Electronic alarm and safe room best security solution, expert says

– grillwork could be fire trap
For years, home-owners have been battling to find the best solution to protect themselves and their property from criminals, whether at night or during the day. Many have found it difficult to choose from a list that includes vicious guard dogs, private armed patrols, electronic alarms, security guards and grillwork. Cost is a factor too, and given that grillwork is a one-off investment – even if substantial – it has become the most popular form of protection.

But which one is the most effective at keeping the intruder out? Chief Executive Officer of MMC, retired Colonel Carl Morgan believes that the electronic alarm coupled with “a safe room” which is equipped with a cellular phone, is the best security solution.

During a recent interview, Morgan admitted that it was mostly foreigners who opted for this set-up but expressed the view that it was something Guyanese should seriously consider, if they hadn’t done so already.

He itemized the various ways for securing one’s home: employing a guard or watchman; having visiting patrols; installing an alarm system; keeping dogs and having a safe room that locks from the inside.

According to him, electronic home alarm systems have become very popular in recent times and home-owners find them very effective. Alarms, he said, had two advantages: they allowed you to know when a breakage has occurred and at the same time informed your security service that there was a problem. Morgan conceded that others were sceptical of this sort of security arrangement, because there were cases where the bandits would cut the phone lines, thereby deactivating the system. However, his company had installed a new feature where the alarm was connected to the customer’s cell phone.

Not everyone, however, is a convert to electronic alarms. One man told this newspaper, “Me ain’t like that man. The slightest thing that move that thing does go off and mek a set a noise.” He said that a neighbour had such a device and it would go off at least twice during the day or night interrupting his rest.

Morgan was also an advocate of the safe room. “People should have a secure room where the whole family can retreat; one with a door that the bandits cannot kick down, and that would mean a steel door.  The room should have a cell phone inside too,” he said. Cell phones, he continued, were instruments that persons should have within hand’s reach at all times.

In addition, he thought it absolutely essential that the perimeters of homes were secure.

Meanwhile, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that for this year so far the incidence of burglaries was very low in comparison to other serious offences. When it comes to house-breaking though, burglaries – which are committed at night – were more prevalent than break-and-enter and larceny, which are committed during daylight hours.

According to Persaud for this year, there have been 81 reports of burglaries in comparison with 48 for the same period last year. “The burglaries have increased but the numbers are small,” the crime chief said.

There have been 524 break-and-enter reports for this year so far in comparison with 611 for the same period last year. This year’s figure according to Persaud represented a 14% decrease.

He said that the incidence of these house-breaking crimes in most cases depended on the area, since persons with different backgrounds may come to live in a community. This was the reason, he explained, behind the establishment of Community Policing Groups (CPG) in some areas which were intended to augment police patrols.

He noted that when persons were not at home, thieves who broke in had time on their side.
Grillwork

Home-owners in recent times have been relying heavily on grillwork to keep the thieves and burglars out. In some cases every window and door on the building is grilled.

However, history has shown that grillwork could be a fire trap if the installation is not carefully planned.

Morgan in speaking on this issue told Stabroek News that when he thought of grillwork he remembered Lakshmi Kallicharran several years ago. The cultural activist died in a fire at her Kitty home as the flames barred access to her only escape route – the front door. The rest of the house was heavily grilled.

Morgan noted that when persons grilled their homes, “they grill themselves in” and that was a bad choice in the event of a fire.

He advised that if persons decided to go this route, all windows should not be grilled. Just a few should be, so that in the event of a fire there was a possibility of escape.

Fire Chief Marlon Gentle informed this newspaper that his department had the necessary equipment to tackle grillwork but in most cases by the time they arrived the building would be engulfed. He said sometimes access depended on the type of grillwork they were faced with, explaining that some persons had double grills on their homes, which made access very difficult. He recalled a fire at King and Robb Streets earlier this year during which fire-fighters were able to get past the grillwork to fight the flames.

Gentle too noted that while grillwork was a personal choice, it needed to be constructed in such a way that one could easily get out. He said that persons installed grillwork without thinking about disasters such as fire. He mentioned the Linden fire several years ago in which a mother and her three young children perished and another at New Amsterdam, Berbice, last January where two adults and two children as well as five dogs died in a blaze. Both houses were heavily grilled.

