Home›Forums›General Discussion›How to protect yourself against burglars?
- This topic has 10 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by
Merior.
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October 27, 2014 at 11:53 pm #43039
muell
ParticipantLike the title says, since I’ve seen burglaries mentioned on this forum at least twice recently and I’ve heard many stories in the 7 years living in China already.
What can we do to protect ourselves? What’s the most common scheme? Do they come during the day or at night? Through the front door or rather the balcony?
Would be great if we could collect experiences and advice in this thread, and I’d love to hear from local Chinese people too!
October 28, 2014 at 7:51 am #43040Daniel Wikstrand
Participant1. Lock the balcony door no matter what floor you live on.
We had a visitor coming in through the balcony at the 12th floor were we lived.
They had been targeting where foreigners lived in the complex and several of us had visits that night while sleeping.
2. Another good one is to change the lock to the front door when you move into a new apartment, you have no idea how many keys that might be floating around. I know you can debate how good the locks are but at least the risk of a former tenant visiting is stopped.
3. A safety chain on the inside of the front door might also be a good idea just like making sure the balcony has more of a lock than just the door handle which have been the standard in most apartments I lived in all over China.
Good idea for a thread.
Daniel
October 28, 2014 at 9:01 am #43043Al the Dead
ParticipantHave a reputation of a brutal killer.
Buy thieving insurance in your local agency, they would kill the thief who would make them pay 🙂 Not expensive either
Have couple poisonous snakes on a balcony as pets, though it has side effects when a repairmen needs to do stuff 🙂 (true story cause i have them).
But in the end, chances are you will be hit by a car before.
October 28, 2014 at 10:40 am #43045Daniel Wikstrand
ParticipantHave a reputation of a brutal killer. Buy thieving insurance in your local agency, they would kill the thief who would make them pay
Not expensive either Have couple poisonous snakes on a balcony as pets, though it has side effects when a repairmen needs to do stuff
(true story cause i have them). But in the end, chances are you will be hit by a car before.
You picked a good thread to make a joke out of, I hope you wont ever get robbed in your home while sleeping at night,if it should then you might see why there was a serious thread started on this topic.
Ive seen so many people trying to be funny here, most succeed but you are just a fail…
Daniel
October 28, 2014 at 12:23 pm #43046Rick in China
ParticipantNot just balcony or doors, in fact, both thievings that happened at my apartment happened through windows – both windows I didn’t imagine people getting through. My balcony was actually unlocked – too – and not fully closed (altho at a glance it might appear to be closed), but he decided to go in thru the window for my washing machine/gas unit mini-room next to kitchen..as it’s also farthest away from the bedroom so would create the least noise.
Thieving as I know it happens at night. I’ve only heard of thieving happen at ~3-5am, although if you go away for extended periods of time I suppose someone casing your place would jack it during holidays or whatever also, especially if your complex heavily empties out.
If you don’t mind ugliness, can get ‘security windows’ for your external windows and they can’t be broken very easily – including with an axe, so if they’re locked up you should be safe. Some thieves do apparently go in through the front door by breaking the lock, but I don’t think this would typically happen while you’re at home even at night, more likely one of those ‘cased the joints and nobody is there or around’ type things, it would be noisy.
October 29, 2014 at 5:01 pm #43066Nuhis-Deli
ParticipantIf you meet a burglar in the street, just punch his head with your heavy bag then run away !
Nuhi’s Deli,italian food.
Add: No.9, 2F, Kai Yue Xin Cheng, No.9, First Section, First Ring Road South, Wuhou District.
武侯区 一环路南一段9号凯悦新城2楼9号(近红瓦寺)
Tel: 18787934545October 30, 2014 at 10:43 am #43077Vincent
ParticipantIf you’re genuinely looking for good advice then I don’t see why you wouldn’t do a Google search on this. This is a question that I’m sure has been asked millions of times before and there must be a great deal of really valuable info out there.
Peter’s Tex Mex, Mexican food.
Add: No.12 Tongzilin Dong Road, Wuhou District.
成都市武侯区桐梓林东路12号
Tel: 028-85180903October 30, 2014 at 2:08 pm #43084Rick in China
ParticipantPeter’s Tex Mex, Mexican food.
Add: No.12 Tongzilin Dong Road, Wuhou District.
成都市武侯区桐梓林东路12号
Tel: 028-85180903This made me laugh.
October 30, 2014 at 3:05 pm #43085Graham
ParticipantHow to screw up a decent thread….. Well my suggestion would be to employ the services of a large husky like my previous dog with very large teeth and bright blue eyes – but was stealthy. So when he sneaked up on you and bit your arm off you wouldn’t even know. And he could run forever so your arm would be history…..Good luck potential robbers…… Now my alarm system is smaller, hairier and louder – with a “big” dog bark when intruders approach…. There is also no substitute for good locks on door and windows, and errrrr actually using them when you go out – remember some burglars can come from above on ropes…. Human error is also a big factor here. Alarm systems like this are also worth considering: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/505428730/blink-wire-free-hd-home-monitoring-and-alert-syste
Sadly you may not be able to rely on the wuguan in your area as on their meagre salaries it has even been known for them to be complicit in such crimes.
Be safe and eat well
The Bookworm Chengdu
Yujie East Road 2-7#, Ren min South Road 28# (玉洁东街2-7号,人民南路28号)
October 31, 2014 at 1:59 am #43093Rick in China
ParticipantI agree with the dog idea Graham, I’d love to employ it myself – if I knew I were going to be here for a long time consistently it’d be probably the best bet actually. When dogs bark and commotion starts burglars tend to make quick exits, or, not even try – because they know that commotion will start up and the last thing they want to do is get caught in an apartment complex with potential victims gathering around, we all know what happens to thieves in China when the public gets ahold of them. Dog>alarm, my motion sensor video triggers an alert and begins recording when a big fly or mosquito or whatever gets close to the lens.
November 5, 2014 at 9:38 pm #43140Merior
ParticipantThe chances are that the lock on your apartment can by beaten in seconds – this applies to 90% of standard door locks. We discovered this from the police after a burglary on our apartment recently. You can buy a replacement high security barrel including a set of 6 keys for about 400 RMB that will take a professional about 4 hours to beat. High security barrel/key sets are available locally.
Chances of recovering our property are officially about 10% but since the thieves did not leave finger prints and since the security camera is not working on our building and the entry door lock has been broken for months I guess it will be a fluke if they fall over a thief with our goods. My wife is currently in discussions with the complex’s management regarding the level of compensation they will give us for failing in their responsibilities.
This videos on this link shows you just how easy burglary is these days without having to resort to force: http://www.highsecuritydoorlocks.co.uk/
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