Personal Home Security Guards | Tips to Protect Your Home
Personal home security guards. For over 3 years in Melbourne, one of the most dominant topics on almost every news outlet has been about home invasions. Being a security guard company in Melbourne, it has been a concerning issue for us.
As a Melbourne Security Company, we thought we should write something important; content that will reflect the experience we have gained over the years working in the Victorian security industry or even Australia at large. So, I have decided to come up with some simple but effective practical tips. These vital tips will help a few individuals/families to protect their homes from home invasion.
Take note, as a professional security company in Australia, we will only share, legal and easy to implement home security tips. These home invasions security tips have been tried and tested, and they work!
If you require a quick quote for security hire in Melbourne, then send us an email at info@securityconcepts.com.au or click below.
I have also attached some important links, videos and information that will help you understand, the home invasion situation better.
Personal home security guards: Community Responsibility
As you will later learn, we are not just a security company looking to secure client’s business. We believe in giving free home security tips, like what we have outlined in this blog as part of our corporate and social responsibility. This is to help as many Melbourne residents to not be victims of a home invasion. Or should I say, share security tips to protect from a home invasion in Melbourne?
Personal home security guards | Home Invasion
Another legal term for a home invasion is called ‘burglary: where the offender breaks into your home intending to steal.’ But one of the most concerning for a lot of Melbournian is called ‘aggravated burglary: which is when the offender breaks into your home with weapons, they come to steal, but also to intimidate and possibly cause harm to the homeowners.’
Why has ‘aggravated burglary’ become such a hot topic in the last couple of years in Australia? Well, aggravated burglary isn’t a new crime in Australia or Melbourne; but one of the main reasons it’s had recent public attention has to do with some teenagers from Australian-South Sudanese communities getting involved in such crimes.
Australia has very vibrant media, and the involvement of migrant background teenage thugs in this violent crime, has caused the media to be more interested in reporting such news consistently compared to other crimes.
Now, the aim of this blog is not to defend or water down the actions of these criminals but my goal is to give you some insights that could help reduce a lot of fear in our community and increase public awareness to better home security tactics.
Please check this link for news on an aggravated home invasion in Melbourne by people of non-South Sudanese background. There’s many home invasion committed by people of non-South Sudanese-Australian origin, but such home invasion news would not cause as much reaction from the public, compared to when it is someone from South-Sudanese background. So, the focus of the media is on content and news that will create public responses – that is why you might find burglary or aggravated burglary on the news more regularly these days.
As I already mentioned, this blog is not a platform to defend criminals, but an article to help property owners/tenants protect their home’s from being broken into or invaded in Melbourne. But before you safeguard your home from criminals, or go straight into safety tips; I purposely tried as much as I could to explain things that will break the grip of fear over the reader’s mind.
Make no mistake that aggravated home invasion news is real in Melbourne, but compared to 2016-2018, the number of aggravated home invasion statistics has fallen according to Crime Statistics Victoria. Please check this link from Government crime statistics.
You can also read this informative security article/blogs:
- When a Gunman Runs Into Your School or Work Place, What Should You Do?
- The important reason why schools require security guards
- Practical Solutions To African-Australian Youth Offending Problems
Personal home security guards: Residential Security Tips
Residential Address
It is sad that this ‘residential address location’ will be included as a part of my security tips against the home invasion! But from my experience in the security industry in Australia, I have come to realise that certain suburbs in our states/territory do have a higher number of specific crimes recorded in them.
The location of your home could sometimes determine the likelihood of your home being broken into.
Before buying or renting a house, make sure you do a security risk check or study of the suburb you are planning on moving to. You could do a simple Google search, or a search on the Crime Statistics website of your state/territory to see the security and crime report of that suburb or state that you are considering moving to.
Take for example; you are more likely to have criminals in a suburb of a state that has a high unemployment rate, a suburb with a high proportion of people on Centrelink/welfare, or a suburb with a high percentage of people dependant on drugs, compared to a suburb that consists of residents who are business owners, chief executives, etc.
CCTV
CCTV cameras at residential property importance cannot be overexpressed; it does not only act as a device to capture footage of criminals and crime, but it also serves as a deterrent against burglars.
From my security experience, properties with CCTV cameras (fully working or dud) are less likely to be home invaded or broken into, than households with no CCTV cameras.
Like I have written in my previous blog post; I have had the privilege of working in a significant business CCTV control room, and I have seen the reactions and body language of criminals when they notice a CCTV camera around. A good number of would-be criminals would prefer to break into a house that has no CCTV cameras than a property that has cameras. Why is that so? Because some of these home invaders are on parole, and they would not like to be caught and sent back to prison or get increased time in jail.
So, my advice is, install CCTV cameras around your home and make sure the cameras are mounted in an open space that all passers-by can see. Also, make sure the CCTV capture’s any blind spots around your property.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXGLMVKsfyA
Sensor Lightings
It is essential to improve the security of your property, and that your home is well lit. And if possible, make sure you install a good motion sensor lighting system. Such a system has a dual purpose; one of such is, of course, to light up your home, and to also act as a security deterrent against intruders or would-be home invaders at night when activated.
Signage
Displaying good signage at the front of your property is a classic way of deterring would be home invaders. Some of these signage goes like this ‘AYZ security protects this property’ or ‘Security cameras are monitoring this property.’
Other homeowners have even become more creative and aggressive in their approach to home security signage. Take these good examples, ‘Before you break into this property, make sure you have a will written down.’ Others may have something like this, ‘I am a member of the Rifle Association, so make sure you visit this property with good intentions!’
And I will say, a lot of this signage does send a psychological message to any would-be home-invader, and they are most likely going to avoid your property.
Guard Dogs
Yes, what would we all do without ’ man’s best friend?’ Acquire a pleasant and well-trained dog to guard your property if you perceive your home or neighbourhood to be a likely target for burglars.
Well trained guard dogs are loyal to their owners and will do anything to protect its owner and loved ones from any intruder. They also act as an excellent deterrent, because most criminals would not break into a property that has crazy guard dogs.
Perhaps my favourite topic is getting guards dogs against home invasion in Melbourne. And one of my favourite guard dogs is the ‘Caucasian Shepherd,’ which has a very long dog life span. They are a very loyal breed that grows to a very large size.
There are only a few breeders of Caucasian Shepherds in Australia. If you are not sure what breed of a guard dog to purchase, please check this blog from certapet.com, and you could decide on which ‘man’s best friend’ to go for.
Car Parking
A lot of homes become an easy target for a home invasion in Melbourne because the criminals study the occupant’s property, movement, and what model of cars they drive. At the height of home invasion reporting in Melbourne; the trend, the home invaders were targeting homes with high-end luxury cars like Mercedes, BMWs, etc.
That is why you may need an adequately secured car park, or garage at your property to park your luxury car undercover. You can choose to park the old, or other cheap cars on the driveway, but make sure the expensive luxury car is parked in an undercover car park so as not to draw unwanted attention from criminals.