A home invasion is a living, breathing, complete and utter nightmarish situation that no one should ever have to go through. Imagine you're in bed, two a.m. rolls around, and two scumbags pry open your back door and rustle you and your family out of bed with guns and machetes and shoot and kill your dog. If that's not bad enough, they then beat you silly and take your 14-year-old daughter.
The Middletown Press reports, "Authorities have said two men wearing black clothing and armed with handguns pried open a back door of the home around 2:15 a.m., demanding the family's valuables, authorities said. The teen was taken from her suburban Atlanta home early Tuesday after authorities said armed robbers broke in, demanded money and jewelry, and were told there was none."
OHHHH EMMMM GEEEE. That's pretty awful. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what a home invasion looks like. It's the furthest thing from pretty. It's as ugly as it gets, and it happens every day. It happens because there are crazy people out there with bad intentions, and the only way they can satisfy their miserable lives is by torturing others to get what they want. (The girl was found safe, but still.)
So what went wrong here? How could this been prevented? Tough to say. The article mentions nothing in regard to a home alarm going off when the back door was pried open. But there are things that can be done ahead of time to reduce the chances a home is targeted.
- Home security system: A monitored home security system would have set off a siren, alerting both the home invaders and the homeowner. As soon as the alarm goes off, the clock is ticking. The alarm could have deterred the home invaders because they would consider law enforcement on the way.
- Back doors: Use solid-core doors. Just like a strong front door, the back door has to be strong too.
- Doorjamb reinforcement: Most doors can easily be kicked in. Beef up the doorjamb with technologies that make it harder to pry open or kick in.
Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.
