8.  THE ART OF THREAT MANAGEMENT
    by Mike Straw 
    Special to TLE      http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/>     Issue 223

Is your family safe?

If you spent a million dollars for the most opulent home, complete with the
finest "security" equipment money could buy, would you feel
safer? Ask fourteen year old Elizabeth Smart, who on June fifth 2002 who
was illegally kidnapped at gunpoint from her own bedroom in their
six-thousand six hundred square foot, six bedroom house in Salt Lake City
Utah, as her terrified nine year old sister, Mary Katherine, looked on and
her ignorant parents blissfully slept unaware. The alarm system was
conveniently turned off.

The battle is won in the mind first, then acted out. Be able to predict
where the illegal assault will come and have a proven counter-attack
already in place to deal with it, or, as they say in the Army, the
"seven Ps:" proper prior planning and preparation prevents poor
performance.

Although we prudently seek first to avoid, then sensibly to evade, we must
pragmatically lastly defend against unwarranted illegal aggression. The
average loss from residential burglary was eight hundred thirty-four
dollars in 1992. Only about fifteen percent of all U. S. households have a
"security" system. Why would you even need one?

The threat will illegally strike when conditions are most favorable for
him, and least favorable for you. You're not a "random disarmed
victim." You've been carefully selected. Perhaps a more accurate term
would be "a target of convenience." You were available, and
didn't make it sufficiently difficult that the threat was dissuaded from
pursuing you.

You should never place your faith in any device, but the comparatively
small cost of an automated "security" and life-safety system is
significantly less than the cost of an illegal assault or emergency.
Sensors are available to detect opening, movement, glass breakage,
vehicles, people, noise, light and pressure. Environmental controls are
available to detect conditions of temperature, water, humidity, gas, smoke,
and fire.

U. S. M. C. Major J. Kelly McCann, CEO of Crucible Security, suggests
several layers of safety, like an onion. The first layer is what the public
sees from the street. Do you have a perimeter fence to discourage unwanted
visitors?

The second layer is from your property line to the skin of your dwelling.
Do you have a dog, or at least video monitoring and motion detectors? It's
important to maintain control over anything a threat could utilize against
you: barrels, ladders, ropes, hoses, wires. An unlocked garage will turn
into a pot of gold for intruders, providing not only tools to gain entry,
but improvised weapons like knives, saws, hammers and screwdrivers to do
you in.

The third layer is your dwelling itself. Will your windows and doors deter
unauthorized entry? How will the threat gain entry? Statistically, entry is
gained on the first floor, by the front door, in the majority of
burglaries. He'll use legitimate cues that can be readily explained to
passers-by to ascertain the status of your property, like ringing your
doorbell (a dangerous obsolete device that gives a tremendous advantage to
the threat by summoning you to a specific place at a specific time, without
revealing the threat or
his motives), knocking noisily and loudly saying "hello," then
progressing to actually trying your doors and windows. You should have some
type of positive monitoring device to alert you without fail to the fact
that a warm body has just entered your dwelling and each door should be
equipped with self-closers. Home invasions are popular. Don't use mail
slots or pet doors. They may not always provide a way in for bad guys, but
they will always provide a listening post. If your valuables, money and
jewels, get a safe - why don't you?

The fourth layer is your safe room. They're not a new phenomenon, in the
middle ages they were known as castle keeps. Every abode already has one,
if you think about it. What room is most defensible or isolated? Even in a
motel, you usually have a closet, or at least a bathroom. In Israel, all
construction since 1992 has required a "protective room." The
Federal Department of Homeland "Security" recommends that you
have one. This is the place to install your alarm panel - the part that
actually transmits the alarm - in the most secure part of the dwelling.
Why? Most installers are merely trying to make a big profit on the job:
that means get in and out as quick as they can. That means locating the
main panel near existing telephone and electrical power and providing ease
of use for the limited number of components that they supply at their
exorbitant "bargain" price.

If your alarm panel is conveniently located in a "public" part of
the house, like a kitchen, all the threat need do is toss a rock through
the sliding glass door and rip the panel out of the wall, thereby
precluding any warning from ever being sent. It takes extra time, and so
extra money, to do the job right. The alarm panel must be located in the
most secure part of the dwelling and additional remote keypads to actually
operate the system. The safe room is where your valuables belong: the
Rolex, cameras, jewelry, cash, your coin or stamp collection, the heirloom
silver, all critical documentation and records. Your architect didn't
include one? Make the best of what's available: your master bedroom, either
down a long hall or upstairs can easily be "hardened" as a
expedient safe room. A solid-core type door with deadbolt that contains a
wide-angle viewfinder, not a light hollow type will slow unauthorized entry.

How long will you have to "hole up" before the cavalry finally
arrives? Drive to your local Public Service facility. Time it. That's the
minimum, and doesn't consider Murphy's Law.

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