Crime, boobytraps and zombies

Now that school is in full swing, fear of crime seems to have returned to our neighborhood. In the listserv, reports of strangers knocking on doors, casing the neighborhoods are starting to creep in. Someone pointed out that they are just people looking for manual work e.g. clearing shrubs, etc. As has been said before the biggest victim in any crime is trust.

I’ve been thinking of ways of making our house more burglar proof.

• Window bars - unheard of in our neighborhood and in danger of becoming rare even in New York City. Then I remember that not only does it keep others out it also traps us inside.
• Alarm system - does it really help? If it’s a smash and grab as it usually is it won’t do much. The burglar knows he has about 10-20 minutes before anyone really responds - enough time to grab stuff and leave.

What I’d really like to do is to lay down some booby traps - Indiana Jones style, or landmines - unless I trigger them myself.

Another alternative - become a hoarder, i.e. have so much stuff in the house that its hard to find anything and even walk around.


Well, what about a zombie proof house? Definitely - although in a real zombie attack the house needs its own power source. I don’t see one in that design.