Home Invasions on the Rise

[bclark1]

Good thread, I actually told some family to read it as a reminder to keep their antennae up. My parents and sister are in a very quiet community, but the neighbor across the street was robbed recently (mid-summer?). When one of the residents arrived home, she first noticed their big TV on the floor, with handprints all over it. The police speculated they saw her coming and boogied, leaving the television behind. Again, lucky the burglars weren't confrontational.

Professor once made a joke about castle doctrine turning the north into Texas, shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out type legislation. The class laughed. I always wondered if folks would think it's so funny if there was an intruder in their apartment, and if they'd want to ask what the intruder's intentions were before acting.

[mpage]

6. Don't leave doors open (or the car running unoccupied) even if you are jsut running in to retrieve something. Since the letter from the police mentioned that the home invaders are looking for open garages, try not to leave it open (or carry if you are going to be working in the garage).

If your garage has the older keyhole-style opener on the outside (as opposed to a keypad) they can jimmy that with a screwdriver or something and get right in.

[LICCW]

We're lucky. Our neighborhood is one in which people look out for ech other. I've got a veteran LEO right across the street, which is good. We have motion sensor lights outside to light up the house like a Christmas tree. I've got a good alarm system with not only a panic code, but a panic button on a remote. One hit calls the central monitoring station letting them know the s**t has hit the fan, send help ASAP.We have a very alert pit. She lets us know when anyone is so much as walking by the house. We never answer the door. You knock, I look through upstairs window down at you, or through the peep. you hear the dog going nuts, and if I'm not expecting you, I simply say "We don't open the door to anyone, dude." Works foir pollsters, solicitors, Jehovah's witnesses, etc. If all that fails, then I have my G19 which is always at the ready.

[dabigguns357]

Ah the age old topic about home invasions.First i use cameras then i use whatever comes next.I am all about carrying everywhere,so i built a belt that is perfect for me,please don't laugh to hard,it's semi-homemade.I bought a $4.00 25 shotgun shell belt from wally-world,undid the stitching,took the left clip off,slid my holster on and stitched the left clip back on like it was before.Yes i know i won't be able to get the holster off,but hey it's meant for here at home.




It really isn't that heavy,and i think of it as practice for hunting season.

[Double Naught Spy]

Wait - conservative radio shows keeps telling us that Crime is Decreasing

Many gun people believe concealed carry makes crime go down as well. :barf:

However, from a statistical standpoint, overall crime certainly may be going down and home invasions still increasing. Not all crime type rates rise or fall together. What the crime rate is will mean absolutely nothing to a person who has been a victim.

[dandydany]

If one left a radio or TV on and a couple lights on when you leave the house, it would help keep away some of these people. If a woman alone had a recording of a RAGING barking dog, that might help to scare any bad ones away. Some ideas to help, Dan

[Stevie-Ray]

We're lucky. Our neighborhood is one in which people look out for ech other. I've got a veteran LEO right across the street, which is good. We have motion sensor lights outside to light up the house like a Christmas tree. I've got a good alarm system with not only a panic code, but a panic button on a remote. One hit calls the central monitoring station letting them know the s**t has hit the fan, send help ASAP.We have a very alert pit. She lets us know when anyone is so much as walking by the house. We never answer the door. You knock, I look through upstairs window down at you, or through the peep. you hear the dog going nuts, and if I'm not expecting you, I simply say "We don't open the door to anyone, dude." Works foir pollsters, solicitors, Jehovah's witnesses, etc. If all that fails, then I have my G19 which is always at the ready.

Cheese and rice! Does anybody ever visit or does the drawbridge lower for nobody? J/K

[Mannlicher]

most home invasions are drug related. Druggie robbing drug dealer, or someone known to have drugs in the house.

I am not worried one bit.

[obxned]

Home invasions aren't common in my world - too many people have lots of large dogs and guns.

[Threefeathers]

The problem is that they are going up every where. The arrogant rich who tend to be rather liberal in my area are the best victims and are being hit pretty hard.

[FBR]

Close to us, double murder home invasion.

http://www.whkp.com/index.php?option...k=view&id=1098


Personally, we have 4-7 'tourists' drive down (the long and isolated drive) per year. Most during the day but 5 memorable ones after midnight in the 8 years we have been here.

We have a driveway magnetometer that sets off a chime in the house and the dog is trained to go ballistic upon the sound.

