What should I do if I think an intruder has entered my home?
The biggest fear that most people have, especially women or elderly people, is when they hear a noise in the house in the middle of the night, are woken up from their sleep, and think 'My God, somebody's here; someone has broken in. What do I do?' You're still half asleep, and that's when panic sets in. What do you do? Well your choices are unlimited, but if you haven't planned for it, if you haven't thought about it, then you're likely to do nothing. Most people will just freeze, lie under the covers and hope they go away. Others will call out to the person and hope they'll leave. Others might turn on the light and hope they leave. Some might get to a phone and call the police if they have time, but again, there's that time period where you're there and you're in potentially imminent danger. You're always hoping that the person will leave. I think the important thing to do as part of this family plan that I keep harping on about, is that you need to think about that 'what if'. What if it happens tonight? There are things that you could do today to plan for that scenario to put you in a better situation. One would be the safe room concept we're talking about. In your master bedroom, if that's where you sleep, make sure your door is capable of being secured so if you hear that noise somewhere in the house you can secure that door and rest assured that there's a significant barrier that's going to protect you and give you time to call the police. Or, if you plan well enough, you will have locked that door, and you will have armed yourself with any number of weapons or self defensive devices so instead of becoming a victim you can be proactive. You'll have your cellphone in there to call the police or call a neighbour (if you have the relationship with your neighbours) for a quicker response. Then, you have more options. Then, the screaming and doing everything else all adds to making the burglar decide "This isn't the place I want to be."
