What Your Front Yard Says About You

Dear Fellow Survivalist;

Nobody wants their home broken into. But sometimes we’re out own worst enemy about that, all but inviting someone to break into our homes. There are countless things that we can do or avoid doing, which will have an impact on whether or not our homes get broken into.

Break-in artists are much more sophisticated than we give them credit for. They don’t just pick a random home and try to break in. Rather, they spend a considerable amount of time doing what the military refers to as reconnaissance, checking out potential targets and learning about the habits of the inhabitants. That way, they can formulate a plan to get in, get what they want, and get out, with the least risk of getting caught.

The first step in this process is picking out a potential target. That means finding houses which look like they have something worth stealing, while at the same time being fairly easy to get into and out of, without attracting attention. If there’s one thing a burglar doesn’t want, it’s for anyone to spot them and call the police.

So, just what might clue these criminals in to whether or not your house is a good target?

Is the Lawn Kept?

The first sign of a good target is that they don’t take care of the lawn. This indicates that people are less likely to take care of the rest of their house as well. In other words, they might be sloppy about locking doors, windows and gates, making the house easy to break into. Criminals would much rather go through an unlocked door or window, so that they don’t have to make the noise of breaking things to get in.

What’s in the Yard

Do your kids play in the front yard? More importantly, do they leave their toys out there and do you let them do so? Toys in the yard are a definite indicator of kids in the house and the cost of those toys will give burglars a pretty good idea of the adult toys inside it. People who spend high dollars on electric cars for their kids are likely to spend much higher dollars on the biggest and best television they can get through the door.

Your Cars

Expensive cars are an indication of the family’s overall wealth and income. People who are driving BMWs and Mercedes, are likely to be the kind that have other nice things inside their house to steal. That could mean anything from entertainment centers to jewelry; but is likely to be things that they can show off with, like the nice jewelry.

The other thing that cars can tell criminals is when you are home and when you’re away. After a few days of periodically checking your house, they’ll know your schedule, just by when the cars are there and when they’re not. All the cars being gone will tell them that it is probably a good time to break in.

Newspapers and a Full Mailbox

One of the oldest tricks in the book is for burglars to check your mailbox, looking to see if you’ve been letting the mail stack up. Since most people check their mailboxes daily, a fill mailbox indicates that you’re out of town. It’s the old-fashioned way of telling everyone on social media that you’re out of town on vacation.

Newspapers, deliveries and even advertising that’s delivered door-to-door can be even more obvious signs that you’re not home. Worse than that, they’re not always under your control. Some community newspapers deliver to every home in the community, whether you subscribe or not. Advertisers don’t check to see if anyone is home, and with seven day a week delivery of packages, you can’t even leave home for the weekend, without it being obvious.

Boxes in the Trash

Advertising has met the world of packaging, causing many boxes that products come in to be brightly-colored advertisements for the products we’ve purchased. That’s not a problem when they fit in the garbage can; but it can be a big problem for larger purchases. That 75-inch television you just bought means you’ve got a billboard sitting beside your trash can, advertising that product to both neighbors and the random thief that’s looking for a home to break into. Hey, they like having big TVs too.

The best thing to do with those big boxes is to cut them up, so they’ll fit in the can. That might mean that you leave part of it in the garage, until you have more room to dispose of it next week. But at least you’re not telling people about your recent purchases.

This is only a smattering of the things that can cause us trouble. Another biggie is to not replace exterior light bulbs, an easy thing to overlook. But those exterior lights are a deterrent, so you can be sure that any thief is going to notice when they aren’t working. It’s all about being prepared, just like keeping your powder dry and your survival gear close at hand.

Dr. Rich