The burglary of a house at
Regatta Waters in the last week highlighted a security ‘flaw’ of many modern
homes, automatic garage door openers.
Criminals know this and will
either break into cars looking for garage door openers (which they did in this
instance) or will drive around with a number of garage door openers, to find a
house they can get into. The problem is compounded
by the fact there are only a small number of electronic signal combinations and
garage door opener manufacturers.
There are a couple of
relatively simple methods of improving your household security:
- Install
a double sided deadlock (keyed
on both sides) on the doorway between the living area of your house and
the garage. The doorway should be
locked at night and when the house is vacant. There are two advantages to this, it
will slow or stop a criminal from getting from the garage to the house
easily and it will make it harder for them to carry your property to the
garage if they have broken in whilst the house is vacant. If your house has a sliding door between
the garage and house, you may need to consider a security screen or
another type of deadlock.
- Turn
off the automatic garage door mechanism when you are going to be away.
If you are going away on holidays, or even a weekend away, turn off
the garage door mechanism before you leave. It will mean that a criminal can’t use a
garage door opener to get into your house.
- Secure
your garage door opener. If you have a car which is kept outside, don’t
leave the garage door opener in it.
Whilst it makes getting into your house easier for you, it also
makes it easier for a criminal to get access to the door opener.
The suggestions won’t stop the
risk of your house being burgled through the garage, but by following the steps
above you have ‘target hardened’ your home.
Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew LAKE 6695
Service Operational Procedures, Police Headquarters, Brisbane
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