How about you? How "safe" are you?
 
I am really security conscious. Especially since a home invasion occured near by. Doors are always locked, windows, etc.. DD just moved to a new place downtown, and had the locks changed asap.

Aren't you near Philly??
 
I've lightened up a lot.
I used to be borderline-paranoid.
Lately I've even caught myself leaving a window wide open when leaving the house.
No bling is left in the house; it is either on a body or in the bank vault.

I'm not saying leaving a window open is good; I should be more careful.
But I'm pleased with myself that I'm not as freaked out about the subject any more.
 
I was watching one of those Friday night documentary shows (20/20 or dateline, don't remember) where they discussed a serial killer who went from neighborhood to neighborhood looking for open doors. Three of the women he killed lived in neighborhoods where leaving doors open was the norm.

I never leave our doors open, not even to my car. My mom will leave the garage door open during the day but closes everything at night.
 
I take precautions, but I'm not really concerned with anyone stealing anything out of the house. One look at our pathetic tv and computer and our used furniture and the crooks would probably laugh.

I deadbolt the doors at night and lock the windows in my daughter's room, but that's about all I do. I sometimes lock the house when I go out, but sometimes I don't.
 
We live in a secure neighborhood, once left a garage door open by mistake and came back in a week to realize that nothing has been taken. This being said, however, someone once stuck a totally crazy and very scary letter in my mailbox. I doubt it had to do with my occupation; simply, there are too many weirdos around and in safe areas, too. After that, I became more cautious, but not of organized crime.
 
Our house is always locked up tight when we're not here or when we're sleeping, the exception being that I'll sometimes open our bedroom window while we're sleeping, but we're on the second floor, and it'd be pretty audible if someone were scaling the side of the building with a ladder. My grandfather was a cop who worked homicide for a long time--I was raised to be paranoid!
 
We kind of are. I stress the *kind of*. JD recently installed a keypad lock on the front door, and it's automatically locked when you shut the front door. I keep the door to the garage that is in the kitchen locked at night. The windows aren't always locked. When it's nice outside and I can open the windows to save on the a/c bill I do, even at night. We have a fenced in backyard which is a no-no however. We need a better locking system on the 2 gates in the fence. We are getting a charlie bar for the patio doors.

ETA-a show we really love watching is To Catch a Thief, I think on Discovery. The ex burglars break into people's homes and steal things to show them how fast/easy it is and show them how to take precautions.
 
Yeah... DH and I are probably too security conscious! We do live in a safe area, but we ALWAYS have the doors locked and deadbolted, and the alarm is on whenever we are not home and at night. We also both sleep with a gun under our respective side of the bed, a baseball bat behind DH's nightstand, and a bid 'ol bowie knife in the drawer. Never can be too careful, there are a lot of crazies out there.
 
Good heavens, Tuckin, you're prepared for EVERYTHING! A ghost couldn't get by you guys! We live in the sort-of boonies, was a rural village a few years ago but now it's getting built built built. I usually lock up when we go out and always at night. It can happen any time to anybody, but I refuse to live in a fortress while I'm home. That isn't any way to relax. It's a tiny neighborhood in the middle of nowhere; if I'm gonna be terrified of my own house here, what kind of happiness is that?

A neighbor, though, refuses to let her 11 yr old daughter walk 6 houses down the road to a friend's -- she drives her in her car. It's a block, for pete's sake! On a circle with one entrance, not near any highways or fast escape routes, she's terrified somebody will kidnap her kid in a neighborhood so small everyone notices a strange car & has seen all the kids here grow up for decades. She even agrees that she watches too much Oprah. The girl will be in high school in 2 yrs -- how will she manage when she hasn't been allowed to stroll up a tiny road by herself?

---Laurie
 
JewelFreak said:
Good heavens, Tuckin, you're prepared for EVERYTHING! A ghost couldn't get by you guys! We live in the sort-of boonies, was a rural village a few years ago but now it's getting built built built. I usually lock up when we go out and always at night. It can happen any time to anybody, but I refuse to live in a fortress while I'm home. That isn't any way to relax. It's a tiny neighborhood in the middle of nowhere; if I'm gonna be terrified of my own house here, what kind of happiness is that?

A neighbor, though, refuses to let her 11 yr old daughter walk 6 houses down the road to a friend's -- she drives her in her car. It's a block, for pete's sake! On a circle with one entrance, not near any highways or fast escape routes, she's terrified somebody will kidnap her kid in a neighborhood so small everyone notices a strange car & has seen all the kids here grow up for decades. She even agrees that she watches too much Oprah. The girl will be in high school in 2 yrs -- how will she manage when she hasn't been allowed to stroll up a tiny road by herself?

