Sandra is a married woman who lives in a tony neighborhood, not the kind of place where people expect violent crimes to occur. Her husband is a professor at a local college. She works from home.
On a Friday, not long ago, Sandra was at work in her home office. The time was about mid-morning. She was on a normal day.
Two weeks earlier, Sandra and her husband had an iron front door installed on their residence. The also added decorative, and yet protective, ironwork to all the windows on their residence. They installed an iron door at the rear of their home as well.
The Iron Door Selected by Sandra and Her Husband
Sandra and her husband have a specific idea what they wanted for the iron doors and iron window covers at their home. Thus, they elected to have these items custom designed.
In taking this course, Sandra and her husband didn’t have home security at the top of their list when they started to think about the door design. However, once got that designed process underway, they came to appreciate how significantly an iron door can enhance home security. As a result, the decision to install not only a back door but window coverings as well.
The doors turned out to be lovely. They included glass and ironwork in a beautiful configuration.
Defense Against Home Invasion
As mentioned, on this Friday, Sandra was enjoying a normal day at work in her home. Everything was completely routine. And then it happened. Tucked in her office, she heard breaking glass coming from the front of her home.
She quickly went to that area of the home and immediately saw that a pane of glass that was part of the front door design has been broken out. As she stood there, another pane shattered in front of her. She saw in that instant that a ragged looking man was trying to gain access to the residence.
She retreated a bit and called 911. She calmly told them what was occurring at her residence.
She was able to remain at least relatively calm in this situation because she has the confidence of knowing that the man attempting a home invasion could break as much glass as he wanted, on the front door and elsewhere, and he would not be able to gain access into the residence. The iron on the doors and windows made it impossible for the man to break way into the home.
The epilogue of the Home Invasion Attempt
The attempted home invader was arrested by police not far from Sandra’s home. Ultimately, an investigation by law enforcement revealed that the man was someone the police had been seeking for some time. He was responsible for three, if not more, home invasions. Two of those three incidents resulted in the rape of the occupant of the residence. In basic terms, a potentially extremely serious, violent crime was prevented because of the installation of iron doors and window coverings at Sandra’s home.
Home Invasion in the United States
Home invasion is an alarmingly commonplace crime in the United States. Over 2 million homes in the United States will experience a home invasion at some point during the year. Based on this number, about 20 percent of all Americans will be the victims of a home invasion at some juncture during their lifetimes.
60 percent of all rapes occur as the result of the home invasion. 38 percent of all other types of assaults that end up reported to law enforcement occur during a home invasion.
One alarming statistic is that although about 2 million homes are targets of home invasion annually, there are over 3.8 million actual home invasions and burglaries. According to the FBI, this means that some residences are being targeted more than one time.
When it comes to these types of crimes, and when theft is involved, the same property is routinely targeted twice. The reason this occurs in this way is that after the initial crime, a burglar or home invader realizes the homeowner will purchase replacements for the items stolen. Hence, many of these criminals return a second time.
A final note: interviews with criminals who have engaged in home invasions make clear that they normally avoid homes with security systems that include iron doors. The fact that the man went ahead an tried to invade Sandra’s home despite the iron doors and window covers is something of an exception.
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Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who writes for Abby Iron Doors. Abby Iron Doors specialize in designing and manufacturing wrought iron entry doors, wine cellar doors, windows and balconies for residential and commercial customers.