The nighttime visitors get the 2 million candle power welcome from the front window (with the windows cracked for the dog to see and smell).

Everyone so far left without a call to the police, my escalation etc.

FBR

[blhseawa]

Our men and women in blue have a very tough job. I don't envy them at all. That said, given that the state, county, city all disavow any responsibility for my or my families safety and the average response time is 45 minutes.

When seconds count, the police are minutes away, but they do bring paper and pen.

Thus, security for my family has, is, and always will be my responsibility.

[BillCA]

Many gun people believe concealed carry makes crime go down as well.

However, from a statistical standpoint, overall crime certainly may be going down and home invasions still increasing. Not all crime type rates rise or fall together. What the crime rate is will mean absolutely nothing to a person who has been a victim.

Concealed carry causes some crimes against persons to decrease. But that decrease is often offset by a rise in property crimes - theft, burglary, auto-theft, home invasions, etc. Criminals may be stupid at times, but they're not all dumb.

More than half of theives are opportunists. An open garage door; an unlocked car or tool box; unsecured bicycle, etc. But the others use that open garage to inspect the kinds of goods you have. Some theives actually drive around late at night before garbage pickups. They're looking for new computer boxes, HDTV packaging or other high-ticket item packaging. They then often target that home for a daytime burglary.

Also watch out for "society notices" in the paper. If you're getting married or planning a funeral, make sure no one else puts an item in the paper. Thugs scan such things and can burglarize a home/apt while the wedding or funeral is taking place. If you have to place such a notice, do it afterwards or omit the dates in the paper.

[Chui]

Good comments, Bill. When there is a death in the family we have a close family friend who is armed stay at the house with a notorized letter describing that they will be watching the home for the entirety of the day and that they will be known to be armed.

If you have really close friends you can have them stop by when you're out of town as well. I've done this for years and I've also spent a few days and several afternoons/mornings at other friends homes cutting the grass, washing the car and other things to make it noticeable that someone is there when they had to leave for extended periods. I've even had a cookout. The neighbors were initially curious, obviously, but they did not say anything

[GetYerShells]

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had a pretty scary incident one night after she was coming home from church. Her mother and father were both still at the church building helping with the cleaning up. My wife pulls up at her house on the curb of the road as she normally does. Her parents usually park their cars in the driveway. She goes up and unlocks the front door and walks in. Keep in mind now that the way their house is build there is a small entery way which connects to the dining room, living room, and kitchen. These three areas are all connected. From one end of the living room you can look across the space to the back door of the house.

So she opens the door, walks around the corner of the breezway and see's a silouette of a man in their house near the back door. The outside motion detector light had been triggered and she was now looking at the silouette of the person who triggered it...inside the house. She had a box in her hands, she immediatley dropped the box and ran to their neighbors house and called the police. When the police arrived on scene the perp had fled the scene, and the back door was still open. Nothing in the house had been tampered with or disturbed. What they believe happened was that she (my wife) walked in the door seconds after the intruder broke in. He didn't even have time to leave a shoeprint on the carpet when he got caught.

Since then, her parents installed a house alarm with panic mode and all that. In the past 2 years the northwest area of San Antonio that we live in has really started to turn south. Since that night I have trained my wife in clearing our home with my Mossberg 500 persuader. I've also trained her in using a Surefire in conjunction with a pistol. She keeps my SIG in a holster under the bed when I am gone and the 12 guage in the corner next to the bed.

I see on the news about every other week of someone getting their house broken into or their car stolen, or worse. I also urged my mother and father-in-law to invest in a good home defense pistol. My wifes dad now carry's a Glock 30 .45 ACP. The moral here is you can never be too safe when it comes to your home, your family, and your valuables. Good equipment will never substitute for vigillance, instincts, and training.

[Double Naught Spy]

The problem is that they are going up every where.

No. They are not.

[ilbob]

At least your PD admits there is a problem and tries to warn people about it. many places when these kind of thing start happening they try to cover it up for some reason, as if that will somehow make it better.

[mpage]

The arrogant rich who tend to be rather liberal in my area are the best victims and are being hit pretty hard.

This is exactly what has been happening in my area, and whenever the crook is caught, another one generally takes his place. I think the word is out that these people are relatively defenseless; indeed, reading their remarks on local blogs, I would agree.

