Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ If you live in Salisbury, N.C. you need to be concerned about living in one the most dangerous cities in North Carolina infamous for its home invasions and break-ins. Same goes for many small municipalities in Rowan county. If you live in the city’s West End, the Long Street Corridor, or in some of city’s numerous badlands, take special heed before the big roulette wheel in the sky takes another spin and your number comes up.
In Salisbury many folks are endangered by an understaffed police department due the city’s budgetary woes. Even if you live in “8 Block” Salisbury’s historic downtown area where many of the city’s special interest groups dwell, you still run the risk of long response times on 911 calls. According to police sources if two or more major crimes are occurring at the same time, “woe be unto you” for coverage. When murders happen in Salisbury, they draw plenty of police, leaving the remainder of the city naked, alone, and undefended unless you steeled your home with warning systems, strategies, and firearms. If you have, you will not wait for a tardy police department (through no fault of their own). With the information the Rowan Free Press is about to provide, you can turn the tables on home-invaders and break-in artists and make them your quarry.
Best Methods for Stopping Home Invasions and Break-ins:
• Live in a neighborhood less prone to crime, home invasions, and break-ins. In Salisbury it’s difficult to find such a neighborhood.
• Utilize alarm systems, motion detectors, heavy locks, and deadbolts. Double pane windows with good locks thwart burglaries. Lock those garage doors and sliding panel doors.
• Arm yourself for best protection. A revolver with knockdown power is less likely to jam if you’re up against it during a home invasion. Weapons like assault rifles can lay down a lot of firepower in a hurry. Shotguns work well. Get instructions in arms use and practice as much as possible at a shooting range. You absolutely require a firearm to stop a home invasion. Remember two shots to the core and a third shot to the head.
• Don’t advertise you have valuables in your home. Don’t display boxes from recent expensive electronics purchases in your recycling. Keep your bikes and motorcycles parked in your garage. Walk around your property and notice what a criminal might see.
• Have a wide-angle peep hole in your door.
• Consider surveillance cameras around the property.
• Notice any suspicious activity in your neighborhood and report to the police or sheriff’s department.
• Keep your blinds and curtain drawn so perps can’t check your home’s interior out.
• If you have air conditioners make sure they are strongly bolted in.
• Have an action plan for home invasions and break-ins and review it with your family.
• Make certain your doors are strong.
• Keep some lights on so your house looks like someone is presently home. You might even consider some music or sound device.
• Have motion sensitive lighting around the perimeter of the home.
• Guard dogs are beneficial–especially a loud one.
• Keep a cell phone handy for a 911 call. You’ll need to call the police or sheriff’s department to come by and do a crime scene investigation if you were forced to defend your premises and family.
• Never put a spare key in the usual places.
• Leave the house if there are many home invaders and you have the opportunity,
• Don’t answer the door for a night time visitor who comes unannounced. Dial 911 immediately and get your weapons ready.
• Plant trees and tall shrubs well away from your home. Criminals can hide among them.
• Be active in a town watch.
• Don’t let mail and newspapers pile up during a vacation or business travel. Alert the post office, newspaper delivery, and trusted neighbors who may keep an eye out for you.
• Support local law enforcement.
Salisbury’s most famous home invasion: the Tutterow Murders–First Person Interviews:
http://rowanfreepress.com/2014/02/28/salisburys-tutterow-murders-first-person-interviews/
