The 5 D’s Of Home Defense – Depart
If you missed the introduction to this series, start here [link]
In the first article in this series, we learned what would make our house
look like a hard target, one that thieves and attackers would pass over. To
Deter an attack. In the second article, Detect, we covered ways of
knowing that someone was on your property and letting the bad guy know
that you knew of his presence. The third “D” in the five D’s to home
security is Delay. We addressed reinforcing our doors, windows and other
openings in our homes to delay intruders.
In this chapter of this series, we will cover Depart.
To get to this point, the intruder has not been impressed by your methods
to Deter him, to Detect him or even to Delay him in entering your home.
What’s your plan? This will depend on many factors, but it starts with who
is in your home and the design of your home. It also depends on what
time of day it happens and where you are in the home at the time. We’ll
address a couple of scenarios but ultimately you will need to design a plan
that works for you, your family and your home. If you live alone or with a
spouse and no children live at home, the plan is a little more straight-
forward. If the design of your home is such that if the invader comes
through door A, and you can exit out door B, or vice-versa, that will be a
better choice than confronting the criminal. We must assume that he is
ready to kill you and kill or assault your wife. If you can avoid this simply
by running out the door that is the wise choice. Preparation for this would
be slip-on shoes under the bed, cell phone, car keys (many car remotes
have a panic button that honks the horn and flashes the lights) and
flashlight on night stand. If the night stand is not where you keep your cell
phone, use an old cell phone and keep it charged, it can still call 911 even
when not currently activated. If your night stand is not where you keep
your car keys and the remote has a panic button, buy an extra remote to
use the panic button in case the need arises. Note: Don’t leave your car
keys in the car even if it’s parked inside a garage.
If you think that being a Sheepdog requires staying and ‘giving this punk
what he has coming to him, you are wrong. Sheepdogs don’t fight the
wolf when they can lead their sheep to safety and continue to watch over
them.
If you have kids that live at home, a second-story master bedroom or only
one entrance and exit, as in many apartments, the plan gets more
complicated. If you cannot simply Depart and get away from possible
harm, you need to analyze what options you have available to you. The
answer may be to yell a safe word and have your family gather to a
designated room. It may be your room or the room of the youngest child
who is too young to move to a safe room. Keep in mind that you should
have a family secret code word that is only used in times of extreme
danger. Teach them exactly what to do when they hear this word. It
could mean different things depending on whether walking down the street
or they hear you yelling it in the middle of the night. You might decide
that it would be valuable to have a come to me code word or a get away
from me code word. Whatever you decide practice using the word only in
practices they know about. Other than practicing, any use of the word
would be only for the extreme emergency. If you think you should run a
trial as a practice without previously informing them, please refer to
Aesop’s Fables – The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Just as you should hold
practice fire escapes, you need to practice what each member of the family
should do in case of a home invasion. It is critical for them to perform
perfectly and to expect them to this without practice is naïve. You need
time. Time to gather, time to execute your defensive plan and time for
help to arrive. How’s your third D coming? Home invasions happen in an
instant. Surprise, over-whelming force and aggression are the attacker’s
tools. Do you have an answer for all of these? Let’s assume you are all
together at the designated spot. Now what. Call 911. Am I under the
assumption that the police will arrive in time to save you? Nope, they will
arrive in time to take the report and pictures. What calling 911 gets you is
an audio recording of what takes place. If you have a landline, find out if
your town has the Enhanced 911 system or E911 meaning that when 911
is called your address comes up on the dispatcher’s monitor. Consider
putting a home invasion script by the phone. Every family member should
practice in case they ever need to call 911 and know what to say. They
will ask what your emergency is. Tell them that someone has broken into
your home and they are still in the home if that is the case. Do not say
your home has been burglarized, that means someone broke into your
home while no one was there, and police response will be slow and often
the next day. Confirm your address. Tell them how many people are in
the home and where they are. The dispatcher will likely ask for a
description of the bad guy or guys. They will also ask if you are armed.
Tell them or have the person on the phone tell them what you are wearing.
Especially if you are armed. It would be tragic to survive an invasion only
to die by friendly fire. Unfortunately, it has happened. Always stay on the
phone, if you can’t, don’t hang up. Let the 911 recording hear what takes
place. Indicate that you are scared for your life and/or the lives of your
family. Answer their questions as calmly as possible. If you don’t have a
landline or must call 911 by cell phone or a VoIP type phone, the
dispatcher will not have the address automatically come up and you must
clearly and calmly say your address.
Note: Always know where you are so that if you need to contact 911, you
can quickly give a location to them. Whether you are in a hotel, a friend’s
house or restaurant. If you are driving, know what street and last cross
street you are on. If on an interstate or highway, know what mile-marker
you are on or what exits you are in-between.
Join us next week when we will dive into the final D to wrap up this series.
Defend. We will examine different methods and what to consider for each
method.