Laurel Coover says she was out running errands when she received alarming news: Her home security company called to tell her that her alarm had gone off.
Coover says she rushed home to find that someone had tried to kick in her back door.
“Luckily the alarm went off and scared the guy off,” she says. “He never even made it in the house.”
But this isn’t the first time her home has been attacked. She says about a month ago, someone chucked a big rock through her back window, shattering it. And a few years ago, someone broke the glass in her back door.
“My home has been attacked three times, and each time it has been attacked from the back of the house and it’s been during the middle of the day.”
Coover says she thought she had done enough to discourage thieves by installing a home alarm system and replacing the partial-glass backdoor with a solid wood backdoor.
“A lot of older homes in this area have the back doors that have glass windows in them,” she says. “I would advise anyone in this area to replace them with solid wood doors, because it’s just too easy to shatter ones with glass in them.”
Although she has taken several precautions, there was one weak point in her home security plan.
“There wasn’t a lock on my side gate, so they were able to get into my back yard,” she says. “I used to just have my lock on my back gate, but now both of my gates are locked.”
Dallas Police Deputy Chief David Elliston says locked gates are a great addition to any home security plan.
“It is a good idea to have locks on your fences, especially if you have a backyard pool,” he says. “This prevents curious children from wandering into your yard and accidentally falling in. Even if you don’t have a pool, locking your gates makes it more difficult for burglars to gain access to your yard where they can break into your home without being detected.”
