How to Protect Your Family from a Home Intruder in Pekin, IL

As violent crime has become less common in the United States, there are still many states that are considered the most dangerous. The top ten most dangerous states have a reporting rate of at least 445 crimes per 100,000 people. All of these ten most dangerous states have major cities whereas the violent crime rate is more than double the national average rate.

As it is difficult to determine the root causes of violent behaviors, violence is often conducted in similar contexts in an area with especially high violent crime rates and how they frequently share social and economic characteristics, comparative to a well-educated population that tends to be more prosperous and less violent. And in 8 out of the 10 most dangerous states, the education attainment rates are below the national average.

As it is still hard to identify the reasons behind crime, not surprisingly, higher poverty rates accompany lower educational attainment in America’s most dangerous area. The poverty rate in six out of ten most violent states exceeds the national poverty rate of 15.5%.

The FBI reported data have broken down violence into eight types. Violent crime includes murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime includes burglary, arson, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.

Unfortunately, the best home security systems cannot guarantee 100% protection, and that is why it is important to protect your home other ways to protect you and your family from an intruder.

Property crimes include theft, destruction of someone's property, shoplifting, vandalism, to armed robbery and arson

Theft- is the act of intentionally depriving someone of his or her property.

Larceny- is by taking something of value without the owner’s consent and the intent to permanently deprive the rightful owner of the object.

Burglary- is the unlawful entry of one’s home or other closed structure, often by force or coercion, with intent to stealing property or committing other crime.

Robbery- when one uses force or threat of force to take the money and/ or property from another individual, ie. pointing a gun at a bank teller and then demanding cash.

Shoplifting- is the theft or concealment of merchandise from a retail store without intent to pay, ie. one placing items in one’s pocket and then walking out of the store.

Arson- is the intentional burning of any type of structure, building, or forest land, and involved more severe degrees when involves bodily injury, or an inhabited building, or with the intent to defraud insurers.

Vandalism- when an individual destroys defaces or degrades someone else’s property without permission; also known as criminal damage, malicious trespass, or malicious mischief.

Ways to protect yourself from an intruder

Although it is rare you will face a home invasion, this high-consequence nightmare is something you want to be prepared for.

• Lock doors and windows- 4 out of 10 burglaries enter through an unlocked door or window. Start with the best offense, by locking your windows and doors every night.
• Reinforce bedroom doors by replacing the bedroom doors with solid wood and with decent locks. This will give you a few extra minutes to call the police or grab a weapon.
• Tactical training from law enforcement teaches the best ways to stop a home invasion and you can check out this video of a day of handgun training, with a program called Gun For Hire – based out of New Jersey.
• Gun ownership comes with grave responsibility and you should only pull a gun when you are trained to use it. Practice shooting with both eyes open, as depth perception and peripheral vision, are both needed in an actual gunfight.
• Install motion sensors in case you do not own a home security system, these are an inexpensive option that will let you know when an intruder breached a window, external door or any area you protect.
• Thorny shrubs planted in front of windows will not only serve as an aesthetically pleasing deterrent but will also collect DNA from blood or skin. Torn clothes will also leave evidence that does not require an FBI lab to analyze.
• Hanging a bell on your door will trigger a simple, unobtrusive alarm.
• Have a designated safe room and be sure to tell your family and/or roommates where to go during a crisis. This room should contain a landline phone, a flashlight, and a firearm if you own one. Mount the hinges on the doors to swing outward; because they are harder to breach than those that swing inwards.
• Store gun in a safe that has rubber buttons, according to the Gun For Hire instructor and police detective John McAloon, “biometric safes can fail if your fingers are sweaty or covered in blood.” And keep a spare handheld light instead of a weapon-mounted flashlight, to avoid pointing the gun towards neighbors, family members, or cops.
• Use-of-force laws are different in every state, so check into your state’s laws on your state attorney general’s website for details.
• Keep a spare front key on a glow-stick and that way in case you are stuck on a top floor, you can crack the glow stick and toss it out the window so officers will be able to gain access.

What the law says you can do when someone breaks into your home

“Your first port of call should always be to call the police” as you should be able to do so, says theLocal Records Office.

1. When you are in your home and you fear for yourself or others, the law does not require you to wait to be attacked before using defensive force.

2. A general rule of thumb, when you are in an extreme situation the term ‘reasonable force’ implies under these circumstances the more force you can lawfully use in self-defense.

3. The law protects you when reasonable force must be used to protect themselves or others, carry out an arrest or to prevent a crime.

4. When you believe you must do what is necessary, that is the best evidence for acting lawfully and when using self-defense – even when using a hand weapon.

5. In case the intruder dies, the CPS says, “If you have acted in reasonable self-defense, as described above, and the intruder dies, you will still have acted lawfully.”

6. When you chase them, the same force is not acting in self-defense and may not be reasonable, though you can still use reasonable force to recover property and or make a citizen’s arrest.

7. The CPS advises considering your own safety when police have been called. A rugby tackle or a single blow would most likely be considered reasonable force when you are chasing them.

8. The law does give the benefit of the doubt when actions made are disproportionate though under extreme circumstances. And this only applies when using self-defense to protect yourself or others.

9. When your action is over the top or considered revenge, for example, you knock an intruder down and kick or hit them repeatedly the law does not, however, protect you in this action.

10. Police weigh out all the facts during an investigation, including the facts of the intruder situation that arises, a death or injury, and whether there were less serious injuries involved.

Know how to defend yourself, even without a gun

• Baseball bat/crane/ 2x4: be sure to use good aim. A baseball bat or something similar can be used for protection to knock an intruder unconscious.
• Perfume/aerosol: can be used as a makeshift mace.
• Telephone/hole punch /any other heavy object: can be used to deliver a hard punch.
• Fruit juice/lemonade: acidic juices are thrown or spat can temporarily blind an intruder.

Overall, it is better to be safe than sorry. Make sure you take some self-defense training courses and become better prepared, and that way you are able to protect yourself and your family in case any of these terrible instances occur.