Re: I was broken into ... last questions before purchase

[Armadillo Soup <louispoint@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:JIGdneGW1q_vS87eRVn-iA@xxxxxxxxxx:

> Sir, I strongly suggest you look at physically
"hardening" your
> apartment before you spend a lot of money on an
alarm, especially if
> it's only going to be a non-monitored one. For
many years before I
> sold alarm systems, my speciality was "target
hardening" homes against
> break and enter. In my experience, an apartment
is one of the easiest
> types of habitations to secure since it often has
a limited number of
> entrance poinst.
>
> Assuming your door is of solid wood construction,
and not some flimsy
> thing, a quality deadbolt lock with a long steel
strike properly
> anchored to the studding inside the walls with 3
to 4 inch screws will
> almost guarantee that no one will get through the
door without a lot
> of EFFORT and a lot of NOISE. If your apartment
door frame is steel
> mounted in concrete, so much the better!! Make
sure your patio door is
> secured with a visible swingdown bar across the
inside, and make sure
> the door can't be lifted up and out of it's track
with a couple of
> screwdrivers (this is secured by putting screws
above the door to keep
> it from being lifted up). Lastly, check each
window to make sure that
> it locks properly and is secured in some way
against being forced
> open.
>
> Remember, what is the sense spending a whole
bunch of money to warn
> after they are already in the home, if you
haven't taken the simplest
> of precautions to keep them out to start with. My
site has a great
> deal of information on  the variety of simple
things to do to
> physically secure your home properly (but be
prepared to read a
> lot...I'm pretty long winded !!)

You know ... you make an excellent point. I'm
convinced this guy hit me instead of the guy across
the hall simply because that guy had one more lock
on his door than I had.

I think I'm going to order some of these warning
stickers too. That say "secured by ..." or
something along those lines. Anyone know where they
can be ordered ?

I looked your site over a bit and there is lots of
good info on there.

I think 90% of the burglers in this area definetely
fall into the first or second category of burgler
you discribe.  Noise, lights, etc ... are almost
certain to cause them to just hit the road looking
for something else.

Partly I was thinking of getting an alarm system
because I hesitated to spend a great deal of money
updating this slumlords apartment for him.

He is a total cheapskate. I had to call and
threaten to sue just to get him to fix a friggin
broken lock ! This is after I already got broken
into !  My door had one working lock, and one
broken lock on it (before getting broken into)...
and he wasn't even going to fix the broken lock ...

You're not even going to believe this though ...

He didn't even fix the wooden trim around the door
on the front side ... so you can see where the guy
chistled/crowbarred in. There is a nice little slot
in the wood for the next guy to stick his
chistle/crowbar set up into ... so basically, the
next guy has already had 40% of his work done for
him !

Unbelievable.

Anyway, I figured I could at least take the alarm
system with me when I leave.

But ... I think you're right ... being pissed at
the landlord isn't going to protect my stuff ...
:)

Besides, the next occupant will thank me ... maybe
I'll save them a few hundred bucks too ...