Detailed Message About Our Garage Doors

One of the simplest things we as home owners can do to reduce crime in this neighborhood is more closely monitor our garage doors. The Richardson Police department reports the mass majority of our crimes occur because we leave garage doors open and unattended. Open garage doors are invitations to criminals. Like sugar to ants, criminals will find these unattended open garage doors and gladly empty their contents for you. Even if you are working in the back yard right next to your open garage door, thieves can and will steal from you. It only takes a few minutes to ransack the garage and you will probably never hear them. So for your sake (and mine), please keep your garage doors closed! Also, please continue reading this article about garage doors, because there are many things you will learn about this seemingly simple system. I

What we can do to help fight this problem of garage theft is retrain ourselves in the operation and use of the garage door. What my wife and I do every time we use the garage door is wait until the garage door reaches the fully closed position before leaving the area. Do not leave the area when the garage door firsts starts to move, wait until the garage door is fully closed before leaving. There are a variety of reasons why a garage door might not make it closed. Each garage door has a safety system built in to help prevent people from getting hurt. If an object gets in the path of the garage door while the door is closing, this safety system will immediately send the door open and clear of the object to prevent injury and damage. The safety system usually consists of a door sensor looking across the entire width of the garage opening, and a special power sensor which monitors how much power is being used by the garage door motor. If the door sensor detects an object, or if the motor draws too much power, then the garage door will automatically open (to prevent the object from being crushed by the closing door.) These sensors are not perfect, and will sometimes get out of adjustment, leaving the garage door open unintentionally. Sunlight, tree-leaves and vibration may also cause the door sensor to misread an event, leaving the garage door open unintentionally. As the temperature changes, our houses start to shift, and this shifting can cause miss-alignment of the garage door tracks, leading to more power requirements from the motor, eventually leaving the garage door open unintentionally (shifting foundation causes binding in the door; power sensor thinks there is an object in the door path due to increased power requirements.) There are many different scenarios that can leave the garage door open unintentionally, but the bottom line is we must retrain ourselves to wait until the garage door fully closes before leaving the area.

Another reason garage doors get left open is we simply forget to close them. In the mornings and evenings, things can get very hectic, especially with busy school schedules and the like. So I encourage people to add house security to their checklists each and every day. Ask yourselves, Did I remember to close the garage door, lock all doors, and set the alarm? If not, please stop what you are doing and check. Call a neighbor and have them check for you if its convenient. Instill in your daily routine a double check on your home security to help prevent theft from simple human mistakes.

Its no secret our homes our aging and may be in need of repair. This holds true for many things around the house, including the garage door. When in doubt, call a handy man or maintenance man to look at your garage door to insure it is functioning properly. New garage door motors are not that expensive, and have many new security features and enhancements. These systems can be installed in a few hours with a cost of a few hundred dollars. So even if you need to completely replace your garage door motor (which I recommend doing if the system is older than 10 years), this is a very easy task, and a sound investment for your home.

Many of us  like to take care of your own lawn. Invariably, all lawn equipment ends up being stored in the garage. And when you're out mowing the grass, its so easy to leave the garage door up (to save wear and tear on the garage door, just leave it open while you work).  Again, this is another tempting scenario for thieves. And again, the Richardson Police Department strongly recommends you keep garage doors closed unless you are physically present to protect the contents of your open garage. One other tip the Richardson Police give is to etch your drivers license number on all property, starting with the letters TX for Texas. This will make it nearly impossible for thieves to sell stolen property, and gives the police valuable information about identifying (and returning) your stolen property. Your drivers license number is really only used by the police department, and is safe to etch on property. Please do not etch any other information on your property (i.e. social security number, name, address etc.) as this information can lead to identity theft.

