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Letter Re: Real World Observations on Fighting Crime and Criminals
Greetings James,
The recent article by Eli was very informative but I would like to ad one comment
regarding his section referring to burglaries. I believe what I'm going to
mention here is commonly overlooked as I was guilty of it myself.
Eli wrote: "Go
and look at your front door. Find your lock plate. When a door is forced, this
is the part to give, with the plate coming loose and
breaking the trim. Get a screw driver, and remove one of the screws. Realize
that this is what is securing your front door. Now go buy longer screws, and
replace them immediately."
While this is very important,....DO NOT overlook the hinges.
Most hinges are secured with 1" screws (or shorter). My wife and I had
our house broken into about 8 years ago. I had done such a good job with the
strike plate and the 3-1/2" screws that when the thief finally was able
to break the door down, it was obvious that it gave way at the
hinges.
The dead bolt and strike plate were still mostly intact but the hinges had
torn out of the jamb. The entire door was laying in our bedroom when I came
home
to my wife and the police standing in our bedroom. (We had a door that lead
from our bedroom to the back patio.) Also, if it wasn't for the monitored
security
system, our whole house would have looked like our bedroom.
From that point on, everywhere we've lived, I not only heavily re-enforce the
strike plate but the hinges as well. Of course no door is "forced entry
proof", but this will definitely slow them down.
And, if re-enforced properly, they may just give up without actually getting
in. Best Regards, - SRN
