Many of us think that security is a series of physical and technological interventions that we place between ourselves and criminals. Almost like an obstacle course.
These interventions are not “security”, but simply aids. They will help you maintain safety easier and help you maintain a higher level of safety. But passive security is the same as no security. Any system is dependent on being “actively worked”.
Security starts and ends with you. All of the most spectacular security breaches happened because of two things:
- Human Action (error, negligence, stupidity, or intent but seldom purely accident)
- Underestimating human ingenuity (obstacles are simply challenges)
This article will deal with security from those two perspectives, highlighting mindset and operational considerations.
I will toggle between the two, alternatively offering high-level and practical advice while priming your thought process on practical ways to implement conceptual considerations.
Thinking You Are Safe
Most think that because we have addressed security concerns, we are safe. It’s the same as thinking that a gym membership will increase your fitness. What increases your fitness is going to the gym and working out.
Your security is not “created” through measures but constant vigilance.
Putting this into practice:
If you don’t have a security routine, you are not safe.
Are you checking doors and windows before you go to sleep?
Do you have a procedure for how you approach your house after work and let yourself in?
Pro Tip:
Pro’s vary their routines. They don’t follow the same route every night when checking the house for lockdown. They approach their property from different directions.
Related: Home Security Tips From A Military Expert
They drive past their entrance for a mile and then backtrack. When leaving for work, they drive for 5 minutes, then head back to do a surprise inspection.
Trusting Your System
Complacency is the biggest safety risk. Security is an arms race between predators and prey. Every innovation in security will be matched by an innovation amongst criminals.
Switching your system on at night should not fill you with a sense of absolute safety.
Even redundancy within your system should not fill you with complacency.
Assume that something can and will go wrong. Assume that someone has hacked your home security system and can deactivate it at will.
Related: No Power? No Problem! Methods for Home Security When the Grid is Gone
Assume that the gardener is an enemy agent that has systematically been sabotaging your motion sensors.
Putting this into practice:
Paranoia is a heightened state of awareness of how events can go wrong or how systems can fail.
Don’t trust anything. Verify everything. Think like a highly motivated criminal.
Think of how you would breach your security system if someone took your family hostage in your home, and you needed to get past your security measures to infiltrate your house.
Find the point of a breach, consider the method of a breach and then take measures against that.
This could mean opening motion sensors to see if duct tape has been used to create blind spots. Put recognizable objects in view of security cameras that you regularly move around to see if your feed has been hacked or if you are getting a delayed feed.
Pro Tip:
Analog backup. Determine the most likely points of entry and identify your most vulnerable spots.
Use analog backup devices to create offline redundancy that cannot be compromised from the outside. Pro’s know that two measures are one, and one is none.
⇒ How To Make Automatic Backyard Traps And Alarms Against Looters And Intruders
Analog or mechanical backup can be strings attached to buckets filled with stones to tripwires attached to flares or stun-grenades.
Profiling Wrong
Whenever psychopaths or child abusers are captured and brought to justice, a common refrain from witnesses at their trial is that they were such pleasant people and everyone liked and trusted them.
If you are realistic about statistics and profiling, you will be wary of people who seem trustworthy and close to you.
The person you see and think is not a threat, is more likely to be a threat than someone walking around in rags, talking to themselves, and acting weird. People who intend to harm you, come as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Try the following for some time and you will be amazed at the results.
Don a hardhat and a high-visibility jacket with visible identification. Have a clipboard in your hand, and look like you are about to solve an impending problem. You will meet very little resistance from ordinary folk.
Putting this into practice:
It is essential to verify that the work crew is indeed who they say they are. If they are outside your property, don’t let them into you if you cannot verify their credentials. If they flag you down while driving, don’t stop. If you have to stop, keep your window up and your finger on the trigger of your mini Glock.
Pro Tip:
Don’t allow any unscheduled or unplanned entry into your property. As a rule, don’t let anyone into your house. If this cannot be avoided, keep a distance of at least 7 feet between you and the person, and never turn your back on them.
