Lock Your Doors

[randyho]

No need to get a separate router. Any router OS worth a darn will be able to make multiple virtual wireless APs. If the one on your router can't, you should be able to replace it with something like OpenWRT.

Another router is the easy button here. Comparing OS's? nope.

[GJM]

Years ago trailheads were a target for people breaking windows to access the contents of your car. People started leaving signs on their windows that the car was unlocked and there's nothing of any value inside. Check it out.

A beater Subaru and unlocked doors is SOP at many Anchorage trailheads.

[Borderland]

Everyone that leaves my house becomes flummoxed by the locked door.

I don't worry about it none.

(My wife locks me out regularly when I go out to do one chore or another. You'd think I'd get the hint by now. )

I get locked out a lot also. Not sure what that's about.

[Phaedrus]

OK, I'll admit to apparently living in an alternate universe . . . and being a kid myself growing up in a small town (not all that far from Mayberry), well over a half century ago. Back then, wanting to be way early to Little League baseball games, I'd walk the 1+ mile to the ball field. And being in a uniform, 10-12 years old, with a glove and bat, I'd usually be offered a ride, which I gladly took. Same walking to the swimming pool or golf course (kids could play for a buck, if we made sure "stay out of the way of the adults"). Nobody I knew ever locked their house or car. Yes, "historical data".

I feel ya'! When I was a kid one of the toys my folks bought for my siblings and me was a set of lawn darts. LAWN DARTS! Eventually they were pulled from the market after a few kids got killed by them. So there's a wide gulf between our modern notion of liability and even common sense vs the mindset we had back then. I don't ever remember wearing my seatbelts until it became a law sometime in the late 70's or early 80's, and even then I didn't actually start wearing mine until I got pulled over for it and got a ticket ($25 fine!). Funny thing, we didn't lock the doors in the daytime either. But it's not like there was no such thing as crime. Back before the internet we still told campfire tales about gruesome murders and violent crime rates were actually higher then than they are now.

In retrospect I think it was normalcy bias combined with a lack of public narratives of crime. That latter thing is kind of a clumsy way to put it but I don't know how to say it better. There was no internet, no 24 hour cable news. Fox didn't exist yet to start pumping us up with fear of...pretty much everything. We all vaguely knew there was bad in the world and a lot of stuff beyond the borders of our little hamlet of 700 sitting in the armpit of the world. But the palpable sense of it didn't really permeate into our daily lives.

Honestly, there isn't a lot of property crime in my corner of Montana. The specific layout of my neighborhood makes access control to my place pretty easy. If I never locked my doors it's probable that nothing would ever happen. But it's not the odds, it's the stakes. Again, I keep a spare key on a neck lanyard and it's virtually no effort at all to lock my doors so why wouldn't I? Kind of like carrying a gun, it's simply another safety measure that I have decided to adopt, like wearing seat belts, dating perishable foods with a Sharpie, keeping fire extinguishers by the computer and in the kitchen, etc. I've never felt like those things were symptoms of living in fear, quite the contrary; I do them and go about my day.

[Wondering Beard]

Well - - - and again not saying it's the best way, and it could be the worst in some cases - - - but once when we went to church, and for a reason still unknown, my sister decided to lock all the doors (she was a teenager then; I was actually around 7, in the late '50s). Turned out when we got home and found that out, neither of my parents had a key on them, nor did my grandparents who lived down the way a bit. Since it was Sunday, and there was no one to call to get the door unlocked (Did I mention "small town"? There were no locksmiths, only hardware stores with "Keys Made Here" signs, and not open on Sunday), my Dad decided we'd have to break a window to get in. I remember it took quite a whack (I asked to "do the honors") to break the window, even though it was single pane glass. And we did go to the hardware store the next day to get a replacement piece cut. I also got to help put it in, although I don't recall volunteering. Nor do I recall my parents carrying door keys after that, or locking the doors, other than when we went on out-of-town trips.

Mayberry . . .

I think you present the most important variable: local culture.

In your case, small town 'Mayberry'; in my case, big city Europe and cops with SMGs on the street was normal. I imagine that some suburbs are more security conscious than others, have certain traditions and cultures regarding how kids behave that are different from others even with similar levels of wealth (e.g. a Chicago suburb vs a San Antonio suburb, poor or rich).

