Ask Lemmy

Being a less attractive target than your neighbours, either by being a bigger hassle or by looking like there's nothing worth stealing.

Provide universal health care, low cost.of living to income ratio, free higher education, strong community building, and walkable cities.

Lesson from South Africa: by the time they are at your door it's too late. Perimeter fencing, preferably a 2m high wall with razor wire AND electric fence on top (including on gate). Garden: floodlights, motion sensing alarms, beams, AI cameras. All doors and windows: bars and security gates. Inside: separate living and sleeping area with lockable gate in the hall between. Panic buttons..

None of that is going to stop a legal intrusion, each just buys you time before the paid security company arrive with guns to chase away intruders. Given time, any determined attacker will get in eventually..

As a locksmith, I can tell you what I tell my paranoid customers. Buying the greatest lock in the world doesn't do shit if you still have first floor windows.

Build a moat.

It's not impenetrable, but let's be honest, who's crazy enough to break into the house with a moat?

Not really much, tbh.

Decent quality door locks
Clear line of sight from the street to likely entry points
Loud alarms so if they do break in they're not likely to stay long

If someone wants to get into a house, there isn't much you can do to stop them unless you're rich and can afford exotic shit like bullet proof glass windows and thick metal reinforced doors.
All to can really do is discourage crimes of opportunity by making them seem like bad opportunities.

Reinforce your doorframes and window frames, preferably with steel. The dinky pine wood frames of residential doors and windows are hilariously easy to kick in, and the thickest steel door and the meanest window bars in the world won't mean much when an attacker can simply kick them out of the frame with a minimum of effort.

You will probably find that doing this is in fact deemed illegal by at least one entity in your local hierarchy of state/county/municipality. I'll give everyone three guesses as to why.

Who is your enemy?

If it is just some random burglar, create some fear with triple locks and cameras and you are good.

If it is a government operation, you better leave the country before they even start looking for you.

If you asking how you secure your residence against ICE…good luck with that. They have legal access to an expansion of the Patriot Act for warrants, and they have toys they’d love to use against any home security. All that physical security is going to do is give them probable cause.

Top 3 tools that will get you most of the way there.

1. Steel door frame reinforcement + steel or solid core wood door. The door jamb is the weakest link here. Cheap steel reinforcement with long screws are an easy win. A quality lock is a good idea.

2. Security window film. Best done when the windows are manufactured, but they will deter most people who were counting on a quick smash and grab.

3. Dog. No one wants to mess with a dog. Lots of dual purpose family friendly breeds who instinctively guard the home from intruders and can smell the adrenaline of people who don't belong.

These three things will get you 80% of the way there for 20% of the cost. Cameras just give you memorabilia of that time you got robbed and rarely help prosecution and even less in recovery of stolen goods.

Alligators.

American home

2nd amendment has entered the chat

Edit: Jesus christ what the fuck? They're going door to door?

We're so cooked

Judging by the link in the OP, the concern is the possibility of ICE or other federal agents breaking in. It's not the same as dealing with a random intruder. About the best you can hope for is to slow them down, maybe giving you time to get away or for legal assistance and the media to arrive.

Given that, I'd concentrate on making the house more sturdy: steel framed doors, steel rolling garage door, properly installed security bars/screens on windows and so forth. And maybe start with a solid masonry house.

Probably not realistic for most people, but then a few years ago I wouldn't have considered the risk realistic either, and here we are.

Home Alone has some solid ideas

Layers.

Plant something with thorns or pointy leaves to block easy access to windows. Even better as a hedge around the whole property. Anti break film on windows. Heavy duty exterior doors. Motion sensing lights. Cameras, +1 for cameras with built in lights that can recognize people and automatically turn on.

Every layer should either strengthen, increase risk of being caught, or make access painful. They will go towards easier targets.

The critical question is “who?”.

Most break-ins are targets of opportunity. Given that you can’t change to a less risky neighborhood, you could have no outward signs of profitability, no easy/quiet entrance, signs of people around, lights, cameras. And remember, they’re not coming in the front door: they’re looking for an Inconspicuous, weak point. You just need to be less of a target of opportunity than your neighbors.

Someone specifically targetting you will be much harder. Someone with skills will be much harder. At the extreme, no consumer lock is safe against lock picking and no consumer door is safe against police battering ram.

I have a side door with a broken jamb, and speculate that someone kicked it in at some point (before I moved here). One of the first things I did upon moving in, was add long screws to the latch and hinges so it’s anchored in the nearest joist rather than simply the jamb. Supposedly that makes it much more difficult to kick in - someone might give up when it is taking too much time and they are creating noise that could attract attention. I also have a light and a doorbell cam, so they would be visible and on camera doing it. And a dog

At one point I came across an article recommending steel supports behind the jamb, and would really like to do that when I replace the door. It looks like a normal door but the jam is no longer a weak point. Unfortunately no one seems to know what I’m talking about though

The ONLY way to stop someone who really really really wants into your house from entering your house. Is to not have a house.

Have you seen the film Home Alone 2?

Gravel around your house. Bad guys don't want to be heard.

Exterior lighting everywhere, bad guys don't want to be seen.

Having two locks including a proper deadbolt with a decent type of key. You want a deadbolt that goes deep into the door frame, not a cheap one that barely hits the strike plate. That and locking windows with window film will keep most people out.

Nothing will keep someone out who really wants to get in. You just need to make the hassle greater than their desire to get in.

3" door screws and a good lock.

Also AR15, if you legally/mentally can. Last line of defense, but without it the last line is the door/windows.

Oh right. Can you get some pet geese for the outside? Nothing louder than geese