How to protect yourself from dacha thieves. How to protect your apartment from thieves: security measures. Unpunished methods invented by summer residents

Every person wants to live in peace and not be afraid for their safety and the safety of their property. However, many things happen every day burglaries, losses from the actions of thieves often amount to several tens, and sometimes hundreds, thousands of rubles. This issue is especially relevant for residents of large cities, where the crime rate is especially high.

Ken Powers. Lock and Latch. 2008

Statistics of burglaries in Russia

According to official data from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, over the past few years there has been a decrease in the number of burglaries in the country. However, according to statistics for the first 10 months current year Every 22nd crime in Russia is burglary. This is more than 90 thousand crimes.

Most burglaries occur in major cities. Thieves choose more often apartment buildings With big amount apartments and entrances. In such houses, as a rule, neighbors rarely know all the residents, especially if these are new areas. The choice of a specific apartment is influenced by many factors. First of all external signs wealth of the apartment owner (air conditioners, expensive double-glazed windows, satellite antenna etc.).

If we consider the main ways thieves enter apartments, then according to statistics, in Moscow 40% of thefts are committed by breaking into, knocking out or drilling out the lock. In second place in popularity is penetration through windows, vents and balconies (18% of thefts). 14% and 13% of all thefts are committed respectively by breaking doors and picking keys.

Popularity rating of techniques used to enter an apartment
40% - breaking and knocking out the lock; 18% - penetration through windows, balconies and vents; 14% - knocking down and breaking the door; 13% - key selection; 10% - free access (guests, friends, etc.); 5% - other

It is also important to remember that the number of burglaries increases during the holidays, vacation season and school holidays. If you want to protect your home from thieves, then you need to take care of its protection in advance.

To protect your home from thieves, you need to close everything possible ways access to the apartment. Therefore, the main methods of protection are: secure door, high-quality lock, window protection, and alarm installation. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Obviously, to open the door, there are 2 ways:

Vandal - when the door is simply knocked down, opened with a screwdriver, crowbar, grinder, etc. Obviously, in this way it is easy to open an ordinary wooden or metal door made of thin steel. Surely, many have seen videos about opening Chinese metal doors with a can opener.
Professional - using a variety of master keys, rolls and other types professional tools, which are used by experienced thieves.

To protect against vandalism, it is necessary to install high-quality steel doors, made of thick metal. According to Russian standards (in particular, GOST R 51072-97), there are 4 classes of resistance to burglary of steel doors.

Fernando Botero. The Thief on the Roof. 1980

I class- the door can be opened using physical strength and standard hand tools(crowbar, nail puller, mount, etc.);

II class— the door can only be opened with special electric tools;

III class- the door is impact resistant various instruments, including special electrical power up to 500 W;

IV class— a door capable of resisting small arms fire (armored, bulletproof door).

However, it should be understood that there are no completely unopenable doors. To enter an apartment, you only need a certain amount of time, proper skills and a suitable tool.

A burglar-resistant door is simply a door that can withstand a burglary attempt for a certain period of time.

Despite the fact that doors of this type are several tens of times more reliable than simple metal doors, their protection also has a limit. The burglary resistance class only limits the period during which intruders can enter the apartment. The time for partial and full access to the premises is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Ability of doors to resist burglary

That is, as we see, even 4th class armored doors can be hacked. However, this will take thieves more than two hours, which significantly reduces their chances of remaining undetected.

Also, when choosing doors, you should pay attention to the fact that it is useless to install a door whose degree of protection exceeds the level of protection of the walls. Optimally, the level of protection of the walls should correspond to the level of protection of the door being installed. There are known cases where thieves, using special tools just cut a hole in concrete wall and entered the apartment through it. The most protected are walls in monolithic houses.

Prices for high-quality steel doors start from 22-25 thousand rubles. The price depends on the thickness of the metal used and the finish.

Unfortunately, one burglary-resistant door is not enough to provide protection against thieves. Often the door meets the highest requirements for reliability, and the locks installed, although expensive, are simple for a burglar specialist.

Walter Tandy Murch. Lock. 1948

Therefore, let's figure out what types of door locks exist and which one is more reliable.

