Off Topic: Doors: Locked or Unlocked

I really try because if I am home I am usually upstairs and can't hear a thing downstairs. It's not my immediate neighbors I am worried about, it would be people coming into my neighborhood that don't live here.

A few years ago there was a police chase and the guys ended up on my street, trying doors to evade police. They got in two doors down because she didn't lock her doors. One of them fatally shot himself in the standoff. I am in a perfectly lovely neighborhood.

Locked and usually I set the alarm. Why wait until you are robbed? And people do break into the nice houses in the nice neighborhoods-it's where the best stuff to steal is.

Locked, alarmed, the whole thing. My childhood home was broken into and I'll never forget that feeling. My husband thinks I'm nuts, because we live in a nice part of town, but I lock everything..even when we're all home.

Always when home and always when gone. I refuse to become a statistic.

All doors always locked - home, garage and cars.

My friend moved to a house way out in the country awhile ago and one night she forgot to close the garage door.
Next day she heard something in the garage so she went to take a look.
She turned the corner, looked into the garage and there was a black bear having a good old time ransacking her garbage can.
She made a dash for the house and stayed there till the bear left.
She never forgot to lock up after that.

Unlocked cars (even out in the country) have electronic equipment stolen from them - local crime reports list neighborhoods where incidents have happened.
When the farmers leave big farm vehicles out in the field - they lock them up.
Why make it easy for anyone (or any animal) who might come around looking to forage/steal/vandalize?

You should take a class from your local citizens police academy.

http://www.cityoflonetree.com/index.aspx?NID=193

My husband does this every where we have lived.
You learn about what is happening with local crime in your area - gangs, drugs, prostitution (yep - even way out in the country!).
You will NEVER leave your doors unlocked again!

Always locked. I sometimes lock other people's doors when I am visiting. Not on purpose but automatically. I don't want to be the one on the news standing there saying, but it's a SAFE neighborhood.

If crazy people will go to a school and shoot kids, what make you think you are so special that a crazy wouldn't come in an unlocked door?

Yes and yes!

I always lock my doors, car doors and so on. I would never want to come home to someone or something happening to my house/car for the simple effort it takes to lock and unlock the door.

Of course if someone wants to get in they will, but why make it easier for them.

always locked...and I live in what most Americans would classify as a very nice and safe neighborhood

Absolutely I do, both locked when I am home (if I'm not out in the yard) and locked at night or when we leave. I live in suburbia and where I live is not crime-ridden, but we have had our share of burglaries and recently there was a home invasion/shooting not far from the area I live in. Our front door can be set to lock so that even if you forget the deadbolt, there's one lock locked just by pulling it behind you.

Unlocked. I always try to live in a neighborhood where people don't have bars on their windows or triple locks on their doors.

When I go on vacation away from the home, we lock the doors as we leave. I lived in a very friendly neighborhood where we never locked the doors. When we had to move because of a job location change, I had to get the locks rekeyed because neither my wife nor I could find the door keys.

To me, when people have bars on the windows and multiple locks on the doors its because the wrong people are behind bars.

Good luck to you and yours.

the doors are never locked when i'm home. i'm in and out far too much for that. the only door i keep locked is the one the dang dog has learned to open. (grrrrrr.)
if i'm going for a run around the neighborhood, or taking one of the horses for a ride, or walking the dog, i don't lock the doors. but if i take the car somewhere i do. (not a necessarily logical habit, but there ya go.)
my husband is more cautious than i and gets very annoyed if i forget to lock up before i go to bed. but he leaves the doors unlocked if he's home alone and goes for a run too.
nowhere is 100% safe for sure, but i'm glad we live somewhere that it's not a constant worry.
khairete
S.

I live in a very nice, wealthy suburb, and it probably isn't necessary (we certainly don't have bars on our windows), but yes, I always lock my doors. Always. It's just habit. I grew up with it.

My parents always locked their doors, whether when home or out and about, but I was never very good about locking doors when I was home. Then, about ten years ago, before I had kids, when I was living in a different (but still very nice) area, a woman in the area was raped in her own home by a stranger who just walked in the back door. She even admitted that she was probably MORE vulnerable because she felt safe in her home and so he was able to catch her by surprise. The whole area was shocked that this could happen. I made a mental commitment then to always keep the doors locked, even when I was home, and over the years, it has become instinctual. Having kids has only reinforced this in my head.

