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Security isn’t about luck—it’s about strategy. In this podcast, we break down how to protect your home, family, and business from threats most people don’t even think about. We’re not here to fuel fear—we’re here to help you prepare.
Hosted by security professionals, Michael Johnson, a retired law enforcement captain with 29 years of experience and James Kerr an expert from Boss Security Screens, this podcast delivers real, no-nonsense advice. We know what truly stops burglars—not just locks and alarms, but layered security strategies that keep your home and business safe.
What you'll learn in this podcast:
✅ Why the concept of “layered security” is the only way to protect your property.
✅ Guns for self-defense: myths, reality, and what you really need to consider.
✅ How to build a safe space for yourself and your family while minimizing risk.
✅ Real-life stories of break-ins and assaults - and why some homes remain impregnable.
📢 Subscribe now and stay one step ahead of those who rely on luck.
🛡 Ready to take home security seriously?
Visit https://bosssecurityscreens.com/free-consultation for a free consultation.
today I want to talk about home security for the families it's always better to be prepared and not need it usually security is attached to anxiety and fear but we want to separate that where is that fire extinguisher right now right uh heart attack do they understand what CPR is and she pulled out the gun and fired a few rounds and he ended up dying what information does a 911 operator need if you go looking for trouble you're going to find it you'll find trouble yeah being safe in this world is a life skill it's something that you want to definitely drill
on my name is James Kerr I'm the owner of Boss security screens and I'm with Mike MJ Johnston expert in all things law enforcement security related I love the introductions but you say too much that's an understatement today I want to talk about home security for the family so many of us have kids many of us have spous houses we want to be sure that everyone has an idea of what they shouldn't shouldn't do I think sitting down with the family and talking about Safety and Security is a positive thing yes it doesn't have to be oh we're being attacked by UFOs what are we going to do let's make a plan right it can be something proactive usually security is attached to anxiety and fear but we want to separate that and when it comes to security there are things that we can do about being smart about it for example and we can think these things through so unfortunately Yeah in our world this day and age the concept of security and discussing safety is really becoming second nature to kids and if you think about it um they're being introduced to these Concepts early in their school as little as kindergarten yeah uh these kids are learning safety procedures so you're right it's not not a terrible thing to teach them kids are receptive uh they're very intuitive and if if you make the education process uh and I say fun yeah um but educational and purposeful they'll respond very well yeah you know but uh the training has begun already in school and it would just be reinforced if you taking carees sense of of the home unfortunately again today uh we've got to talk about mass shooting what do you do well these kids are all being trained on what to do and they're being drilled I mean back in when I was in school I don't know about you but the only thing we were trained on were fire drills right U of course maybe you were I don't know were you in the 60s and getting underneath we were under the desk under the desks yeah so I mean I wasn't in the' 60s but in the early 70s yeah we were trained to get underneath the desks War yeah cold war stuff uh so now I wasn't cold war per se but certainly those kind of drills were were Common Place back then yeah so how do you teach your children yeah well you have to first identify what threats you want to train and what's appropriate I mean uh we don't have to train them for a full-on Invasion right um the likelihood of that isn't going to happen right um but we do want to talk about the stranger a child's tendency is to run to the front door and open the door as soon as they hear a doorbell yeah welcome come on in we want to kind of break the habits that are of natural tendency right kids are very trusting yeah and so we we don't want to teach paranoia but we want to teach them what stranger danger is and we want to teach them what is appropriate and when starting young and starting early and consistency is very important when you're talking about young children yeah reinforcing Concepts good to have the conversation it's already happening in the school it's already happening so ites sense to make it work in the home and other places number two is uh make it age appropriate some conversation with a 5-year-old is going to be different than someone with 15y old right number three that we talked about before uh well you kind of alluded to it right now is like what kinds of threats are we really talking about well there's fire there's uh like natural disaster there are strangers at the door maybe there's a stranger or strangers in the house house right so we start to kind of look at what these uh potential threats are and then we start to kind of think through a plan for each correct right I mean have you ever practiced with your child a power outage uh no okay no it's not an it's not a threat right I mean it's not like somebody's trying to get you it's not the boogeyman it's not anything like that but does your child know what to do when the power goes out I don't it just did the other day I mean in Las Vegas right I mean we don't get power outages very often but if you had a full-on blackout power outage in the middle of the night do your children know what works in the house what doesn't work in the house uh do they know where the backup flashlights are do they know where the first aid kit is um when you start to think about safety in the in the home yeah start small and start thinking about the the little things right uh what are they more apt to encounter on a daily basis but like I said a power outage I mean how about a how about a slip and fall where they seriously cut themselves maybe they're home by themselves do they know first aid do they know where the first aid kit is right do they know how to call 911 right what information does a 911 operator need they they need a name they need an address they need to know who's there who inv the of the injuries teach them to talk to a 911 operator so that they understand I like how you said start small right and start relevant in the world of security it's easy to get kind of crazy and talking about too many things too quickly uh maybe it's something like security Saturdays I don't know you know every Saturday you have like a 10 15 minute conversation about something anything there's one you know that I found is really critical many times youngsters will uh be in a situation where they don't quite feel comfortable and we need to let them know that they can come to us safe harbor environment and speak up about something that might not seem right correct yeah and you hit it right there um with some of the programs that you said uh they're already teaching these programs in school why not reinforce them in the home uh but that would require the parents to also understand and know what the kids are being taught in the school right but when you go from small to large less serious to more serious uh you can build in the layers of understanding for the child and as long as you have a safety mindset yeah and you start training them very early I mean I remember the first time I got told that the stove was hot yeah it's a learning process you do the same thing with safety