The 4 Rules of Property Protection

In a post collapse environment one of the most difficult tasks you may face will be securing your property.  While every person’s situation and property is different, if these rules are applied they will have the same result, the upper hand.  The one thing that you must get in your head from the get go is that property protection has everything to do with time.  The more time you have on your side, the more likely you will prevail if your position is attacked.  A simple premise might be this; if you had a crystal ball and could see a day ahead of time how your property might be attacked, you could surely create a defense.  Putting these rules into play will do just that for you.

These rules are the basis for the protection of nearly every high value target in the world.  From power plants to presidential protection, this is how it is done.

Deter-   In today’s civilized world, deterrence involves lighting, alarm company signs, and trimming bushes away from your house.  In a post apocalypse world it might mean fortifications, gun emplacements and the last intruder’s head on a pike.  It also may mean making your property to look as it has been abandoned, like there is nothing of value in the location.  Either strategy has pluses and minuses.  Your job is to get into the intruder’s mind and make him reconsider attacking you, either by making him feel he won’t make it out alive or that there is nothing of value or no reason to bother with you.

Detect- The second rule of property protection, and one of the most important, is to detect the assailant as far away as possible.  Why?  Because it will take time for them to approach.  Detect a person a mile away and you have a decent amount of time to react.  Detect a person hovering over your bed with a handgun in the middle of the night and you are out of luck.  Detection can be the most expensive proposition in property protection.  You can spend tens of thousands on cameras, fence protection, and volumetric sensors, etc. plus a solar/wind system to run it (no power if the grid is down).  I can’t afford any of it, but early detection is a key.  Dogs, ducks, trip wire alarms (check out this video on how to make your own), and posted look outs are probably going to be more common.  Most folks don’t purchase their homes with this factor in mind, so you have to make the best of your situation.  It may mean creating a “no man’s” land around your home.  An area where everything can be seen clearly.

Delay- Again, we see the time factor come into play.  A person running towards you on flat unobstructed ground will take less time to reach you than a person who has to scale a fence, jump a ditch, traverse barbed wire and run around boulders..all while being shot at.  Barbed Wire or Concertina wire is a great that can be quickly deployed when needed.  It’s the lowest cost method to create a barrier that has to be dealt with by either jumping or cutting, both take time.

Respond-   A plan to respond to the intruder must be in place before intrusion takes place.  If you follow the above steps you can actually quantify  how much time you have to respond.  You can know how many seconds it would take for an intruder to breach your defenses and can tailor your response time accordingly.  You can do this simply by timing how long it takes you to do the same.   In SHTF, you are the last line of defense.  The only acceptable response should be quick and lethal because a smart intruder, if he survives, can then formulate a plan to overcome your defenses.

We’ve actually put this plan into a highly detailed video, The Ultimate Home Defense Security Plan, more geared towards home security in a civilized world, it will teach you in depth how to “think” security.

This article originally appeared here at the Tin Hat Ranch.