Home Security threat !

In the distant past, burglary was the crime that most home owners feared, but at least in the vast majority of cases the burglar chose to break into an empty house.   The risk of burglary increased when the home owner was away on holiday - or when the house was unattended if the family worked.

Today's thieves embrace an entirely new culture.   It is called "home invasion " - and it takes many forms.   In one instance a burglar posed as a flower delivery man - with a genuine bunch of flowers in his hand - and told the two resident sisters that this was a delivery to celebrate their attainment of the HSC.   He asked to enter and arrange the flowers in a vase, and once inside, tied up the girls, ransacked the house and made off with cash, jewellery and other valuables.

Bogus tradesmen are another lurk.   In some cases they promise incredibly cheap work - and then ask to enter the house to use the toilet.   A need to use the phone is another ploy - and we are seeing increasing incidences where damage to the house is deliberately caused, followed by an approach to quote repairs.

In many cases, the culprit has taken the trouble to do research on the resident.  In the flower delivery scam, the sisters had just completed their HSC and the bandit had somehow obtained this information.  It seems that the site of each robbery is no longer random.   The home to be raided has been selected on the basis that it will probably contain the type of valuables the thief finds attractive.

A captured resident is now considered an added bonus.   Most people have cash in their purse of wallet, plus credit and debit cards that they can be persuaded to reveal the PIN numbers.   The march of modern technology now ensures that many homes contain a multitude of expensive - and highly portable - items such as tablets and smartphones and high end photographic equipment.    The bandit no longer needs a " fence " to move the loot.  The anonymity of internet marketing serves that purpose.

It is likely that these tactical changes will increase the attraction of " gated " communities - as is happening in many other countries.   Home security is becoming a growing concern and it can be comforting to know that all visitors to a gated estate must first pass through a security check and that a patrol can be summonsed at the press of an alarm button.

It seems that the " ordinary " householder needs to beef up security to lower the risk factor.   Perhaps the most basic need would be to ensure that there is a high quality and fully locked metal security door between the resident and the possible thief whenever the front door is opened to respond to a call.

Both the police and the home services providers urge residents to be vigilant and demand to see identification when approached by an unknown person claiming to represent a company or an authority.  It is not unreasonable to ask that person to wait while a phone check is made to establish validity - and under no circumstances should such a visitor be permitted entry to the house until that has been concluded.

Such is the threat that comes with living in the twenty-first century !