Apartments are 85% more likely to be the target of burglary than single-family homes. Apartments represent unique security challenges because of the many techniques which tenants are prevented from using to enhance the security of their persons and possessions.  However, there are many which tenants can and should use to improve their security postures. Start with a Secure Building The best first step to achieving a secure apartment is to rent an apartment in a secure building.  The optimal security building should feature: A location in a low-crime neighborhood External gates to prevent unapproved vehicular or foot traffic A keyed [...]

Steel security doors are superior in most ways to wooden doors, but they are not always practical.  Your existing wooden door may be decorative, it may be a non-standard size, or it may simply be already paid for.  When you can’t replace a wooden door, you can sometimes augment it with steel reinforcement. You’ll need to buy a large steel plate and then drill holes for the doorknob, the peephole, and the mounting screws. The thickness of steel plate depends upon the strength of your door hinges and door material. Here are approximate weights for an average 3′ x6′ 8″ [...]

Glass areas present a tempting appearance of weakness in any building security plan. Safety glass, although never perfect, can make these areas of apparent weakness stronger than many standard walls. The goal of safety glass is not to “never” fail”, but to make failures harder to force and to fail safely when failure does occur. For example, one of the important functions of safety glass is to prevent shards of glass from becoming dangerous shrapnel when the glass eventually does fail. Perfectly indestructible safety glass, if it is ever developed, will focus attackers attentions on defeating window frames and surrounding [...]

A home alarm system can be part of a complete home protection system, but it is important to view an alarm as just one component of a larger strategy. An alarm system won’t protect your home from a flash flood, a drive-by shooting, or a no-knock BATF raid executed at the wrong address. Alarm Types Home alarm systems typically report using one or more of these methods: A loud bell or siren Bright and/or flashing lights A landline or cell phone call to you A landline or cell phone call to an alarm service company A landline or cell phone [...]

Charlie bars are an extremely simple and cheap way to significantly increase the security of sliding doors and windows. Sliding doors can be insecure because many can be pried open fairly easily. They tend to be secured with small hook locks which can be forced up and out of their loops. A charlie bar will make this technique far less effective. You can make a charlie bar yourself from an old broomstick or rake handle. Just cut the handle to the right length and place it in the track of the sliding door or window. Heavier stock works better, because [...]