How to Prevent a Home Invasion | By Jordan Frankel

With home invasions and break-ins on the rise nationwide, understanding how to prevent a home invasion is essential. Protecting your home and loved ones from these potentially life-threatening crimes requires a proactive approach to home security. Here, world-renowned security expert, Jordan Frankel, offers comprehensive tips to secure your home and ensure your family’s safety.

The Importance of a Home Alarm System

A home alarm system can help prevent a home invasion by deterring potential intruders and may even prompt them to flee once the alarm sounds. If monitored by a security company, the alarm also ensures that police are alerted immediately, increasing your chance of receiving help quickly.

Every home should have a reliable alarm system with a loud siren. However, the alarm is only effective if it’s set. Too many people forget to arm their alarms when they leave or even when they’re at home. Don’t make this mistake! Keep your alarm system active whenever you leave and even when you’re home.

When choosing a home alarm system, you want to ensure the following:

• Choose a Loud Siren: The alarm should have a blaring siren that creates a startle effect, giving intruders a reason to abandon their plans.
• Connect to Monitoring Services: Ensure your alarm system is linked to a monitoring station, so local law enforcement is alerted the moment the alarm is triggered.
• Display Alarm Signage: Prominently show the alarm company’s sign to deter potential intruders.
• Install a Backup Battery and Cellular Dialer: In case a burglar cuts the power, the alarm will still function and notify the monitoring station.
• Add Glass Break and Motion Sensors: These sensors provide early warning signs of a break-in, allowing you time to seek safety.

Increase Lighting to Deter Home Invasion Intruders

Good lighting plays a major role in preventing home invasions. Burglars prefer darkness, which allows them to approach unnoticed. Here are some important tips for home lighting:

• Install Motion-Activated LED Lights: Bright LED lights with motion sensors can startle intruders and light up vulnerable areas.
• Use Dusk-to-Dawn Lighting: Keep the perimeter of your home softly lit with energy-efficient lights that turn on automatically at dusk and off at dawn.
• Create the Appearance of Activity Indoors: Use light timers or SMART devices to switch on lights, a TV, or a radio at intervals. This makes it appear someone is home. For extra privacy, keep curtains or blinds closed so intruders can’t see inside.

Secure Entry Doors and Windows

Many criminals enter homes through front doors or ground-floor windows, making these primary points of entry. Here’s how to secure your home and protect against intruders:

• Always Lock Doors and Windows: Keep them locked, even when you’re at home.
• Reinforce Doors: Replace hollow doors with solid wood or metal ones, and secure hinges with 3.5″ steel screws.
• Install Deadbolts and Door Braces: Use a heavy-duty deadbolt on all entry doors, and consider adding a security door brace, like the OnGARD by Global Security Experts. To see what a difference this simple yet highly effective security door brace can make, check out this demo video. 
• Prevent Windows from Sliding Open: Place thick metal or wooden dowels in the tracks of sliding windows and glass doors. For windows that slide vertically, install additional locking mechanisms.
• Apply Window Protection Film: Glass window and door panes can be easily broken, especially by a career criminal. This is why window security film is so important. In addition to being quite affordable, high quality glass protection film such as BurglarGARD reinforces glass panes so that they cannot be easily broken. 

Protect Your Garage

Garages are popular entry points for burglars, as many people forget to lock the connecting doors or leave the garage door open. To prevent a home invasion through the garage, follow these security tips:

• Keep the Garage Door Closed: Never leave your garage door open. If there are no vehicles parked inside or outside the garage, it will send the message that no one is home. It will also allow easy access into your residence.
• Lock Doors Leading to the Garage: Keep all doors that lead into the garage locked at all times! Any door that swings inward should have a heavy-duty deadbolt and a security door brace installed on it, just like the front door to your home. If the door that leads from your garage into your house swings outward (toward the garage), it should have both a heavy-duty deadbolt and doorknob lock on it.
• Regularly Update Garage Door Codes: Reset the codes on the remotes to your garage door as often as possible. This will decrease the chance of a criminal hacking into your garage.
• Connect the Garage to Your Alarm System: Be sure your garage is part of your home alarm system.  If your garage has windows, install glass breakage sensors and motion detectors. This can help forewarn you if someone attempts to break in. 

Evaluate the Landscaping Around Your Home: 

The landscaping around your home can either help or hinder burglars. Assess your landscaping with security in mind to prevent intruders from hiding or using it to access your home.

• Trim Shrubs Near Windows and Doors: Avoid giving intruders a place to hide by keeping bushes and shrubs trimmed.
• Remove Climbing Risks: Trees and walls close to your home’s perimeter can provide a way for intruders to reach second-floor windows or balconies. If possible, relocate or remove them.
• Plant Thorny Bushes: Placing thorny plants like roses, holly, and barberry near windows creates a natural barrier that discourages intruders. Adding gravel or landscaping rocks around the home can produce noise when walked on, serving as an additional deterrent.

Take Action Now to Prevent a Home Invasion

You can never have too many home security measures to prevent a home invasion. Following the advice of security expert Jordan Frankel, put these protective steps in place to secure your home and protect your family. Taking these precautions can help you stay safe and prepared against unwanted intruders.