SECURITY PLANNING

During a severe emergency when food and other supplies become scarce, your home and everything it holds can become the target of those that did not have the forethought to prepare.  If you doubt this statement, simply ask yourself a simple question:

If your family’s survival were at stake, would you take what you needed from others?

If you’re like most people, the answer to this question is yes.  You may not like the prospect of taking what you need to survive (which is why you prepare) but you would do it to protect your family.   So, if you would take these steps to provide for your family, you can expect other people to do the same in a desperate situation.   This doesn’t make these people bad, it’s just a byproduct of being unprepared and there are far more unprepared people out there than prepared people.  In fact, a very small percentage of Americans are prepared for any type of disaster and among those, most are only prepared to survive for less than a week.  Consequently, the notion of helping everyone that comes to your door for food and supplies is extremely unrealistic. It’s more likely that, if you do help, they will return again and again until your supplies are exhausted, or violence ensues. You will be much better off if you develop a plan to protect your home, family and supplies.

Developing a security plan for your home goes way beyond purchasing some firearms and storing ammunition.  It involves assessment of your property and/or home and development of plans, tactics and strategies to defend it.  The goal is a comprehensive plan that addresses potential threats, weak areas, defensive tactics and fortifications specific to your home. 

In order to address the potential threat to your home and family, you must imagine the worst-case scenario and prepare accordingly.  In this way, you will be prepared for all ranges of threats.  So, what are some of the potential threats?

Theft:

Scavengers will always go for the “low hanging fruit” first.  Around your home, this may include vehicles and their contents (especially those parked farthest away from your home), outbuildings, items left in plain sight and anything else they consider “easy pickings.”  During a power outage, thefts become more prevalent, especially in desperate situations, such as a prolonged disaster scenario.  You will find that countering theft will involve a combination of prioritizing the value of certain items and moving them to an easier protected area and strategies to protect the outer reaches of your property and the exterior of your home as well as those dealing with home invasion.

Visitors at the door:

Having desperate people show up at your door during a crisis is probably one of the scenarios that we dread the most.  Not just because of the potential threat to our safety, but also because it forces us to make hard decisions about how many (if any) people we can help without jeopardizing the well-being of our family.  It may seem easy to say “I’ll help anyone who needs it” or “I’ll run them off with my gun” but the reality is that every situation will be different.  The first people that will come for help are family and friends that you are probably not prepared to turn away, so you may be forced to part with some of your supplies to help those closest to you.  Are you sufficiently stocked to do this?  Have you tried to convince your family and friends to prepare?

Strangers at the door is a potentially very dangerous situation.  Interacting with these visitors could go bad very quickly.  You might tell yourself that “at least their asking instead of stealing” but asking may just be the first step towards taking what they need.  Maybe they are not willing to take no for an answer and are prepared to resort to violence or maybe they’re checking to see if anyone’s at home before they break in.  Of course, it is possible that they will simply go to someone else’s door if they don’t get what they want from you.  Either way, you are very exposed when interacting with strangers at the door.

Since every situation is different, it is difficult to compile “hard and fast” rules addressing what to do when desperate people show up at your door but there are some good strategies and tactics you can implement to give you a little better advantage.  However, before you start to develop your strategies, you must decide what your core policy is going to be regarding helping the people that come to your door.  Are you going try to help everyone, just some people or no one at all?  The answer to this question is obviously going to depend on the nature and the projected duration of the emergency. If you are confident that the current crisis will only last a short time, you may elect to share your supplies with more people but if the duration is unsure, you may be forced to be somewhat more conservative with your generosity. 

Here are some basic strategies and tactics for dealing with desperate people at the door:

1.     Do not be caught unaware.  Monitor the current crisis carefully and as things get worse, pay more attention to who is approaching your home.  Be prepared to repel an attack if it should occur.  

2.     Do not leave desirable items in plain sight.  Leaving an ice chest, for example, on your front porch, is an invitation for disaster.  Secure your belongings and property so would-be scavengers are less tempted to approach your home.

3.     If you do open your door, make sure that your supplies are not visible to the visitors.

4.     Don’t let strangers into you home.

5.     Have a plan to quickly gain the advantage if violence ensues.  This may include having a firearm within reach or having a family member armed and ready to assist you.  You can also develop more extravagant tactics like having one family member at the door while another exits from another door and moves to a tactical location outside.

6.     If the power is out, running a generator could be an invitation to unwanted visitors so be mindful of the best and worst times to run your generator.

