Do you lock your doors?

Tingkai · June 11, 2003, 01:32

Do you lock your doors? If so, when and why? And how many locks do you have on your door?

This might seem like a pointless question, but I want to see there are national habits about locking doors and if this is an indication of people's paranoia or naivity.

In the movie Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore argues the American habit of always keeping doors locked is an indication of the fear that prevails in the US.

Alexander's Horse · June 11, 2003, 01:40

I lock my doors.

Somebody knicked my concrete lion last weekend.

The Mad Monk · June 11, 2003, 01:41

I lock my doors, in case I'm attacked.

Adalbertus · June 11, 2003, 01:43

Quite unspecific question.
Inside my appartment I usually don't lock doors. I lock toilet doors if I'm on a ... ummm ... more private task and there is somebody else around. I lock the door of my appartment if I'm leaving the house for more than, say five minutes. I lock the door of the house during the night or if there is nobody inside (also a question of insurance). I'd prefer not to lock office or lab doors, but I do if there are valuable items inside. Unfortunately there are people around who think they are in a self-service store where they forget to install a check-out.
In case you should doubt: I'm in Germany.

Alexander's Horse · June 11, 2003, 01:45

Quote:

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
I lock my doors, in case I'm attacked.

I lock my doors in case my kids attack someone

Inverse Icarus · June 11, 2003, 01:46

i usually don't, but i don't own the house.

i was locked out of my house last night, ad slept on the front lawn for about 4 hours until my sister kicked me on her way to school.

JCG · June 11, 2003, 01:52

Yep. It's better to be safe than sorry (cliched as it sounds).

My uncles/cousins tend to leave the doors wide open most of the day though...rather liberal bunch that they are.

Apocalypse · June 11, 2003, 01:54

I lock my doors because otherwise the wind can blow them open.

MrWhereItsAt · June 11, 2003, 02:04

Since leaving home I haven't once lived in a flat where the front door didn't require a key to open it. They all had snub-locks on closing.

MichaeltheGreat · June 11, 2003, 02:08

My fortress has those little wedge of pie shaped "Security by Claymore" signs around the perimeter.

Alexander's Horse · June 11, 2003, 02:17

People who say there was a time when you didn't need to lock your doors usually forget to mention that in those days nobody had anything worth stealing

Tingkai · June 11, 2003, 02:21

It gets a ridiculous in Hong Kong. I lived at a place where there was an eight-foot wall around two apartment buildings with a key-code locked front gate, then a key-code locked door for the lobby. Each apartment had a locked sliding gate, plus a door with two locks.

It just reeks of paranoia.

MichaeltheGreat · June 11, 2003, 02:22

I guess it depends on how many times you've been burglarized in your life. For me, it's twice, plus two attempts.

Gatekeeper · June 11, 2003, 02:23

My building has a laser security system that activates after 11 p.m. at night. No, not the killing kind of lasers!

Gatekeeper

MichaeltheGreat · June 11, 2003, 02:25

The kind that just paints a little red dot where their balls would be?

Nubclear · June 11, 2003, 02:29

I lock my doors, but thats cause I live in a high-risk area (For logan, that is).

And I have one lock on my doors. But I have an in-house secuirty system, too

Gatekeeper · June 11, 2003, 02:33

Quote:

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
The kind that just paints a little red dot where their balls would be?

Heh. Yeah. The "disabling" kind of lasers.

Seriously, I think it's just some sort of ID type of system that present outside/in some of the more fancy units around here. I'm not in that class just yet.

Gatekeeper

Zkribbler · June 11, 2003, 03:08

I lock both my wooden doors and my metal security doors. They're locked even when someone's home. The house also came with bars on the windows.

When I'm at a gas (petrol) station and I go inside to pay, I lock my car doors.

I think this is more symptomatic of a large city rather than of a nation. I've heard that plenty of people who live in very tiny towns in America never lock their doors.

Alexander's Horse · June 11, 2003, 03:11

I lock my wife and kids out of the house a lot - they always find a way in though.

The Mad Monk · June 11, 2003, 03:17

In all seriousness, I have dead bolts I always use, but I will never use a self-lock latch again.

I still have to repair the door frame for the entrance to my apartment from the last time...

The Mad Monk · June 11, 2003, 03:18

Btw, I'm astounded at how little force you need to break in a standard residential "fireproof security door".

Fve Crathva · June 11, 2003, 04:12

My door has never been unlocked while I've lived in this room, because I don't trust anybody (especially people my own age).

SP

The Mad Monk · June 11, 2003, 04:14

Which window do you use?

Cruddy · June 11, 2003, 04:19

I always lock my doors. Always.

I've had a distraction burglary (kid comes round the front while his mate goes round the back) and I'm determined not to repeat the experience.

Only the one lock, with a chain to secure it.

Mind you, I have lived in places with no locks at all. The security came from a dozen or so squatters on hand ready to defend the place - long time ago now though.

Paranoid? You have no idea of my situation.

MikeH · June 11, 2003, 04:25

Of course I lock my door. Well.. actually there's no choice. Most front doors in the UK have those yale locks where once you close them you need a key to get in from outside. I don't think I've lived in a house where that wasn't true.

In the UK houses are a lot closer together than in the US and either on or a lot closer to roads that people regularly walk/drive past. So if you leave your doors open you are likely to get all your stuff stolen. And the insurance companies won't pay for it because you can't get insurance that covers theft from an unlocked house (if there is no-one home).

Dauphin · June 11, 2003, 06:16

My house has a latch lock too.

FrustratedPoet · June 11, 2003, 06:27

Yep, I also have no choice. The door locks automatically when I close it.

Even if you have a manual lock, why NOT lock your door? It only takes 5 seconds.

Spiffor · June 11, 2003, 06:42

I have had a latchlock in every place I lived, except for one year.

I'm not really a door-locker though : I have never locked the door when I was home, and I only lock when I'm away for some time. Besides, in this year's house (which I share with 3 roommates), I never lock the door of my individual room, ever.

I also have a friend living in a house without latchlocks, and he never locks the door. Simple reason : it doesn't hamper theft, and it feels much freeer (indeed)

Skanky Burns · June 11, 2003, 06:51

If I have a lock for whatever, I will use it. Car, home, anything. I even had a deadlock installed on my back door. It is amazing how a crowbar can render most other locks ineffective, as demonstrated by the last person who burgled my house.

Urban Ranger · June 11, 2003, 06:53

Quote:

Originally posted by Tingkai
It gets a ridiculous in Hong Kong. I lived at a place where there was an eight-foot wall around two apartment buildings with a key-code locked front gate, then a key-code locked door for the lobby. Each apartment had a locked sliding gate, plus a door with two locks.

It just reeks of paranoia.

That's bog standard in the city. For large development projects there aren't any walls surrounding individual buildings, but the rest are always there.

Okay, so two locks may be a bit much