Andy: This is The Secure Family Podcast.
Welcome friend I'm Andy Murphy.
This show is all about empowering parents to protect themselves and their family.
I believe that security is the foundation of happiness, and I want
your family to be safe and happy.
If that sounds like something that resonates with you, subscribe to
the show because there is always something new to talk about.
The information that I share on this podcast is for general
information purposes only.
My goal is to empower you to make safer decisions for yourself and
your family because our safety is our own responsibility.
Today I'm gonna share with you how to protect your home
without the use of technology.
Don't get me wrong, alarms and cameras are great, but burglars really
hate when I'm about to tell you.
All of that and more coming up on The Secure Family Podcast.
Our personal information is being sold online, and we might believe it got there
in a data breach or hack of some sort, but the truth is the institutions that we
trust could be the ones selling us out.
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and the airline you last flew on are selling your information.
When I refinanced my mortgage, my mailbox started filling up with
junk offers that had my name, my lender, and details about my loan.
I also started getting more calls from numbers I didn't recognize if these
trusted institutions are profiting from our information, who's left to protect us.
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Home security has gotten very high tech over the last decade.
I know because I have been watching.
Since I've started The Secure Dad, I have seen the rise of the DIY
alarm system, AI threat detection, and even systems that deploy drones.
I think all of this is actually very cool.
Now, of course, me being me, I have some privacy concerns.
And then I'm also curious about how insurance companies have been acquiring
large portions of home security companies.
So like for example, State Farm owns a big stake in ADT.
But you can listen to episode number 200 of this podcast to find out
more about my concerns with that.
But as cool as technology is, physical precautions are still the best ways
to protect your home and family.
So today I'm going to share with you how you can protect
your home without technology.
Or you can say, this is off grid, home security, whatever sounds best to you.
Technology is great.
I'm a big fan, but it has its limitations.
While in the age of ai.
You do have to wonder why I say that though, but the fact of the matter
is that the power can go out and the whole thing just shuts down.
Even with a battery backup, it won't last more than a day or so.
And then what happens if the wifi goes out?
Some systems still have like the 4G LTE backup, but you'd be surprised
that some brands don't have that.
Some of these knockoff ones don't get that.
and I am actually genuinely surprised that there has not been a ransom
attack that has taken down a large portion of some company's system.
It's, it's amazing.
It hasn't happened yet.
Not to mention, savvy criminals now know how to bypass alarms and cameras.
They can use jammers to do this.
Well, that's another thing that's really happened over the last 10 years that I
have seen the rise of is that technology has bred more technology savvy burglars.
So it, the escalation here is crazy, and that's why I feel that
physical security is still the best way to protect your home.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't have an alarm system or cameras, I'm just
letting you know that a camera isn't gonna stop someone from kicking in your
door or come off the wall to help you if you're being assaulted in your own home.
Those are the facts.
So let's talk about defending your home's entry points.
You need to have strong doors.
FBI Statistics for a very long time have said that the most
common way a thief enters your home is through the front door.
Replace your hollow core doors with solid wood or steel doors
if you have the budget for it.
And make sure that you have a high quality deadbolt that is at least a
grade one and buy a name brand lock and no, Yale is not a name brand lock.
But I do have a budget friendly tip for you right now.
For about $3, you can get two and a half to three inch wood screws to
replace your current door hardware.
On the door frame is the often forgotten strike plate.
This is where the deadbolt lock really gets its strength from.
This is the portion that actually fits into the door frame where
the deadbolt slides into the frame and keeps the door from opening.
People forget that when somebody kicks down a door, it's the strike plate and
the doorframe that splinter into pieces.
It's not the deadbolt that fails.
It's the strike plate.
So by replacing the standard screws with longer ones, the strike plate's resistance
will be greatly increased, meaning that your door will withstand a few kicks.
And while you're at it, for a few bucks more, you can upgrade to a security
strike plate that has more anchor points for more long screws and is just
wider than the standard strike plate.
These security strike plates dissipate the force of a kick in
attack on a door, making it more resistant to being forced open.
Another thing that I suggest that families do frequently is to get a
secondary lock for their front door.
And I'm a big fan of FlipLok.
You guys know this.
Now this is a secondary lock that easily installs on any door that gives it extra
strength and a kick in attack and will even help if your locks have been picked.
So somebody could pick your deadbolt and the knob lock, but they still won't be
able to get past the FlipLok because they most likely don't know that it's there.
But the FlipLok can activate in less than a second and can withstand up
to more than 1600 pounds of force.
It's a great way to multiply the fortification on any exterior door.
Now if your home has a sliding glass door, you're gonna wanna secure it
beyond the little tiny lock that's on it.
Now I suggest that you get a two to three foot dowel ride to place in
the track of the door on the inside.
By laying it flat on the track, it prevents the active
door from sliding open.
And this simple measure can be done in about 10 seconds.
If you're concerned about someone breaking a window, especially one
that is around your front door, then there is a great DIY project for you.
3M makes this window anti-shatter film that will prevent people from
getting through a broken window.
