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Posted: 12/28/2003 4:36:17 AM EDT
[#1]
No offense, but since your neighbors weren't home, and their lives were not in danger, why, then, did you take the unnecessary risk of reconning their property?
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Posted: 12/28/2003 4:37:37 AM EDT
[#2]
I had a break in several years ago. I guarantee the Cops got it wrong. The asshole stole jewerly, smalll pocket stuff, cash etc and then walked out the garage door. Ask your neighbors what is missing when they return!
In my case the guy broke a back window, rifled every room, stole two pistols and some jewerly, put on my leather jacket, unlocked the front door and walked out and down the street, during broad daylight while we were both at work. SOB will be back for another house soon in your neighborhood. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 4:45:33 AM EDT
[#3]
They live on a corner and I live on a corner.
I only walked the two outside sides of their house, not the two sides where I would of had to go in their backyard. Still, you make a good point. Quoted: No offense, but since your neighbors weren't home, and their lives were not in danger, why, then did you take the unnecessary risk of reconning their property? |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 4:51:50 AM EDT
[#4]
Quoted: In my case the guy broke a back window, rifled every room, stole[red] two pistols [/red]and some jewerly, put on my leather jacket, unlocked the front door and walked out and down the street, during broad daylight while we were both at work. SOB will be back for another house soon in your neighborhood. How did he manage to get the pistols? Or, do you not lock your shit up when you're out? |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 5:28:03 AM EDT
[#5]
That's a classic break in, friends I know that got ripped off always have them open an easy way out like a garage or door once they make a tougher entry through a window.
Though any house can be broken into (even with alot of locks on the door they can just sawz-all a half pizza hole around your door) I make it extra hard to carry big stuff out. Have double sided deadbolts (need a key to open all exit doors, even from the inside) and replaced all the chinzy 1/2" screws for the door hardware with 2-3" stuff. Bolted my safe to the basement wall and floor. Have motion sensors set off an alarm when not home. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 5:53:04 AM EDT
[#6]
What was the cops reaction when he saw your gun?
If he did see it. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 5:59:03 AM EDT
[#7]
What gun?
I went back into the house before they came and placed it "at the ready". Quoted: What was the cops reaction when he saw your gun? If he did see it. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 6:07:06 AM EDT
[#8]
Quoted: No offense, but since your neighbors weren't home, and their lives were not in danger, why, then, did you take the unnecessary risk of reconning their property? This is what we called Neighborhood Watch...Neighbor watch out for other neighbor property and to fight crime in the area. I would like my neighbor to watch over my home when I am away and I would do the same for him. Good Job KA3B. You did the right thing. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 6:44:54 AM EDT
[#9]
Your common everyday house burglars are not going to fool with golf clubs, tools, mtn. bikes, etc. What they are after is cash, guns and what is now the big ticket item, *prescription pain killers*. I bet if your neighbors go into their bathroom their medicine cabinet has been gone through, that is if they had enough time and really got into the house. A friend of mine had this happen. They busted open his front door in the middle of the day and went straight for the bathroom.
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Posted: 12/28/2003 6:51:39 AM EDT
[#10]
Quoted: *prescription pain killers* Are a lot of people taking prescription pain killers? Neither my wife nor I has had anything stronger than Advil in our bodies or home the whole time we've been married (almost 10 years). Dirtbags would be out of luck breaking into our house. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 7:03:01 AM EDT
[#11]
Quoted: Quoted: *prescription pain killers* Are a lot of people taking prescription pain killers? Neither my wife nor I has had anything stronger than Advil in our bodies or home the whole time we've been married (almost 10 years). Dirtbags would be out of luck breaking into our house. Yes, at least enough so that people will break into your home to see if you do have them. Go to the doctor with back pain and see what he prescribes for you. Go to the dentist and have some teeth pulled. They are quite common and people get addicted to them fairly easily and then will pay big time for them off of the street. Where I live there have been many drug store robberies where all they were after was pain killers such as hydrocodone and oxycontin. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 7:55:31 AM EDT
[#12]
I always try to make my house look "occupied"
when Im not home... *leave a light inside the house turned on *leave a radio in your garage turned on to make it look like somebody could be working in the garage. *park a car close to the garage door so they cant open it and take your stuff out easily. *get a dog, a good barking dog will help alert neighbors that somebody is near your property dogs are like alarms and will help deter a burgular, because they dont want to be seen. *keep property well lighted, thieves love the dark. *secure all valuables inside the house, lock it up in the safe, dont make it easy for them to come in and grab something. *only allow well trusted friends and family in the house, because some thieves could be a person that visted your house in the past and knows you have something valuable to steal. *sometimes a burgular could be the guy that live across the street from you, since he can watch your house and knows when your not home. *a well trusted neighbor to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity is good for security. *I noticed leaving a car parked in the driveway is a good deterent, because it makes the thief think somebody is home. But after a while the thief will figure out nobodys home, so you need to change tactics once in a while to confuse them. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:04:13 AM EDT
[#13]
You could have been mistaken for the perp and possibly harmed. I would have called the cops and let them do the recon. Youre armed and not identified. Its dark. Classic setting to get shot over stupid property. You should have got your family together in a safe place got your gun and waited inside until the cops showed up. You said you knew they were gone. I doubt if the LEOs would have been mad at you if nothing was going on.
