Brian Blackwell QI Services - investigations and security

Brian Blackwell QI Services, Inc.

Security Tips

Family Security

Family is at the center of anyone’s universe. Most people would do
almost anything for their family including protecting them from
known dangers and harm.

Protecting your family becomes increasingly difficult because we live
in a mostly open society where we share the same public places as
criminals. The only place where we really have any control over our environment is in our home.

Whenever a family member leaves the home, they leave the zone of protection you have created. You should create a good family
security plan to help keep your family members reasonably safe once
they leave the home.

To properly develop a family security plan, you must examine the
public routines of each family member and then develop the actions
necessary that can help protect them from criminals.

A smart way to begin creating a proper family security plan for your
family is to talk about different “what if” scenarios with each family
member. For example, what if this happens, what should I do?

When developing your family security plan, you should create safety precautions and protective measures to employ when you use the
ATM machine, shopping at the mall or when you walk to your vehicle
on the street at night should anyone try to assault or rob you.

If someone approaches to rob you, what will you do? You and your
family members should be prepared to defend yourselves if
necessary should a criminal assault or robbery occur.

Note: In many cases, the victim is murdered even though they do
precisely what the perpetrator says. You might want to be prepared
to fight back if you are ever in this situation. Fight for your life!

Security at Shopping Centers

Even though shopping centers and malls come in different sizes, the
one thing they all have in common is a parking lot. You and your
family are at greatest risk in parking lots.

Criminals can easily blend in with the rest of us. Criminal predators
can easily walk by us in parking lots without us knowing it because of
the public setting.

Most shoppers walk to and from their automobile not aware of the
dangers that are around them because they are consumed by their thoughts and what they are going to do next.

Most shopping center crimes occur when shoppers are distracted by
fumbling for their keys when walking to their car and when they take
their attention away from anyone nearby to put shopping bags and
children into the automobile.

You should always have your automobile key out and ready to unlock
your auto so you can enter and secure yourself quickly inside your
automobile. You should always think about your safety.

The best defense is awareness. Awareness can allow you to plan
ahead and anticipate dangerous situations that may occur.

Good planning includes selecting safe times to shop (daylight) and
making arrangements not to shop alone if possible and where to park
your automobile (in high traffic areas and not next to large autos).

Scan the parking lot for suspicious people before parking and exiting
your vehicle and when walking to your car after shopping. Enter and
exit your automobile quickly and immediately lock the doors.

Look around the area where your car is parked before approaching it
and retreat to the store if anyone suspicious is loitering in the area.

Be alert to predators in the parking lot
Plan when to go and where to park
Never get out of your car if it isn’t safe to do so
Scan the area around your vehicle as you approach it
Enter and exit your car quickly and lock the doors
Retreat to the store if anyone looks or acts suspicious

Home Security

Protecting your home and family from criminal intrusion should be
high on your list of priorities. The most common threat to anyone’s
home, of course, is burglary. According to the FBI, a burglary occurs
every 15 seconds somewhere in America.

Burglary isn’t always a non-confrontational crime. Sometimes,
burglars are caught in the act and attack the person who caught
them.

Becoming a victim of burglary can be devastating, leaving a person
feeling vulnerable and violated. The majority of house and apartment burglaries occur during the daytime when most people are at work or
school.

Burglaries are usually committed by young males, less than 25 years
of age, looking for items that are small, expensive and can be easily
converted into cash. The favorite items for burglars are cash, jewelry, watches, laptop computers, small electronic devices, video players
and guns.

Burglars prefer to gain access to a dwelling through an unlocked door
or open window. However, statistics show that 70% of burglars use
some amount of force to enter dwellings using ordinary household
tools like screwdrivers, small pry bars and channel-lock pliers.

Although home burglaries might seem random in occurrence, they
actually involve a selection process. The burglar’s selection process
involves choosing an unoccupied home with the easiest access, the
greatest amount of cover and best escape routes.

You can minimize your risk by making your home unattractive to
potential burglars. The first step is to “harden the target” or make
your home more difficult to enter. Burglars will avoid your home if it
requires too much effort or requires more skill and tools than they
possess. The more you “harden the target” the better!

Most burglars enter a house through the front and back or garage
doors. Experienced burglars know that the garage door is usually the
weakest point of entry followed by the back door. Garage doors and
back doors also provide the most cover.

Use high quality Grade 1 locks on exterior doors to prevent twisting,
prying and lock picking. A quality deadbolt lock will have a beveled
casing to inhibit the use of channel-lock pliers used to shear off lock cylinder pins. A quality door knob-in-lock set will have a dead latch mechanism to prevent slipping the lock with a shim or credit card.

Use a solid core or metal door for all entrances
Use a heavy duty deadbolt lock with a 1 inch throw bolt
Use a knob-in-lock set with a dead-latch mechanism
Use a wide-angle peephole on your front door

The weakest point on most doors is the strike plate that holds the
latch or lock bolt in place. The average strike plate on a door is
secured with only lightweight door frame molding and can be torn
away with a firm kick.

You should upgrade to a four screw, heavy duty high security strike
plate using three inch wood screws to cut deep into the door frame
stud. Also, use these longer screws in the door knob lock strike plate
and use two long screws in each door hinge for added strength. This
will deter most door forced entries.

Because of inherently defective latch mechanisms, sliding glass
doors are vulnerable to being forced open from the outside. You can
easily prevent this from happening by inserting a wooden dowel or
stick into the track or using track blockers that can be screwed down
onto the track.

