Peter Rawson – Trellidor Marketing Director
There are many parts of South Africa that are reeling under a wave of violent house robbery. Hillcrest in KZN is just one such area, and the criminal attacks were so violent and frequent that they warranted an airing on DSTVs Sunday night Carte Blanche television news show last month.
Sadly, the residents of Hillcrest are not alone. We live in a country where crime is so much part of our lives, at work, home, shopping centres and restaurants, that people are almost immune to it.
As someone that has been in the security industry for over 15 years, my biggest concern is how casual people are in their approach to securing their homes and families. Peter Rawson – Trellidor Marketing Director
Not just an after-thought
Trellidor believes that everyone has the right to live safely. But we all need to take responsibility to secure ourselves with intent. Home security shouldn’t just be an after-thought. Unfortunately, experience shows us that people only start doing something about securing their homes after they’ve been broken into twice, or someone close to them has had a nasty experience.
I find this attitude frightening. Safety at home is too critical to leave to chance. It starts with you being purposeful about getting experts in and finding security solutions for your particular circumstances and budget. You need to protect yourself and your family against becoming a house robbery target before it happens, not after a tragedy.
Why not ask for help?
Very few individuals are experts in home security solutions, so it really surprises me that there are still people that won’t pick up the phone and ask for professional input from people like us that do it for free.
Our Trellidor franchises secure residents homes for a living: why wouldn’t you ask them to visit your home to review your unique circumstances and advise you on how best to help keep your family safe at home? Yes, our area of expertise is physical protection, but our years of field experience allow us to help you plan your home safety measures using layers of different types of security.
I do understand that there are companies out there that simply pitch up to quote on a particular product and then leave, but we train our consultants to conduct a full security assessment of your home if you’ll allow it. That way we can advise you on a product for each exposed window or door that’s fit for purpose, as well as other ways to secure your property.
There is absolutely no obligation to follow our advice
But at least you’ll have a professional action plan as a starting point. If you can only afford one form of security, then it has to be a physical means of stopping house robbers from reaching you. Barriers on all doors and windows help to buy you time because they’re an obstruction to robbers, keeping them at bay while you call in the cavalry, whoever they may be, whether it’s armed response, the police or neighbours.
The onus is also on all of us to be diligent about keeping those barriers closed and locked at all times, but where the experts come in is in not just providing you with a quotation but a well-thought out security solution.
Please take action now if security is an after-thought in your home: don’t wait until tragedy strikes.
Contributor: Peter Rawson, Trellidor Sales and Marketing Director
