Home Invasions – What Are They?
You better believe I’ll be watching this one. Home Invasions are rare, but show an increase in potential violence Kitchener Waterloo has never seen before.
Home Invasions require a level of planning to pull off, and aggression up to and including the willingness to kill.
There’s no indication of what the driving force behind this attack was, so I won’t comment or speculate on that. What I will do is try to break down how deliberate of a crime this is, and how it highlights how KW has changed.
Home Invasion
Home invasion is different from burglary and robbery. The primary intent of home invasion is not to rob you or burglarize your home. This crime has the intent to cause physical harm to those who are lawfully in the residence.
There is always motivation behind a Home Invasion. It’s impossible to know what that motivation is without extreme investigation or a direct admission by the perpetrator. While Home Invasion is different than Robbery, Robbery can be a motivation.
The reason Home Invasions are rare is that most people aren’t willing to take intimidation and violence to the level required to make this crime effective. You have to be sure, as an invader, that you are capable of subduing your target quickly and still have time to accomplish whatever goal you set. This takes more than a simply waving a gun around, especially when your target could also be armed.
While they are rare, as the story above displays, they are not completely absent from our community. It’s possible that this type of crime will begin to rise with desperation, but it’s unlikely. Home Invasions tend to be more than crimes of opportunity. That is, if anyone intends to get away with it.
Protecting Yourself
Most people will never experience a home invasion, but for those concerned there are things you can do to close up the holes that would make it easier to come after you.
Surveillance systems provide pictures, and thus are a deterrent against physical assault. Full motion video is great evidence, and criminals know it.
Panic buttons provide a direct line of contact between you and the police. They can be programmed to be silent, or to sound the alarm system siren. Either way, if the button is pressed you will get response on a monitored system. Panic Buttons are considered verified alarms.
Some will say that large animals are effective as well. This is not true. A planned home invasion is aware of your animals. They will be either killed or incapacitated as part of the plan. You may love your dogs; the invaders don’t care. They’re not normal criminals.
Perimeter Alarm Systems are also effective. These systems have a STAY-AND-AWAY function, allowing you to arm the system while you’re home and still have full roam of the house. Often, our rural clients will have alarms that arm their windows and entrances, but leave their motion detectors offline while they are home. Most of the time a system armed in STAY mode will arm the basement zones and all potential breach points including windows and doors.
It’s Not Likely
It’s not likely you’ll ever experience a home invasion. Most people never will. Again, though, if you’re concerned give us a call and we’ll talk about you options. Until we understand the motivation behind this targeted attack, it may do us some good to keep our eyes a little more open. Contact us at Burglar Alarms, Security Systems & Surveillance Cameras (hbsecurity.com), or find us on H&B Security Centre | Facebook .
