I have just received a call from a dear friend in Kuching and I am feeling distressed. I have just found out a dear friend’s house has been burglarized. Big sums of money had been spent to make it safe for the occupants.
Pic courtesy of www.strategicdetection.com
Yours truly experienced it twice this year too. Lots of trouble is spent replacing personal documents , replacing locks etc. Benghui was so traumatized he slept with a wooden ruler for weeks in his hand. ( The ruler kids bring to school to draw lines. ) It broke my heart to see him that distressed.
I tried my best to counsel him. He was the one who first saw the thief and shouted, ” Mummy,mummy,thief,thief. ”
So what can we do to make it safe? I once received a comment from a reader who said that we bring it unto ourselves by working hard and accumulating possessions. But we need money to pay the bills. How can we survive without money?
My suggestion is to train the kids to deal with situations like these. Teach them what to do to make the house safe. Don’t be so trusting of strangers.
Do not leave the house for long periods of time ( few hours or more ). In my friends case, they left the house for four hours. The alarm rang for a while but the neighbours were unaware of the alarm ringing. The whole house was turned upside down including mattresses and beds. They even managed to remove some heavy stuff.
It probably couldn’t have gone unnoticed. My guess is neighbours were probably afraid of getting involved.
Having a burglar alarm is better than not having one. However they are not so effective when there is no body in the house. The first thing the burglars do is to cut off the telephone line and disable the sensors.
Always have somebody in the house. Dogs are a good option if you are not a Muslim and do not live in condominiums. Tell only people who matter that you will not be in.
Grills are only as effective as the tools the burglars use. They can also hamper our escape in an emergency. Make friends with our neighbours. Install lights which can be timed to turn on and off automatically.
Call on people we trust to collect mail and newspapers etc. It might help if there is a car parked in front of the house occasionally. Make friends with your neighbours. Give your neighbours a contact number in the event of an emergency.
We cannot stop a burglar from entering our house if they have made up their mind to do so. But we can make it so that they won’t consider us as easy pickings. Hopefully they will by-pass us.
Is your house safe?