A burglary may be one of the most frightening situations for a home owner to face. Your instinct is to protect your family and to ensure each member is safe, but by the time this situation occurs, it may be too late to take the necessary steps towards safety as needed. Here are 5 ways to protect you and your family before and during an actual home burglary.
1. Always Keep a Phone Nearby
In today’s society, more and more families are cancelling their landlines in favor of the convenience of their cell phones. Yet when it comes to an emergency situation, you need a phone nearby at a moment’s notice. A cell phone charging downstairs or tucked into your purse will not help if you are trapped in your bedroom as a burglar prowls the house. Always keep your phone nearby. Even with a dead battery, cell phones are capable of making emergency calls which can save your life.
2. Keep Your Alarm Remote on Your Nightstand
Maybe you’ve already experienced the horror of a home invasion or maybe you’ve just invested in a home security system for a discount on your house insurance. Whatever the reason if you have a house alarm installed, keep your alarm remote on your nightstand when you go to sleep. If for some reason someone forgets to set the alarm at night and a burglar does gain access to your home or even attempts access, you can easily trigger the panic button on the remote and immediately set the alarm blaring.
The incessant racket of the alarm, with the impending threat of a security force or police arriving at your door, will set the burglar running. If you haven’t installed a house alarm, consider contacting Northstar alarm company to install a security system to protect your home.
3. Stay Quiet and Do Not Confront the Burglar
If you don’t have an alarm system and a burglar gains access to your home, remain quiet while gathering your family members. Do not attempt to confront the burglar. This invader is in your home for one purpose and that’s to steal your property. If startled or confronted, the burglar may resort to violence. Remember property is never as valuable as human life.
4. Plan an Escape Route
If your flooring plan permits it, plan an escape route in case of a burglary and ensure your family members understand and can follow it. We often think of escape routes only in case of fires, but they may be a necessity in other emergencies as well. Even if one family member can slip out of the house and reach the safety of the neighbors in order to alert the authorities, this can halt a home burglary in process.
5. Above All—Stay Calm
Emergencies are not the time to panic. You need to keep yourself together for the sake of your family and remaining calm is imperative during a home burglary. Not only will you be able to think clearer, but your calm demeanor will be soothing to your family members and they will follow you more willingly.
Home burglaries are terrifying. Regardless of how prepared you may have felt beforehand, you will never be completely prepared to face an uninvited stranger under your own roof intent on stealing from you and your family. Yet taking the appropriate steps, before and during a burglary, is necessary to ensure your safety. Keeping your phones nearby as well as charged, leaving your alarm remote by your bedside, staying quiet if the burglar attains access and creating a reliable emergency plan in case of a burglary may save your lives.
