Security by Wishful Thinking

There's a show on Tuesday evening called "It Takes A Thief", in which a couple of reformed thieves actually check out someone's house for security risks, then burgle the house with the owner's permission. (All on-camera, of course, since it's for TV.) Afterward, they show the burglary to the owners, tell them what went wrong and how things can be improved, then set up the owner with some free-to-the-owner basic security features, like better locks, new windows, whatever. It's rather an interesting look at how safe one's house really isn't.

This weeks' family was a 3-generation home. Grandma and Grampa, mom, and 2 kids - a teenager and a (I think) 10-year-old girl. First off, we find out that their house has been broken into, burglarized, and vandalized in the past, at least once (and possibly at least twice; I wasn't sure on that.) AND, apparently they don't live in the greatest area of town, contributing to the breakins and vandalism problems. So, you'd figure they'd be at least minimally security-conscious, wouldn't you?

You'd be wrong. They constantly left the front door unlocked "because Brittany (the teenager) kept losing her key." The window in the back of the house was unlocked because the lock was mis-adjusted. Mom kept hundreds of dollars of necessary money - Child-support money from her ex - loose in a bowl in the kitchen, where it was easily findable. Mom, Gramma and both daughters kept hundreds of dollars worth of costume jewelry, expensive shoes and designer purses, and clothing absolutely everywhere - jewelry all over the desks, dressers, bedroom furniture.

So, the breakin occurred. They actually let the family watch as they did a B&E on their house. The teenage daughter was appalled at the amount of mess that was created. (I still can't quite figure out what she thought they were going to do. They did tell the family "we're going to burgle your house, exactly the way someone breaking the law would do." Someone who's tossing your house to find easily-stolen, easily-sold items isn't going to be concerned with keeping the place looking neat, for heavens' sake.) The "B&E guy" broke in, collected all the jewelry, purses, clothes, shoes, and money, loaded it into his van and drove off in about 10 minutes.

The other consultant told the family exactly what was going on, and then the B&E guy brought the stuff back. The next day, they showed up at the house again to clean up the mess and install new security features, as well as fix the old ones.
All new deadbolts and door handles, they fixed the kitchen window, installed a dozen new windows, gave Mom a "security camera" (basically a webcam-style dealie that could hook up right to a computer or a VCR so she could tape the place), and a bolted-down small safe. They told Mom how to work everything, all the changed they'd done, and what NOT to do in the future - as well as how to be more secure. Then they left, with the agreement that they'd be back sometime in the next month to see if the family was doing any better, security-wise.

On their return visit, they discovered that the door was finally locked, but the teenage daughter left her window unlocked. Easy entry. Mom's essential Child-Support money was still in the bowl in the kitchen. All the jewelry? Still strewn all over the place. The safe not only hadn't ever been used, the packing material was still in it. The Security Webcam? Still in a bundle of wires on top of the TV - right where the Security guy had left it, three weeks earlier.
Mom made all kinds of excuses: "I forgot the money was there." "I've been busy." "I didn't have time to learn the software for the camera." They informed her that there WAS no "software to learn"; it was a plug-and-play camera, and 'busy' doesn't explain the wide-open window.

I was flabbergasted. A family that's been repeatedly burgled - and NOT by people that gave their stuff back, either - just couldn't be bothered to lock their doors, put their valuables away in a safe (provided TO THEM FOR FREE), or even keep their windows locked when they weren't home. It was as though they just kept thinking "if I pretend it didn't happen, it won't happen again!" I felt really sorry for the hosts of the show - they seem like they really want to help people. But the family they featured this week just didn't want to be helped, it seems.

Nothing you can do to help people that just aren't interested in help. Or, rather, that want you to wave a Magic Fairy Wand and Make All The Bad People Go Away. I think they didn't want help so much as they wanted things to be their way, without any effort on their part.