Although it is true that locks won't stop someone who really wants to get in, it isn't true that they don't make a difference. I was watching a show last year (I can't remember what it was called, but it was on the Discovery Channel) about home burglary, and locking your doors was considered a bigger deterrent than owning large dogs, since many of the small-time burglars (like teenagers) just move on from a locked house, looking for something easier. I figure since I both lock my doors and have large dogs that I'm all set. ^_^

Truthfully, I'm not scared about it. I've come downstairs once or twice to find we accidentally left a door unlocked after putting the dogs out at night, and toilet-papering is about as severe a crime as we seem to get in our neighborhood - we haven't had any burglaries at all. But I don't really see the argument for NOT locking my doors. If there IS someone with bad intentions in my area, I don't see any need to make things easier for them.

Yes, we keep the doors locked all the time. A friend works at a club and is often not home until after 2:30am. Her hubby works there too.

Their babysitter woke up the other night and she found a strange woman sitting in the middle of the living room. She said she was waiting for my friend, that she had sent her and gave her a key. So the babysitter went and called my friend to let her know this person was in her house waiting for her. My friend didn't send her. She left the club and drove 70-80 mph getting home, she called the police too. The woman said she was going to wait outside and smoke while she waited. When the police got there she was gone.

When the police were looking around they found a large knife on a shelf by where the woman had been sitting. My friend said the knife wasn't one of theirs. The police told my friend that this had been happening a lot in this area.

I came home one night and a window was open that I know had been closed when we left. This was a few days before this happened to my friend.

SO yes, we lock the doors all the time. I hardly ever forget to lock them when I'm inside the house. Even if the door is open the storm door is locked. Unless the kids are playing in the yard, then I am where I can see them and the door is unlocked.

Yes yes yes locked. I live in the city. I don't live in fear I am just wise. Lock doors house/ cars. Don't leave valuables in car.

I always lock the door, for the house and the car. I live in a very low crime area, but it's a habit.

Usually locked.
99% of the time we come & go through our garage.
So...unless kids are going in & out, playing, they're locked.
I lock my car every time I go somewhere too.
Just a habit.

Locked, always. Sorry, but even if you live in the nicest, safest town in America, there are still people who are desperate for money for drugs, etc. We like to think this will never happen to us, and it most likely won't, but I'd rather err on the safe side. I don't care if someone helps themselves to the valuables in my house, but if we're home, then WE are the most valuable things in my house.

If I know that no one is going to be at the front of the house or if my GD is the only one that will be in that area, then yes, I make sure the door is locked. Also, after everyone is "in" for the evening, the door gets locked.

I do lock it when I leave, even if it's for a short period of time. If I get robbed, I don't want the insurance company reducing my claim because I was negligent in not locking the door. I don't know if they do that, I just know that they use every excuse imaginable NOT to pay claims!

Our back door is always locked, unless we are in the backyard. Our front door is always locked because the door swings open if you don't lock it and remove the key. Our garage door I put a chain across, since my 2 yr old just learned how to open the door and he is fascinated by our garage. We lock them mostly to keep the kids in, not to keep the boogie man out ;-)

At night my husband turns off the power to the garage door, and deadbolts and chains the interior door--then he arms the alarm. Overkill, but he sleeps better that way.

Our house and cars are always locked. I turn the house alarm on every night and on the days my husband is away from home.

As a teen I had some man try to get in my car while stopped at a light. I have never left a car door unlocked since then. In fact I hit the door lock button as I am closing my car door. My husband has sat at our breakfast table twice now and watched burlaries in progress at neighboring houses. Safety is an illusion and we figure we do all we can on our end to prevent being an easy target.

Sadly, our doors are locked. I don't lock them all the time when I'm at home. But if I'm going to be downstairs in the family room (where this computer is) for quite a while, the front door is locked. When I walk the dog, I lock the front door, although sometimes I leave the back door closed but not locked because it's not on the street or the driveway. If there are strangers about on our street, I go back and lock it. When I'm gone, the doors are always locked.

