Well, 33 years into my life and I experience my first attempted break-in.
Two men attempted to break into my apartment last night around 1am. My girlfriend woke me up saying she heard noises outside our door, up on the 3rd floor of a gated higher-end community. We both kind of waved it off in a early morning haze of just waking up, but she jolted up around 10 mins later saying someone was trying to get into our front door.
I get up and walk to the front door, and see one of them facing our door but standing a ways back acting as a lookout while I see and hear another one trying to fiddle with our door handle. The handle itself doesn't lock, but there are two deadbolts fastened. I give them a few moments until it becomes clear that they're not simply at the wrong door and their key isn't working - because they're trying to force the handle off the door. I give the door a good bang and they bolt.
I called our courtesy officer and the local police, giving them description of the lookout I was able to see clearly and a general description the #2, but of course my girlfriend and I are both a little shaken at the attempted violation of security in our home.
Few questions:
Would one or two deadbolts generally stop someone trying to finesse their way in short of kicking the door down? Only one deadbolt would obviously be locked when we're not home, and I generally have always kept all locks up when I am home. Knowing their only recourse if we're not there is to attempt to force the door in brings me a little more at ease, if not for the internet sensationalizing key bumping.
For securing electronic valuables (TV's, game consoles, computers, etc) are there economical options I can at least fit my PS4/Switch with or to make sure my TV's are a bitch to unmount?
I've heard decent things about SimpliSafe and similar home security systems that tie into your phone to report if a camera senses movement, doors opening, etc when you're not home. Anyone have recommendations or suggestions on a good system?
Finally, defense. My girlfriend works for the CDC and has some weapons training as a result, but my experience is mostly with rifles and skeet shooting and not handguns. I know some local police departments offer handgun training classes and good avenues to be certified. If we consider buying a handgun for home defense, would that be a good resource to start with?