The idea of a safe is a simple one – safes are simply fortified containers created to house physical objects and keep them safe from burglary or fire. This idea of protecting items is at its base level the safes primary function… However, when looked at in a broader sense, safes can actually help to save lives. It may sound a bit melodramatic to some, but as security professionals we constantly hear of incidents with unfortunate endings that we can’t help to think may have been much less severe or even completely avoidable if high-security safes or vault doors were employed.
Here are a just a few instances where safes make the difference:
1. Home Invasion
The home invasion is potentially the most dangerous of all residential burglary scenarios. In the instance of a home invasion, the persons entering the home do so with full knowledge of the home owner’s presence and are thus prepared to make violent contact with the home owner. Unlike the typical smash-n-grab type robbery, the perpetrators of a home invasion are generally armed and ready to forcefully acquire what they desire. Minimizing contact with the assailants limits the amount of physical damage they can inflict and eliminates the feeling of violent domination these criminals are after. A safe room outfitted with a high quality vault door makes all the difference during a home invasion scenario. And by installing safes to protect valuables you remove all power from the thieves to cause harm to you or your possessions. The prepared home owner should rehearse a plan to quickly get to the safe room with their family so if woken to the sound of breaking glass, a burglar alarm, or screams in the middle of the night; then all family members are aware of the actions that need to be taken. Necessities will vary from household to household but it is suggested you keep a cell phone, cell phone charger, first aid supplies, and personal defense weapon within the safe room at all times. During a home invasion it’s imperative that you gather your family to the safe room immediately, avoiding all contact with the thieves wherever possible, and notify authorities at once. Allow the high quality safes in which you store your valuables to fulfill their intended purpose and remain with your family inside the vault room until help arrives. Once your loved ones are securely within the safe room, do not open the door at any point and have law enforcement identify themselves once they arrive. If you are still suspicious, double check by having dispatch call the phone you have with you inside the safe room to confirm that it is indeed officers at your location.
2. Hold Up Scenario
A dedicated safe room may not be an option available to all homeowners. Not everyone has the available space or the desire, however if you find yourself or your loved ones in the unfortunate circumstance of a home invasion – modern day safes can still help to save lives. In the event that a burglar forcibly demands that you open your safe, it might actually be just the thing that saves your life and your valuables. Quality safes like the ones made here at Brown Safe contain specialized features for just this sort of circumstance. When necessary, an undetectable silent signal alert can be sent to notify authorities. Triggered by either a hidden button or an alternate combination code, the silent signal immediately alerts law enforcement of your dire situation while you retain the ability to appear as if you’ve opened the safe normally. Unlike standard burglary alarms that are commonly set off unintentionally, the silent signal alert receives a much higher priority and translates to law enforcement response times that are much more rapid.
3. Firearms Falling Into the Wrong Hands
Many firearms aficionados tout the importance of keeping weapons securely contained within gun safes…. but surprisingly, not all gun owners actually store their guns in safes. It’s estimated that one in every eight households with children simply have the gun “hidden away”. Perhaps even more alarming is that the majority of responsible gun owners who do own safes aren’t nearly as protected as they think. Sadly, many so-called gun safes do NOT do an adequate job of protecting against forced entry. The vast majority of safes on the market today are little more than beefed-up file cabinets that offer no real substantial resistance to being opened within a couples minutes at the most. Often times the thin gauge metal that wraps the exterior of these “safes” immediately gives way with leverage from simple tools. Many an unsuspecting home owner thought they were protecting their weapon collection only to have neatly organized all their guns in one place for thieves to quickly make off with. These stolen guns are then used by criminals to perpetrate more crimes. By storing guns in true high-security gun safes constructed with a minimum of ¼” steel and a door made of no less than ½” steel you can greatly reduce the chance of your guns getting into the wrong hands.
4. Immediate Access To Weapons When It Counts
During high-risk scenarios the ability to act quickly quite literally translates to life or death. It’s exactly for this reason that many of the guns within homes are only kept “hidden away” as indicated above in #3, as opposed to securely locked away. Before now, those responsible individuals who kept their firearms in safes, did so at the risk of delaying their ability to rapidly arm themselves. Thanks to advancements in technology this is no longer the case. Top-of-the-line safes that take advantage of electronic keypad locks or fingerprint reading biometric locks allow the gun owner rapid access to weapons. Unlike safes with dials or keys, these cutting edge components on safes make all the difference when seconds matter most.
5. Safes For Preparedness
An ever growing trend among individuals interested in protecting their family is to create complete preparedness kits. These kits contain all the essential items one would need to subsist and protect their loved ones during an unpredictable event. The indispensable tools, weapons, gear, and food that make up the preparedness kits or “bug-out bags” are of extreme value in an emergency situation, therefore many of our clients are purchasing safes to store and protect their preparedness kits. These individuals are fully aware that when things go bad the necessities contained in their safes will be their life line. And if there is a need to quickly get out of dodge with their gear, then having all equipment at the ready and securely stored in safes means they get the edge when it matters most.
