A cautionary tale from the Pelosi attack
“Home invasion” has been used broadly to describe any crime committed by an individual unlawfully entering a residence while someone is home. More narrowly, home invasion has been used to describe a situation where an offender forcibly enters an occupied residence with the specific intent of robbing or violently harming those inside.
Although the recent unfortunate attack on Paul Pelosi in his home was caused by an intruder intending to do physical harm, any one of us can be the victim of a home invasion for any number of reasons, including:
- An offender enters a residence falsely believing no one is home and a confrontation occurs between the resident and the offender.
- A household member returns home while a burglary is in progress and a confrontation occurs between the household member and the offender.
- Specific households or residents may become a target either to “settle a score” or because residents are perceived as vulnerable, such as single females, persons with disabilities and the elderly.
Home Invasions are more prevalent than you might imagine.
According to Crimepreventiontips.com and the Jacksonville State University:
- Every 15 seconds a home burglary occurs in the United States. This means that approximately 4,800 burglaries happen every day.
There is a good chance that you might be home, and be assaulted when your house is invaded.
- In 27.6% of all home burglaries, someone is home during a burglary.
- Over 60% of assaults, including the heinous crime of rape, happens during home invasions.
- An assault occurred in 5% off all household burglaries.
- In 7% of all household burglaries, someone was home at the time and experienced a violent victimization. This translates to about 266,560 household burglaries out of about 3.7 million taking place each year on average.
- 30% of individuals experiencing violence during a completed burglary faced an armed offender.
- Serious injury accounted for 9% and minor injury accounted for 36% of injuries sustained by household members who were home and experienced violence during a completed burglary.
Like Mr. Pelosi, victims in 38% of households burglarized while someone was home were asleep at the time of the burglary, while 44% of households stated that household members were engaged in other activities in the home when the offender gained entry to the residence.
Erroneous beliefs abound about the ways to protect your family from a home invasion.
1) Leaving lights on in the home.
This has been shown to not be effective to deter a potential intruder, but can actually make their job easier by allowing them to easily see inside!
2) Having a dog in the home.
Many people believe that a dog in the home will deter intruders, but despite what many may think, most burglars are not scared of barking dogs. In a survey of convicted burglars, only 34% of respondents said that a barking dog would deter them from breaking into a property. In fact, a barking dog was one of the lowest-rated deterrents, below camera surveillance, a car in the driveway, or even just nearby traffic.
3) Having a traditional alarm system installed.
Traditional home alarm systems are reactive; it takes an incident to trigger an alarm. Due to a 96% false alarm rate the monitoring station is required to call when an alarm is tripped to verify that the police should be called. This process takes 6-7 minutes to dispatch the police, and 23 minutes on average in the US for them to arrive. So when this type of system is working properly it takes approximately 30 minutes for the police to arrive. The average burglary lasts 8-10 minutes, so this is an ineffective way to protect your family.
What are the best ways to prevent a home invasion? (listed from least to most effective)
1) Lock your doors and windows, even when you are home.
A property’s front is the weakest link in your home defense, home break-in statistics reveal that one third (34%) of burglars enter a property through the front door. When combined with back-door break-ins (22%), we find that over half of break-ins occur via doorways. Another 23% gain access through a ground-floor window, whereas a further 9% get in through the garage.
2) Upgrade your locks.
Older homes have locks that are easy for burglars to overcome and there are likely extra keys that can fall into the wrong hands.
3) Leave a car in the driveway.
4) Make sure something is creating noise in you home.
Almost half (48%) of all burglars say they would bypass a home if they heard a noise coming from inside.
5) Proactive Video Monitoring.
A traditional security system is designed to stop a crime in progress, but when it comes to your family’s safety you need a system that will prevent it from happening at all. PVM or proactive video monitoring takes action before a crime is committed. It uses intelligent video analytics to identify potential threats and intervenes in the event of unauthorized activity on your property or site.
a) The entry level automated system.
This system uses cameras attached to alarms which utilize flashing lights, beeping noises, and playing a brief pre-recorded clip when a threat is detected. This provides priority in the central station queue, as it is a confirmed breech.
b) Install a Live Video Guard System.
Live remote video guarding is a powerful tool that combines the power of artificial intelligence with the intellect and discernment of human intervention. Here’s how this dynamic combination can potentially stop a crime before it even begins.
Risk Calculation
Motion-triggered cameras are critical, but not all cameras are equipped to verify whether the motion they capture is a legitimate risk to security. At Pioneer Security, we provide powerful cameras that, by using AI technology, are equipped to calculate the risk of all motion captured. A decision is rendered automatically, and a signal is sent to the central station the moment a risk is determined to be present so that police can be called giving them information in real time providing details of a trespass or crime in progress!
The lack of this technology is the reason Paul Pelosi sustained the injuries he did. The Capitol police were manually watching over 1,800 video feeds and missed the intruder breaking into his house. He was lucky enough to be allowed to use the bathroom where he was able to call 911.
Talk Down Capability
Our live remote guard service doesn’t stop once the police have been called. Even as the intruder is attempting to break in, the live agent can talk down to the site to issue a warning. Being able to give specific details, as in “You in the blue hoodie” is an extremely effective deterrent. Whether you want the intruder to know that police are on their way, or simply that they should flee the premises because the site is being monitored, the agent can deliver the message clearly and in an authoritative manner. Even after the police have already been summoned, our guards continue to work to stop the bad guys, using extremely loud sirens and verbal warnings.
The Company you choose makes a difference!
As was sadly learned in the Pelosi break-in, a break down anywhere in the chain of detection to intervention can have dire consequences. Pioneer Security partners with a multinational video monitoring company that uses advanced technology to provide “Real Time” live remote video monitoring service. They have been providing video monitoring services to customers since 2000 throughout Europe and North America.
Security systems don’t have to be relegated to capturing crimes after they’ve already occurred. With uniquely designed systems backed by our live remote video guarding service, crimes can be stopped from happening before they’ve even started. Our system with proactive video monitoring by human guards is so revolutionary, you have to see it to believe it. To discuss obtaining this protection for your home or business, call Pioneer Security today. We look forward to helping you.
Remote Video Guard monitoring stops crime before it starts!