This is a reason to know your neighbors and be familiar with them. We have nosey old neighbors that know everything. Bless them! They would call the police in a minute if anything was amiss. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:06:16 AM EDT
[#14]
There are people who do break in at random, but from personal experience, it's usually somebody who has been inside before, or word of mouth from somebody you let in your home.
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:06:32 AM EDT
[#15]
Quoted: I always try to make my house look "occupied" when Im not home... *leave a light inside the house turned on *leave a radio in your garage turned on to make it look like somebody could be working in the garage. *I noticed leaving a car parked in the driveway is a good deterent, because it makes the thief think somebody is home. But after a while the thief will figure out nobodys home, so you need to change tactics once in a while to confuse them. This is especially true of the light and radio. If all you do is leave a light on and/or a radio running, it is really a giveaway that no-one is home. Put them on timers at the very least so the lights come on when it gets dark - in fact, get a few timers, and stagger them, so that it looks like someones in the living room, then at bedtime turn that one out and turn on one in the bedroom/bath, then turn that one out. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:27:33 AM EDT
[#16]
A few years ago, burglars broke into my father-in-law's house, they stole a 1911 he brought home from WWII, bro-in-law lost a camera & lenses, VCR, video game & cartridges. LAPD also found a kitchen knife in his bedroom, so if the thieves encountered one, they probably would've been stabbed; but fortunately no was home. They also broke into the garage by cutting off the cheap hasp lock, so I put one of those super duty locks on each side. Theives tried to break into the garage one more time that I know of, but were unsuccessful because there were all kinds of scratch marks all over the hasp. Maybe some good locks would help. Now a days, the locks on a house are so cheap, they only keep out the honest guy.
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Posted: 12/28/2003 9:20:45 AM EDT
[#17]
KA3B, you & your wife are good neighbors.
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Posted: 12/28/2003 9:25:47 AM EDT
[#18]
That would not of happened since I was already walking around the street-side of the house with my light and firearm.
I was also looking for a "strange vehicle". While I was doing that the wife was calling the police. I did get my family into a safe place, my wife left for work and I went back into the house and called the police to let them know what I found. I never said they were gone. The cops said that when my wife turned on the front porchlight, hit her garage door opener and opened the garage door and when the garage floods went on it it probably scared them out of the house. The cops were not mad, they were happy that I called them. Quoted: You could have been mistaken for the perp and possibly harmed. I would have called the cops and let them do the recon. Youre armed and not identified. Its dark. Classic setting to get shot over stupid property. You should have got your family together in a safe place got your gun and waited inside until the cops showed up. You said you knew they were gone. I doubt if the LEOs would have been mad at you if nothing was going on. This is a reason to know your neighbors and be familiar with them. We have nosey old neighbors that know everything. Bless them! They would call the police in a minute if anything was amiss. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 9:32:36 AM EDT
[#19]
Always nice to have neighbors like you that you can count on to know that something isn't right. Good job.
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Posted: 12/28/2003 6:36:56 PM EDT
[#20]
Would I get in trouble for putting poison, labelled "Oxy Contin" in my medicine cabinet in case some piece of garbage breaks in?
GunLvr |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 6:37:11 PM EDT
[#21]
The neighbors came home about an hour ago.
Me and the wife went over there while they were getting ready to unload their car. We told them what had happened, they said they had just called the police (the cops left their card on the front door and left a message on the answering machine). A cop came over and went inside with the family and came out about 10 minutes later. According to them they hit up the medicine cabinet and took all of their prescription medicine - including vicadin and percocet - and had piled two DVD players, a microwave, his work laptop and their color laser printer by the inner door to the garage. They tried to get into his steel Homak gun safe (I have the same one) with a crowbar and failed. In the garage they did take his 5 gallon quick fill dirtbike gas can and 8 or so cans of various spray paints. Again, the cop thinks that when my wife came outside at 0350 to go to work and flipped on the front porch floodlights, opened the garage door (which causes the garage outside floods to come on) it scared the thieves away. And how did they get into the house? In one of their kids room the kid had opened his window and didn't lock it or replace the stick in the sill, so the thieves just removed the window screen and then opened the window and went in that way. They have a small poodle that his backyard neighbor head barking its head off at about 0330. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 6:50:38 PM EDT
[#22]
Drugs - check
computer - check gas cans - ? spray paint - ? came in through the kids window - ? How old is their kid? I'm almost thinking his friends robbed the place. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 7:05:01 PM EDT
[#23]
Gas can was full of gas - might have needed it for their car.