---Laurie
Click to expand...


Lol... :cheeky:
We are in a safe place- I jog around all the time and never feel unsafe. Plus we are in a downtown area and the cops are everywhere.... We just like to be prepared. I don't care if someone takes out STUFF, but I do want to protect my personal safety. We live sorta close to Detroit and people do sometimes come north to commit crimes and then scurry back across 8 mile... :sick:
 
We live in a safe area too. No guns under the bed but there's a whole ton of them in the basement haha. JD goes running at night after work (midnight-2am thereabouts) and I never worried about it (5,000 people live in this town and that's probably upping it a tad) until one night he was out and a car full of guys followed him really slow. During this summer, nice still night out w/no breeze to speak of so voices carry, and he heard them plotting to jump him-smart to have their windows down eh? Finally, he stopped and turned around and held his arms out and said "Ok, who's man enough to actually do what you've been planning the last 5 blocks?" and stepped towards them. One of the guys already had the door open, and when JD stopped and turned, the guy jumped back in and they took off w/a screech of tires. Just never know when/where things could happen.
 
When I'm alone, everything is locked and los Chihuahuas are on guard, at the ready to deal out a vicious ankle biting! :angryfire: But seriously, we live in an extremely low crime area and city. When I lived on the west coast, I actually did set the alarm every night. Totally different vibe there than here. You can never be too cautious.
 
very aware, home and out and about as well. Doors are always locked, alarm on.
Just got my CHL, though that is no measure of safety since things can happen so
fast these days.
 
I am a fear based person so the alarm is set every single night, doors locked, first floor windows are always closed and locked.
 
I just wanted to add another serious thought. Do you know what you'd do if you were actually confronted with a security problem? I'm pretty sure my reaction would not be good. Many years ago I had set the house alarm and one night it actually went off. It had never ever done that before, and it wasn't a monitored system like we've had since. What did I do? I was absolutely paralyzed with fear and couldn't move! So I just lay there for a good 5 minutes with the alarm blaring, barely breathing and totally still in bed in the dark. I finally managed to get up and proceed to the front of the house to see what might be up. I had the dog, and I was actually forcing her to go ahead of me! I never found anything amiss. The alarm never went off like that again either. But it scared me so bad! I think after that first experience I would actually be able to think a little more clearly if it ever happens again, but I don't know. I tend to go into shock when confronted with dangerous situations.
 
Amber St. Clare said:
I was talking to someone last night who said that she lives in a safe neighborhood and NEVER locks her wndows, doors or garage. She says she could walk out naked and no-one would beother her!

I was stunned that in today's day and age someone could be, in my opinion, so reckless. We live in a "safe" area and my doors are always locked, at nite the windows are shut and I put my alarm on. If I want to go in the pool I lock both doors (front and side} and sit out in the back with a key.

My husband says at times I go to extremes, and I know if something happens to someone it is usually done be someone known to the victim, but I just can't relax (if I'm home alone without locked doors). Maybe I've read way too many true crime books.

How about you? How "safe" are you?
Click to expand...

Wow that is a stunning level of trust! The only time we didn't worry about unlocked doors, etc. was when we lived on military bases. Even now, I live in a very safe neighborhood, but will always lock doors, close windows, etc. - even when running a 10 minute errand. I just feel like the few extra minutes it takes me to close/lock doors and windows and subsequently unlock them are well worth it when it helps guard against far more difficult and time-consuming troubles that can occur.
 
We live in a safe area but lock our doors and windows at night and when we're not home. Sometimes I'll open our bedroom window at night for some fresh air. Our detached garage is always locked and closed unless we're outside and my car doors are always locked, when it's parked and while I'm driving.

I have seen the show To Catch a Thief and I think it's a bit over the top. If someone wants in bad enough they will find a way regardless of fancy alarm systems and locked doors and windows. Like a pp said, I will not be a victim in my own home. If I can't relax here then where can I? There are crazies everywhere!
 
We live in an extremely safe neighborhood...

We never open windows anyway, but they are always locked. We lock every door anytime we come back inside. We lock the door that leads into our garage. We set our alarm at night on "STAY" mode, and "AWAY" everytime we plan to leave the edge of our lot. We have glass break systems in each bedroom that are on at all times. We even have locks on the gates on each side of our house, and also the gate on our back fence that leads to an open field.