Home Invasion:

Even under normal conditions, you are eight times more likely to be involved in home invasion than a house fire. In the U.S. a burglary or home invasion takes place every 15 seconds and one of every 5 homes will be affected.  Add a disaster to the mix and the odds are pretty good that you will have to deal with this type of dangerous event. 

Home invasions often start with a burglary where the intruder has no desire to interact with the resident but for one reason or another the circumstances change, and you suddenly find yourself face to face with the intruder.  What you do then may make the difference between life and death.  Being prepared will help you keep a level head and make the right decisions.  So, what can you do to reduce the risk of home invasion?  First, you must realize that the vast majority of your preparedness efforts should be focused on making it harder for the intruder to get into your home or making your home appear to be a difficult and undesirable target. This starts with good planning and fortification.  85% of all break ins and home invasions are through the front door so that’s a good place to start but strengthening all of your doors and windows is a good idea:

1.     Changing the hinge screws to longer (2 ½ inch) screws that embed into the door framing will significantly strengthen your doors against an intruder that is trying to “kick” his way in.

2.     Consider installing a door fortification package such as those provided by Armor Concepts.

3.     Consider installing window protection film.  This will slow down the intruder to give you valuable time to react.

4.     You could install metal grate on your doors and windows, but they can be unsightly and block natural light, not to mention, they are expensive.

5.     Have some precut plywood and fasteners on hand, just as you would for hurricane preparation.  If things get really bad and looting becomes a concern, you can bord up your windows to slow the intruders down.

Under normal conditions, would-be intruders are often discouraged by a well-lit home. It implies that people are home, so they usually move on to an easier target.  This, of course, is assuming that they are not willing to face a resident and do not plan to commit violence.  However, in a disaster scenario, having a well-lit home interior could invite unwanted visitors.  That having been said, having some exterior solar powered lights on motion detectors could discourage the less determined intruders and afford you the added advantage of seeing them coming if they do persist.  Having a dog that barks is also an effective deterrent.  Posting a sign that says “Beware of Dog” could also make some burglars think twice about targeting your home.

Making a Security Plan:

It’s important to note that exterior measures will discourage most burglars, but in a desperate situation, when they are determined to get in, your external measures will probably only slow them down.  You should have a plan in place and practice tactics to defend yourself, your family, your home and your supplies.  Making a security plan and practicing tactics to repel a home invasion is the next vital step to ensure your safety.  Here are a few guidelines that will help you develop a security plan:

1.     Make an assessment of the weaknesses around and within your home by putting yourself in the shoes of the would-be intruder.  What would you target and how would you break in?

2.     Make a diagram of your property and your home.

3.     Develop layers of protection with the highest priority to keep intruders or attackers outside. This will involve strategies and tactics to defend approaches and may include establishing defensive positions outside the home. You can reduce the risk of being caught unaware of approaching people by planning on posting sentries, if you have enough people in your group or you may consider a solar powered driveway alarm and motion alarms around your property such as the ones sold by Wuloo. They are reasonably priced and effective.

4.     Use the diagram to map out the potential approaches to your property and home and take security measures to fortify those positions or to funnel approaching people into a well defended area.

5.     Use your diagram to develop plans and tactics in case the attackers get into your home:

a.    Determine where everyone will go if someone is attempting to break in.

b.     Determine defensive positions and have weapons ready but safely secured.

c.     Be aware that if someone is trying to force their way in, standing closest to the door or window They are trying to breach is not the safest place to be.  If you have a firearm, pick a position well away from the entry point and protected if possible.  In this way, the intruder will not see you first and you will have time to asses and react.

d.     Establish defensive positions throughout your home and practice moving to them rapidly.

e.     Consider making a “safe room” that is equipped with essential supplies and weapons.  It may be prudent to retreat to this room or to send members of your family there if a home invasion is taking place.

6.    Develop drills to practice for different scenarios.  Everyone should know what to do and be well-practice at their responsibilities. 

7.     Consider making alliances with neighbors to establish a security plan for your neighborhood.  This may be a difficult thing to accomplish because of the propensity of people to not prepare so you will have to carefully weigh the risk of your neighbors thinking you’re a nut or know you are prepared against the potential benefits of having a neighborhood plan. In the best case, you may be able to persuade your neighbors to start a general preparedness plan for their family.

Making plans to secure you home, property, family and supplies during a disaster is not a simple matter but could determine your survival. Having guns and ammunition is not enough.  If you do have guns, you will need to have firearms training, understand tactics and practice often.