The latest crime states released by the FBI are from 2015 and they reveal a 3.9% increase in the number of violent crimes and the 2.6% decrease in the number of property crimes compared to the 2014 stats. Many victims of violent crimes are women. In 2015 alone, 90,185 rapes were registered accross the country. If you fear for your safety in your own house, here's what you can do protect yourself against intruders. And since we all love Ginas, you should check out the articles of Gina Kim, a reporter at Santa Maria Times. She writes about local crime news focusing mainly on violence against women. Help Gina bring this sad reality to the public eye by sharing her work.
Change your locks
In spite of a drop in the burglary rate, there are more violent crimes than in 2014. This suggests all citizens should take some basic safety measures to protect themselves and their families against violent crimes in their own home. The first thing to do is upgrade your locks. In this field, the more you pay, the higher the security level you get. I am not suggesting spending thousands of dollars on door locks, but you should at least ask for the help of a professional locksmith in choosing a good yet affordable lock.
Besides, he can install it so that you don’t have to deal with this. An expensive lock that’s poorly installed is just as bad as a cheap lock. That’s why locksmiths should take care of lock installation. If you find a company that offers competitive prices for quality service, make sure you never let them go because professionals are hard to come by.
Click here to check out the average prices charged by locksmiths in Portland. The guys from 24/7 Portland Locksmith have many years of training and experience in providing their clients with high quality service and excellent support. Don’t hesitate to give them a call if you have any questions. You will be dazzled by their amazing customer service.
Upgrade your security system
Besides looking for a good locksmith to upgrade your locks, you should consider installing some security cameras and an alarm system that sends cops to your house when triggered. Security is not an area where you want to be cheap because you will lose even more money if you are the victim of a theft, not to mention that you put the life of your family at risk in the unfortunate event of a home invasion.
A break-in can easily escalate to an aggravated assault or even murder especially if the perpetrator or the victim is armed. The best thing to do is to prevent a break-in from happening by making it hard for thieves to get in. They tend to choose the most vulnerable target, which is why your purpose is to make your house a hard place to break into. Here’s another trick to remember: don’t give thieves a reason to want to break into your house in the first place.