[subdermal]

Quote:

" Some theives actually drive around late at night before garbage pickups. They're looking for new computer boxes, HDTV packaging or other high-ticket item packaging. They then often target that home for a daytime burglary. "

This is one of the first rules of city living, but should be practiced no matter where you live. I used to live in a city, but now reside in the quieter suburbs, and I see this all the time. Destroy the boxes, fold them inside out and bag them, better yet, take them to a recycling dumpster AWAY from your house. Don't advertise your new purchase to the world, and any potential thieves.
Another thing to add is to NOT have your name on your mailbox or house. It makes it much easier for a smart thief to call information and get your phone number, thereby being able to call the house and see if anyone/who is home....

[Daugherty16]

I read one post one time where the author said, "If i'm dressed, i'm carrying". And i thought it rather extreme at the time. Then we had a gruesome home invasion only three towns over, where the wife and two daughters were roasted alive in their home by two recently released felons who torched the place to conceal their crime. If only the wife had carried a little piece in her pocket book - how different might that story have ended?

So i got my CCW. I explained it to my wife like this: I'm older now, and less able to physically defend myself (not much less, but it's continual slide down that path...), and times have changed so that weapons are often carried by bad guys, not just sometimes, so i needed an equalizer; and home invasions are on the rise and we live in a nice rich little town where the perception is of fat, rich liberals for residents. and nothing scares me in this world more than the idea of BG having their way with my beautiful wife or kids and being unable to do anything about it. at least carrying, i have an answer. It's only one answer, and may not be enough, but it's a start until i can grab the Mossberg.

This year alone, in my little town there have been 1 armed robbery at a jewlelry store and 2 home invasions. If the world is going nuts, then i'm going armed.

[M1911]

Another technique is to ring the doorbell and then lure the homeowner out where he is ambushed by an accomplice.

If I don't know the person, I don't open the door. The deadbolt is always thrown. I can tell "We're not interested" without opening the door and while holding a 1911 behind my back.

[dabigguns357]

As i have said before i do carry at all times and every where.But if you want to feel safer at home then get you a nanny cam,pin hole camera.they range from 30.00 dollars to 80.00.So all you have to do is flip your bedroom tv or livingroom tv over to video to see who in on your porch.I keep my monitor up and on record 24/7.I turn my cam to face the front door to see everyone from the knees up.

[ice9_us]

scare the hell out of me why don't ya..

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We had a "phantom doorbell ring" the other night about 9:30. I checked things out carefully but didn't see anything. The neighbors down the street indicated that some kids had been playing around so I wrote it off. The interesting thing is that the next day our next door neighbors were out so I asked them if they had heard anything. He responded that he hadn't heard anything and then related a story from 3 years earlier.

At about 1:30AM there was a knock/doorbell ring. He, being of sound mind, retrieved a firearm and then carefully looked out a window that had a view of the porch. He didn't recognize the person at the door, and again, being of sound mind, didn't open the door. He simply waited and watched. After awhile the man on the doorstep turned to leave and at that point his accomplice who had been hiding around the corner joined him as he walked away.
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this is the main reason i bought a gun.. To much of this is going on..
I have spoken with my neighbors who are a bit chicken.. I told them, trying to make plans, if i call em, there is a problem.. Much like the issue above... I wanted them to know where My family would be so they could send led my way at the jerks knocking on my door.. if i wasn't in any position to move.....
I will be in X location at the time of my 1:30 AM phone call.. just start unloading... we will be out of the way..


I will take the silence that they are gone



I have a pt140 now.. I was/am looking at the JUGDE now...
my wife saw me checking out this little puppy..

http://usautoweapons.com/pgs/ShowItem?ID=634


I like sending led in directions though walls not having to worry about much, just staying out of the way....
I am in 2 story house.. so any aim will be down and not across the street.. My wife thinks I am nuts to be planning stuff like this out... But reading this.. makes it more of a reality than Most would like to accept..
I am hearing stories like this almost weekly now...

[KLRANGL]

I know its fiction, but I think the Death Wish movies with Charles Bronson should be required viewing by all... Watched 1 and 2 over the weekend and I realized if anything like that happened in front of me to people I care about, I could never live with myself...

Bad guys exist... no reason not to be prepared

[glockman19]

When Home I keep the "chime" function on. If a door or window contact is broken it chimes.