The FBI Crime Report (published annually) tells us that 33% of all burglaries occur with the criminals never having to force their way into a home.

Think about that for a second…One out of every three burglaries and home invasions that happens could have been completely prevented simply by locking up and closing windows, and maybe paying a little bit more attention to whether or not your garage was quite as secure as you had hoped it would be.And even though the other two thirds of burglaries out there occur because of forced entry methods – kicking in doors, breaking windows, or using the “six second or less” entry approach through your garage door – methods that are a lot harder to prevent, there are still things that you’re going to be able to do to secure your home and protect your loved ones.There are three “top entry points” that criminals are going to try and hit when they visit your home, and we are going to share with you a couple of tips and tricks to help you better secure those entry points to dissuade criminals and by you the time you need to better protect those you care most about.Beef up your doorsIt should come as no surprise to anyone that doors are the number one entry point for criminals, and the preferred method of getting into and getting out of a home that they are robbing.

The first thing that you should do to better secure doors is make sure that they are completely solid (and not hollow core), and that your lock set and deadbolt take advantage of oversized strike plates that really burrow into your doorjamb.

Remember, these doors are only going to be as safe as the weakest link in the security chain. Spend the money to make sure that they are completely protected.

Overhaul your garage door security

There are two different ways that criminals are going to try to get into your garage through your garage door:

Using advanced technology to scan for your door opener code and pop it open just like you do when you get home from work or
Punch the top door panel in and hit the emergency release cord so that they are able to manually lift the door like you do when the power goes out

Most high tech garage door openers use “rolling codes” that make it next to impossible for a thief to pick them up when scanning, and you’ll be able to add Garage Door Armor to your Emergency Release Cord so that they can’t reach in and trigger the mechanism.

Take care of your windows

Windows these days come with incredibly “beefy” security mechanisms (and for good reason), but you’ll still want to think about adding wireless alarm systems to these windows to make sure that the alarm triggers when they are opened.

You’ll also want to make sure that your upper-level windows are wired into the system as well, especially if you opened their or any of your neighbors) has a tendency to leave ladders laying around the house unprotected and easily accessible by criminals.

Protection From Home Invasions