1.  Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.

2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.

3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste ... and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.

4. Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.

5. If it snows while you're out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house. Virgin drifts in the driveway are a dead giveaway.

6. If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don't let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it's set. That makes it too easy.

7. A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom-and your jewelry. It's not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there too.

8. It's raining, you're fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door-understandable. But understand this: I don't take a day off because of bad weather..

9. I always knock first. If you answer, I'll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters. (Don't take me up on it.)

10. Do you really think I won't look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet.

11. Helpful hint: I almost never go into kids' rooms.

12. You're right: I won't have enough time to break into that safe where you keep your valuables. But if it's not bolted down, I'll take it with me.

13. A loud TV or radio can be a better deterrent than the best alarm system. If you're reluctant to leave your TV on while you're out of town, you can buy a $35 device that works on a timer and simulates the flickering glow of a real television. (Find it at faketv.com.)

14. Sometimes, I carry a clipboard. Sometimes, I dress like a lawn guy and carry a rake. I do my best to never, ever look like a crook.

15. The two things I hate most: loud dogs and nosy neighbors.

16. I'll break a window to get in, even if it makes a little noise. If your neighbor hears one loud sound, he'll stop what he's doing and wait to hear it again. If he doesn't hear it again, he'll just go back to what he was doing. It's human nature.

17. I'm not complaining, but why would you pay all that money for a fancy alarm system and leave your house without setting it?

18. I love looking in your windows. I'm looking for signs that you're home, and for flat screen TVs or gaming systems I'd like. I'll drive or walk through your neighborhood at night, before you close the blinds, just to pick my targets.

19. Avoid announcing your vacation on your Facebook page. It's easier than you think to look up your address.

20. To you, leaving that window open just a crack during the day is a way to let in a little fresh air. To me, it's an invitation.

21. If you don't answer when I knock, I try the door. Occasionally, I hit the jackpot and walk right in.


Sources: Convicted burglars in North Carolina , Oregon , California , and Kentucky; security consultant Chris McGoey, who runs crimedoctor.com; and Richard T. Wright, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who interviewed 105 burglars for his book Burglars on the Job.

Protection for you and your home

If you don't have a gun, here's a more humane way to wreck someone's evil plans for you.  (I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat.)

Wasp Spray

A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection.  She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you.  The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection... Thought this was interesting and might be of use..


Wasp And Hornet Spray

On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life.

Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at  Sylvania Southview High School .  For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed.

Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach them."

Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray.  The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says, "spray the culprit in the eyes".  It's a tip he's given to students for decades. It's also one he wants everyone to hear. If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray.

"That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out."

Maybe even save a life.

i'd rather put two in his chest, but that's just me





ETA:

Oh, and when i don't answer the door because i don't know who you are, and you walk into my house, expect me to shoot you then, too



 

the wasp and hornet spray... any truth to that or an old wives tale ?

Good info here!

now that i think about it i would rather be sprayed with mace than wasp spray

If only there was something that would go further than 30 feet and stop the burglar.  

Does anyone have a fake tv?

http://faketv.com/index.php

Looks like a great device to have.

hmm  first hit on google

guy this was a FWD email for awhile

http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/waspspray.asp



 

yeah, since mace is pretty much human safe.  but wasp spray i'm not too sure, it might fuck up your eyes for good.



 

.25 auto?

snopes.com on wasp spray

Wasp spray is quite effective.

My dad and I put quite a few roofs on each year and one year we had his brother with us who is scared to death of bugs of any kind.  He was trying to lead a wasp in flight with the spray and crossed my dad's face.  Needless to say my uncle was never allowed to have the wasp spray again on our job sights.  It took a while for my dad's eyes to recover that day.  Much burning in the eyes.

My uncle was a little pansy about bugs with stingers.  No allergies either.

Meh, i'd rather shoot them with a .22 hornet.

I hate burglars, maybe you can light the stream of spray? Mini flamethrower? It would almost be worth burning the damn house down to see the look on their face as they walked into it.

ETA: Needs a new thread started "Which wasp spray for home defense?"