Related: The Police and Military when SHTF – Friend or Armed Foe?
Also, don’t allow lost drivers’ cars or un-summoned delivery vehicles onto your property. Let the person walk from the gate to the house. They will be less inclined to do anything bad since they will need to carry stolen items or kidnapped people to the vehicle.
Defensive Versus Offensive Security
Most security measures are like static obstacles. Tripwires. Motion sensors. Motion-activated cameras. Infrared devices.
All these are like landmines.
They are generally immobile and act as early warning systems.
But let me ask you the following question: What do you do when the alarm goes off? You check to see if there is anything there. Right? And then?
Most of us have pretty clear plans up and till we detect an intruder. But what then? And let’s add, that in most cases, you will have been awoken and still be groggy when you need to go into full defensive or offensive mode.
I call these offensive security measures, although they are not just about attacking. The reason I call them offensive measures are that these are not static but active, proactive, and responsive.
Putting this into practice:
You need an action plan. This will differ for everyone and every situation. I evaluate my possible and ideal responses based on two criteria: the proximity to the danger, and the level of threat.
I guy walking in the garden is different than an armed guy walking in the garden. This can escalate to a masked task force with automatic weapons outside your bedroom door.
You need a response, broadly speaking, for when to wait and see, when to warn, when to engage and when to hide.
Your family and other occupants of the house must know how these plans are put into action, and what part they play.
Pro Tip:
Pro’s never leave anything to chance or get themselves into situations where they have not only pre-decided what to do but have trained and worked scenarios.
What do you do if the intruders cut the power? What do you do if some of your family members get separated and are not in the safe zone?
Related: Farm Murders: What You Need To Know If You Live On A Homestead
I also recommend practicing this and practicing it under stress. Let someone set an alarm and wake the family up at 02:00 AM and see how fast everyone can get their act together.
Safe Zones
The worst possible situation to find yourself in is waking up to an attacker holding a gun to your child’s head.
Sleeping areas have to be fortified and impossible to access even if you are out cold. Think prison. Steel bars, bulletproof glass, self-sufficient and cut off from the rest of the house.
Putting this into practice:
The ideal situation is to have your sleeping rooms together, with only one access route in and out. You need an escape route in case of a fire, or if attackers trap you, but that must not be an option available as an entry route.
Install a security door between the sleeping areas and the rest of the house. Make sure all your people are safely behind the door before you go to sleep.
Pro Tip:
I have a steel bar door mounted just around a corner in the passage that leads to the bedrooms. Shots fired through the door don’t have a direct line of sight to occupants. Anyone entering through the door cannot charge in a straight line but needs to take a turn. This is my kill zone where anybody entering will come under severe fire.
Security is all about safety. Be prepared to lose property in order to stay alive. Early warning is essential. Constant vigilance exponentially increases your chances of surviving a breach.
⇒ How To Make Your House Invisible To Looters
This article was first published on Self-Sufficient Projects.
This is a good 102 level article for security, and the one you linked about farm security is a good sub unit too.
There’s a lot more to both subjects, and reading other articles today I realised that a lot of Americans in outer areas live in large-ish pieces of land, with out fences between the lots (at least in some parts). This means both the farm stuff and the urban stuff might be relevant.
I like off grid security systems as a back up to the visible one. Things like bike alarms (triggered by vibration/someone moving it) blutac’d to the back of garage doors (they are a 100db screamer basically that you can turn off with a small remote), the old fashioned window alarms (same concept, plus the ones that need that silver ribbon that trigger if the window is broken).
