DETROIT – They stand guard at his home 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
At first, and even second glance, you don't know if they're real or not.
A man on Detroit's west side is so serious about home security, he's using CPR dummies to help him.
The dummies are dressed as gang members
.
They stand and sit by his front door in an enclosed porch and you can't miss them.
"I saw someone on the east side doing this and now I'm doing it. The police stop, look, knock and tell me what a good idea this is," the man told Local 4.
He won't reveal his name and only agreed to share his security secrets if we don't share what street he lives on.
His home is the last home on his block that is still well cared for. The home is surrounded by vacant, burned out homes that attract criminals.
"After being broken in to a few times, my homeowner's insurance wouldn't help me cover the cost of the damages, they see risk all around me," he said.
So to help keep that risk at bay, the man has spotlights all over his home and garage, he as a security system, you have to get through one screen door just to reach his fortified front door. He has two watch dogs and bars on every window and he has his dummies.
"A car will come by and they pick my place because I keep it nice. They'll slow down, see the dummies and take off. They come back around and look again. Eventually if they figure out they are dummies they are also figuring out that now they're being watched. They keep moving. They don't stop," he said. "What's behind those dummies? You have to ask that. If you get past the lights, alarm, dogs, doors and dummies, then you have another problem, you have to deal with me. My home is my castle."
He also has put security cameras in the dummies' eyes and mouth from time to time.
"If someone wants to come up to my door and take a closer look, they're right on camera. Someone is inside and can clearly see them," the homeowner said.
The man says his homeowner's insurance is about $4,000 a year and he'll do anything he can to appease the insurance company and to keep the criminals guessing.