Baltimore, MD - May 27, 2016 - It was a beautiful unseasonably warm spring morning, this week, when I joined Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) Public Information Officer Corporal John Wachter, BCPD Officer Jonathan Neville, and WBAL TV news reporter Omar Jimenez at the home of a Baltimore County resident who requested a BCPD Home Security Survey. This homeowner was one of about 10-15 home and business owners who request this free service throughout the Baltimore County precincts, each month. By calling your precinct, owners can schedule a time to meet with an officer who will walk around the inside and outside of their properties in order to share general safety tips on how they can better secure them.
 

 
“It all starts when we pull up to the curb; it starts from the outside working our way in,” explained Officer Neville. “The appearance of the property is a big deterrent. You want to keep bushes right below windows. Criminals say they don’t want to be seen or heard, so we want to limit their hiding places and at night you want to illuminate the property with good exterior lights…If a suspect looks at your house and sees that you have all these things in place, hopefully, they will get the impression that your house is a harder target because it is well-secured.”

Some of  Officer Neville’s other safety recommendations include:

Ÿ  Keep your blinds closed at night, so people walking down the street won’t be able to look inside and see everything you have.

Ÿ  If you have a security door, always keep it locked and use a nearby hook to hang the key so people can find it, in case of a fire.

Ÿ  Basement door stairwells provide concealment--we want to try to reduce the amount of concealment the suspects have, either with lights or bushes kept trimmed below the window, so it doesn’t give them a place to hide. Criminals don’t want to be seen or heard.

Ÿ  At a hardware store you can buy sockets that you unscrew the flood light and screw in a motion light or dusk to dawn timers--it comes on when it gets dark and shuts off when it gets light. You can do that with motion sensors, too. You don’t need to replace the whole fixture outside, just install the socket  into the pre-existing fixture.

Ÿ  Your local big-box hardware stores have a whole home security section: different types of door and window locks, stripe plates that you can add to reinforce what you already have, and all types of bars, etc. We hope they activate the alarm system and hear the audible alarm and go running off, or the police get there in time to apprehend them.

Ÿ  Motion sensors are good because if someone breaks out a sliding glass door, the second the suspect walks through, the alarm will be activated.

Ÿ  If you or your neighbor has a ladder outside, make sure it is secured--either store it in the garage or chain it to a tree or fence. You don’t want anyone using it to break into your houses.

Inspecting the front door of this home, Officer Neville continued to say that a good security door kept locked is important; so is always using your deadbolts. “You get most of the security from the front door, so always remember to keep that deadbolt locked. One big recommendation is to replace the usual ½”-¾” screws on the strike plate into the molding, and replace them with 4” or longer stainless steel hardened screws. With a good solid door and such long screws, it will be very hard to force the door open. They even make products which are a couple of feet long that comes with about ten long sized screws. If you are home during the day and have a peephole, look outside to see if you recognize who it is. If you don’t, and you think it’s suspicious, call 911. We rather come out and talk to the individuals, identify who they are, and it be nothing, than they actually be suspects and have to deter a possible crime.”

Officer Neville also mentioned the danger of hiding keys outside under a doormat; instead, leave a key with a neighbor. If you travel and will be out of town for a week, ask a friend or neighbor to pick up the mail for you so it doesn’t accumulate outside. And, it is a good idea, especially when you travel--and in the winter, too, when it gets dark earlier than you return home from work--to put a couple of lights on timers, for example, in the living room. Using a solid, well-wired lamp with an LED bulb, or another type of bulb that doesn’t get too hot when used for an extended period of time, is important. You can get programmable digital timers; some of them even have a random function which alternates the times that the timer goes on and off, rather than, for example, turning on from exactly 5-7 p.m., every night. Before you travel, call your precinct to fill out a Vacant House form, stating the dates you will be out of town and who has access to your house--so the police will know, if there is a problem, who should be there and how to contact you, in case of an emergency. The forms will alert officers who are on patrol to be on the alert for suspicious activity.

Officer Neville continued to explain that there are different types of alarms. For one type, the company comes and installs it and they monitor it for a monthly fee. For other products, through using wireless internet and smart phones, you can buy a camera/microphone/speaker, all in one, and if there is any type of motion in your house, it sends an alert to your cell phone and you can see if anyone is in your house. You don’t have to pay a monthly monitoring fee for this, since you monitor it yourself. The most economical type of alarm--that does not require monitoring--utilizes a couple of motion sensors. If they go off, it alerts you, rather than sending an alert to your phone or to an alarm company.