You can never be too safe... and I never want to be the person that looks back and says, "Why didn't I do (blank)"?

I have to admit, I became very conscious about locking doors behind me, when I lived with 3 other girls in college. (Lock on the key hold and the deadbolt above, like Tukins. I mean, why not both if they are right there? lol) There were a couple of stories that made the news about older men following women, and would sneak into their place thru the unlocked door. Everytime I walked into our apartment, I locked the door behind me immediately; and I still do to this day.
 
I live in an extremely safe and friendly neighborhood *BUT* it doesn't matter one bit to me.

As a reader of true crime books, I feel one can never be too security conscious.

When I moved into DH's house, the front and side doors had glass panels on them. I had them removed and installed solid steel doors with NO glass anywhere (this is a common way burglars break in--they punch out the glass, reach in through the hole, and simply unlock the door). Another common entry point is sliding glass patio doors--we put a wooden stick in the track to prevent the slider from being opened, and also had locks installed at the top. We have a side entrance door from the outside yard into the garage. DH piled a ladder and a bunch of heavy junk in front of it from the garage side so that if someone tried to get into our garage through that door, they couldn't swing the door open because it's blocked. All windows in the house stay locked, and we sleep with the bedroom door closed and locked, baseball bat by the bed. Whew!

It sounds like a lot, but that's what it takes to make me feel safe.

For those of you who don't have a home alarm system, here's a great (free) way to have an "alarm": if you have car keys with an alarm/keyless remote, sleep with them next to your bed. If anyone breaks in, just press the panic button on your keys and the car alarm will sound, even if the car is in the garage or on the driveway. Viola!
 
(didn't have enough time to finish my earlier post)

Anyway, I just took and passed a test to carry a concealed handgun. It was a long day of learning about laws. Not only that but our instructor asked us "can you really shoot another person. Can you live with what you might do" The entire class was eye opening.
We practiced and talked about what to do when confronted. And we discussed our reactions. But of course you never really know what your reaction might be. We discussed dangerous situations and how to recognize body language. I'm not even touching on all the discussions and lessons, but intense it was ! I left wondering do I really want to even carry a weapon now! I passed my shooting test with flying colors, but who knows how accurate you can be in a stressful situation.

Our instructor was a veteran police officer, high rank, BTDT kind of guy. No doubt retired military the way he barked commands in the shooting range. By the end of the evening, we were all drained from the intense day. I will be attending more gun safety classes just because I want to know and I want to handle my gun better. I can shoot just fine, but in a stress filled dangerous situation, you don't have time to think, you have to respond. I do not have plans to keep my gun on me at all times. I was amazed at the number of people going through these classes every weekend. People are afraid these days. And according to our instructor, we should be.

I'm not saying this is for everyone. I grew up with guns in our home. My dad hunted and used guns for target shooting. I was shooting
in my early teens. My husband owns and shoots guns as well. So for me this was about personal protection.
 
I'm kind of in the middle - I definitely lock things up at night or when I go, but during the day less so... in the states I kept the front door locked during the day but here I have a guard shack *literally* 20 feet from my front door - if that. The lock on my garage door doesn't work so technically someone could break in at any time, but there's nothing really to steal here and violent crime is extremely rare here. Theft is common but anything confrontational just doesn't happen. They always want to fall back on "Oh it's just a misunderstanding" pfffft.
 
I'm paranoid about keeping the blinds closed and doors/windows locked at all times. DH is very loose with his closing of the doors and has been known to leave the garage door open all night a few times and the door to the house unlocked. I GO NUTS thinking about this and have OCD about it.

After being robbed and having things taken from a former home, I'm not taking any chances. We live in a family oriented neighborhood, but have noticed more sirens lately. I'm not used to hearing ANY sirens.

Lori
 
I would say about medium, it is not something that weighs heavily on my mind in really any way, but of course whenever leaving the house I ensure everything's locked and the alarm is armed. When I'm home 80% of the time Fi is too, so I don't worry about maybe a back door unlocked - but than again ours is the type of home that is 'automatically' safe if you know what I mean, just by way of location, structure, surrounds and so on. It would take an awful lot of exposure/attention and noise for someone to attempt to get in.

I am pretty confident if walking in public on my own, but still sensible (ie. wear a hand bag that has a strap that travels over the body, can't easily be snatched etc).

This probably has a lot to do with where I live - we have never had even an attempted break in, and I think in the two homes I grew up in (a couple suburbs away from where I live now), we had maybe an attempt but never broken into or any other property crime.
I have two adult siblings with their own places in the same area as me, and neither of them have had break ins.