Bullshit on the wasp and hornet spray. The wife asked me the same question after getting that stupid email.

I told her to go into the bathroom, fire off a can of wasp spray then fire off a can of pepper or OC spray. Tell me which one made you clear the room with a quickness and no desire to ever fuck with it again?

You ever been hit in the eyes with it?

Spray it in a room? ooooh.....

Try it in your eyes.

It will burn, and you probably won't likely do it more than once.  Unless.......

Meh.

Um, yeeeaahhh. I'm going to tell my 5'5" petite wife to shelve the proven pepper spray I bought her and start practicing face shots with wasp spray. While we're at it let's replace her bedside Glock with a batton Oh yeah it hurts like hell if you hit'em just right honey!

You go with wasp spray cause snopes and the Internet says so. More power to ya.

Yeah, let's all use wasp spray, since Fox Labs doesn't know what the fuck they're doing.

I wonder how many burglaries are conducted by cunning strategizing burglars who carefully stalk their prey and "case the joint."  I'd guess the majority are far less planned.

</wild guess>

I've been pepper sprayed, and I was shot in the face with Wasp spray by a retarded cousin. The pepper spray hurt and made me cuss like a sailor. Took about an hour to recover. The wasp spray caused me to fall on the groud writhing in pain, seriously thinking I might be blind. I had to go to the hospital. Wasp spray DEFINITELY works.

burglars are teens and early 20's males that definately dont spend alot of time casing your joint. they hit between 10 and 2 on blocks that nobodys raking leaves in at the moment. they will knock on the door and ring the doorbell alot to make sure no ones home. then they go in the backyard and knock on the door again. then they break the window or kick the door and steal you stuff.

neighbors never seen anything, if they do they suck and dont call me immediately, they assume its a relative from out of town or a friend or something.

also, burglars dont really break into houses during thunderstorms. you would think that they would, since we are tied up running bogus alarm calls set off by window break sensors tripped by thunder. burglars usually dont break into houses the day the weather changes, if its warm out today and it gets cold tomorrow, they will stay indoors tomorrow and not come out until the day after.

Great post.

Had a burglar "do" some nearby places (I learned later), he knocked on my door, carried a clipboard and offered some BS "service".  I had greeted/surprised him from an unexpected location with firearm in hand, but not visible to him. I told him I wasn't interested.

He left, but had I read your fine post first, I would have called the cops to check him out.

I think I'm going to add something to my NO SOLICITORS sign:

...AND IF YOU KNOCK ANYWAY?  I'M CALLING THE COPS AND REPORTING A SUSPICIOUS PERSON.

Interesting, funny and informative. Win.

I think I want some just 'cause they sound cool.

FakeTV's super-bright LEDs fill a room with light in thousands of possible shades of color. FakeTV simulates scene changes, fades, swells, and and on-screen motion.

ive often thought about  answering the door with a digital camera
take a quik photo of them and their id  for future reference
just to see how they react

So... they suggest not using it because it could do more damage to the bad guy than you expect?

Oddly enough, I'm OK with that.

tag

We had a rape at the apartment complex here a few weeks ago.  At the community meeting the police there reccomended wasp spray over pepper spray for defense.  Hiding in the closet was also one of their bright ideas.  I wanted to suggest perpetrator ventilation as a better defense method, but didn't want to blow my OPSEC.  You wouldn't believe the stupid questions (and answers) people had.  One for instance wanted assurance that her door lock was adequate to prevent entry.  The police told her it was very hard to break a door in, and sometines the narco warrant folks couldn't get in with a battering ram .

I seriosly thought about keeping a chainsaw near my bed. The sound of one of those starting up should convince even the toughest bad guy to leave your house! I dont' think anybody would try to tangle with a toothed,spinning chain that will do massive damage no matter where it touches you!

FTW lol

I'd rather use Wasp...

I've had wasp spray get into my eyes before.  It really, really sucks.

It isn't a bad idea, but I prefer a 12g myself.