It idea about locking down for sleep is good, but if we’ve reached the point where we are having to lock down like that why not all sleep in one room together? And (after having a friend go through this) what is to stop someone making another entrance to your bedroom (lifting the tiles off the roof and climbing in)? Particularly those of you with fibre board and plaster and wood houses (unlike the majority of brick ones in Australia). Three little pigs and all that…
Good businesses hire internet security teams that try to hack them, to find the holes in their networks. Get a bunch of teenagers, set teh rule that there’s to be no obvious damage to your property (set that rule!) and then let them work out how to get into you place. Pay them well in pizza and soda, and let their curious, creative and obsessive minds complete your security check. Red team/blue team or ‘white hat/black hat’. Get them to do it twice. Once when you are home, and once when you are “not”. They’ll show you the hard way when you are home, and they’ll go straight for your weak points.
Review footage from your security cameras. If you are that way inclined set up a smart camera that is motion triggered on your driveway and at several doors around your property. You’d be floored how many people approach your house when you aren’t there, it’s lots! Take that as intel. And see what they are doing, and work out how to change their approach. If you can’t stop them, can you make them move through an area (set up a path / maze) that forces/funnels them into an area of ambush for you? (Like the corner turn above in the article, but even better – outside. Put scrunchy noisy gravel on either side of a piece of quiet grass and then set up a trip alarm or whatever on the grass. Herd those sheep!)
Dogs. Never, ever trust that a dog you’ve trained not to accept food from anyone else will be 100% fool proof. You can train and train but there’s always a risk, or a way around that. Inspect your property regularly for evidence of baiting and talk to your neighbours often so you’ll hear if it’s happening. Have inside AND outside dogs, and keep a close eye on them. Don’t let them out at night to toilet on their own, and remember – you don’t need them outside to scare off would be burglars, you just need them loud and obvious inside with you.
The profiling thing is just another grey man tactic. Use it yourself!
Actually, in my opinion, democrats want to keep you in the OLD world order, as do the republicans. It’s an OLD world order intended to foster confusion, empty debate and emotion; to keep us blind. There is a NEW world order coming. Wait for it.
John, new world order is a world government. The UN has been pushing for that for years. This is one reason Kari Lake threatened to have Arizona secede from the nation, along with Texas and other states. niio
Invest in NVD’s would be a excellent idea. Can’t kill what you can’t see.
If you’re using IR NVDS then get motion activated IR flood lights as well. They won’t know its even on and you got them lit up.
X products has a flame thrower as well so make sure you own one.
Naturally I only disagree with “you cant” ; when you are trespassing with intent Mr Lee explained the fist hits all by itself. I don’t need to know or see. Because I already know and already see. Like hardest place to see you coming is where I feed. The bears. Green Beret tricks may help. I’m just a hillbilly. Limb activated and Air pressure launch. Electrical, magnetics, chemical. Etc. If one is worried about SHTF I recommend exercise.. like martial arts, gun fighter, blades, tactics, spec weaponry, edible medical poison plants. Mitochondrial grounding, hot and cold acclimation and the invisible ability to suppress emotion and attitude and help others. Die like a man knowing when you are correct you can do it.
something very simple for current times >>> crooks are still trying to use COVID masking as an excuse to be hiding their faces – if you have ANYONE come on your property with the hoodie & masking M.O. >>> give them the 12g alternatives open to a homeowner ….
few states allow that , not sure how many states allow for killing due to a mask or hoodie
??? – the question should be why YOU immediately go to killing someone? – dangerous mind you have >>>
What exactly do you think “12g alternatives open to a homeowner” means? – me thinks you’re also a conceited azz that thinks he’s too superior compared to others – I guarantee that someone that jumps to conclusions isn’t – another dangerous side to you ….
because you have no reason to be on my property
Well now there could be a good reason for someone being on your property that has nothing to do with theft or harm to you. Such as they are truly lost, injured in need of help or they could be searching for a lost child for that matter. It could be cold and they are wearing a mask and hoodie.
The thing is in todays world you can not trust anyone you do not know and some of the ones you do know. But you can still help someone who needs it by instead of shooting calling the law first, stay out of sight, challenge them from a safe location and then allow the law to handle it if it is not in a SHTF situation but is a SHTF things change drastically.
