He showed up at their house wearing a Dallas Police uniform and immediately began casing the home — looking for shrubbery to hide behind, shadows to disappear into, and easy ways into the house. But Sr. Cpl. Ron Carpenter wasn’t trying to break in; he was helping the homeowners keep potential burglars out.
It’s one of the little-known services of the Dallas Police Department. With a simple phone call, Carpenter or another trained officer will show up on neighbors’ doorsteps and conduct a home security survey. Similar to the Discovery Channel’s reality show “It Takes a Thief” (but without the drama of former burglars actually “breaking into” homes), the survey identifies weaknesses that criminals are likely to take advantage of. And an added bonus? Saving 5 to 20 percent on homeowner’s insurance by adopting the suggested security measures.
Bill and Gloria Rowell recently invited Carpenter to check out their Lake Highlands home. Bill is a security chairman for the Highlands West neighborhood, so he’s already savvy when it comes to safety. But, he says, you can never be too careful, and if you can save a little money on home insurance, it’s worth the extra effort.
Carpenter began his examination outside, noting the home’s shrubbery. Bushes should never be higher than the bottom of windows, he says. And the more light the better, he says, adding that “lights are the most cost-effective deterrent to crime.”
Carpenter also checked the exterior doors to ensure that they were solid core construction with dead-bolt locks — one of the requirements of the 5 percent insurance discount. But qualifying for the 15 percent discount can be a little pricey. That requires all exterior doors and windows to be connected to a monitored alarm. This would be quite expensive for the Rowells, so rather than renovating their entire house, Carpenter recommends installing a single motion detector that can monitor a large area, such as the wall of windows on the back side of their living room. This wouldn’t meet the qualifications for the insurance discounts, he says, but it might be more cost effective.
Moving inside the home, Carpenter noted the dead-bolt locks on the front door, as well as the back door’s double-cylinder lock, the kind that requires a key to open the door from either side.
“It’s better than a thumb lock, which allows easy turning,” Carpenter says, especially if the door is partly glass. That would allow a burglar to simply break the glass, turn the thumb lock, and walk into the house.
“Burglars don’t like to take time or make noise,” Carpenter says. “If you can do something to yourself, your home or your car to prevent crime, you’re much better off.”
He adds that qualifying for the insurance discounts requires “jumping through a few hoops.”
But it’s like Bill Rowell says: If it’s worth the money, it’s worth the time.
To schedule a home security survey, call Sr. Cpl. Ron Carpenter at 214.671.0160.