There are some other reasons garage doors get left open. These reasons are because thieves have opened your closed garage doors for you. The Richardson Police department kindly asks homeowners to remove the cord hanging down from the garage door. This cord will disengage the motor from the door, allowing the homeowner (or thief) to open the garage door without using the motor (i.e. in case the motor is not working, the garage door can still be opened by pulling up on the handle.) Thieves are using coat hangers to reach up to this cord to disconnect the motor and open your garage door. If you remove this cord (and handle) then it will be nearly impossible to use this trick to open your garage door. If your garage door motor is more than 10 years old, please consider upgrading to a new model. The new garage door motors have much more secure radio control codes, making it harder for thieves to open your garage door (by hacking through many different codes.) The older models may not have these security codes in them, so thieves simply drive through the alleys of older neighborhoods with special garage door openers, and they sometimes get lucky, opening a closed garage door. So replace those older garage door motors to help improve your home security. It will be money well spent.

I have noticed many neighbors that like to leave their garage partially open (door comes within a few feet of closing.) I can understand the many reasons why a neighbor would want to do this (easy access for pets, great way to keep the garage cool.) However, leaving the garage door partially open makes it that much easier for a criminal to gain access to your garage. So we do not recommend leaving your garage door partially open, please leave your garage door fully closed.

I always encourage neighbors to get to know their surrounding neighbors. This includes what kinds of cars they drive. If you see a suspicious car in your alley, please call the police right away. What better person to monitor your alley than you! Be sure to get a description of the car (license plate number, year, color, make and model) as well as a description of the driver and which direction the car was last seen heading. The more information you can give to the police, the better. Also, whether youre coming home or leaving to run errands, pay attention to your neighbors property. Check to see if theyve closed their garage doors, and please call them if their doors are open. The more people we can get involved in checking our garage doors, the better off everyone will be! If you join the RHA (Richland Homeowners Association dues are extremely low) you will get a copy of our Neighborhood Directory, which lists the phone numbers and addresses of all the residents in our neighborhood, which is a quick and convenient way to get in touch with anyone in Richland Park/Oaks. This Directory is also available for sale separately contact Membership for more details

We have noticed many garage doors in our neighborhood which are painted a dark color. Please consider repainting your garage door a light color. This allows the crime patrol and police department to quickly determine whether your door is closed at night. At night, it can be easy to confuse a dark color, closed garage door as being open. Therefore, when we run across a dark color garage door, we have to take extra time to insure its actually closed (i.e. we don't want to wake you in the middle of the night unless absolutely sure your garage door is open).  By painting the dark garage door a light color, we can save time (and not accidentally wake you in the middle of the night).  While you are out back painting your garage door a lighter color, please make sure your mailbox is clearly marked with large, easy to read (at night) numbers indicating your correct street address. You would be surprised how many mailboxes are missing this information. You may also want to mark your street address over the garage door, and on the front of your house. This will help reduce response times should the police, fire or ambulance services need to find your home.

We have noticed many garages in our neighborhood that have clear windows which allow a person standing outside the garage to view the contents of the inside of the garage. We strongly recommend getting these windows frosted or tinted so that a person can not see the contents of the garage. The criminals are not going to want what they cant see. This holds true for any clear window in your house. Use curtains, shades or blinds to block the view from the outside looking in. Be sure to cover all windows, including the small kitchen windows (many thieves are specifically looking for purses, cell phones and laptops which typically get left on the kitchen tables and countertops at night.)

Other important back alley garage door tips:

• Always keep the door between your house and garage locked. Many open garage door thefts lead to home burglaries because this door is left unlocked.
• Think about adding a garage door contact to your home alarm system that will activate the alarm if the garage door is opened. This will provide extra protection for valuables located in your garage.
• Never enter your garage if you are being followed by an unknown vehicle. Just circle around the block until the car leaves.

In summary, we hope you understand the complexities associated with the back alley garage doors we have in Richland Park/Oaks. And we sincerely hope you make an effort to help keep those garage doors shut. Please do whatever it takes to solve the problem so that your garage doors remain closed. It takes the crime patrol about 1.5 hours to check all 968 garage doors each and every shift, and this time can be dramatically reduced if we all pitch in. Through education and little team work, we can help reduce crime in Richland Park/Oaks.