What Bad Guys Want

I have been collecting pictures of things that cause significant security concerns.  At first glance some are not so obvious, but hopefully some may choose to scrutinize their security a little more closely for having taken this journey with me...

Indications that a home might be vacant or the occupant has been away for a significant period of time:  tall weeds and lawn not cut.

Bushes and trees obscure the view out the window to the resident and provide cover for the miscreant.

Motion sensitive lights are an excellent deterrent, but should be mounted high enough as to be not easily defeated by covering the lens, unscrewing the bulb or just smashing it by spraying a little water on it.

Privacy fences work both ways... they obscure others' view of your activities as well as the activity of a visitor with ill intentions.

Loose rocks and broken chunks of cement are just the right tool for smashing through a sun-porch window or door.  Get rid of them rather than stashing them behind the garage.

Think your second floor windows are safe and don't need alarm devices?  You might ask your neighbor to either move his ladders or at least secure them to his garage.  Also think about the message that the wheat field in the back yard sends to a possible intruder.  (Hint: it has nothing to do with watching out for snakes or remembering to wear mosquito repellant)

Once the picnic table and lawn chairs are set up, those upstairs windows become accessible, regardless of how secure the ladders on the neighbor's garage might be.

The phone line that should carry the signal to your alarm company is likely four feet off the ground, making it very easy to cut the phone line, or simply destroy, before breaking in through that huge glass door with the shovel left so conveniently nearby.  Back up your phone line!

Note the condensation between the panes of glass on this crank-out window.  This window was destroyed when the installer of the alarm system drilled into the casing to install a hard-wired window contact sensor.  Don't let anyone drill into the casing of your windows; it voids the warranty and can wreck the window.

There you have it.  Check your own home from the perspective of an intruder.  What tools would you use?  What are your vulnerabilities?  If you had to break into your house, how would you do it?  What does the bad guy see you do every day?

Who is watching your home when you cannot?