Level

It got its name from the word “lever” (an element of a code mechanism that locks the bolt). The reliability of the lock depends on the number of these “levers”; if there are more than 6 of them, then the lock is extremely difficult to open with a master key. A high-quality lever lock has a good level of burglary resistance. The disadvantages of these locks include big sizes both the lock itself and the key. (Price from 1,000 rubles to 8,000 rubles, depending on the design features and the manufacturer).

Cylinder

They got their name due to the cylindrical shape of the code mechanism installed in them. Their advantage is that the cylinder is quite easy to replace, and if the key is lost, you do not have to change the entire lock. The main disadvantage is the need to install additional armor plates that protect the lock from being opened. Otherwise, such a lock is not difficult to open. The simplest cylinder lock costs about 1000 rubles. However, choose better model with 4-5 crossbars, its average price is about 5,000 rubles.

Monoblocks

A special type of combination locks, which contains 2 locks in one housing. The monoblock can also be two-system: the code mechanisms of the lower and upper locks in its composition belong to different systems locking (for example, one lever, and the second cylinder).

The advantage of monoblocks is that they are cheaper than two separate locks. Note that when installing a monoblock with a dependent locking system, the degree of burglary resistance of the system also increases. The disadvantage is the small distance between the bolts of the built-in locks, which in turn reduces the degree of security of the door. Therefore, it is recommended to install monoblocks together with a multilateral locking system (“crab”). (The cost also varies depending on the company and design, starting from 2000 rubles).

Crab system

Allows for multi-sided locking of the door, which ensures a high level of burglary resistance of the door to forceful methods of breaking. In this case, the locking sides can be any: top, bottom, sides. This system involves the installation of locks with special rods. Their disadvantage is the increased complexity and cost of the design, and they are also more difficult to operate, since the load on the key when locking increases. Depending on the number of bolts and the manufacturer, such a lock can cost from 2,000 rubles to 8,000 rubles.

To increase the security of an apartment, experts recommend installing 2 locks of different types, for example, one lever lock, and the second cylinder lock with a replaceable core. You should not neglect special armored linings; they increase the level of burglary resistance, making it more difficult for criminals to work. A lock with an armor plate is much more difficult to knock out, saw out or drill out.

Window protection

For residents of the first and last floors, in addition to installing a good door with a reliable lock, window protection is also very important. After all, it’s quite easy to get into such apartments through a window. Especially if the owner leaves the window open or balcony door. But even a double-glazed window does not save you from thieves; modern craftsmen have long learned to open them. So how can you protect your windows? There are not many options, but 3 can be distinguished:

Window reservation.
Special protective fittings.

The first option is the most common. Experts say that the most reliable are stationary grilles made of rod 12-15 mm thick. It is almost impossible to cut such a lattice with a hacksaw. However, gratings also have disadvantages. For example, if a fire occurs, it will be impossible to get out of such an apartment through the window. And, if the path to the door is cut off, this could even lead to the death of the owners. This is why you should consider other window protection options.

Fernando Botero. A Thief. 1994

Reservation of windows is most often carried out by covering the glass from the inside with a special film, which increases its strength. Such glass is very difficult to break even with a hammer or brick. The cost of this procedure is not cheap. On average in Moscow, covering a window with such a film will cost from 650 to 2000 rubles/sq.m. m. depending on the stability class.

According to the current standards in Russia, burglary-resistant windows, depending on the number of impacts withstand, are divided into 3 protection classes: B1, B2 and B3.

The first class can withstand up to 50 blows of a hammer or ax, the second - up to 70, and the third class can withstand more than 70 blows.

In addition to armored glass, you can also install an armored frame made of steel or aluminum. The strength of such a frame is given by additional steel armored plates. This overlay is designed to protect the junction of the frame and the glass - the most vulnerable point of the window. Sometimes they make one piece metallic profile without pads, but such frames are more expensive and heavier than modifications with pads. However, the degree of protection of such windows is greater. The cost of installing such a frame is from 15,000 rubles.

In addition, you can install special anti-burglary fittings on the windows, special locking elements that provide protection against burglary. The fittings are also divided into 3 classes:

WK1 - guarantees protection against the use of physical force without special tools.
WK2 - provides protection against attempts to break in with a screwdriver, pliers, etc.
WK3 - provides protection against burglary with a pry bar or crowbar.

