Some events happened yesterday that serve as a reminder to everyone to stay alert and aware.

I went to bed early last night, but around 10 PM or so, I woke to the sound of Sasha barking. And barking. And barking.

Wife went to investigate. There was a lot of noise coming from outside. Looks like it was just teenagers up late and enjoying the brief respite of cool weather. All their noise-making and running around put Sasha on alert. Good dog. We went back to bed.

A short while later, Sasha woke us up again. I went to go look, but only saw my neighbor out with her dog and then some kid whiz by on his bike. I did think it was odd to see my neighbor up and out so late at night, but her Facebook status gave some reason why she was up late so I figured it was just more noise that was causing Sasha to stir. Eventually I got her calmed down enough and she finally sacked out for the night.

Unfortunately, I was wide awake. So I headed to my office to start working. I check email and lo… an email from my neighbor. She said she was just taking the dog out one last time before she went to bed and noticed some people she didn’t recognize hanging out a little too close a another neighbor’s garage, and eventually they slinked off. It was too dark to get a good description. That house is further away from me so I’m not surprised I didn’t notice anything when I scanned the neighborhood. It bothered my neighbor enough that she called Austin Police Department to have someone come through and check on things. Good move.

But a couple other things have happened recently that has moved us… well… we’re not in code orange, still code yellow but let’s say it’s a stronger yellow.

From what I can gather, it’s likely bored teenagers going crazy from the heat. Nevertheless, even simple petty thefts are a pain to deal with.

If you haven’t, go back and read my prior post about a Personal Security Checklist. A lot of good things to keep in mind. To that, I’ll add a few things:

• Don’t leave things in your car. Most car break-ins are looking for things that can be quickly and easily consumed (e.g. cigarettes, food), or things that can be quickly and easily sold (e.g. CD’s, electronics), and of course, money… even those few quarters in the console could be tempting enough. Don’t give them a reason to break in to your car.
• Lock things. Lock the doors to your car. Lock the doors to your house. Lock the windows on your house. Keep doors and windows closed. When working in the yard, close your garage door unless you’re immediately involved with it (e.g. mowing the front yard, could be OK to keep it open… mowing the back yard, close the garage door). Many such crimes are simple crimes of opportunity. If they try the door and it’s unlocked, why not just open up, reach inside, swipe, and take off? Or if the garage door is open, just step in, grab a handful of tools, and off they go.
• If you have lights on the exterior of your home, use them. Cockroaches don’t like light.
• If the doggie starts barking, pay attention. Yeah it might just be a racoon in the yard, but it might not.
• If you have an alarm system, use it.

The bottom line is that you cannot prevent all crime, but you can do what you can to make yourself less appealing. Nothing obvious nor easy to steal? Lights on? Everything locked? Alarm system? hrm… not as easy a target as that other house over there, in the dark with the open windows on the ground floor behind the shrubs.