So i Aggree with Illini Warrior.
One other ALARM that deters a criminal that is never mentioned or used….it’s the horn button on your car remote Bob !! Carry your car remote back to your bedroom and give it a try if you have a late model car with a remote …..lock your car every night as standard procedure and alert your neighbors that if they here the car alarm to call police …also advise them to use this safety procedure . I know it works for I’ve had to use it on a burglar trying to break in my home !
You give a good point. If you live out in the country or in more urban areas where security is an ongoing concern, having a good alarm system that sets off audible and visual (bright lights) alarms can be worthwhile.
That said, I bought a house from a Y2K prepper, and they’d set motion sensors on all sides of the house, but confessed that he’d had to turn them off to get a good night’s rest because deer and other animals would set them off multiple times a night. That is another consideration when having sensors. Is it worth all the false positives to maybe have that extra security? Loss of sleep increases paranoia and bad decisions.
Security means to be stop acting like a sheep
It means he needed to adjust his sensors! If he has deer that close to the house he probably needs to consider deer fencing.
You can use a computer these days to run it (ironically for Mr Y2K Prepper) so that it senses the large animal AND as the animal crosses a second point THEN alarms.
It sounds like he’d not really organised his space well to manage the various pests and just gone for the big expensive shiny lights and bells, when he could have used natural and permanent features like fences, placement of gardens and so on to manage the terrain as well?
TRose, good one! niio
Sleeping areas have to be fortified and impossible to access even if you are out cold. Think prison. Steel bars, bulletproof glass, self-sufficient and cut off from the rest of the house.
You cannot legally lock your kids in a home made prison.
You will be arrested and jailed for child abuse if you do.
Bars on windows are a fire code violation unless you have a quick release from the inside.
I didn’t see anything about leaving ladders outside.
Those make it easy to access 2nd floor windows.
My kidd I’ll do what I want to keep them safe
Exactly. There’s no code restrictions on securing your home or laws to protect kids concerning if their in a “safe room” Hahahaha it would be interesting to know what kind of person who would even bring something like that up when we’re all here trying to exchange ideas how to keep our loved ones safe.
I know in Australia this would be deemed problematic from a fire risk perspective, and if it was discovered could result in a child protection investigation into your lives.
However there are places/times it’s considered ok. Far north in the cyclone belt the houses have security screens on the windows that open from the inside. You need to be able to get out if the house is tearing apart, but not let the local kids in to steal your stuff. Might be worth looking into these (look at Western Australian housing standards for above the 26th parallel and you might find more). There’s nothing wrong with having a fire rated external door as a bedroom door. If your bedroom is on a second floor having a fire escape (roll up) ladder might be beneficial.
Well, obviously one cannot be safe enough as I am pretty sure that the Pelosi residence had some kind of protection, and if not, they will now, as Mr. Pelosi was attacked at 2. a.m. last night with a hammer!!! Serious scary situation there!!! He is expected to make a full recovery, but was in surgery today! Stay safe everyone!!
AE,
1. Pelosi said “he’s a friend named David” but I don’t know him.
2. He’s in his underwear at 0230
3. Security does exist, in depth, at Pelosi’s home. He must have been allowed in.
4. Police have refused all but superficial comments. Why?
5. No mention of who called or why by police
Do not consume the proffered narrative unless it makes sense to you. Ask yourself, does this pass the common sense test.
Or who was it that opened the door for the police???
I suggest you contact a lawyer in your state regarding shooting through a bared steel door that protects you and the rest of your family in the event of a break-in. At this point, you (average home owner) are not in fear of your life or the lives of a loved one.
A steel door in a steel frame adequately secured to the frame of the house is a good idea, but once engaged, forget about shooting someone unless they break through the barrier.
Remember, that once the original incident is over, a very long and costly investigation will follow. Do not be the one on trial for wrongful death / murder.
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