In addition to everything listed, the owners country houses We can recommend installing roller shutters. They have a high level of protection against burglary from the outside. That is why they are often used to protect offices and shops.

Alarm installation

Of course, one of the most reliable ways to protect against thieves is to install a security alarm.

Let's look at what types of alarms exist:

Sound alarm. This system is characterized by the fact that when criminals attempt to break into an apartment, a loud signal sounds. sound signal. (Cost $50 - $100)

Alarm with automatic dialing. There is a completely different system here: if there is an attempt to break in, the alarm will let the owners know by calling or sending an SMS message to mobile phone. (Cost $200 - $300).

Remote alarm system. The most reliable, since after the alarm is triggered, a team of public or private employees will arrive at the apartment within a couple of minutes security service. This kind of alarm system is the most expensive, its installation will cost from $1000. In addition, you will have to regularly pay for the services of security guards. This is at least another 1000 rudders per month.

Despite its price, this alarm system provides a high level of protection. Thus, according to the Department of Private Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, according to the results of the first 9 months of 2011, not a single theft was committed from the apartments they guard.

Remember, you should choose the type of alarm depending on the goals you are pursuing. In some cases it will be sufficient sound alarm, and for some it is more reliable to install remote security.

Rating of the safest areas of Moscow based on the results of 2011

When buying an apartment, Muscovites often take into account the degree of danger of the area in which the apartment is located. After all, the peace of mind of the residents depends on how safe the area is. Many people are interested in the opportunity to walk freely in the park near their house, leave their car in the parking lot in the yard, etc. Typically, more expensive areas place more emphasis on home and yard security, which helps reduce overall crime and theft rates in the area. Sometimes even a simple sign saying “the house is under guard” cools the ardor of potential criminals.

If we consider the capital’s administrative districts, then, according to data from the Caesar Satellite Group company for 9 months of the current year, according to absolute indicators The number of thieves breaking into apartments in the district was distributed as follows:

Rating of Moscow administrative districts by the number of thefts in the first 9 months of 2011

As you can see, the most burglaries were recorded in the Eastern (1024 intrusions) and South-Eastern (933) administrative districts of Moscow. The least number is in the North-East (510), North-West (399) and Central (362).

As for individual areas, the Gulfstream Security Systems company and the Miel-Brokerage agency recently published a rating of metropolitan areas in terms of comfort of living in terms of security based on the results of 10 months of 2011.

The 20 safest neighborhoods, from most dangerous to safest, are as follows:

Timiryazevsky (SAO)
Krylatskoe (JSC)
Ryazansky (South Eastern Administrative District)
Pokrovskoe-Streshnevo (SZAO)
Filevsky Park (JSC)
Levoberezhny (SAO)
Savelovsky (SAO)
Gagarinsky (South-Western Administrative District)
Cheryomushki (South-Western Administrative District)
Khamovniki (TsAO)
Troparevo-Nikulino (JSC)
Ostankino (NEAD)
Sokol (SAO)
Kurkino (SZAO)
Obruchevsky (South-Western Administrative District)
Khoroshevsky (SZAO)
Kosino-Ukhtomsky (South Eastern Administrative District)
Lomonosovsky (South-Western Administrative District)
Rostokino (NEAD)
Ramenki (JSC)

As you can see, the most dangerous areas are those where there are many former and existing industrial zones, as well as large commercial and commercial facilities.

Let's take a closer look at the top five safest areas.

It is closed by the Khoroshevsky district. Despite a large number of industrial zones, and there are 3 of them, according to the study, only about 0.14% of all attempts to break into and enter apartments were recorded here. It should be noted that Khoroshevsky district is quite large in area, but very small in terms of the amount of housing stock. There are both economy class apartments and more expensive business class offers. The price mainly depends on the distance from industrial zones.

Next comes the Kosino-Ukhtomsky district. About 0.10% of all attempts to commit theft are noted here. This area is remote from the center and located outside the Moscow Ring Road. Is different high level ecology and diversity of the proposed housing stock.

