How to secure your house with Mr. Mohammed AlQadi

In 20, Feb 2015, I interviewed Mr. Mohammed AlQadi, an agent in Qatar State Security. He has been working since 1997, and was in charge of many crime investigations during his time working there. In my interview, I will be asking Mr. Mohammed about the ways to protect you home against robberies.

· Hi Mr. Mohammed, thank you for your time. Before I begin with securing the house, for those who are still looking for one, what do you advise them to look for in terms of safety?

Sure it is a pleasure. For people who are looking for either a house or a piece of land to build on, I would recommend them to choose a place where it is not in the middle of the city, on a main road, or near a commercial road. Those places are in a higher risk of being robbed. Quit neighborhood that are away from those places would be the best choice in terms of safety and are more suitable for living.

· And how about those who are settled already, what precautions do you advise them to have to secure their houses against robberies?

Well, I would advise them to make sure to lock their doors at night and when they travel. Another thing to do when they travel is, if they have a neighbor that they trust, to ask him if they can turn on the house light at night during their time outside the country. This will show that the house owners are still in the house, and will reduce its chance of being robbed or broken in to.

· Do you really recommend people to ask their neighbors to enter their house in their absence? Would not that be a chance of a robbery to take place?

Sure. First I would like to emphasize on the fact that they have to be trusted. Other than that, the house outer light’s switches are usually located outside the house, so if the house doors were locked and secured it would not matter.

· From your experience, what was the cause that contributed in robberies to take place?

 Well, it is usually a factor of both answers I previously mentioned. Usually houses that are located on a commercial road for example are around a lot of pedestrian and workers who will easily notice if the house is empty. They can use the fact that the place is crowded and will enter the house. Other than that, some people are used to keep their doors opened, and there answer is that they are used to doing that and they did not expect that to happen. You never know when a robbery will take place so always beware.

· If a robbery took place already, what should people do?

I would like first to stress that they make sure it was actually a robbery, because we get a lot of reports that end up being a family member had access the house. In case of a real robbery taking place, they should call the police as soon as possible. The sooner they call the easier it will be for the police to catch the robber.

· I can see many people now have started using CCTV cameras, why did you not recommend that?

Of course CCTV is beneficial in these situations, yet keep in mind that they cost a lot, and people can avoid robberies by doing simple things rather than buying them.

· Is their any other or things that you want to point out?

I would like to advise people to keep their valuable belongings and important documents in a safe and not show it to their kids. If in any time they had workers in the house, they should make sure that they are supervised. Same thing for the house maid, if she was cleaning one of the family members’ room, she should be supervised.

· If you would change something that would make living in Qatar safer, what would it be?

I would suggest having neighborhood watch or some type of neighborhood police. These types of groups are well known abroad. It’s a way to decrease the chance of any vandalism in the neighborhood, and increase the neighborhood citizens’ cooperation.

 
As it can be seen from Mr. Mohammed interview, being robbed can be avoided without needing any high cost devices like CCTV camera, if simple steps are followed. Unfortunately Mr. Mohammed had to leave early so some of the questions were not answered; yet most of the important ways to protect a property were mentioned. I hope after reading this interview people will start to care more about their houses security, specially after Mr. Mohammed mentioned that you never know when your house would be robbed.