Re: Security ...

["Mal Lansell" <mal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, Chris Hunter <cjhunter@...> wrote:
>

> How come it's not on the political agenda - are people really so
> happy with how it's going ?   Should be emigrate ?
>
> What I don't understand, is that, even as young children, we used to
> leave our doors open & wonder free, all over London, as our
mothers
> did before us, and yet, with all the benefits of the post-war
welfare
> state, we can't do this today, even as adults ...
>

Take off the rose-tinted specs and don't believe the hype.  There have
been thieves, muggers, murderers, pedos etc since the dawn of
civilisation.

The real reason people could leave their doors unlocked a few decades
ago was that they had nothing worth stealing.

You were allowed to wander around London because there wasn't a 24-hour
media obsession about one missing girl scaring the crap out of your
parents.

That said, the only way to keep your stuff safe is to make your house
harder to break into than the one next door, and keep irreplacable
documents, jewelry, photos etc in a fireproof safe (in a non-obvious
location).

I doubt the value of alarms.  They go off so often that most people
assume it's a false alarm.  Ours went off when we were away on holiday
and our neighbour kindly called the police.  They wouldn't come out
unless she went to our house and checked it for burglars first!
Probably only worth having so there's a bell box out front as a visual
deterrent.

Cameras are good for revenge - if you can get a decent picture and the
plod can be arsed, but by then it's too late.

Get the basics sorted first - top quality locks for windows as well as
doors, and don't do daft things like leaving the key in the lock where
there is a glass panel within arms reach.

Mal