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15 Things a Retired NYPD Detective Teaches Women Living Alone to Keep Burglars Away at Night

By Jackie Shaw

22 min video·en-us··331444 views

This is an AI-generated summary of “15 Things a Retired NYPD Detective Teaches Women Living Alone to Keep Burglars Away at Night” — a 22 min YouTube video by Jackie Shaw, published October 13, 2026. It condenses the full transcript into 10 key takeaways with clickable timestamps.

Summary

A retired NYPD officer shares 15 practical, mostly free or inexpensive home security tips, emphasizing that deterring burglars relies on making your house less appealing by increasing their risk of being seen and the time it takes to enter, rather than relying solely on expensive alarm systems.

Key Points

  • Physically walk through your entire house every night, checking all locks and windows by hand, as memory can be unreliable. 
  • Always engage the deadbolt on all exterior doors, including the garage entry, as spring latches on doorknobs are easily defeated. 
  • Close all blinds and curtains at dusk to prevent observation of your home's interior and personal habits, which can reveal if you live alone. 
  • Install motion-activated lights on all sides of your house and remove "tells" like specific mailbox names or voicemails that indicate a lone occupant. 
  • Burglars are lazy and primarily fear being seen and taking too long, so effective home security focuses on increasing their visibility and the time required for entry. 
  • Never open the door to a stranger; instead, use a wide-angle peephole or doorbell camera and state through the closed door that you are calling someone. 
  • Utilize plug-in timers for lamps and radios to create the illusion of occupancy when you are away or asleep, and always bring in mail and packages promptly. 
  • Trim bushes away from windows and doors to eliminate hiding spots, and secure the garage by zip-tying the emergency release and deadbolting the entry door to the house. 
  • Keep your charged phone and car keys (for the panic alarm) on your nightstand, and have a written plan for what to do if an intruder enters, including locking yourself in a safe room and calling 911 immediately. 
  • Reinforce all exterior door strike plates and hinges with 3-inch screws that extend into the wall studs, a $12 upgrade that significantly strengthens the door against kicking. 
15 Things a Retired NYPD Detective Teaches Women Living Alone to Keep Burglars Away at Night

15 Things a Retired NYPD Detective Teaches Women Living Alone to Keep Burglars Away at Night

A retired NYPD officer shares 15 practical, mostly free or inexpensive home security tips, emphasizing that deterring burglars relies on making your house less appealing by increasing their risk of being seen and the time it takes to enter, rather than relying solely on expensive alarm systems.

Key Points

—Physically walk through your entire house every night, checking all locks and windows by hand, as memory can be unreliable.
—Always engage the deadbolt on all exterior doors, including the garage entry, as spring latches on doorknobs are easily defeated.
—Close all blinds and curtains at dusk to prevent observation of your home's interior and personal habits, which can reveal if you live alone.
—Install motion-activated lights on all sides of your house and remove "tells" like specific mailbox names or voicemails that indicate a lone occupant.
—Burglars are lazy and primarily fear being seen and taking too long, so effective home security focuses on increasing their visibility and the time required for entry.
—Never open the door to a stranger; instead, use a wide-angle peephole or doorbell camera and state through the closed door that you are calling someone.
—Utilize plug-in timers for lamps and radios to create the illusion of occupancy when you are away or asleep, and always bring in mail and packages promptly.
—Trim bushes away from windows and doors to eliminate hiding spots, and secure the garage by zip-tying the emergency release and deadbolting the entry door to the house.
—Keep your charged phone and car keys (for the panic alarm) on your nightstand, and have a written plan for what to do if an intruder enters, including locking yourself in a safe room and calling 911 immediately.
—Reinforce all exterior door strike plates and hinges with 3-inch screws that extend into the wall studs, a $12 upgrade that significantly strengthens the door against kicking.
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