How secure is your home - really?

The burglary of a house at Regatta Waters in the last week highlighted a security ‘flaw’ of many modern homes, automatic garage door openers. Criminals know this and will either break into cars looking for garage door openers (which they did in this instance) or will drive around with a number of garage door openers, to find a house they can get into.  The problem is compounded by the fact there are only a small number of electronic signal combinations and garage door opener manufacturers. There are a couple of relatively simple methods of improving your household security: Install a double sided deadlock (keyed on both sides) on the doorway between the living area of your house and the garage.  The doorway should be locked at night and when the house is vacant.  There are two advantages to this, it will slow or stop a criminal from getting from the garage to the house easily and it will make it harder for them to carry your property to the garage if they have broken in whilst the house is vacant.  If your house has a sliding door between the garage and house, you may need to consider a security screen or another type of deadlock. Turn off the automatic garage door mechanism when you are going to be away.  If you are going away on holidays, or even a weekend away, turn off the garage door mechanism before you leave.  It will mean that a criminal can’t use a garage door opener to get into your house. Secure your garage door opener.  If you have a car which is kept outside, don’t leave the garage door opener in it.  Whilst it makes getting into your house easier for you, it also makes it easier for a criminal to get access to the door opener. The suggestions won’t stop the risk of your house being burgled through the garage, but by following the steps above you have ‘target hardened’ your home. Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew LAKE 6695 Service Operational Procedures, Police Headquarters, Brisbane.

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Saturday 29 September 2012

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Willow Vale NHW

Last night we had a very successful meeting and learnt a lot about snakes, their habits and what to do when you have them on your properties.  Tony Harrison bought an Eastern Brown and a Red Bellied Black with him.  

Below is an alert from Oxenford Neighbourhood Watch I thought may be of interest.  The garage remote is being used a lot in robberies lately. 

BURGLARY RUSHCUTTER AVENUE REGATTA WATERS A family at Oxenford was broken into last night (sometime after 11pm and before 5am - Mon 24th/25th Sept) while at home. Their  car was parked at the front of the property  and its  window smashed.  The offenders used the garage door remote to open the garage - from that and stole their red HSV - V8 Commodore.   The offenders also ran-sacked the downstairs of the house while 2 parents and 4 children aged between 6 and 17 slept upstairs. The thieves took   a laptop, GPS, iPod  and other equipment. If you saw or heard anything, please call Crimestoppers 1800 333 000.

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