I was also casual about safety in my car (I mean didn't bother to lock doors whilst driving), until about a month ago when a completely horrible man who was riding a push bike, swerved in front of me whilst I was heading from my home to the freeway for work.
He got very aggro (even though he was in the wrong), chased after me on his bike, and when I was stuck waiting for the red light to change, he threw down his bike and ran across 3 lanes of traffic to try and get in my driver's side door - in the nick of time, I fortunately managed to get the central locking down as he reached for my handle.
He then proceeded to spend the next 3 or so minutes it took for the light to change green to hurl abuse at and threaten me, spit at me and on my car, stalk around trying to find a way in, kicking at my car - he then got his mobile phone out and started taking photos; of my car, my license plate and tried to get photos of my face - he kept screaming how he was "Going to f-ing find me" and I would "F-ing pay for that" (for what?!), amongst other obscenities.
Of course, I was very grateful when the light finally turned green and I could drive away from him and his threats.

At first I brushed it off as just an idiot, but a bit later at work it got to me and I had a bit of a cry - he had really tried his best to intimidate/scare me and if I'm honest, succeeded.

I now lock my doors when driving, regardless of the area or route - it is just too easy for someone to reach in and snatch your bag, or what have you, if not - so I figure better safe than sorry.

This is an isolated incident though in what I imagine would be considered a relatively conflict-free life when it comes to personal/property security, so I haven't let it rattle other areas of my life or change my routine (except for the car doors).
 
Packrat, spooky experience for your husband! Those guys could have jumped out & beaten him to a pulp. Glad it was all ok! It would make me carry a baseball bat from then on.

And Arjunajane, scary plus! I don't get spooked easily but that would've shaken me to the core -- if the guy was as crazed as he sounds, you never can predict what he'd do. I had a less upsetting experience when we lived in San Francisco. I was almost home, sitting at a red light when a middle-aged woman stepped off the curb, opened the passenger door & sat down. While my mouth was still agape she said in a perfectly conversational tone, with a Russian accent, "I am late for a funeral; you need to take me quickly to the Russian Orthodox church." It was a couple miles out of my way, but what was I gonna do, push her out into traffic? So off we toddled while she fretted over & over that she probably had missed the service. "If I have, then you can take me to Colma to the burial service at the grave." Colma is a suburb a good 45 minutes away! "Oh no, i'm sure you'll make the church in time," I kept assuring her, wondering if there even was a funeral that day. I'm sure she didn't have a full attic, so to speak. Get to the cathedral & all is silent, door closed, I thought, "What if she refuses to get out till we arrive in Colma?" And probably no gravesite there. So I suggested she go in -- the priest is probably waiting for you, I said with tons of confidence, as I took the keys out of the ignition, walked around & opened the door for her. Still worrying to herself, she disappeared into the church & I took off like lightning!

Chuckled about it for weeks but with a little shiver too. She did, however, thank me very politely!

--- Laurie
 
Our doors are locked at night when we go to bed but that's it. We leave our cars unlocked and windows unlocked all the time. We also know every one of our neighbors, have everyone's cell numbers, etc. and all of us keep an eye on things. Last week there was a "stranger" hanging out on the curb across the street and three of us had called the police station non-emergency number by the time we ended up all speaking to each other about him ten minutes later. We are all hyper aware of what goes on in our neighborhood and honestly I have more peace of mind this way than when I've lived in places with alarms turned on at all times.
 
I think I'm "medium" security conscious: I change the locks when I move into a new place; always lock my door (the idea of leaving it unlocked makes me wonder about the sanity of the person in question); carry Mace, and look over my shoulder whenever I'm walking home alone late at night; make a point of knowing where the exits and weapons are in most situations.

I grew up in NYC as a girl. My out-of-town male friends think I am insane. But it's all relative, you know? They have less to worry about in general, and they are used to worrying about much less because of how they grew up.

Me, I sort of figure, better safe than sorry, as much as possible. Just look at what some of you in this thread have had to deal with!
 
We are pretty security conscious. We keep all windows/exterior doors locked at all times (unless a weekend or something when the kids are running in and out with their friends). I work from home and I keep my doors locked at all times. I once heard that women that are home alone all day are a big target for rapist, etc. It would be easy to watch my house and figure out I am home all day by myself.

