Home Invasion Escape Drill from the Family Safe Program

Below is a shocking video of a home invasion that happen here in New Jersey. 

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When you’re under real stress like this, you never know how you’re going to react, but if you don’t have a plan you will NEVER have a chance to survive. To be blunt, this woman was lucky she wasn’t raped and murdered. 

One of the skills we teach in the Family Safe Program is the Family Home Invasion Escape Drill. It’s very easy to practice and with a little preparation you will have a simple, effective plan to avoid being a victim. This same strategy can be used for a fire drill.

The Preparation

1. Get an ALARM 
   If you can afford it, please do this and turn on the STAY feature when you’re in your house and going to bed. Many home invasions are stopped because of an alarm system. 
2. Pick a RALLY POINT
   This is a meeting place away from your house,  like a neighbor’s back porch or apartment. Your Rally Point should be out of the line of sight of your home but close enough to get to in under a minute. This is where your family will regroup after exiting your house and call for help. If you don’t have you phone, go to a neighbor or flag down a passer-by. Someone with a phone will call 9-1-1 and if a child is seen running in the street – police and help will come ASAP. 
3. Get the KIDS OUT FIRST
   This used to be women and children first, but you get the idea. You don’t want anyone in that situation that can be used against you as leverage. 
4. One is BETTER than NONE.
   If just one person escapes, that’s all it takes to get the clock ticking on the bad guys. The criminals now have to think of an exit strategy because they know help is coming. 

5. 

   Two Exits for every room
   Understand that your primary exit might be blocked. If the enemy is in your doorway, it’s time to use the window. Make sure you can open the window. If not, make sure your family knows how to break the window and escape. 

6. Drop Down
   Rope ladders might not be your best option to escape from a second story, but if you feel better using a rope ladder, make sure it’s of sturdy construction. Because if you ever went down a flimsy rope ladder in a hurry there’s a great chance you’ll be tangled up and stuck. You might want to consider a nylon rope with knots every 3 or 4 feet. Even if you just hang and drop from your window, it gets you a little closer to the ground and dropping a few feet and sustaining a broken ankle is a “fair trade” against what a home invader has in store for you.
7. Weapons
   I have multiple weapons and firearms in my home. Make sure you practice getting them during your drill or you will NEVER think to get them during the real invasion.

The Drill.

You have prepped your family with the above information, now you’re going to do two drills – a Day and a Night drill. This is because you’re going to be in different parts of the house during these times. At night you will start in your bedrooms. For the day you will start in the living areas of your home like play rooms, living rooms, etc. Don’t wait for night and day to do it, just pretend and do one right after the other. 

Do a walk through of your home. Ask everyone how to exit each of the rooms in two ways.

For the NIGHT DRILL put everyone in bed. You can pretend to be the threat and enter from a doorway. As soon as everyone here’s the noise, parents make sure the kids are up and moving out the nearest exit. 

If there are two parents – one parent meets the threat while the rest of the family escapes. 

Single parents need to meet the threat while the kids escape to freedom. 

Points to remember – BREAK WINDOWS and MAKE NOISE. 

Remember the 3 things every criminal fears – getting caught, getting identified or getting injured. 

Don’t worry about “giving away your position” THEY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. Just get someone…ANY ONE out of the house.

If you plan to grab a weapon, now is the time to do it. Literally arm yourself and proceed to collect the kids and exit your home. 

As soon as someone escapes it’s over and the good guys win. The bad guys don’t want to deal with the cops and once one of your family members is in the wind, they know what’s coming next. 

 

If you have multiple entrances, practice for each of them and meet at the RALLY POINT. 

Next execute the DAY DRILL. 

Get where ever you hang out the most when you’re not working and do the same drill. 

That’s it!

You’re not Seal Team 6 – just run through it once or twice a year. As long as you have a plan you will survive. 

To purchase the Family Safe Program  >>CLICK HERE<<<

You can watch the preview below:

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SAFE ROOM SET UP – You may have a home, like an apartment or a 2nd floor that only gives you one entrance and exit. You also may have infants or very young children that can’t escape on their own so having a safe room will provide you a place to hold up while help arrives and you can set up your safe room easily and it won’t cost you much. 

The purpose of the safe room is to allow you to call for help. It just needs to provide enough protection for a few minutes while police respond. 

Safe Room Details

1. Centrally located near all bedrooms. 
2. A slab door with and extra long bolt locking mechanism. 
3. Have full cell service or protected land line.
4. Leave an old cell phone plugged in and ready to go. The FCC, requires every cell phone to dial 9-1-1 even if it’s not on an active plan. 
5. Weapon cache – this is a good place to put a lock box. 

Get the 9-1-1 call out and tell the bad guys the cavalry is coming. They will most likely leave. 

I hope you implement these  simple precautions to help you sleep a little better. Until next time…

Train Honestly,

Damian Ross
Instructor, The Self Defense Company