Home Security Vulnerabilities

Home Security Vulnerabilities

Damien Hernandez

Devry University, SEC310

Professor Willardson

The Northwestern Suburbs of Chicago is not a very crime-infested area, but the occurrence of a home invasion could come when one least expects it. People tend to become very complacent due to routine. They forget to assess home security vulnerabilities if there seems to be no imminent threat. Burglars capitalize on this by studying their subjects, the neighborhood they live in, and the routine their victims have. In order to properly assess vulnerabilities, we must think like a criminal and analyze what areas around our home can be used as an advantage for entry – including a neighborhood assessment, alarms, lighting, doors, windows, locks, windows, and cameras.

My neighborhood would be considered an upper-middle class area. The areas surrounding my home have a decent price tag, which helps eliminate low level criminals from moving in. However, this can also attract crime because most the homes have items of large value in them. The community is not gated, but they charge neighborhood fees for routine drive by security checks. None of the houses have a front yard fence, but most of them have a backyard fence. Criminal activity is relatively low, and most the crime that does happen is break-ins to cars. These neighborhood fees also go toward ensuring all the houses look similar. Any new addition or major change has to be approved by a board. This helps keep the houses looking uniform, which in turn makes it harder to pick a soft target from a criminal point of view. When I walk my dog, I often take note of my surroundings to see if there are major vulnerabilities that can be fixed. I learn people’s faces as well because the Bureau of Justice Statistic states that “Offenders were known to their victims in 65% of violent burglaries; offenders were strangers in 28%” (BJS, 2010). This means the threat doesn’t always come from the outside.

The community is very...