The safest areas are Lomonosovsky, Rostokino and Ramenki. Here, respectively, 0.089%, 0.086% and 0.083% of theft attempts were recorded according to Gulfstream Security Systems.

The western and southwestern regions are traditionally distinguished by their respectability and good reputation. It should be noted that the Rostokino district, despite the presence of 18 industrial enterprises, takes a very high 2nd place in the safety rating.

It is these three areas that are recognized by the Gulfstream Security Systems company as the quietest and safest for living in terms of the number of recorded attempts to commit burglaries.

Conclusion

It is important to take into account all the weakest points in the apartment and, first of all, increase their resistance to break-ins. For example, you live on the first or last floor, then be sure to take care of reliable protection windows If you store large sums of money or other valuables at home, it would be a good idea to install a good alarm system and enter into an agreement with a security company.

Protection must be comprehensive: it is not enough to provide good door, but with a bad lock; cover the glass with a special film, but leave a simple frame that can be easily opened with a screwdriver. Remember this, and then you can be sure that no thieves are afraid of you!

Anna Belova, rmnt. RU

However, there may also be valuable things at home: equipment, art, antiques. It’s hard to find a hiding place for all this. And it’s stupid to hide a plasma TV in a hiding place every time before leaving home.

Sergey Antonov

journalist

We tell you how to make sure that even professional burglars face insurmountable difficulties at your door.

Buying a reliable lock

There are no perfect door locks. But there are some that are more or less easy to hack. For example, burglars will open a cylindrical “cylinder” in a minute, but a more complex lever lock will take several hours to pick. To determine the type of lock and, accordingly, its complexity, when purchasing, just look at the key:

The key to a simple cylinder lock. It is also called a “larva”. Thieves can break one of these in a minute.

Key to the deadbolt lock. It's also easy to hack

Key to a lever lock: difficult to pick, but you can pick up a master key

Key to a pin lock, the most burglar-resistant

It is best to install two types of locks - lever and pin cylinder. The first thief will have to pick up master keys, and the second one will have to crack it mechanically.

To prevent rough hacking of the lock, it is necessary to install an armor plate on top - a cast metal plate that will not allow the mechanism to be knocked out or drilled out.

There are cylinder locks that are not a single mechanism, but a combination of several metal plates. If a rough external influence is attempted, the castle simply falls apart. The door remains closed, but the attacker has nothing left to break into - he will have to remove the door, and this will take the whole day.

Putting a strong door

It is important to understand that even the most complex lock will not protect against entry into the apartment if the thief is confronted by a flimsy door. Wooden structure you can simply break it out with a crowbar, but cheap Chinese metal half a millimeter thick can be opened with an ordinary knife.

A thin, unreliable door is easy to identify: the tin will bend under your fingers and make a ringing sound when knocking. In addition, a real steel door weighs at least 50 kg. Cheap fake - no more than 15 kg.

The door frame must also be metal, and the door itself must be equipped with anti-removal pins. This is the name given to the metal pins on the edge opposite the lock. If the pins are missing, thieves can simply saw off the hinges with a grinder and remove the door from the frame, not paying attention to the lock.

When closing the door, the anti-removal pins must fit into special grooves in the frame. Photo from the website kondordverispb.ru

The outside of the door can be decorated, for example, with plastic, wood, leatherette, or even gold - this does not affect the burglary resistance of the structure in any way.

An attacker's main scarce resource is time. He wants to get into the apartment quickly, create a minimum of noise and minimal light. staircase. Therefore, anything that slows down its penetration is to your advantage. Two metal doors instead of one - great idea: Most burglars will simply give up.

We strengthen the windows

Another common way to enter an apartment is through windows and balconies. A thief can open an ordinary plastic window in a few minutes by simply squeezing the frame. If you live on the first or second floor, installing bars is a smart precaution. Be proactive in case of fire and make the grilles swingable but lockable. The key to such a grill should be kept far from the window.

Grilles will have to be installed on upper floors if there is a fire escape next to the window or drainpipe. A thief can get into an apartment on the top floor from the roof.

In many panel houses from the fifth to the top floor, balconies in apartments can be connected by fire escapes. During repairs, these stairs are usually dismantled, and the hatches are lined with clapboard or plastic.

