Lock the doors?

[azskyman]

While working outside this morning, a couple of neighbors stopped to chat about the murder (see post in Sittin' on the Front Porch) just 3 blocks away.

I was surprised to hear them say, "Well, now I'm going to have to lock up the house every time we go somewhere!"

I don't know about you, but I've been locking our house both when we are home and when we are away for many many years. I guess growing up in a small midwestern town I used to hear that people didn't lock their homes when they went to work or went away, but I have always made that a habit.

Anyone live in a place so safe and secure that you can throw away your key?

Steve

[chadtm80]

We NEVER locked the doors while i was Growing up except for overnight... That has changed now, mostly because of the wife.. She ALWAYS likes it locked weather we are home or not.. And Alarm set EVERY time we leave

[Guest]

My parents always locked the house when I was young and we do the same thing here. Used to be able to leave car doors unlocked and etc - but now its too risky.

Patricia

[coriolis]

We often leave the doors unlocked. Especially when my wife and I are coming and going and the kids are wherever. Having 3 pit bulls in the house is of course a deterrent to unauthorized entry.

I almost always leave the car doors unlocked. I'll lock it only when there's stuff in it. My rattletrap is virtually immune to theft. Someone would be doing me a favor by stealing it.

[ColdFront77]

Growing up I was always told to lock the doors, even in a safe neighborhood. No place is 100% safe, technically speaking.

If the air is comfortable outside, we will have our doors open and the air conditoner off.

I have even gotten used to locking the door when home alone, as well as when my parents and I are in the house, so we don't forget to lock them at night.

[streetsoldier]

I lock up every time; but remember this (from an old cop when I was in the Academy)..

"Locks are meant to keep honest people out".

[breeze]

My home doors are always locked. Of course, like Bill points
out, a crook is coming in, no matter what, if they choose to.

[Amanzi]

Well coming from a place where you would be commited to an asylumn if you did not lock your doors, it is just inbred in me. I look all doors.. all the time. While driving, at home, asleep, away. I never leave a door unlocked. I have baseball bats hidden over the front door, and knives in strategic places (yes I don know how to use them properly). If someone gets in my house, im not letting them get out in one piece. I am very security aware all the time. When I walk in a parking lot I carry my keys between my knuckles (makes a good knuckle duster) I honestly wish I did not think this way all the time, but I had no choice. It was the way I was brought up.

[pojo]

It's pelted into my brain to lock the doors. I have lived in safe neighborhoods all my life (cept when I was in Milwaukee...I never felt safe!) so a toss up on whether to lock the doors.

If someone gets in my house, im not letting them get out in one piece.

Funny, but True. Ask my brother about that one...he's got bruises from my feet, nails and teeth... (Its self defense!) He claims he'll be shooting 'blanks' for long awhile (that's good!)

Remember to SING if you need to get away...
S = Stomach
I = Instep
N = Nose
G = Groin

Since my dad and step-mom moved into the new house, we don't lock the side door because the garage is attached and you either need the code or the opener to get in. But my mom's and step-dad's is always locked. As for my moving sheetmetal (my piece of crap car)...I really shouldn't be locking it because its only worth $300 (if that)...the radiator and the stereo put together are worth more than the car! But i'm in such a habit, that I do.

[ColdFront77]

I say if you have the locks available, you mine as well use them. They are there for safety. It only takes one time, that one time is bad enough when someone steals your belongings, causing serious problems.

[azsnowman]

Nope, never have, never will, besides, I've got a Colt 45 in my night stand locked and loaded

[chadtm80]

locked and loaded

So you just use a different Lock system

[coriolis]

Part of my calculation is the odds of losing my keys or locking them in the car, versus, the odds of something bad happening. So far losing keys has happened, and locking them in the car has happened, while something bad has not happened. So far, the only person who ever broke into my car has been me, when I locked the keys in it. Smashed a window with a rock, I did.