Our city has become very big and impersonal since we first moved here in 1970. There are always rashes of robberies and break-ins (both houses and cars) at Christmastime and as soon as school gets out for the summer. One year there was a break-in right next door. This past Christmastime a good friend, a 90-year-old woman who lives alone, walked in on a burglary at her house; she wasn't hurt but they took her jewelry and almost took her computer (she found it in the yard). This week a man north of here answered his doorbell and was shot and killed point-blank. There is no suspect yet. So locking and neighborhood-watching is mandatory for peace of mind. I hope we NEVER have to have bars on the windows! But some do around us, especially if they have windows right on ground level.

Hey M.!! :)

Depends upon my mood! Really. We live in a relatively safe neighborhood...knock on wood - no break ins...no police activity for as long as we have been here (wait - sorry - we had some "odd" neighbors and domestic violence was happening so the police were called twice or three times...)

When we are leaving for hours...yeah - lock the doors. To run to the store? maybe not. We, like you, should be better about it.

We lock our doors and our cars. Locks may not mean anything to people determined to get in, but at least you can tell when locks have been tampered with so you can be aware of someone violating your personal space.

We live in a lovely rural area, and our surrounding towns are wonderful places to live, but there are freaks everywhere and we try to make it harder for them to invade our buildings and cars.

Front door always locked. In order to get to our backdoor someone would have to go thru a gate in our wooden privacy fenced that is latched and posted "Beware of Dogs" sign.......I know someone could, but find it less likely, so back door is not always locked. When I leave - yes. If I walk to get the kids from school and leave the dogs outside in the backyard, then no. It would take some kind of idiot to walk thru that gate! LOL!

Always, always locked. I dont care what kind of "nice" neighborhood you live in. Stuff happens. I never go one day without locking up. Yes it's true if someone really wants in, they will, but why not at least attempt to keep that from happening. I dont want my house to get broken into, just to have to tell police "oh... no, my door wasn't locked."

Everything locked always, even if visiting a neighbor. Relatively safe area, but I'd never forgive myself if something happened that could have been avoided. I'm not even "afraid" of anything happening, it's become just part of the routine of leaving the house. :)

I think this is going to be very dependent upon where people live.
My doors are sometimes locked sometimes unlocked throughout the day. If I go take a shower mid-day, then I lock them. If I am up and about, not usually.
If I go for a walk to the mailbox, nah... If I go for a run, then yes.

We live in a single entrance neighborhood set down a long road in a rural area. You cannot get to my house without me seeing you, if I am at the neighborhood mailbox or somewhere in between my house and the mailbox. If I go running, I go much farther and I am not able to see if anyone drives into the neighborhood.
At night, I secure all the doors as part of my evening bedtime ritual. Included with medicating the dog, taking the dog out for the night, feeding/water the dog, making a sandwich for my husband's lunch the next day, and turning off all the lights. I check the doors, too.
I also check all the doors before I leave home, everytime. It's part of the taking the dog out, getting my purse/phone/keys routine.

Our doors are always locked, 100% of the time.

Until last summer, I was pretty lax about this, since we live in a ridiculously safe little town. But last 4th of July, shortly after we had come home from fireworks and put our son to bed, some teenage kid randomly entered the house and came up the stairs. He skedaddled when I stumbled out of my room and sort of stared at him, but ever since, doors locked. Car doors too.

I don't do this in a paranoid way, it's just one of my reflexive habits, like making sure I have my keys and phone.

our doors are ALWAYS locked. There have been a few break ins around our neighborhood this year so far, and so I do not take chances.

When I'm home, the doors are usually unlocked until I go to bed. Any time I leave the house to go further than the mailbox or the neighbor's house, I lock up.

Yes - the doors are usually locked when I'm at home, but I don't obsess over it so sometimes I forget to lock the front door if I've just gone out to get the mail, or opened it for a delivery. Usually, though, the front door remains locked at all times because we go in and out of the garage. And yes, I lock when leaving the house, but if the garage door won't go down then I end up leaving my house open for the 15 minutes it takes me to drive my kids to school and back.

During the day, we're not so good about locking the door, for the same reasons you state. At night I make a thorough sweep to ensure all the doors are locked, garage door down etc.

Like 8kidsdad, we keep our doors unlocked most of the time. We sometimes remember to lock the front door when we leave, and usually exit through the garage. We never lock the door when we walk to dog or are in town.

Locks don't really mean all that much to someone who really wants in.

Always locked. My city is almost always voted the Safest City in America for large cities (100,000+ people) and I still lock the doors. You just never know.

I always lock because then I know it is locked and dont have to remember when it is midnight and I am in bed.

