Why Do I Need a Safe?


When you buy a residential security or gun safe what you’re really buying is time. Time to protect your valuables from a thief. What are they looking for? You might think cash and jewelry are the top items stolen during a home burglary, but they are actually fifth on the list. Stereo equipment is fourth, followed by video equipment—grouped as TVs, VCRs and cameras. Guns are the number one items stolen in a home burglary. Can you guess what’s second? Booze and cigarettes! Go figure.

Police reports indicate most thieves want to get their jobs done as quickly as possible to reduce their chances of getting caught. Most break-ins are the smash and grab type—getting their job done in 10 minutes or less—and surprisingly between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Young males, 18 to 26, most often commit these crimes. Their goal is to be gone before police can respond to a home security system or a neighbor’s phone call.

A residential security or gun safe compliments an alarm or surveillance system by protecting the front-end of a break-in. Thieves know they don’t have much time—so they smash, grab and take anything of value to them. Experienced burglars are even bold enough to go about their business with the alarm blaring away. And don’t think your neighbors will come to the rescue. They would rather stay away than put themselves in harms way.

When a thief enters a home or office, the real deterrent seems to be the addition of a residential security or gun safe. Police reports indicate that when a thief sees a shiny, heavy-duty safe they generally leave without taking a thing. They're left to mumble, "Anything of value is probably in that safe and we don't have the time nor the tools, so let's just go to the next house."