I havent seen wasp spray before, but i did get my mom some bear spray approved for grizzly bears. it is supposed to spray a stream 20-30 feet just like it sounds the wasp spay does, and if it can deter a grizzly then im sure itll deter two legged varmints too

Motion sensor floodlights, exterior, mounted high.  



Cut the bushes back around your door and windows, do not allow concealment while they are making/attempting entry.  



Consider using landscaping to aid your defense.  Thorny bushes, roses, etc, can be used to deny access to areas (such as under windows, low rooflines, etc) and can funnel travel into lighted areas.



Be nice to any stay at home neighbors, like retired folks or moms.   Doing something nice for them is better than lengthy chats, and most Arfcommers eschew human contact.   Riding my mower a few extra hours a year has bought me sentry protection (I would have done it anyway).



Get two dogs.  Dogs are proven deterrents.  Two dogs will keep each other company when you are not home.  When it is go time, multiple dogs is a force multiplier.  Dogs instinctively fight in packs, and while it is hard to fight off one dog, it is much harder to handle a coordinated attack.  



Fuck the spray.  Get more guns.  Lots.  Revolvers, automatics, shotguns, carbines, battle rifles.  Put lights and optics on some.  Leave others KISS.      

If you arent home have some lights come on for a a couple hours after sunset.  Burglars cruise neihborhoods at 7 or 8 pm.  Too early to be in bed but usually late enough to be home from work.  A dark house at this time of night looks odd and they will check on it again.

Its not like a heist movie.  It doesn't take much to cruise around for a day and rob houses all night.

In my very worthless opinion the home invasions are what's the most disturbing. Really they can do whatever they want when no one's home and they know it quite well. But the idea that some don't care who's home and they're coming in anyway is insane, they must know they could get injured or killed by the homeowner and probably not knowing for sure who's in there they may not gain control successfully and the situation could get ugly yet they do it anyways. Then they don't consider that it would be better to avoid any human contact during the break in, these people may be able to ID them. Unless they want to add murder to the list and of course some do. What happened to wait till no one's home, how in the hell did it get so third world?
Of course one could have a gun ready in every room but you have to sleep sometime. And admit it or not if you are still sawing logs once they kick in the door, they have the drop on you. Their own life is obviously not worth much to them. How much do you think your life is worth to them? And now they are in your house and to top it all off they are probably more experienced in invading homes than you are in defending them.

The first time I did a search warrant on an unoccupied home, there was a TV blasting upstairs.  It just generally drove me nuts until we got up there to turn it off.  I have an old friend who is in the penitentiary for a string of burglaries and he always told me that was one of the things that really set him off.  Adrenaline dump+loud TV=early flight.
 

Most robberies here happen in the middle of the day when no one is home .

My dad always carried a can of the oil based non-conductive stuff in his center console.  When I was little, I got to watch him blast a guy in the face with it who tried to rob us at a stop light.  Seemed to work as advertised, the guy let out this blood curdling high pitched sequel, grabbed his eyes, and spasmed around while continuing to squeal.  We just drove off.

I don't know if there is any scientific evidence of if it causes more pain than OC, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did, as OC is relatively harmless after the burning wears off.  Or, it could be a psychological thing in relation to the recognizable smell of Wasp spray, and not expecting to be sprayed with it.  Who knows, but it did get us out of that jam.


Another spray that I know works (but doesn't have the range) is "PB Blast".  I've been OC'd before, and PB Blast in the eyes was 100X worse.

This.



I need to buy an extra can or two...








 

Yup, so they just shoot you instead.




 

Fox labs has to worry about getting sued if their product melts someones eyeball........... To Wasp spray manufacturers, this is a tertiary concern.

So, the only reasons not to use wasp spray are:
1) Your retarded city/state may say it's illegal to use against someone trying to kill you.
2) It could do more harm to the bad guy than pepper spray.

Wasp spray it is.

I believe that gun > wasp spray.

I  never want to have to answer the question: "why didn't you use less lethal force when you had it available?"  I prefer to be explaining that all I had available was the buckshot or slugs.........

(My less lethan force was racking the slide.)