The 5 D’s of Home Defense – Detect
If you missed the first article in the 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.
This article deals with the second “D” – Detect.
If the attacker was not dissuaded by how you have made your property
look by using the Deter, the first article in the series, then he must be
detected. Detected in a way that not only you are alerted to his presence
but alerted in such a way that he knows that you know of his presence.
This is our second line of defense. From 1,500 years ago until today,
sentries having been watching for threats and trumpeting warnings of
detected invaders. Today, though not as effectively, detection is more
conveniently done using other means. A barking dog can be a method of
detection. Dogs can work but should be carefully considered as a life-style
decision on just an alarm. We briefly touched on motion-sensing outdoor
lighting in the Deter article, but we now have more considerations. First
off, they need to have high-quality sensors. Cheap ones will come on
when they shouldn’t and worse, stay on. This leads to them being turned
off. They also need to be placed where the attacker will set them off as he
tries to sneak onto your property. Ideally, they would alert you at the
same time by shining through a window. Even if that necessitates turning
one bulb of a double bulb unit to shine directly at a window that you would
see. Motion-sensing cameras and systems that send a text to your phone
when they sense anyone approaching your home can be effective if your
budget allows. Driveway sensors with trip alarms can detect a car or
attacker and set off a buzzer inside your home. These can be set up
across pathways, sidewalks, open yards and, of course, driveways. Door
viewers, optical and electronic, are reasonably priced and can also chime or
send an alert and a camera view to your phone. They can also accomplish
this detection and send video and audio to your phone when you are away
from home.
Detection has two important results. One, is to possibly change the
attackers mind once he realizes he has been detected and the other is the
sooner you know of a pending attack the better. Time is your ally, surprise
is the attacker’s tool.
Next week we will cover our next circle of defense and learn things that we
can do to protect our family from