A26—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 14,1984
Trooper offers suggestions to
(Continued from Page Al)
Trooper Romame Edwards of the
State Police Department in
Lancaster, “so they are moving to
the country.”
Trooper Edwards, a safety
education officer who is trained in
crime prevention, said that thieves
find the country a real haven.
“They can get what they want in
the country as well as in the city,”
she said.
Because most rural residents
don’t lock their doors or use other
security measures, it’s easier to
steal in the country than in the city,
Edwards said. “Farmers don’t
expect crime and don’t take
precautions against theft,” she
explained.
Prevention is the key to
decreasing rural crime, Edwards
said, and farmers should consider
locking their doors and windows,
using night lighting and marking
their property with an iden
tification number.
According to Trooper Edwards,
four minutes is all that’s needed to
prevent a potential crime. “If you
can delay a thief for four minutes,”
she said, “he will go away and go
somewhere else.”
Explaining this further, Ed
wards said that if a thief needs
more than four minutes to break
through a locked door or window,
he will not take the time. The more
tune spent on trying to break the
lock, the greater the chances are of
getting caught.
What precautions can a farmer
take against crime?
Most rural crimes occur because
of unlocked doors and windows and
the lack of adequate exterior
lighting. Edwards suggested that
all doors and windows be checked
to see if locks are adequate. If not,
they should be replaced.
Edwards recommended that a
double cylinder dead bolt lock be
m :
•*. *:
J*
- v*
All po\ ;ed witi an
identification number. Tools with removable handles should
be marked on both the handle and the head.
Adequate night lighting is important. Pole lights are a good
source of nighttime protection.
used on doors. For double-hung
windows, a nail drilled through the
first panel and slightly mto the
second provides extra security.
In addition the house, locks
should be mounted on farm shop
doors and other buildings where
valuable tools, fariW equipment or
other farm necessities are kept.
Trooper Edwards strewed that it’s
not enough to have tire locks in
place; they should be used.
Exterior lighting is also im
portant, Edwards said. “Lights
should be thrown around,” she
said, “so there aren’t too many
dark corners. It is also a good idea
to keep lights on in the barn at
night.”
In addition to locks and lighting,
marking property with an iden
tification number is helpful. This
can be done through Operation
Identification, a program
available through local and State
Police.
Through this program, an
identification number is marked
on all power and hand tools,
removable tractor parts such as
batteries and other items
susceptible to theft. The driver’s
license number is usually used for
identification, Edwards said, but a
number can be obtained by the
state if a driver’s license is not
available. A small fee will be
required for this service.
To mark the number on farm
property, an electric engraver is
used. An engraver can be
borrowed from the local or state
police department free of charge.
Once items are marked, the person
is asked to bring a couple of the
items to the police for Verification
of program participation. Crime
watch stickers are then distributed
and are to be hung on windows and
doors.
The stickers, Edwards ex
plained, warn a thief that the house
•f
or farm is under the Operation
Identification program. This,
again, acts as a deterrent to
potential crime.
Edwards said that farm families
can implement Neighborhood
Crime Watch programs similar to
those used in cities. Farmers can
look out for each other, she said,
and keep their eyes open for
strange vehicles or unusual oc
currences.
If a farmer needs to be away
from his farm, he can request a
“house check” from the State
Police, Edwards said. This service
is provided on a daily basis, three
times a day. Neighbors can also
help to keep an eye on things.
Other crime prevention
methods, Edwards said, are to
keep machinery housed at night
and not out in open fields and to
practice the use of “key control”
where one person is in charge of
keys. Guard dogs and burglar
alarms are also helpful, she added.
With these various methods,
Edwards explained, a farmer can
deter the “run-of-the-mill” burglar
who is trying to steal what anyone
has. Professional burglers, she
said, are more difficult to deter
from crime because they usually
know what they are looking for and
will try harder to get it.
In any case, Trooper Edwards
stressed that if a burglary is
suspected to call the police im
mediately. “Don’t take a chance in
confronting the burglar,” she said.
“Property is not worth going to the
hospital for.”
From alarm systems to locks;
How much security is needed?
BY LAURA ENGLAND
LANCASTER - Adding extra
security measures to the home or
farm can be as simple as installing
locks on doors or as sophisticated
as tailoring a complete burglary
system to the premise.
But just how much security is
needed?
According to Trooper Romaine
Edwards of the Lancaster State
Police, the amount of security
needed is a personal choice, one
involving the value of property and
how much money one wants to
spend.
“It depends on what you want,”
Trooper Edwards said. “You can
do a lot with little money just by
using things on the farm.”
One of the simplier measures is
to secure double hung windows
with the use of a nail. The nail is
pounded through one panel and
shghtyly through the next, Ed
wards explained.
Another simple method is to add
locks to doors. Bob Saxton, service
supervisor for the Wizard Lock and
Safe Company, Lancaster, said
that all makes and models of locks
are available, and a customer is
“fixed up with exactly the one they
want.”
Saxton suggested that the most
secure lode system consists of a
double cylinder dead bolt lock
complete with a 747 strike and a
smoke detector. The dead bolt lock
runs between $3O to $5O, and the
strike, which is placed in the door
jam to add strength, is about $9,
Saxton said.
Two types of dead bolt locks can
be used. One works with a key on
the inside and outside and the other
with just a key on the outside. The
bolt itself, Saxton added, cannot be
cut with a hacksaw.
Service mounted items such as
chain locks and barracade locks
can also be used, Saxton said, but
they are less secure and easier to
get through.
The more sophisticated security
systems are complete burglary
packages similar to that installed
improve farm
An unlocked shed housing tools and machinery is an open
invitation to crime.
in photo) with a strong, quality lock.
by Commonwealth Security
Systems of Lancaster. Ray Bear,
vice president of sales, said
systems can be placed in bams as
well as houses or “anything that
can be watched 24 hours a day.”
A complete burglary system,
Bear explained, begins with the
control panel which is the heart of
the system. The panel is respon
sible for monitoring the other
security devices placed in the
home. It is also equipped with a
battery-operated reserve power
source should the power be cut off
to the house, Bear said.
The other security devices in
clude door contacts, motion
detectors, pressure mats, panic
buttons and fire alarms. All are
hooked up to the control panel.
With this burglary system, Bear
said, the first line of defense is to
cover all perimeters and install the
security devices needed in an
individual home. Once a system is
installed - about three weeks time -
the premise is watch 24 hours a
day.
Ray Bear, vice president of sales for Commonwealth
Security Systems of Lancaster, displays, from left, the control
panel, key pad and motion detector used in a complete
burglary system.
security
Bear explained that if a break-m
is occurring or if a fire or
emergency situation is present, the
alarm will be sounded at Com
monwealth Security’s main office.
There, a call will be placed to the
police station to alert them of the
problem.
The next step is to contact the
person who owns the property. If
this person cannot be reached, the
security personnel will refer to an
emergency call list, which could
include the names of neighbors or
relatives, until someone is con
tacted.
A complete security package,
Bear said, runs between $1,200 and
$1,600. The control panel, itself, is
abou* $5OO, door contacts are $l4O
each, and motion detectors run
between $lOO to $250. An additional
$4OO to $6OO is needed for a fire
system.
How much security is needed?
Again, the decision is a personal
matter, but it is one that Trooper
Edwards said would be “money
well spent.”