Check if you have a fire escape on your balcony

Make sure that these entry points into your apartment are securely protected - for example, welded shut. The next tenant living on the floor above may turn out to be a professional thief who rented the apartment only to get into your place without hindrance.

Installing additional protection

Before breaking into someone else's apartment, thieves carefully study the object of the break-in: what kind of locks you have, whether there is an alarm, a camera, or something worse. All these means make the apartment unsuitable for burglary.

Even a dummy alarm system can scare away intruders. Install a small red LED above your door and turn it on when you leave the house. You can go further and install a fake video surveillance system if you don’t want to spend money on a real one. Buy an inexpensive or even non-functional outdoor video camera and hang it above the entrance to your apartment in a visible place.

To find out if thieves have been looking at your apartment, install a video peephole with a memory card. The device is attached with inside the door opposite the peephole and records everything that happens in the entrance. Once you get home, you can look through the recording and see if anyone was interested in your locks.

A remote video surveillance system is useful not only against thieves, but also in case of fire or flood. Don't waste your money on autonomous system CCTV with mobile internet. Many telecom operators have such devices for rent or sale. But please note: the camera must be autonomous from the home Internet.

A budget option is observation via Skype. In your computer settings, disable sleep mode so that it is always on. In the Skype settings, on the “Calls” tab, find the “Incoming” section and enable automatic video response to incoming calls.

You can monitor the house via camera or Skype

Turn off your monitor and speakers so that the call can happen unnoticed. Now, if you call yourself, for example from work, the computer camera will show everything that is happening at home.

Remember

Set two different types castle
Check if there are anti-removal pins on the door.
Equip the windows of the first and second floors with bars.
Install an alarm and video surveillance.

According to police data, it is new buildings that are favorite place crooks to commit thefts. As a rule, apartments in such buildings are not yet fully occupied, the neighbors have not yet gotten to know each other, the residents are just bringing in their personal belongings, and they are in no hurry to install an alarm system. To protect your property, you should know how to protect your apartment from thieves.

1. Changing the standard door in the apartment - take care of this in advance

You should inform the builders in advance of your desire to change the door. Since they don’t know, they most often install fiberboard doors.

When buying a door, pay attention to the following requirements to them: the door should open outward, because if it opens inward, a thief can easily knock them out.

Mandatory presence of hidden loops.
Doors must be at least 6-10 cm thick.
The box must contain anti-removal pins.
The door frame must be strong enough and must be attached to the wall using metal pins at least 100 mm thick and 15 cm long.

2. Installing another entrance door is an easy way to protect your apartment from thieves

Second Entrance door will not only keep your home warm and quiet, but will also increase the safety of your home. In terms of its strength, it can be much less, because thieves, having opened the strong first door, are unlikely to make noise again to break into the second.

3. Changing locks is a mandatory step in security

Quite often, developers save on everything they can, including door locks. The same type of locks that are installed on the doors of each apartment multi-storey building, cannot cause admiration, which is what a burglar needs. That is why, when entering your new property, be sure to change door locks. Moreover, we recommend installing several locks on the door at once and different designs at a distance of approximately 15-20 cm from each other.

4. Installing anti-burglary fittings on windows and balconies - an additional method of protection

Builders, when putting a finished project into operation, equip it with simple plastic windows, which a thief can open with a regular screwdriver. In order to strengthen windows, you should:

Make sure to install mechanical anti-burglary handles.
It would not be superfluous to install armored film.
Install electromagnetic motion sensors.
If you live on the ground floor, you can install grilles or shutters.

5. A metal grate on the site will protect you from robbery

Such a detail is installed only together with neighbors in the staircase. And, despite the fact that firefighters and sanitary services against such innovation, statistics indicate the opposite: thieves break into a space that is fenced with a common grille much less often.

6.When leaving home, always close the door behind you.

If the door is only slammed, thieves can easily open the deadbolt using a regular piece of plastic.

7. While in the apartment, remove the key from the lock

Thanks to this, you can prevent a situation in which an attacker, using special devices, will be able to open the door from the outside at night when you are sleeping.