My husband travels for work from time to time, and I have a very elaborate "security" plan in place for nighttime with just me and the kids that I prep for each time. Our pull down attic stairs are in our master bedroom closet, so I make the kids all sleep in my room (they think it's fun!) and I have the stairs pulled down in the closet and a flashlight and gun (in a locked box) at the top of the stairs. I sleep with my key chain (someone already mentioned the panic alarm for the car) and cell phone next to my bed. In the event of a break-in, my kids know to go up in the attic, I will follow and we pull the stairs up behind us. It makes DH and I feel more secure to have a plan in place.

I used to let my kids walk the dog up to the corner and back (maybe 5 houses away) and I sit on my front steps and watch them the whole time however, last week there was 2 abduction attempts in my quiet, suburban, middle class neighborhood so that got me thinking. One was a 5 year old girl playing at the end of her driveway and the father was sitting in the front room watching TV. A car pulled up, man got out and offered his daughter gum. The dad ran right outside and the guy jumped in his car and drove off, but it made me wonder...that guy could have snatched that little girl with the dad watching very easily. Could I really do anything from 5 houses away if someone snatched one of my kids? If I am sitting on my front steps and see someone take my kid, I have to run to my car, back out of the driveway, try to follow the car...and then what?

There are a lot of trusting people out there though. There is a park near my house with heavily wooded walking/bike trails that I use quite a bit...ALWAYS with someone else, with our cell phones, I have mace on my keychain, etc. But my friends and I talk all the time about how many women are out there, walking with Ipods in their ears, all by themselves...they couldn't even hear someone coming up from behind. They could be dragged into the woods and assaulted within a few short minutes.
 
Tuckins1 said:
Yeah... DH and I are probably too security conscious! We do live in a safe area, but we ALWAYS have the doors locked and deadbolted, and the alarm is on whenever we are not home and at night. We also both sleep with a gun under our respective side of the bed, a baseball bat behind DH's nightstand, and a bid 'ol bowie knife in the drawer. Never can be too careful, there are a lot of crazies out there.
Click to expand...

Us too! (minus the baseball bat) Got a handgun for each of us (with proper defensive ammo) as well as tactical rifles (not usable for defense until we get the proper defensive ammo -- ordering that next week).

We've also got a monitored alarm system in the house. Our 70 pound dog has been described as "wimpy" and will run to hide after barking if someone comes into the yard (our bug spray guy showed up while we were gone one day...).

As soon as we can manage it, we're taking some more defensive handgun courses and tactical rifle. Until then, we keep accurate at the range and have plans for what to do if...

I also have my concealed weapons permit.
 
Girlrocks said:
We are pretty security conscious. We keep all windows/exterior doors locked at all times (unless a weekend or something when the kids are running in and out with their friends). I work from home and I keep my doors locked at all times. I once heard that women that are home alone all day are a big target for rapist, etc. It would be easy to watch my house and figure out I am home all day by myself.

My husband travels for work from time to time, and I have a very elaborate "security" plan in place for nighttime with just me and the kids that I prep for each time. Our pull down attic stairs are in our master bedroom closet, so I make the kids all sleep in my room (they think it's fun!) and I have the stairs pulled down in the closet and a flashlight and gun (in a locked box) at the top of the stairs. I sleep with my key chain (someone already mentioned the panic alarm for the car) and cell phone next to my bed. In the event of a break-in, my kids know to go up in the attic, I will follow and we pull the stairs up behind us. It makes DH and I feel more secure to have a plan in place.

I used to let my kids walk the dog up to the corner and back (maybe 5 houses away) and I sit on my front steps and watch them the whole time however, last week there was 2 abduction attempts in my quiet, suburban, middle class neighborhood so that got me thinking. One was a 5 year old girl playing at the end of her driveway and the father was sitting in the front room watching TV. A car pulled up, man got out and offered his daughter gum. The dad ran right outside and the guy jumped in his car and drove off, but it made me wonder...that guy could have snatched that little girl with the dad watching very easily. Could I really do anything from 5 houses away if someone snatched one of my kids? If I am sitting on my front steps and see someone take my kid, I have to run to my car, back out of the driveway, try to follow the car...and then what?

There are a lot of trusting people out there though. There is a park near my house with heavily wooded walking/bike trails that I use quite a bit...ALWAYS with someone else, with our cell phones, I have mace on my keychain, etc. But my friends and I talk all the time about how many women are out there, walking with Ipods in their ears, all by themselves...they couldn't even hear someone coming up from behind. They could be dragged into the woods and assaulted within a few short minutes.
Click to expand...

That is so scary!
I hope they catch that man before he is successful.
 
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