Security

Security

In any emergency people become desperate and if you have something that you don’t then they become increasingly desperate if it is something they perceive as an essential such as food or water, and to some extent they are desperate for anything from a generator for electricity to your seasoned logs for heating and cooking.

Security is a serious issue and one which should be looked at with some serious consideration as desperate people do desperate things. How do you secure your property? Basically you walk around and look at it as a thief would do, highlight any weak points and provide remedies using good old common sense. In many aspects, your priorities change as in most cases you are protecting everyday items from theft from people making a living from stealing items such as garden tools, power tools, and many more things which have a cash value, take away the cash value and you have a different value as cash becomes worthless and a survival value would be a more appropriate term or phrase to use.

Perimeter fencing is the most important aspect of security as this is the first thing anyone has to breach to even get onto your property so why is it so easy to breach perimeter fencing? Because trends have led people away from more traditional perimeter fencing and most go for the current fad of concrete posts with panels slid inside them, so why is this an issue. In reality it is as simple as lifting a panel up and putting something under it to hold it up and simply crawling underneath it, yet simply making a simple plate which goes over the post and covers both of the bottom of both fencing panels is easily made from sheet steel and only requires one hole drilling into the concrete post and a screw inserting through the plate and into a rawplug inserted into the hole drilled into the concrete post and single screw putting through it, the plate is bent at either end to the profile of the post and screwed to the fence panel. Always fit such restraining brackets at the bottom of the fence panel so thieves cannot reach over with a screwdriver and undo them as they could if they were at the top of a fence panel.

I have hedge, again the hedge can grow wild and if it is left to grow too high and as it grows higher it grows at the top and the bottom of the hedge goes thin; so simply keeping a hedge trimmed to a reasonable height will help prevent thinning at the bottom, and if you have a very well established hedge you take cuttings from it and once established in a pot from cuttings you plant these established cuttings in the ground between the upright stems to thicken up the bottom of the hedge. Other alternatives exist and these are to fasten wire or mesh to the bottom of the hedge and this will deter and assist in keeping burglars out.

Driveways are often left open and any gaps between a house and back gardens should be closed off, if you have an option then open type secure fencing is preferable such as metal fencing is open; metal fencing is strong and you can see through it, avoid the vanity trap of totally obscuring your garden by installing solid wooden gates as they are great for a thief to hide behind, and steel gates or fencing makes a lot of noise if people try to breach it. If neighbours or passers by can actually see through fencing they can see anyone who had breached it and usually let you know or even scare a burglar off.

Garden layout is essential as many people make classic mistakes such as planting a lot of low growing bushes which spread, or larger plants which fan out and in both cases they are ideal for an intruder to hide behind, if an intruder can hide behind them through a random pattern of planting they can also move around your property with substantial cover in daylight and in the dark. Similarly, if you grow in containers then moving then next to, or nearer the house where they are in view of the house means they are more visible to the occupants and better protected, and remember that food could be at a premium. Replacing a proportion of your garden with gravel paths ensure anyone walking on them makes a noise and even a little random gravel means at night an intruder walking on them makes some noise and if you have a dog it will often be enough to make it bark and give you an early warning of an intruder.

Many security deterrents are readily bought, of the stand alone systems the shotgun cartridge is best as it is simply buried just below ground level and its trigger is located nearby and when someone steps on the trigger it activates and fires the blank shotgun cartridge and this makes a lot of noise and blows some of the garden above it, into the air. Simpler and cheaper solutions exist and if you get the nail gun nails which are the thinner type nails such as the 1.6mm diameter nails around 2” (50mm) long then simply knocking several of them through a piece of board ½” thick and screwing a second board beneath their heads and burying this just below ground level ensures you have nails sticking up about 1 ½” and this will be sufficient to penetrate most footwear, placing these around vulnerable areas such as around outbuilding doors and windows offers valuable security and one which will often contain sufficient bodily fluids such as blood if they are stepped on, and by simply covering any nail with blood on with a clean plastic bag and snipping the nail with stout pliers gives vital evidence. In such times a new law often comes in and this is looting, this law carries severe penalties and your evidence may convict someone trying to loot your property.

Securing your home is merely common sense and in many instances it is wise to take simple precautions and the first is to assess your home for its vulnerable spots, using only one entrance is a good start and if you have a conservatory, blocking its doors is a good secondary option, many of your appliances will be worthless and using a fridge and washing machine is a good start, adding other things with weight is also a good idea. If you have bookcases then emptying them and moving them across your doors and then filling them back up with books is a good idea as any books knocked off will make a lot of noise and alert you or any dogs you may have, to a potential intruder. Such spaces can then be turned over to storage and if you have a tiled floor than you can place logs directly onto them, or you can place water barrels with drinking water in there and you cover them up to exclude light and to prevent prying eyes from seeing them.  

If you have a shed or other outdoor building then establish the basics, which is the easiest way to break into it, how would a thief break in, and how can I secure it readily and with minimal costs; windows are easily smashed and locks are easily broken and entry is gained, often the doors are flimsy and can be bent to the point of accessing the lock or simply popping it out of its keep plate.
Is any entrance readily visible from the house? If not then consider turning a shed round, should I use a cheap mesh to cover the windows and NO is the answer as cheap mesh is easily cut with pliers or small bolt croppers and these are hand held tools which are readily and cheaply available to anyone who may be legitimate or illegitimate users of such tools. If you have no mains power then you will have no light, or more specifically you have no security lighting which can be motion detected and switch on if it detects movement, so physical security becomes more important than electronic security in these circumstances.
Options exist and one is actually the security light, but not the mains powered items but solar security lights, these have all the motion detection of a mains powered security light but have a solar panel built into them and they charge themselves up using the sun, these are now dropping in price and are relatively affordable for basic early warning security.

Basically; it comes down to this, keep everything of value inside your property, use net curtains to cover windows, formulate a plan to move things of no monetary value outside into other areas of the property to block up potential entry points, and use the freed up space to store things which are now of value to you and your family.

Hiding things is also a good thing. What people cannot see they will not target. eg food supplies.
I know families in London who have been "prepping" since 25 years ago, keeping rice etc in basements. They are mainly religious people from different denominations but all these religions believe there is going to be an imminent shortage/outage due to world economy collapsing.
Have they no faith in the New World Order (Note sarcasm).

Rats are the main culprit. They seem to find hidden food and devise some clever ways to get at it.