[Bio]

Can they be trusted with keys? If not, what about installing keypad deadbolts? Then they just need to input the code on their way back inside and don’t need to worry about losing keys.

One can be trusted with a key. It's more the idea that I don't like locked doors when my kids are out. It feels very wrong for me to have locked doors to protect me in the house when kids are playing unprotected in the back yard. That's very much an emotional reaction, not a rational one.

[WobblyPossum]

One can be trusted with a key. It's more the idea that I don't like locked doors when my kids are out. It feels very wrong for me to have locked doors to protect me in the house when kids are playing unprotected in the back yard. That's very much an emotional reaction, not a rational one.

Ah I misunderstood. I thought you were asking about the practical application of how to ensure the doors stayed locked. I didn’t understand that you were discussing the emotional aspect of your circumstances. I’m not sure what you should do.

[Bio]

Ah I misunderstood. I thought you were asking about the practical application of how to ensure the doors stayed locked. I didn’t understand that you were discussing the emotional aspect of your circumstances. I’m not sure what you should do.

Yeah, I wasn't at all clear. It had more emotional weight than I think I even realized when I initially asked the question.

[Casual Friday]

What's the take on door locking when you have kids? I've locked doors all my adult life, but on afternoons after school and weekends during the day, my kids are in and out of the house all the time. Telling them they're not supposed to go play outside seems both harmful to them and an impossibility.

As with anything, there's a balance to be struck. I work from home so there's about 7 hours a day where it's just me and the dog. I love fresh air. I like to have the front door open during the day with the security screen door locked. Our dog is an Australian Cattle Dog. They are very protective, territorial, and he alerts me to, well, everything. I leave our back sliding glass door open a lot during the day too, but it's right by where I do my work and I have a carbine sitting there with me. Anybody or anything at the back of the house and my dog lets me know.

After the kids are home, the door may or may not be locked at all times due to the kids going in and out a lot. That may put me at odds with some folks here who are empty nesters or those that never had kids, but it is what it is. Typically, once my wife gets home we're all inside or out on the patio for dinner and the front door and security screen door are both locked. Like I said earlier, there's a balance to be struck. You can't lock it up like Fort Knox 24/7 and enjoy life. That's a benefit to living in a low crime rural setting, something that I realize is not possible for everyone and they may need to do things differently.

@LittleLebowski mentioned Dog earlier and I can't agree with him more. This morning I was sitting on the back patio drinking coffee and reading and my dog jumped up and hit the afterburners heading out front barking at something. I didn't hear anyone or anything, but he did. It was a realtor who just pulled into my driveway to turn around. A good watch dog will alert you long before you ever have a chance to figure out something or someone is outside, whether their intentions are good or bad.

[Odin Bravo One]

My animal makes sure to let people and other animals know if they’re welcome or not, and alerts me to shit like a bear in the yard from over 100 yards away, while she is inside the house. She’s also been known to run a bear off the property. Delivery drivers know not to exit their vehicles when she’s outside until I catch up. And that she can’t be bribed with food unless I show up and tell her it’s ok.

Our security system is cellular, and our video system sends me texts any time a camera is motion triggered, with real time streaming video. We have multiple signs at the driveway entrance, as well as throughout the back trails of the property that eventually lead to the house/yard, advising wrong doing motherfuckers that we have a security system, a well-trained, and very capable canine companion/service animal, and a 24/7 real time, and recorded video system + the alarm/security system. The alarm skips any middle men, and goes directly to the local Sheriff’s Office, who has the information of what is stored in the vault, and prioritizes their response accordingly.

If I’m awake I’m carrying a firearm or it is within arms reach. There are also covertly staged serious use firearms throughout the house, so it’s no more than a few steps to obtain one and put it to use.

Everyone in the house is trained appropriately to their age/skill level on the use of those arms in the common areas.

Not to be contradictory, or suggest not to lock your doors………by all means, lock them. I firmly believe in making your home less attractive as a target than another less protected home.

But having opened locked doors as a profession for a couple of decades, most residential locks are weak chili, and can really only be relied upon as a split second alert that danger is on your doorstep. I’ve yet to find a domestic residential lock that takes me longer than 3-5 seconds defeat, without tools. More often than not, I can have a residential front door open in less than 1 second.

Residential burglars and home invasion types are generally fairly adept at the same skills.

A multi-layered defensive posture with built in redundancies is far more effective than your Home Depot dead bolt.