Since older sliding glass doors can be lifted off their track, you should
also install anti-lift devices such as a pin that extends through both
the sliding and fixed portion of the door. You can find many locking
and blocking devices to help prevent a sliding glass door from being
lifted or forced horizontally in most any hardware store.

It is wise to place a highly visible alarm system decal and beware of
dog decal on sliding glass doors near the door latch. Burglars don’t
like alarm systems or large barking dogs for obvious reasons.

Place a blocking device into the track
Keep the latch in good condition and properly adjusted
Keep rollers in good condition and properly adjusted
Use anti-lift devices like through-the-door pins
Display a visible alarm system decal and beware of dog decal on sliding glass doors near the latch

Windows are left unlocked and open more often than doors. An open window, visible from the street, might be the sole reason for your
home to be selected by a burglar.

Ground floor windows are susceptible to break-ins for obvious
reasons. Upper floor windows become attractive to burglars if they
can be accessed from a stairway, balcony, tree or fence.

You should use blocking devices on windows such as track blockers
that are screwed down onto the track because windows have latches
not locks. A blocking device can help prevent a person from sliding
the window open from the outside.

Through-the-frame pins work well for vertical sliding windows and
wooden dowels work well for horizontal sliding windows. Allow the
window to open no more than six inches for ventilation purposes and
it is critical that you make sure that nobody can reach in the window
from the outside and remove the blocking device.

In sleeping rooms, window-blocking devices must be capable of being
easily removed from the inside to comply with fire codes. Employing
anti-lift techniques and devices are necessary for effectively securing ground level and aluminum windows that slide horizontally.

You can install screws half way into the upper track of the movable
glass panel to properly prevent the window from being lifted out in
the closed position. As a good deterrent against burglary, put highly
visible alarm system; beware of dog and other crime prevention
decals on ground level windows.

Secure all windows with blocking devices
Allow windows to open at least 6 inches for ventilation
Make sure nobody can reach through and open the window or
remove the blocking device from outside
Use anti-lift devices to prevent windows from being lifted out
Put alarm and beware of dog decals on ground level windows

A home that is dark inside at night sends the message to burglars
that you are away. Interior lighting is necessary to show signs of
activity inside your residence.

To deter burglars, you should use light timers, which are inexpensive
and can be found in many hardware stores. Light timers should be
used every day, not just when you are away. They click the lights on
and off to simulate occupancy. The very same light timers can also be
used to turn on radios and televisions to further enhance the illusion
of occupancy. It is also comforting to enter a lit residence.

Exterior lighting is also very important and becomes critical if you
have to park in a common area parking lot or underground garage and
need to walk to your front door.

Of course, the purpose of good lighting is to allow you to see if a
threat or suspicious person is lurking in your path. If you can see a potential threat in advance, you have an opportunity to avoid it.

Exterior lighting should be bright enough for you to see at least 100
feet. Good lighting is definitely a deterrent to criminals because they
do not want to be seen nor identified.

Another important area that should be well lit is the perimeter of your
house or apartment especially at the entryway. Exterior lighting on
the front of any property should always be on a timer to establish an appearance of occupancy at all times.

Using security lights with infrared motion sensors is a smart way to
deter burglars. They are relatively inexpensive and can easily replace
a porch light or side door light. The heat motion sensor can be
adjusted to detect body heat and can be programmed to reset after
only one minute.

Use interior light timers to show occupancy
Exterior lighting should give you 100 feet visibility
Use good lighting along the pathway and at your door
Use light timers to automatically turn lights on and off
Use infrared motion censor security lights

Alarm systems definitely have a place in a home security plan and
are very effective if used properly. Alarm systems, of course,
increase the possibility of a burglar being caught by the police.

Burglars will usually bypass a property with visible alarm signs and
decals. Never write your alarm system pass code on or anywhere
near the alarm keypad.

Alarm systems need to be properly installed and maintained. All
alarm systems should have an audible horn or bell to be effective in
case someone does break into your home and should be programmed
to automatically reset after only one or two minutes. Alarm systems
can monitor for fire as well as burglary for the same price.

If you use a central station to monitor your alarm, make sure your
response call list is always up-to-date.

Alarm systems can be effective deterrents
Alarm systems must be properly installed, programmed and
maintained to be effective
Alarm systems need to have an audible horn or bell to be
effective and should automatically reset after 1 or 2 minutes
Make sure your alarm response call list is up-to-date

For obvious safety reasons, you should never open your front door
when someone knocks unless you know the person. Make sure you
have a wide-angle peephole on your front door so you can easily
identify anyone knocking on your door.

Having a safe in your home is a smart investment. A home safe is
designed to keep the smash and grab burglar, nosey children and
dishonest babysitters and housekeepers from gaining access to
important documents and personal property. You should anchor a
home safe into the floor or permanent shelving.

We recommend you photograph your valuables in their location
around your home and make a list of their make, model and serial
numbers. This is very important for proof when filing an insurance
claim. Be sure to safeguard your list.

Keep receipts of larger items in case you need to prove the value of
the items for insurance claim purposes and photocopy your important documents. Keep the receipts and photocopies in a secure place.

Engrave your name and driver’s license number on televisions,
stereos, computers and small electronic devices so the police can
quickly locate you if your stolen items are recovered.

Inv. D. Brian Blackwell
Director, Brian Blackwell QI Services, Inc.