I don't even know where our house keys are. Any time we go on vacation, it's always a big hunt to find a key. For a brief period of time there were frequent break-ins in the neighborhood so when that was happening we did leave the front doors locked and then the kids would have to go through the gates and around the back of the house to get in after school. Those burglers were caught though and there hasn't been an issue since. There are 4 houses between mine and the police station and my neighbors are always home (and they're nosy LOL) so one would have to be pretty ballsy to break in to my house. There are plenty of easier targets than my house so we don't worry about it too much. We do lock the cars now because there was a rash of car break ins (stealing wallets and cell phones) last year - just kids looking to score a few bucks to buy drugs. That activity will pick up when the weather gets warmer so we do try to remember to lock the cars.

When I was young my parents never locked the doors. They live in a small town where everyone new everyone. As it has grown, they have also started locking their doors. I have always locked my door since I moved into my own house. My next door neighbor left his keys in his car and it was stolen. Two houses down was robbed. They moved. The new owners had someone trying to get into their garage while they were home. He had his wife open the door and yell at the guy while he stood behind her with his gun. Behind his wife? Really? Anyway another two houses down was robbed by a friend of a friend of their son. Half of these people knew who robbed them but the others were random. Locking your door is a simple way to at least delay someone from coming uninvited into your home which could help you get away.

I lock up when we leave, except for when we go on walks --even if we are gone for an hour.

I don't lock up when we are at home, even at night.

My exterior doors are always closed and locked, unless I step to the mailbox or am walking someone out. If someone goes outside and expects to be out for a while but out of sight of the door, then it's locked. (For example, last Friday my husband walked out the garage and ended up around front. He called me and asked me to step out and close the garage door.) I've always been this way, so I can't even relate to not doing it. If older kids are running in and out, I guess that's different, but the door gets locked if they go down the street.

Always locked unless we are working outside a lot.

We lock ours. I trust our neighbors so we exchange keys to each other's homes. But...we don't trust the thugs out "shopping" in my nice neighborhood in the daytime when they assume everyone is working and making an honest living.

I am home full time. Although we park our cars at night in the garage, during the day I keep our van on our driveway. I want it to appear that someone is home.

We have had too many break ins lately on the outskirts to our neighborhood for me to feel comfortable leaving my beautiful home an easier target.

A couple nearby neighbors leave their doors unlocked..even when they go out of town for a weekend.

My kids have left an occasional scooter or bike out near the fence..and it has always been there in the morning.

Mine are always locked when we are home but rarely when we leave. I have no idea why we don't lock up when we leave. I just never have unless going on vacation.

Yep, after my daughter and husband leave in the morning, the door deadbolt gets locked (we have two locks, the regular door lock and the deadbolt). I work at home, but my office is in the basement. I feel safer if the door is locked while I'm home. I've never heard of anything bad ever happening in our little rural subdivision, but I always think, why tempt fate?

Also, whenever we leave/go anywhere, we always lock the door. Always. If we go for a walk or to walk the dog--it depends on how long we'll be gone and if we're staying in the neighborhood or if we'll be going on an extended walk and leaving the area. I usually lock the door no matter what and take my keys with me. Picking up my daughter from school means a good 30 minutes or more of being gone (it's at least 10 min one way to get to school, 10 min to get my daughter, 10 min to get back home). I just feel it's better to be safe than sorry.

And as my husband says, he actually doesn't mind getting robbed so much as he is worried about having our house ransacked and trashed. We don't have a lot that is valuable or worth stealing. He knew some people like us whose house was broken into. When the robbers discovered these people didn't have anything worth stealing--they totally trashed the place. He had a chance to see the house, and it was just awful.

So to protect our property, yes, we lock the doors. We even lock them when we're home, inside our own house. I've heard enough stories of people being robbed even when they're home. That's just something we started doing the minute we bought our house 15 years ago. Not to be paranoid, we just feel safer, knowing no one can get inside our house without us knowing.

I never lock the doors when I am home (except when we go to bed, we lock up)
I always lock the doors when I leave, even if I am going to check the mail (I live in an apt. complex) or take out the trash.
L.

Locked. My husband never remembers to lock the door.

Locked, most of the time. If the dogs are out of the crate, and it is day time and I am home then they are probably not locked. I have been guilty of rushing to get kiddo to school and leaving it unlocked but I do rather them locked.