and you can teach your children not to run to the door and open it you can teach them you can bring them to the door with you as you say who is it yeah you roll play it identify role play it uh let them see the proper procedure and I like the quick little takeaways like hey just because someone's at the door doesn't mean you need to open it right correct or just because someone asks for your phone number or you know your if it's not law enforcement for example you don't have to give away information without first thinking through whether that person really needs it right so these little kind of lessons are really easy to start with especially if they're age appropriate and teach them about personal space yeah don't let strangers walk up to you right you know keep your distance I mean it's again reinforcing the behavior you want to see right uh and kids are are resilient they learn and they will emulate what you teach them yeah and just like schools there's constant drilling there's constant practice there's constant reinforcement correct right so it's one thing to give some kind of tip or whatever but if we just give it once you know chances are it's not going to stick we need to be sure that's it's constantly reinforced and practiced like where is that fire extinguisher right now right so some of the things that come to mind for me are simple things like power outages what if you have a a water break in your home uh so flooding within the home now we don't live in a flood zone but what if they were home in somewhere near a wash and you know teach them the the safeties of washes and you know the flooding uh teach them about strangers and the door opening and what would you do if an adult in the house uh felt ill uh heart attack do they know UNC do they do they understand what CPR is do they understand what they would need to do in that emergency so just think of the type of emergencies that are going to be present in the home yeah think of the things that might be and in law enforcement we talked about things being high severity low frequency yeah meaning the rare things that happen it's very serious but it rarely happens you need to practice for those as much as the things that happen frequently yeah but are not serious yeah before I ask you this next question I just want to reinforce the one thing about keeping stuff locked you know keep the backslider locked keep the window locked keep the front door locked many times youngsters and other family members run in and out leave it unlocked and nice security we invested in is is now worthless because we left it unlocked correct let's say I'm I'm all on board with having these discussions with my family and I want to start where uh the most likely thing is going to happen is it the fire is it the health is it the Intruder what where is the place to start so I think it's very important to teach these kids uh about the fire um about potential common things or household fire is common it happens and severe and severe yeah so it's something that you want to definitely drill on we know that strangers come to our home I mean people knock on our door all the time that should be a priority we should teach them just as we spoke in an earlier segment we talked about having a family safety plan a safe room right teach them where the safe room is and teach them to grab the phone and run with the phone to the safe room make sure they understand how to to do the locks uh a safe room can be as simple as a reinforced door in a closet yeah but again the kids are only going to know to do it if you practice it talk about it rehearse it prce and let them yeah tell you the steps after you've trained them after you've taught them right have them play it out charge let them talk about it so they know and it's reinforced in their mind in summary number one security is important to everyone it's good to have this conversation it's healthy to have the conversation and we can do it in an age appropriate way it's not overwhelming the child and as you mentioned they're already getting that in school they're already getting it in school so why not reinforce it bring that uh that training and education back to the home we don't have to cover all the bases in one sitting we can look at all right Fires for example let's talk this through where are the extinguishers where are we going to go after we get out of the house whom do we call and where do we go is it that neighbor over there or is it this neighbor there think about current events if you just remember what's happening on a daily basis yeah it can remind you of things that you can prepare for right you know you hear about a child drowning in a wash okay that reminds me it's uh the monsoon season I should really make it relevant not that you're going to teach that event to them but as adults we get reminded on a regular basis the bad things that are out there in this world it's up to the parent to bring it home and make sure the child's prepared this is a conversation for one of the maybe older members in the family it could be a teen could be you know a spouse or whatever but this scenario where uh the Uber driver and the the other driver were having the road rage and the Uber driver hopped out of the car kind of in a threatening way approached the woman in the other car and she pulled out the gun and and fired a few rounds and he ended up dying if you go looking for trouble you're going to find it you'll find trouble right and so road rage is really about looking for trouble you know if somebody's in a road rage situation uh don't engage it right go somewhere safe yeah go somewhere where it's populated you know drive to a police station I doubt the road rage person's going to be following you to the police station or go somewhere very public um but pulling over on the side of the road is is nothing but trouble yeah you know and if you need to escape uh I always try to have myself in a lane where I can make change right if you're stuck in on a three lane road and if you're stuck in the middle you're not going anywhere yeah but on the outside and the inside I can make a U-turn or I can make a right hand turn you know so think about you're positioning you know it's all about uh Gordon Graham once said I think I told you about Gordon Graham he's the the king of liability uh prevention my favorite topic predictable is preventable so think about that in terms of your safety if you think it could happen yeah then it could happen and you need to prepare to prevent it and preparation is the planning and the practice and the training absolutely with it absolutely yeah it's always better to be prepared and not need it than need it and not be prepared and as a parent to be able to equip our children to be able to live more independently over time that's really the thing being safe in this world is a life skill and we are responsible to teach our kids life skills so why not talk about safety we want these conversations we're having to be more than just the two of us sitting here you've got your own situations you've got your own insights let's share our best practices here in the comments below and together we can be safer yes MJ thanks as always I I learned so much just being with you right no really I I really enjoy this and I appreciate that I want to get more into some of the real life experiences he's had so I know people out there have a lot of questions and uh it it's always good to ask the those questions be inquisitive give us some ideas tell us what you want to hear and uh we'll cover it as a topic yeah absolutely ask those questions we want to hear from you there are things you want to know and we're our mission is to get those answers for you quick thanks to everyone for watching we really appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you here again next time