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KPRC's lead story last night (http://www.click2houston.com/news/15802034/detail.html) on the ten o'clock news was about a home invasion in a subdivision in NW Harris County. The husband was ambushed as he left the back door to go to the detached garage to go to work; he was pushed back inside and he and his wife tied up with duct tape. There was an 11-year-old boy and a college-age daughter at home. The daughter managed to call 911, and the Harris County Sheriff's Deputies, bless 'em, arrived amazingly quickly (it was not HPD as the story says). There were three attackers and one driver; a planned assault. Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt, but the family was at the mercy of the VCAs as soon as the husband opened that back door.

A good friend of mine lives nearby on the same street and called me about the incident. He and I have talked guns and shooting before, so he asked me some questions about home defense and preparedness. He says, understandably, other neighbors are rattled, as well.

I reiterated that I was no authority, and recommended he consider finding a consultant, an expert in residential and personal protection who could evaluate his property, lifestyle (comings and goings of the family), etc., recommend changes, and help establish emergency plans. He chimed in with the idea of paying the consultant to speak at a neighborhood meeting, which seems like a great idea.

So I offered to help him find some possible candidates for residential security consulting. Now, my Google-fu may be weak yesterday and today, but I've been able to find no company that seems to offer just this sort of service, and it surprises me. I can find alarm companies by the hundreds...but an alarm ain't security; it's just an alarm. Not what we're looking for. I can find PIs who offer anti-stalker intervention, and executive personal protection companies, and I can find security agencies that offer commercial building security consulting and training.

But nothing that specializes in what I've described: a family wants soup-to-nuts help understanding how to layer their home's defenses, shore-up the premises as needed, and build and implement emergency plans, which may include firearms purchase and a plan for training.

I applaud my friend for wanting to take positive action toward making his home and neighborhood more secure, but I can't advise him in the detail he needs. Is this really a niche that doesn't have a market? Does someone on the board know consultants or companies who do this? I guess I'm just baffled that I can't easily locate folks who offer just such a service.

They can probably get HCSO to send someone to talk to them about crime prevention and a neighborhood watch program.

Maybe they could get an NRA instructor to teach the personal protection in the home class for the group.

Skiprr wrote:I guess I'm just baffled that I can't easily locate folks who offer just such a service.

I applaud your friend's efforts to improve the security of his family. IMO he is going to have to continue to research and educate himself and his family on these topics. The NRA Personal Protection in The Home (PPIH) is a good place to start. Also getting an alarm, outside lights, etc.

I believe that such a service is not readily available for a couple of reasons. 1 - Companies can not guarantee security, and could/would not warranty their services. and 2 - A quality and comprehensive service of this type would cost tens of thousands of dollars and could not be afforded by most customers. Less comprehensive services would present a false sense of security.

I'm glad to hear they are moved into action by the relatively close brush with some motivated BG's. These type of home invasion, follow home ambushes are on the rise.


They can get all information and implement their plan, but it's going to take a little time & commitment to change. I have been to one of Brian Hoffner's seminars & he covered a lot of good ideas for security around the home, lifestyle changes, emergency plans and self defense training.

Most people I know have pieced together their security/emergency plan over time and from various sources. They tweaked it according to best practices & how the BG's methods have evolved.



Here is a class I found that covers most of what they are looking for:
Rangemaster will host a unique training opportunity in Memphis for those serious about personal security. Southnarc, Ed Lovette, and Tom Givens will each teach segments involving their personal specialties, and students will rotate among these trainers, getting an incredible amount of information and skill in one weekend.

Overall the mission of the course is to present a contextually underscored home defense course based on real trends that we're seeing on the way bad guys are doing business. I'm pretty excited about what we've come up with and if you can make the course please try and do so.This is something we'll try and do either every year or every other year contingent upon the response, since there are alot of logistics involved.

Ed is going to present all of his counter surveillance information learned over a twenty year career in the intelligence community along with information about how bad guys are doing business these days.

SouthNarc will cover MUC of course worked out when you make the pick-up on the bad guy as you're going into your home. I'll follow with simple combatives structured around getting away from someone or going through someone to get to your gun. The information we're getting indicates that since people are in their homes, most don't have a gun on their body and the first time they get an indicator that there's a problem, the door has already been taken off the hinges. Generally the information indicates that most don't have a gun on their person when they're home, so we'll work within that paradigm.

Tom will work on shooting in and around vehicles and then he and SouthNarc will probably work on some solo structure work centered around moving to a problem once we've recovered the gun and insuring that the requisite accuracy standards are there to engage a hostile among non-hostiles (such as shooting a guy who's going after your kids). We'll also explore some options involving using the snubby to make contact shots.

I can only think of a few possibilitys to give somebody a headsup if somebody infiltrates their perimeter,a good set of motion activated lights and check them daily to mak sure somebody didn't unscrew the bulbswhen you weren't home and also motion activated security cam,thatcomes on and emits an alarm so you can look to see what threat might be waiting outside,also wire lights outside so when you flicka switch the whole yard is turned into daytime,nothing to scare a bad guy off quicker than remove his cover,and put peepholes in all entry doors ,the wide angle ones,I would suggest claymores with a trip wire but we are limited by laws,maybe a few trip flares if your in the country