The time is just around noon. A playful kid has just returned from his kindergarten class to join his mom at home. Suddenly the door bell rings. When the mother responds together with her kid , they both notice a door to door vendor - a direct marketer - politely standing at the porch with some striking domestic appliances and toys in his portable shelf.
 This quite ordinary interaction - minutes later - led to the tragic death of both the mother and her little son. They were brutally murdered by the vendor in broad daylight in order to rob the home that belonged to a senior corporate manager. The lady was the 13th housewife victim of this home-looting, serial killer. Eventually, the man was traced to his village by the Special Investigations Unit of the Kandy Police. Until then, even the grieving families of the victims were treated as likely suspects.
Safe homes help create safe families - both physically and emotionally. What is gifted from home - we transmit it to our friends, office, society and finally to the nation - in proportionately diverse punch blogs. It orbits around emotional and physical stability in a family. That’s a reason why the degree of home safety is essentially a micro benchmark of the wellbeing of a community. That’s how the executive home safety conduits a depth connectivity with professional corporate security as well.
Often, we get submerged in the demanding commitments of corporate life. It is only belatedly we realize that our home defences have been penetrated by veteran criminals meanwhile. We need to leave home peacefully to make it an energized day of effort in office. Also, we pray for an undisturbed home to get back at sundown - and placidly unwind ourselves to forget a chaotic day. A breach of security represents a breach of peace - mostly in mind and in some cases - bodily too.
Day burglary risks
Recently, the General Manager of a premier corporate experienced a shocking home burglary, on returning after a family day outing. The burglars had found sanctuary once they landed into the garden in a flash, scaling over the 8 feet perimeter wall. They had later created a life-size centre casement on the fortified main timber door by using a power tool. The door locks, hinge pivots and the intruder detection devices just remained firmly in its original positions. Then the burglars uncovered exactly where the valuables and cash were. The family lost everything precious they had indoors. That’s a home they humbly thought to be safe and well protected.
The metro home security in working days is a crucial domestic burden. Many urban homes are closed completely in isolation. Some are left in the hands of servants or elders. Sometimes we depend on the electronic burglar detection systems to alarm someone who can respond to the scene quickly. A few of us try to keep vigil by watching home via web based CCTV cameras from the office computer (or mobile phone) as a random consolation. These are good practices, but not the only things we can do in order to protect lives and domestic assets from the criminals.
As a saying goes “Over confidence often lets us down badly at the least expected time by bringing in the worst consequences”. At that gloomy moment in time, we realize that nothing is more precious than the value of focused preparation. Besides, we are often too delayed to avert it or to respond effectively and meaningfully.
Night burglary risks
Home thefts at night are launched mainly in two forms by the burglars. They simply plan for either a silent burglary or a violent robbery. In some cases they are forced to switch the burglary mode - from silent to aggression - when their presence inside a home is exposed or detected. In addition to the assets risk, the presence of kids and ladies in homes at night magnify the life vulnerability during the tensed moments of a home robbery. The violence could end up with assault, gagging, rape and murder.
Once, a director of a blue chip sold his personal luxury vehicle on a Saturday morning on cash basis and kept the funds inside his residence during the weekend. The criminals had discreetly trailed the prospect from the time of advertisement. When the vigorous home robbery was committed by a well armed gang on Sunday night out of the blue, the only wise option he had was to trade-in his life safety and that of his family - for millions worth of cash regretfully.
The home security during family vacations and overseas travel raise a blend of risks, especially on the likelihood of losing assets. We usually prefer to ride on the crest of luck, yet escalating hardships would compel the burglars to be creative and frequent in their vicious actions. And neither can we (successfully) transfer the total responsibility of home and family safety to the busy hands of the law enforcement domain alone.
Blocking lapses
Burglaries mostly occur owing to impulsive creeping portals created by our own unintentional actions. We invest in a 10 foot home protective wall and let a tree branch from outside hang over it. Internally, we keep a ladder slanted to a wall. Or fix the best door lock in town and leave a sharp iron rod just close by. It’s we who casually get electricians or computer technicians by dialing contacts displayed somewhere.
These daylight (spying) handymen can become familiar burglars at night. We then conveniently blame the Police or neighbours after that for lack of vigil on their part.
Investing on human security, electronic systems or with response teams are good measures. Unless it’s in the edges of sensitivity, these solutions should linger within the cost corridor of worst-case loss of a burglary. Some solutions only outcrop a post-mortem value which is only secondary. Perhaps, that’s why it is said that marketers know to sell, engineers know to install, and the burglars know the way to beat.
Prevention
The first step in defying home thefts is to grasp the reality and accept the fact that burglaries are an acid truth around us. When we know that our turn is yet to roll in, it’s easy for us to get over the complacent psyche. It helps us to develop a common sense approach (which is rare though) to shrink the risk and stay out of harm.
Another vital ingredient is home safety culturing of the family including kids, drivers and domestics. In some cases, the parents are vividly risk conscious, but the kids innocently reveal almost everything. The drivers fly on loose-talking at the boutique. A naïve servant answers the phone in the absence of the masters and lets vital pieces of information out, misreading that the sunset caller is a friend of the family.
Thus, it is time to drive a focused effort on erasing attractive ‘opportunities’ for burglars as the primary thrust - be it frail windows, outgrown shrubs, burnt backyard lights, broken fences or exhibitive living - today and from now. That modest effort is certainly less sweating than sighting a few ghostly men in black standing near your bed in a semi dark night - when you abruptly jolt awake from deep slumber.
(This columnist writes on issues that concern corporate citizens and their families – be it education, health, security or transportation. He is an enterprise risk management and BCP specialist and a pragmatic corporate trainer. He can be reached at solutions@sltnet.lk). |
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