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.