The area around your windows and doors should be well lit. You might consider getting lights with a motion detector. It saves on electricity and alerts you to someone coming closer. And although those thorns sound discouraging, I think that most policement will tell you not to have bushes near windows. They provide cover for a possible burglar.
How much does an air horn cost?
I second the advise to ask at your local police station. A lot of stations will have their own crime-prevention officers who are paid to give advice on just this kind of thing. If you live in an area with high rates of acquisitive crime you might even find your town has a pot of money for ‘target hardening’ and some of the improvements might be paid for (as long as your landlord is agreeable).
My local area does this (I am in England, so YMMV) and landlords are generally eager as it improves the security of their own property. They fit alarm systems, sash-jammers (plastic thingies that stop your windows getting forced open), outside lights and all kinds of other good stuff.
Genius.
Why haven’t I heard of this before, and why is it proving so difficult to find? (There’s no Wiki entry for it, and Google Images turns up zilch when it comes to a picture of this stuff in action) All I get when I Google it are some chemistry websites and shady-looking suppliers which seem to be shipping it from China.
I assumed that alarm system for apartments they advertise on the radio all the time - Lazer-Shield, something like that? Anyway, I assumed it was crap playing on the weak, right? Because the radio commercials are awful. But when my boyfriend’s apartment/office got broken into, he could buy the setup THAT DAY from a brick and mortar store and have it up and running twenty minutes later. No drilling, nothing to void your lease or lose your deposit. It’s motion detectors, and you do need a phone line for monitoring, but it satisfied him.
We have glass-breaker detectors on our system. They actually detect any “sharp” noise and sound the alarm. I dropped a cookie sheet and that sound tripped them.
You can buy the alarm system and not have it hooked up to the office. They still sound when tripped, but it’s not hooked up to the central office (if cost is a consideration).
Don’t buy anything that makes the glass hard to break; you may need to break it yourself to escape from a fire. Or firemen may need to break it to rescue you.
Mine have gone off three times now - once it was a tree limb cracking off and falling in my neighbor’s yard. Well, okay. The second time it was who the hell knows what, a dog barking or something irrelevant. Dumb.
Last Sunday it was somebody throwing a rock through my window. Glass break win!
Try googleing “window film” . Most Home Depots will sell it, at less then 10 bucks for a window’s worth. Great stuff. and you can get creative with it, too. Ikea has it too, called Amorf Frost. Here’s a review. Also fun are these “window poems”. This one is in Dutch, though.
Holy shit, I should look into better options. I just got two laptops and a TV stolen, and I’m forking out a $1,000 deductable!
Fortunately one of the laptops was already broken and I wasn’t planning on replacing it, so I’ve got that going for me
In my long life, I’ve been burgled three times while living in rentals: twice in a house, once in a first floor apartment. The burglaries all happened when no one was home. The apartment break-in (through a back sliding glass door) happened while I was out of town for several days.
Some burglars are looking just for money and drugs, or small valuable items they can sell quickly. The professionals can quickly strip your place of any valuable electronics. All will empty your jewelry box, even if the contents are junk.
Definitely have renter’s insurance. Do what you can to secure the sliding doors. Make it difficult, time-consuming, and pointless to steal your stuff: for example, deface your electronics to decrease their resale value. If you’re leaving town, hide your jewelry and other small valuable items, or take them with you.
Huh. In twenty years of living in first-floor apartments or two-floor rental townhouses, it has never once occurred to me to worry about this.
I hope the OP hasn’t been burgled, etc. in the 8 years since this thread was created.
I live in a first-floor apartment in a decent neighborhood; as long as you keep the doors locked, whether you’re there or not, and don’t sleep with the windows open, etc. things should be OK.
I pay $114 a year for $40,000 replacement cost in renter’s insurance.
His last post was only 6 months after he started this thread. 7 years ago.
Dennis
This device works really well.
Murdered no doubt. Probably relied on window film.
Living in America is exciting.
Nah. Probably murdered by a zombie. They hate stairs.
Lasers! They are cheap and use little power. With a few mirrors you have a red lattice that looks like it could stop Tom Cruise.
