Home Invasions - Is There A Pattern? (Houston, Spring: for sale, crimes)

[mistergus75]

Saw the article in the Chronicle (yesterday, I think) about Houston Police concerns about home invasions spiking during the holidays.

Living in Spring, I always thought we were in a low-risk area for that. But our next door neighbor told us about turning his porch light on after midnight, and seeing a man lurking on his porch, who quickly ran away. Now we're planning on getting a high-security storm door.

We don't want to spend our lives worrying excessively, but would like get an accurate picture of this trend. Is there a map available somewhere that shows where these home invasions occur?

[texas7]

Sometimes it is people who know where they are going (ie., know that people have cash, drugs, guns, etc.) in the home. Other times it is very random crimes of opportunity spread throughout the city. You can't worry too much or you become miserable - just take necessary precautions to secure your home - good doors, locks, alarm if you can afford it (discourages amateurs and encourages them to go down the road to the home that doesn't have one), you can buy security film for windows - won't stop someone from breaking a window if they really want in but will take them about 10 minutes to break through it. Good lighting. A lot of break-ins seem to occur early in the mornings, just after people have left for work or for school. And look out for your neighbors, even if you don't know them. If you see something unusual or someone unusual, call the neighbor if you know them or call the police and report a suspicious vehicle or person(s). Our neighborhood calls the police any time someone or something seems a bit out of order, a car driving slowly (that we've never seen before) driving up and down every street. Sure they might be looking around for homes for sale or whatever but you know if they aren't doing anything wrong, then it never hurts anyone if the police stop them and ask them what they are doing. If looking at homes for sale, etc. then they can just continue on their way. They could be casing the hood just to see the pattern of when people come and go.

[14Bricks]

Usually it's either immigrant small business owners who carry around large amounts of cash that makes them a target or people involed in the dope business who also have large amounts of cash on them, that makes them a target as well. That's not to say that random home invasions don't happen, but it's rare, criminals are more likely to go after known quantities.

[OilmanMike]

do the security doors front and rear, get a motion sensor light and maybe a home surveillance camera.....I think it's $$$$ well spent anywhere.....

[texas7]

Are you talking the glass storm doors or the glass storm doors with the iron bars?

[tstone]

I have one of these (Lowe's special) on each exterior door:

Larson Manufacturing


Secure Elegance Doors - Breaking Glass - NAPS-TV - YouTube

Good layer of protection without that ghetto iron-bar look. They're about $500 each + labor and you get a tax credit.

[Azt3r1x]

Originally Posted by mistergus75

Is there a map available somewhere that shows where these home invasions occur?

CrimeReports.com is very useful for that. It shows you all types of incidents for whatever date range you choose.

http://www.crimereports.com/map?CRSearch=Spring,%20TX

[mistergus75]

Originally Posted by tstone

I have one of these (Lowe's special) on each exterior door:

Larson Manufacturing


Secure Elegance Doors - Breaking Glass - NAPS-TV - YouTube

Good layer of protection without that ghetto iron-bar look. They're about $500 each + labor and you get a tax credit.

I think this is what I saw at Lowes.

It also has heavy-duty hooks inside the frame near the bottom and the top in addition to the standard handle/lock.

[wclanton423]

www.spotcrime.com is a good site for crime.

[texas7]

Like the door - we have Larson on the front and back but not the security door - just normal storm door.