“You need to balance it… Burglary and fire,” he said, adding that since those two fires there had been no other incident of that kind.

Despite the many questions surrounding the safety of grillwork, Mahendranauth (Ganesh) Persaud believes that with careful planning and the right advice, it could be reliable and would not become a death trap.

Persaud, a city grill-maker with some 19 years experience, described the “grillwork culture” as a new way of life in Guyana. He said that it could not keep the bandits out, but rather it slowed them down. This gave the occupants some time to either escape or seek help.

Persaud told Stabroek News that persons should always ensure that there was a fire escape in grillwork. This, he explained, came in the form of a “wicket door” which was secured with a padlock. He said that in the case of a fire, the lock could be broken and the wicket door used as the escape route if access to other doors was barred.

“But it’s all up to grill-maker. A good grill-maker would always advise his clients and this is what I try to offer,” he told this newspaper, adding that many welders just think about the money and not the safety of their clients. He described grillwork as artistic, saying that though he had years of experience in this field, he was still learning.

He advised home-owners to ask the grill-makers questions, and seek advice as to where the grills should be placed. Persaud added that one also needed to ensure that the grills were fitted properly with the right size of screws.

He further explained that mild steel rods in sizes ⅜ inch, ½ inch and five inches, were used in grillwork.

He said that the commercial sector would go for the thicker rods, but with home-owners, it all depended on their budget. The popular size for home-owners was the ½ inch rods. A grill door alone carried a cost of between $15,000 and $18,000.


‘Prison’

A few home owners Stabroek News spoke with said that having grillwork was like being in a prison cell.

One city resident said that she didn’t have grills because she believed once a thief wanted to get into a house he would find a way in. According to the resident she had wooden bars on her windows and believed that this was adequate protection against thieves. She considered that it would be too much work to gain entry through wooden bars, when compared to using nippers to cut grillwork, as happened in the case of a remigrant who was murdered several months ago. In that instance, burglars cut the grillwork on the kitchen window of the man’s Peter’s Hall house. After smothering him in his bed, they removed almost all of his electrical appliances and also tumbled up his bedroom.

Another resident, on the other hand, told this newspaper that he believed in the grill “cause dem thief man can’t come in hey.” He has grills on his doors and most of his windows. When asked about an escape in the event of a fire, the resident said that he had at least one window without a grill that could be used.

Stabroek News was told of a case where burglars entered a house through the flooring. This house was grilled at strategic points and there were windows without grills to serve as fire escape routes, but the thieves apparently felt that access was easier through the floor.

The view of member of the Guyana Association of Private Security Organizations (GAPSO) and businessman, Captain Gerry Gouveia, was that grillwork spoilt the look of a building but it gave persons a sense of comfort and security.

Bypassing grillwork was a little difficult for burglars, he said, but not impossible; “If they want to get in, they will.”

Gouveia noted that this issue had its advantages and disadvantages but if he were given a choice he would go for grillwork when looking at his personal safety.
Dogs, watchmen

Dogs with a reputation for being the most vicious breeds, for example, pit bulls, have been used as guard dogs. According to one dog owner, once persons see that “yuh get bad dog, they ain’t gon even come at the gate.” He said, however, that these animals were very expensive to maintain but for him they were good guards and the best way to protect his home.

However, the animals have been known to attack when least expected, and turn even on their owners and others that they knew.

Some persons who have dogs that are popularly referred to as ‘rice eaters’ say that they are also good, although they are more likely to be ‘watchdogs’ giving their owners warning of possible danger, rather than guard dogs which would attack. In addition, there are cases where the thief is someone that is known to them and so they do not react when he comes near.

An East Coast resident told this newspaper that when anything passes his house his dogs bark. He has about five ‘rice eaters’.

Home owners are generally not prepared to invest in a watchman. There has been at least one case for this year where a watchman was tied up and placed in a toilet by bandits who removed items from a parked vehicle. While having a watchman is not very popular, in residential areas home-owners sometimes have guards attached to security firms who secure their premises.

In some cases, however, this has not deterred intruders, as the Health Ministry fire attests.

With the country’s unpredictable crime pattern, security should be on every home-owner’s mind. Professional advice may help a home-owner determine the right security solution for them.