8. Sticker “The object is under protection” - simple but effective!

This option, of course, will not stop real professionals in their field, but it will completely protect your home from attacks by any riffraff.

9. Installing a safe in an apartment is an effective way to protect your savings

The safe must be very heavy and weigh at least 70 kg. Only then will thieves not be able to take it with them. If you decide to hide your valuables in a wall, in a book, in clothing pockets, or under parquet, then burglars will definitely find them.

For example, the victim Nikolai, after he was robbed, told the opera that he hid his “hard-earned” money in a can of home-made canned food. The thieves, having ransacked the entire apartment, apparently got hungry, so they took away all the preserved food with them. Among the stolen items was a 3-liter jar with a surprise.

A similar story was told by one young family of entrepreneurs who kept their money, set aside for a rainy day, in jars of lecho, jam and cucumbers. To prevent the money from spoiling, the head of the family placed it in special bags for freezing food. It was they who attracted the attention of criminals.

10. Alarm

This security method really works!

At the moment, the alarm system is the most reliable and in an effective way protecting the apartment from thieves. average cost such equipment will cost the homeowner only 25 thousand rubles, and in the absence of an MGTS line - approximately 35 thousand rubles. The client is also charged a monthly subscription fee of 300 rubles. If there is a telephone line cost of installing an alarm system one-room apartment, on average, is 15 thousand rubles, in a two-room apartment - 18 thousand rubles, in a three-room apartment - 24 thousand rubles.

Considering that people who purchased real estate in a new building have already spent money on moving, repairs, and also have to pay monthly mortgage payments, it is not surprising that a professional security system the owners are not particularly perplexed.

Thus, today there are a huge number of ways to protect your home from burglars, options for every taste and any financial capabilities. And here there is no need to waste time on trifles, since we are talking about the price of the safety of your own property.

How to check if your apartment is being watched?

Before breaking into an apartment, burglars should make sure that the owners are rarely there.

Be alert to frequent erroneous calls on home phone or into the intercom.

To check whether residents are at home, swindlers often place cookies under the door mat, stick a thread to the door, and much more. If you notice anything like this, especially scratches on the lock, be sure to call the police. Perhaps you are not the first to contact them with such a statement.

Watch the video on how to secure your apartment.

You can read about other additional means of protecting your home and apartment in our following articles.

A dacha, like no other property, is at risk of being robbed; how to protect your dacha from theft is the most simple ways from experienced summer residents.
Strong and reliable locks and similar doors are one of the most inaccessible ways to protect yourself from burglary. However, this method is only good in the fight against not very experienced burglars, but if an experienced thief has his eye on your property, then a lock or armored door is unlikely to stop him. As they say, locks are for honest people, and a thief will deal with a mechanical barrier in a matter of minutes, and in winter, when the issue of protecting the dacha is most pressing, there are no souls around, so pick the lock as much as you want, no one will scare away.
If you are confident in your locks and doors, there is another method of entering the house - windows. Like a door, a window can be opened from the outside or simply broken by one of the windows facing the outside. inner part summer cottage plot. Can be used to protect windows metal gratings or shutters that can be locked from the inside. True, this is only a relatively reliable method of protection, because if you tie one end of the rope to the grille and the other to the towing eye on a more or less powerful car, then a rare grille will withstand such treatment.
They were, so to speak. passive ways to protect a country house.
Active methods of protection are not available to everyone, but only to those owners whose dachas are within the range of security agencies, so if it is possible to conclude an agreement for the protection of the dacha, then be sure to do so, a flashing red light and corresponding inscriptions on the doors will scare away most uninvited guests .
In addition to concluding an agreement with a security agency, you can install cameras around the perimeter that will record everything that happens around the dacha 24 hours a day. Moreover, if you have the Internet, you can transmit the image in real time to the owner of the dacha.
With all the pros and cons, all of the above methods of protecting a dacha have one drawback - high price implementation of protection.
How to protect your summer cottage from theft in the simplest ways, which would not require large financial investments?
Of course, the main advice is not to store anything valuable at the dacha. At the same time, indicating to the maximum that there is nothing to take from the dacha. In a house where there is no castle or where the castle is purely symbolic, thieves usually do not break into it. Everything valuable can be lowered into the basement, after first turning it off so that it is difficult to find something in the dark.
You can also agree with your neighbors on the regular protection of their homes; perhaps this is one of the most reliable ways, the main thing is to find like-minded people.
What are the ways to protect your summer cottages do you use?
At my dacha, a neighbor who is a car enthusiast installed the simplest car alarm with a powerful siren. One day it went off and screamed until the neighbors in the dacha came running and called the owner. Now you can complicate this system a little by making the alarm send an SMS about activation to your mobile phone.

