Good Security
As part of our mandate to provide up-to-date security information on this website, this section will provide articles and information on securing your home or business.
Home alone
When you live by yourself, night time noises can set off panic. Véronique Robert reports on commonsense security tips to help you beat the fear of break-ins and rest easier.
Home Alone by Véronique Robert. Translated by Rosalind Gill
It's 2am. You've just woken with a start.
You heard a noise.
Your heart is pounding.
You're sure someone is breaking in.
More than one-third of women who live alone don't feel safe in their homes at night according to Statistics Canada. No wonder, we've read all media horror stories such as that of the woman who was raped in her home in Montreal in 1994. Her apparent attacker, Sylvain Bonnaime, who was charged but killed himself in prison before he could be tried, is the prototype of the sexual predator. Weeks before each assault he would track down his victim-usually a woman living alone. Day after day he would follow his victim, studying her routine. When he was ready to attack, he arrived at her home, masked and armed with a knife. It was only when he was arrested that police realized why it had taken so long to nab him: he was equipped with a walkie-talkie that allowed him to follow officers' movements and conversations.
Such nightmare scenarios are haunting, especially to women who live alone. Nonetheless, police and others working in the security field say attacks in the home field by an unknown assailant are rare. "I've taught 10,000 women self-defense over the last eight years and I would have trouble giving you a single example of an assault in a home," says Lise Charbonneau, who teaches self defense at the Women's Assault Prevention Centre.
Statistics from that city bear her out, out of the 1,526 sexual assaults reported within the Montreal Urban Community in 1997, only 14 took place in the home of the victim. Suspects arrested in four of those incidents were known to their victim, says Detective Sgt. Ian Davidson, an analyst at the sexual assault division of the Montreal Police. That leaves 10 cases in which no one knows whether the assailant was a stranger, because often the attacker is masked- you can be assaulted by your neighbor without knowing it. Even when a woman is assaulted in her home, chances are it's because she surprised her attacker in a robbery. Halifax Police Const. Lisa Jackson says an intruder's main objective is almost always theft. "The average thief's intention is to get in, steal something and get out. They don't expect anybody to be in the home.
The danger of being attacked at home may be small, but the fear is real. Unfortunately, even women who are nervous sometimes overlook simple precautions that could make their homes safer- and ease their anxieties. My friend Marie Louise, who lives with her 3-year-old son in Quebec City, is a case in point. Recently, she asked an officer from the crime prevention unit to have a look around her ground floor condo to check out how secure it is. (Most police departments offer security inspections free of charge, or provide a do-it-yourself questionnaire homeowners can use to check their own homes for safety) The news was bad: he told her the condo is wide open to whoever wants to break in. The front door is almost entirely glass, there are no locks on the sash windows, and you can easily unscrew the light at the front of the house. While her backyard is surrounded by two-metre-high fence, the gate in to the lane could be forced open with a shove of the shoulder. On the back porch there are three windows, all easily smashed and a light that Marie-Louise never remembers to turn on.
Fortunately, as Marie-Louise learned, it's not difficult to make your home more secure. "First of all, your whole property including accessible doors and windows, should be properly lit." says Const. Robert Despins of the Outremont police station in Montreal. "The ideal situation for a burglar is to be safely concealed behind a friendly bush while breaking in through a window."
You need a solid wood or steel door (with a peephole or a window) and a good quality lock (deadbolts that lock from the inside and from the outside are the most secure) as well as windows that lock and have thick or unbreakable glass. A reinforced door is useless if your windows are vulnerable. You should check your door frame-it's no use in investing in a burglar proof door if it can be forced open with a single shove.
If you can't afford a customized, professionally installed alarm system linked to a monitoring station (which cost between $500 and $2500 for a two-story house), a less expensive alternative is a packaged monitor system with a basic deterrent alarm. This costs $25 to $30 a month with no down payment. Or you could buy a non-monitored alarm -basically a noisemaker- in an electronics shop ($100 and up) and install it yourself. A monitored alarm is preferable, of course since police or a licensed security company is alerted by the monitoring station when the alarm is tripped, according to Mark Fairley, owner of TMF Security, an alarm dealer in Markham , Ont. Some systems come with a "panic button" that you can install within easy reach-say the head of your bed.
