When most people think of home invasion, they have the image of a person knocking on the door and forcing his or her way into the home when the occupant opens the door. That is one method of home invasion, but there are many more. Sadly, simply locking doors and windows and setting the alarm is no longer enough to prevent an invasion of your castle from happening. With home invasions on the rise, it is to the benefit of everyone to think outside the box and consider other things that create opportunities for this hideous crime.

A home invasion is different from a home burglary. In a home invasion, the occupant is at home at the time the perpetrator enters the home. In a burglary, the occupant is normally away from the home.

Garage door openers, key rings that carry all of our keys, and absence of mind are a mixture of chance. At some time in our lives, nearly all of us have work done in or on our homes or vehicles. We are casual with our key rings. We hand them to valet parking attendants, and offhandedly give them to service people that we hire to perform services. Garage door openers are left in unlocked vehicles, and in other places that let them be used to gain entrance to our homes. Think about the following:

• When you request repair for your vehicle at the auto garage, the service writer requests the vehicle key. You hand over your key ring that has all of your keys on it.

• Your vehicle needs to be left in the auto garage overnight because the part is not due to arrive until the next day. The auto garage has your key ring, and your garage door remote is in the vehicle. You have spares so you decide to leave both.

• You go out to dinner at an upscale restaurant with valet parking. You give your key ring to the parking attendant and continue on to your dinner.

• You are outside on a warm day. You enter the garage and go inside the house for a few minutes with the intent of going back outside.

• You have hired workmen to do some work in or around your home. You just found out that you have an appointment elsewhere at the same time the workmen will be at your house. You are out of time, and rescheduling either appointment is not an option. You call the business and explain the situation stating that you will hide your house key outside, and leave for your appointment.

In both of the auto garage situations, the company might have an unscrupulous employee that could make a copy of your house key. The garage door opener could be used to raid your garage, and if the garage is attached to the house, entry into your house could be gained.

In the valet parking example, the parking attendant could give your house key to a friend or a partner in crime to make a copy.

Remember being outside and taking that quick trip into the house? Now you are face-to-face with an armed intruder in your living room. Where did he come from?

The work that was to be performed in your house was done, and you completely forgot to retrieve your house key from its outdoors hiding place. You and your family are awakened at three o'clock a.m. by two masked people standing over you barking orders.

Each of the above situations is real, and they take place all the time. A lot of people don't think about handing their entire key ring to someone that is going to perform a service for them because they should be able to trust that person. No one thinks twice about going in the house for a few minutes. Some people don't think anything of hiding their house key somewhere outside. In all of the above circumstances, the perpetrator was knowingly given the tool to commit the crime, but the realization that the crime could be committed was not there when the key ring was handed over. This type of thinking must change in order to protect your home and family.

Here are some tips to help prevent a home invasion:

1. Never give anyone your entire key ring. As in the auto garage example, hand over only the key that is necessary to unlock and operate the vehicle.

2. Never leave your garage door opener anywhere. If your vehicle must remain in the auto garage or anywhere else overnight, take the garage door opener home with you. Never leave it in an unlocked vehicle. Treat it like your wallet - you wouldn't leave your wallet or purse behind where it is accessible to anyone.

3. Never give any key to a valet parking attendant other than the key that unlocks and operates your vehicle.

4. Stepping into the house from the heat for a few minutes is refreshing. All it takes to prevent someone from entering the house after you do is locking the door behind you. This also stands for the connecting door between the garage and house. A garage can hide an intruder from neighbors or passerby until he can slip into the house through an unlocked inner entry door. He was lurking around watching you, but you didn't see him.

5. The key that was hidden outside to allow the workmen to come inside during your absence should have been left with a trusted friend, neighbor or family member. That person could have let the workmen in and stayed in your house while they were there. Never leave a house key hidden anywhere outside.

The above tips are common sense, yet millions of people still hand all of their keys over to complete strangers, or to people that they know only as an acquaintance. Thousands of these people become victims of home invasions. A home invasion can happen to anyone. Instead of putting yourself, your family and your home at risk, why not be safety conscious and practice being safe on the outside so that you can be safe in the most treasured spot on earth--your home.

© 2007 Patti McMann. All rights reserved.