Law enforcement agencies categorically do not recommend setting up traps for thieves in the form of homemade explosive packages with “trip wires” at the door, passed through a wire on the fence electric current, crossbows, traps, bottles of poisoned vodka left in a visible place. If the thief gets hurt or dies, the owner is guaranteed to be punished.

For the winter, many summer residents try to take out their belongings, at least the most valuable ones, or distribute them for storage to neighbors, those who live in their summer cottages permanently. But not everyone has this opportunity. In this case, experts advise equipping a cache. This could be a hole dug in the area and camouflaged so that no one would think that anything was hidden there, or a secret cellar. The hatch in such a cellar should be no different from ordinary floor boards. IN as a last resort It is advised to put things and dishes in boxes and place these boxes in places where they will not be visible to intruders looking into the windows of the house. In this case, you need to leave the doors of empty cabinets open - so that, looking out the window, the thief will think that all things have been taken out. Some, unable to take away or hide things, try to make them unattractive to thieves. For example, on one of the country forums the following option was discussed: to paint the country refrigerator in some kind of bright color, and for the winter, remove the door from it and hide it. It is unlikely that anyone will be tempted by, for example, a bright green refrigerator without a door.

Instead of video cameras - signs and dummies Of course, the most reliable way to secure your dacha is to equip a video surveillance system and enter into an agreement with a security organization. It’s not within everyone’s means, and it’s not always worth the trouble: for some, the value of the property stored in their dacha is less than the cost of a video camera system. But a significant percentage of thieves, as practice shows, are gullible. Therefore, it is enough to simply place it on summer cottage several signs with the inscription “Attention! Video surveillance is underway!”, preferably with a corresponding picture. Such signs will scare away about forty percent of thieves. For those who are especially distrustful, you can install several dummies of video cameras - in such places that the attacker will definitely notice them, but he will get the impression that they were trying to hide the “video cameras”.

A blaring alarm also deters a significant portion of thieves, especially if at night a powerful flashlight turns on at the same time as the siren. Systems that create the effect of the presence of the owners work well: simple automation that will turn on the lights and radio in the house from time to time.

However, approximately the same effect of presence can be achieved if you ask a neighbor who permanently lives in the country to regularly trample paths in the snow on your site. True, this should be a neighbor whom you completely trust.

Fences, doors, locks, shutters, before leaving the area for the winter, of course, need to be checked and, if necessary, strengthened. But here it is also important not to overdo it. There is a category of intruders for whom super-duper fencing, bars on windows and other conspicuous signs that the owners care about security are a signal that there is something to protect in the house. Therefore, instead of securing the dacha, a high fence and steel doors can only attract professional thieves. By the way, the most ordinary picket fence can become a serious obstacle to thieves if you plant rose hips, blackberries or other thorny plants in front of the fence. A spiral of barbed wire can be placed along the top of such a fence.

Some summer residents manage to install false doors in their houses. The real front door is disguised so that it almost completely visually merges with the wall of the house, and on the other wall a fake door is placed, usually conspicuous, maybe even steel. The false door is firmly attached. If thieves decide to break into it, they are guaranteed to fail.

Don't flirt with thieves! At one time, there was a popular legend among summer residents that if you leave a bottle of alcohol on the table for uninvited guests, a couple of cans of canned food for a snack and a small amount of money with a note “Dear guest, eat and drink, but please don’t break anything!” - Grateful thieves, having accepted the offerings, will do so.

Practice has shown that it is not worth flirting with thieves: maybe the one who gets into the house first will be satisfied with the treat, but the next one, offended that someone has already drunk the vodka, may set the dacha on fire.

Natalia PARTOLINA