Two pieces of advice from repentant burglars: don't use an alarm system with a bell that is easily accessible from the outside, an intruder could deactivate it by filling it with shaving cream. And make sure you buy your system from a reputable company that investigates its employees.
Four-legged alarm system? Dogs offer real protection by alerting you to a disturbance so you can call police. But a friendly mutt with a wagging tail may do little to scare off an intruder.
Sliding glass doors can be an open invitation to burglars. They usually have inadequate locks and several models can be lifted out of their tracks or pried open. A reinforced plate installed on the upper track will prevent an intruder from lifting the door out, and a simple piece of wood or metal insert in the lower track will keep your door from sliding. You can also secure sash windows by jamming them with wooden wedges, or fastening wooden blocks or metal shelf brackets in the tracks to stop the window from lifting more than a few centimetres.
Of course, securing your doors and windows could be a waste of time if you don't take precautions with strangers. Avoid mentioning that you live alone, especially when you are in public places. Be careful about giving such information to sales reps. And other delivery people who come to your door; don't open your door to a stranger who claims he needs to use your phone because his car has broken down in front of your house. (offer to make the call for him). Check the identification of anyone claiming to be a Hydro or cable employee. " The biggest mistake people make when it comes to home security is letting strangers into their homes", says Const. Claus Wagner of the Hamilton -Wentworth Regional Police in southern Ont., "We are a very trusting society."
It's wise to use your first initial rather than your full name in the telephone directory, on your mailbox, anywhere that would identify you as a women living alone. If you ask a friend to walk you to your door at night, make sure he or she comes inside with you before leaving, assailants have been known to wait for their victims inside the door.
Basic security is about common sense and it can make getting a good night's sleep a whole lot easier.
Phone phobias....
| The popularity of the telephone innovations such as caller ID service (which displays your callers number or name on a screen) is helping to decrease the number of obscene phone calls. And experts say the heavy breathers still plying their trade are very unlikely to escalate the game to more serious harassment. Nonetheless, repeated obscene phone calls should be reported to the police. If you don't have a caller ID service, you can usually find out were the call is coming from by dialing *69. | This won't work if the caller is using a cellular phone or has an unlisted number or is he blocked the trace by dialing *67 before calling. In that case, you should immediately dial *57; no call escapes this Bell Canada security code. You'll need to alert police, who can access the trace information through the Phone Company. The service costs $5 a call, but you are only charged for a maximum of two calls a month. A number of harassers have been caught this way. |
Taking it to the streets...
|
Communities across Canada are taking steps to make their streets safe for women. In Toronto, Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver, riders taking a bus at night can get closer to their destinations by requesting to get off between stops. On subway platforms in Toronto, Designated Waiting Areas feature enhanced lighting, a telephone, an intercom, and a security camera. In Winnipeg, the Safe City Committee analyzed bus routes and initiated changes such as the relocation of some stops and increased lighting around waiting areas. Workers in a position to help women in distress are being trained to do so. In Halifax, telephones on buses allow drivers to contact emergency services through a dispatch centre. Many communities have programs such as the one in Granby, Que. called Taxi Plus, which trains cabbies to help women in difficulty in the street, or to deliver females to a safe place if they request it. |
Public spaces and buildings have also come under scrutiny. Winnipeg's Safe City Committee conducted safety audits of communities and community centres, recommending changes in lighting and landscaping to eliminate places where attackers could hide. Since 1992, the City of Montreal has developed safety guidelines for both private and public contractors aimed at making new buildings more secure for women such as eliminating blind corners in hallways. In many cases these improvements are the direct result of pressure from women's groups. That pressure needs to continue, says Anne Michaud, coordinator of the Women in the City program, an initiative of the city of Montreal, that has produced a handbook to help women evaluate the safety of their own urban environment. "It is crucial that Woman participate in the process," says Michaud. "You hear that they are planning to create a park near you? Insist that they consult with you, when women's intervention makes public places safer, the population as a whole benefits." Veronique Roberts |