Now the window will still shatter, but it will remain in place and this is a great
way to keep up burglars, but it would be a real pain for the fire department who
may be getting in to try to save you.
So there is a trade off to consider.
If you've listened to the show for long enough, then you
know what I'm about to say.
And that is that security does not start at your front door.
Home security starts at the street.
That means that we need to begin to protect our family at our property lines.
Now, I know you may think, Hey, Andy's gonna tell me to dig a moat
that's gonna have sharks in it.
And while that would totally be cool, I don't think your
HOA is gonna agree with it.
But believe it or not, one of the best things that we can do to protect our
home is actually add lighting to it.
I love lighting for home security.
Not only is it a great deterrent, it actually boosts the curb appeal of
your home, which your HOA will like.
If a burglar thinks that they can be seen approaching your property or
while they're on your property, then they're not gonna step foot on it.
They'll try another home, one that's darker, and maybe it's your neighbors.
But that's not your problem.
One of the easiest ways to keep somebody from trying your doorknob to
see if your front door is unlocked, is to light up your front porch.
You can do this by turning on your porch light every night.
You can just get into the habit of flipping the switch before you go to bed.
This will illuminate your entryway and the front part of your home,
and that will hopefully keep the wrong people off of your stoop.
Now you can also invest in a dusk to dawn light bulb that will turn on and off
with the rising sun, but that might be considered too technologically advanced
for some critics of this episode, but it doesn't use wifi or Bluetooth.
So I say we're good.
These light bulbs will cost about $15 for two of them.
You simply screw them into the socket.
You flip the switch on once and you're done.
The light bulb takes care of the rest.
I've also had listeners rave about gravel walkways around their home.
The sound of gravel moving under someone's feet can alert
you to any unwanted visitors.
I do think that this is a great idea.
If that's in your budget and that is something that you think
will add curb appeal to your home, I think you go for it.
And of course, fencing is a great way to define your property and determine the
intent of anybody who tries to cross them.
If you have a six foot privacy fence in your backyard, it's
gonna be difficult to climb over.
And if anyone does make it over, you know that they're
not there to sell you cookies.
Their intent is not good.
And this leads me to one of my favorite ways to improve the security
of anybody's home, and that is a dog.
Dogs are great for so many reasons, but they can actually
help you protect your home.
Now, I don't want you to think that your nine-year-old Bassett hound is going to
save you from a knife wielding murderer.
Chances are that's not gonna happen.
Unless your dog has been trained by professionals, they will most
likely not physically defend you.
I know we all love stories in the news where that does happen, but untrained
dogs will fend for themselves first.
That's just how the mammal brain works.
But what dogs do bring to the table is their alert senses, like
their hearing and heightened smell.
They can hear somebody approaching better than we can and we
want them to start barking.
Barking is how dogs alert their loved ones, that there
is a developing situation.
They don't necessarily know what they're barking at is bad, but they're
going to sound the alarm and that's all that we can really ask of them.
So if you've been trying to convince your spouse that you need a dog.
Tell them it's a matter of safety.
Another technology freeway to secure your home is to make it look occupied.
The average burglar does not want to confront you.
They wanna grab your stuff and go.
Fighting with somebody is not on their agenda.
So let's go over a few things that will make your home look
active even while you're away.
First, you can leave the lights on while you're gone.
Pretty simple step.
They can be seen from the outside and cast doubt that somebody may
be home when it's fully dark.
You can also leave on the TV for the sound and also the lighting pattern
that a cast on the ceiling that could sometimes be seen outside.
We all know what this looks like.
It will make it look like somebody is home watching TV.
you can also leave on your radio just to make sure that your house
doesn't sound completely silent.
Anything that you can do to make your home look realistically
occupied is a great deterrent.
And lastly, home security is a daily commitment.
We could protect our home and our loved ones by committing
to simple, daily routines.
This means checking the door locks and windows before you go to bed.
Teaching your kids to lock the door behind them.
Remembering to turn on the lights and the radio before you leave.
These are all simple, no technology solutions that
will defend what matters most.
So there's the big secret.
Physical home defenses and planning is far better than what technology can do for us.
But alarm systems have great marketing and they're telling you that their
system is all that you're going to need, but now you know better.
And by the way, this is what home security looked like in the late
19 hundreds when I was a kid.
And while this may sound very old school.
It still works.
Technology is great, and I am absolutely not against it.
I do suggest that you have an alarm system and cameras, and if you're gonna have an
alarm system, please pay for monitoring.
It makes it a whole lot better.
But when the power goes out or the wifi drops, these physical defenses
are what really stand between your family and a wouldbe attacker.
Home security does not have to be complicated, it just has to be consistent.
So start with the basics.
Keep up those daily routines, make those physical fortifications and remember
every step that you take makes your home a harder target for a bad guy, and
that makes your family so much safer.
Well, that's everything that I have for this episode of The Secure Family Podcast.
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I'm Andy Murphy reminding you that our safety.
Is our own responsibility.