Consider the following scenario. After working hard all week, you are relaxing at home with your significant other while your two children are upstairs. You are sitting in the comfort of your living room watching television with your significant other and your children are playing together. Since you have worked hard for a number of years, you are able to live comfortably in one of the best communities in town.
You hear a knock on the door and your significant other goes to answer it. As soon as the door is unlocked, you hear an outburst and two men push their way into your home. They begin beating your significant other until he is lying on the floor. Before you have time to think about what is going on, they threaten to harm you and your loved ones as they throw you to the couch. They have guns and are shouting obscene commands and threats at you. One of the men stands over you as the other starts looking through the house for occupants.
Your mind starts to race trying to figure out what is going to happen. Are you going to be killed? Are the attackers going to molest you and beat your children? Anxiety and terror levels rise to enormous proportions, which cause victims to act irrationally. Some people end up freezing up and becoming incapacitated out of fear. Others will try to fight back out of instinct, while others yet will resist the demands of the attackers. Some choose to run away from the scene if they can. This is termed as the fight or flight syndrome. In reality, the first thirty seconds of an attack are often the most crucial to whether your family is going to survive or not.
What Would You Do? Most of the time, people never think about this type of question for their family or themselves. Understanding how you would react under these circumstances is pivotal. How is your family going to act? How will you act together as a group unit? Your natural reaction depends largely in part to a number of different factors: age, sex, culture, physical condition, personality, special training, how you react under pressure, how you process information, skills and any past experiences in handling aggressive behavior. Most of the time, people have no idea how they are going to react to a personal crisis until they are put in that situation for themselves. Many people are shocked after it happens by their behavior as being calm, heroic, stupid or cowardly.
Will you attempt to overpower the intruders? Will you attempt to get your gun? Will you try to trigger your security alarm? Will you make an attempt at escaping to call the police? Will you comply with the demands of the intruders and hope they leave you unharmed. Will you let them tie you up? Will you let them take someone in the family out of your home? Will you risk death to help save those you love from being harmed?
The different possibilities for how you are going to respond are countless, but the majority fall under three distinct possibilities. You have the option of complying with their demands, resisting the assault or try to stay calm and wait, resist, comply and attempt to flee when the time is right. There is no single correct response to a home invasion that is life-threatening. Everyone has to make a personal choice based on your assessment of the situation. You will need to evaluate your own mental and physical capabilities and what level of danger you believe you are dealing with.
At times, screaming and fighting may work, especially when you have neighbors who will call the police and intervene on your behalf. If you are incapable of fighting, you don’t want to risk getting yourself hurt more in the process. Total compliance may be the key to staying alive and unharmed. Compliance can also increase the amount of time they stay in your home, which increases the risk of being molested. You will want to carefully consider how you and your loved ones will act under the circumstances and figure out a plan based upon that information.
What is Going to Work the Best for Your Home? Having a neighborhood or family plan is imperative. If you can create a home security plan and discuss it with neighbors and family, the chances of being able to act properly and get the help you need are dramatically improved.
Prevention is imperative to your safety. Installing strong locks and doors with three-inch screws for the strike plate and hinges will help to further enhance your safety. Using a wide-angle peephole and telling everyone in the family to keep the door closed when a stranger is outside will help to enhance your safety. Chain latches are not an effective means of protecting your loved ones, so make sure to look through the peephole before you open the door to anyone outside. Anyone who is claiming to have a delivery that you didn’t order or using other tricks for opening the door is something that you need to be leery of. People will try all sorts of things to get you to open the door, so you need to constantly be on guard. Fortification of sliding glass doors, rear doors and garage doors is critical. This will help provide you with the time you need to call 911, sound an alarm and arm yourself.
Local Alarms
An audible alarm siren will help to prevent potential home invasions when they are activated. Alarm systems can be set so that the perimeter windows and door sensors are activated whenever someone is inside of the house. The alarm will instantly trigger when someone attempts to get inside of your home without your permission. Make sure you have a prearranged password with the alarm company if they call your home when the alarm is triggered. Most of the time, an alarm panel will have an emergency button that will function similar to that of a 911 call and let the alarm company know to call the authorities. Window and lawn signs from the alarm company help let others know that your home is wired and capable of having the police come to your property. The decals and signs help offer a great deterrent for potential intruders.
Automatic Phone Dialers
An automatic dial telephone will be able to call 911 when used in speakerphone mode, which will prove beneficial in getting you the police assistance that you need. If an intruder breaks into your home, you may only have that second to push the 911 button on your phone. When you have your phone placed in speakerphone mode, the dispatcher will be able to hear everything that is going on inside of your home. Every phone in your home will need to have this feature programmed into them to help keep everyone safe and secure. Make sure all of the family members are aware of what they need to do to use the feature. The address to your home will automatically display when you call police and an officer will come even if the wire gets cut. All calls to 911 are going to be investigated due to this type of situation happening.
Try to Have an Escape Plan in Place
If someone is able to get out of the home and call the police, the invaders will not have the advantage of time and privacy. To some people, running away from your loved ones in their time of need is distasteful, especially when you have women and children inside. The alternative may mean that you end up tied-up or handcuffed to the point where you are incapacitated and left to sit there and watch as your loved ones are molested. If you have a plan in place for escaping, you want to make sure you have included what to say and where to go. There are times when a radical escape may be the only solution. Diving through a glass window, jumping from a balcony or climbing out onto the roof may be your only chance to survive the situation. Even though you may end up with some minor injuries, they are far better than taking your chances against an intruder.
Intruders will often make threats of harming the children to get the adults to do what it is that they want. At the same time, children are often overlooked as the ones who are able to rescue the family and escape the situation at hand. They don’t guard children as well as they do the adults, so you will have a chance to get the help you need. If the opportunity arises, the child will be able to dial 911, escape to the neighbor’s home or push the panic button on your security system. Children who are capable of doing so need to take matters into their own hands and do it.