Make your home environmentally secure
4:48 p.m. Thursday, August 14, 2008
Citizens Patrol Coalition member Fred Martinez says common sense is the first step to preventing home invasions.
Like asking who's at the door before opening it and keeping doors locked.
“Used to be that nobody liked a nosey neighbor,” said Fred Martinez, Citizens Patrol Coalition. “But the way crime is, I tell you, a nosey neighbor in a neighborhood is a real asset.”
But to really keep from becoming a victim, Topeka Police Sergeant Lance Feyh says your home's environment is the key to security.
Do It Yourself
If you're concerned, the Topeka Police Department can do a home security assessment at your home for free. But if you want to do it yourself, you can use the department’s checklist.
Safe Streets also has a class on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. For more information, call (785) 266-4606.
“It really doesn't take a whole lot and it really does amazingly free up a lot of space and you still have the same good look of the landscaping,” he said.
Bushes shouldn't be so tall that they block the window, and tree limbs shouldn't hang so low that someone from the street can't see your front door.
He says the 3-7 Rule is a good place to start.
Bushes should be three feet high and tree limbs cut so they're seven feet above the ground, that way criminals can't hide behind them.
“Maybe I’m not a victim but I might be able to look out and see something happening across the street and I can help identify a suspect in a case,” Feyh said.
“If you're going to put bushes to cover your windows, put rose buses, thorny bushes,” Martinez said.
Property crime, not violent crime happens far more often in Topeka.
And though the Citizens Patrol does what it can to keep those numbers down, Martinez says the group can only do so much.
“It's going to take the citizens to listen to what we're trying to do and help us to make the city a safer place to live,” he said.
Related story: 50 cent crime solutions to keep your home safe
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