“We recommend putting surveillance cameras in your house, too,” added Officer Neville. “A lot of alarm companies can incorporate them into your system; you can even look and see on your Smartphone if someone is in your house. If you are not home and an alarm company calls to say that your front door opened or a motion sensor went off in your kitchen, if you have cameras inside of your house, you can  remotely look at your phone and make sure no one is inside your house.

“Always use your alarm system,” advised Officer Neville. “You can also incorporate video surveillance into the alarm system. Use your alarm during the day and at night, too, and don’t get in the habit of cancelling the police. If you get multiple false alarms within a month, call the alarm company and have them come out--it could be as simple as moving one of the sensors. Nowadays, with improved equipment, you shouldn’t be getting any false alarms. If you are out of the house and the alarm goes off, you can always call the precinct to find out the results of that alarm. If it is a burglary, and we see that force was used, the police will get a hold of you so you can come out to the house. But, if it is a false alarm, if we see that everything is secured, we may leave and you might not hear back from us, so call the precinct to see what the results were.”

Another area of concern, according to Officer Neville, is where there is a lot of glass which is easy for someone to break out and come in. “There are different products for sliding glass doors to make sure there is no play in the door; they use a Charlie bar to prevent it from opening. There are also products out there to cover sliding glass doors and the glass of larger windows, such as a clear window film. When applied to a sliding glass door or larger windows, an intruder wouldn’t be able to tell it is there. If the glass is broken with a rock, the glass will shatter, however, that window film will delay the intruder from entering your house. There are products that you can buy online and install yourself,  or you can have a company come out and install them. Different brands require professional installation. If you have smaller windows, you can use some type of security grate or burglar bar. You can buy something in a hardwood store that you can install by yourself, to make it cost effective. Just make sure that whatever you do has a release on it, so in case there is a fire you can get out. You don’t want to permanently attach something to it, for this reason. These types of products and the various alarms are useful in trying to buy you time--if your home entry takes too much time, the intruder will leave to find an easier target. Always make sure that doors are locked. You can buy separate locks on sliding glass doors that are just a thumb screw that you put on the bottom, on the track, and you just tighten them. It is a little more inconvenient than a Charlie bar, which you just easily lift up, but if you don’t use that sliding glass door often, just screw that thumb screw down tightly and it will prevent someone from sliding open your door.”

Securing your property within your home or office is important, too. “Have a good, quality safe installed and make sure it is bolted down to the floor,” advises Officer Neville. “Otherwise, someone can come in and carry out your safe. Keep your spare keys to your cars, the titles to your cars, and any important documents in this safe. Photocopy the fronts and backs of bank cards, so if you lose them or they are stolen, you know which banks to call and what account numbers they are associated with. Walk around your property with a digital camera and photograph anything that may be valuable. Keep that media card in your safe. It makes it easier if you have to file a police report to submit photos of what is missing. Record serial numbers of all your electronics and lawn equipment and keep the list in your safe, too.”

At the conclusion of the Security Survey, the homeowner noted, “When you live in a place, you know it very well, but you don’t realize what’s going on, as far as your security is concerned because you live there on a daily basis. But, when an officer comes out and he points out and shows you all the vulnerabilities that they are experienced with, it  makes a world of difference because now I can go out and secure different areas that might be vulnerable--things I really wasn‘t thinking about; things that I had no clue that anything can happen in those areas. Now that I have that knowledge, knowledge is power.”

“The Home Security Surveys that the Baltimore County Police Department provides, at no cost to homeowners and business owners, is a valuable tool to help protect against becoming a burglary victim,” concluded Baltimore County Police Department Public Information Officer Corporal John Wachter.  “We encourage residents to contact their precinct's Community Outreach Team and schedule one today. This will help us protect you and your property. Another thing that will help us protect your community is reporting any suspicious activity people, vehicles, or activity to police immediately.”

Democratic Central Committee member and Baltimore City’s fifth district councilman nominee Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer noted that the Northwest District of the Baltimore City Police Department  offers free security assessments for homes and businesses, as well.

“Strong and safe neighborhoods, rely on building and maintaining close community-police relationships. Homeowners cannot rely solely on Police for their safety, but can utilize government resources to enhance their family’s wellbeing. I strongly encourage all homeowners to take advantage of the security assessments offered by local law enforcement and community patrol groups. It is critical to be part of the solution, together we can keep our District and neighboring Districts safe.”

If you are a Baltimore City residential or business owner, call the Northwest District, 410-396-2466, to schedule a free assessment. Baltimore County residential and business owners, please call your precinct’s Community Outreach Team. In Pikesville: 410.887.6775