Selma Security for a Small City That Sits on Two Highways

Selma began as a mid-1800s farm settlement of German and Polish immigrants and did not incorporate until 1964. For most of its life it was a crossroads people drove through. Then the highways filled in around it. Interstate 35, Loop 1604, and FM 1518 all touch the city, and Selma now straddles three counties: Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe. Few towns of its size can say that, and fewer still have to coordinate with three county governments to do it.

The Census Bureau counted 5,540 residents in 2010 and 10,952 in 2020. That is close to a doubling in ten years, and the Bureau’s 2024 estimate puts the city near 11,900. Much of the growth arrived as new subdivisions, which means a lot of Selma homes are young, built to code, and fitted with nothing more protective than a deadbolt and a doorbell button.

Retama Park, the pari-mutuel horse track that opened in 1995, draws crowds on race days. The Forum shopping center pulls in shoppers from across the northeast side. Both are good for the city’s tax base. Both also put a steady stream of strangers within a few minutes of residential streets, and a stranger who is just passing through has no reason to care whether anyone recognizes his truck.

The practical answer is not suspicion of every visitor. It is making your own property the boring choice. A security camera aimed at the driveway, with motion lighting that switches on when someone walks up, tells an opportunist he is being recorded before he reaches the door handle. Most of them take the hint and keep walking, which is the whole point.

Census figures show 57.6 percent of Selma homes are owner-occupied. That leaves a large share of renters, and renters have a particular problem: they can’t always drill holes, pull wire, or change the locks without a conversation with the landlord. Texas law does give tenants certain rights to working locks and security devices, which we cover in our guide to the Texas rental security device law.

For renters we lean on wireless sensors, a cellular communicator that does not depend on someone else’s internet plan, and a doorbell camera that mounts in the existing button’s place. When the lease ends, the system comes off the wall and goes with you. Owners get the same equipment plus anything permanent that makes sense, such as a hardwired keypad or a smart deadbolt.

Around shopping centers and new subdivisions alike, a large share of vehicle crime starts with a door handle that simply opens. Thieves walk a street at three in the morning trying each car in turn. The ones that open get searched. The ones that don’t, they leave alone, because breaking glass is noisy and the next car might be unlocked.

A garage door controller closes the door you forgot about and tells your phone it did. A smart lock on the door between the garage and the kitchen relocks itself on a timer. Neither one will lock your sedan for you, but together they shut the route that lets a thief turn an open car into an open house. Our article on vehicle burglary and catalytic converter theft covers the rest of the driveway.

San Antonio Protection Services has been installing and monitoring systems around San Antonio since 2010 under Texas DPS Private Security Bureau license B16898. Selma is a short drive up I-35 for us, which is handy when a sensor needs replacing on a Tuesday.

The visit starts with a walk around your property. We look at the doors, the back fence line, the garage, and what a person standing on the sidewalk can see through your windows. Then you get a written plan. If you go ahead, everything is installed by our own technicians and tied into 24/7 alarm monitoring at a UL-listed central station. It starts with a free security assessment.