Spray paint - makes me think that they wanted it for huffing or graffiti, since most places won't sell spray paint to minors. The kid is going to college on the other side of the state and was visiting for his Christmas break. He was pretty bummed out to hear that they used his window. I just changed out the back porch flood lights with motion detector floods and increased the distance and sensitivity settings of the porch and garage floods. Quoted: Drugs - check computer - check gas cans - ? spray paint - ? came in through the kids window - ? How old is there kid? I'm almost thinking his friends robbed the place. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 7:21:47 PM EDT
[#24]
They somehow knew the window was unlocked with no stick in place, otherwise logic says they would have broken out a window or somehow gone through a door.
The guys who broke in know their son. There is no way to know from the outside if a window is ulocked unless you try the window. If they had tried other windows it should be obvious...missing screens, bent windowscreen frames, etc. Sounds like they knew that window was the one to go through and went straight to it. The guys who broke in know their son. Recommend to your neighbors that they thoroughly question their son. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 7:46:24 PM EDT
[#25]
The boys window is on the main street side of the house (which dosen't get much traffic late after 2am) and it is the only window on that side of the house. There is a big pine tree that covers most of the window from direct viewing from the street.
The window is about 6 feet long and 5 feet high and it is about two feet off the ground. And finally the street light across the street from his house is burned out. Barking dog in the backyard probably kept them from scoping out the back and other side of the house, out of the three front windows one is too high to get to without some sort of a ladder, one is too small for anyone but a small child to get through and the other is the big bay living room window. I think it's not my place to tell them if I think their kid did it (which I don't). Besides, I would think that if they were after his guns and the kid was involved he would of just told them where the key to the gun safe was. Quoted: They somehow knew the window was unlocked with no stick in place, otherwise logic says they would have broken out a window or somehow gone through a door. The guys who broke in know their son. There is no way to know from the outside if a window is ulocked unless you try the window. If they had tried other windows it should be obvious...missing screens, bent windowscreen frames, etc. Sounds like they knew that window was the one to go through and went straight to it. The guys who broke in know their son. Recommend to your neighbors that they thoroughly question their son. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:01:47 PM EDT
[#26]
Quoted: The boys window is on the main street side of the house (which dosen't get much traffic late after 2am) and it is the only window on that side of the house. There is a big pine tree that covers most of the window from direct viewing from the street. The window is about 6 feet long and 5 feet high and it is about two feet off the ground. And finally the street light across the street from his house is burned out. Barking dog in the backyard probably kept them from scoping out the back and other side of the house, out of the three front windows one is too high to get to without some sort of a ladder, one is too small for anyone but a small child to get through and the other is the big bay living room window. I think it's not my place to tell them if I think their kid did it (which I don't). Besides, I would think that if they were after his guns and the kid was involved he would of just told them where the key to the gun safe was. Quoted: They somehow knew the window was unlocked with no stick in place, otherwise logic says they would have broken out a window or somehow gone through a door. The guys who broke in know their son. There is no way to know from the outside if a window is ulocked unless you try the window. If they had tried other windows it should be obvious...missing screens, bent windowscreen frames, etc. Sounds like they knew that window was the one to go through and went straight to it. The guys who broke in know their son. Recommend to your neighbors that they thoroughly question their son. I wasn't necessarily implying that the kid was involved. He could have simply uttered to someone "Shit, I forgot to lock my window" and word could have gotten to someone who wanted the drugs and some easy cash. The other factors do make it seem like it just happened to be the best entry point. It just seems fishy to me that they happened to go to the one window that was unlocked. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:43:52 PM EDT
[#27]
Why worry about your neighbors being burglarized???
Because if the thieves like what they see, they'll come back, and maybe hit your house... |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 8:52:52 PM EDT
[#28]
BTW, KA38, I wish you were MY neighbor.
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Posted: 12/28/2003 9:33:40 PM EDT
[#29]
hmmmm...
Same thing happened at my dads house last week... his niebors are retired and regularly go south during the winter for extended periods of time. My dad has lived thier for a long time and they always ask him to watch thier place while they are gone. Well about 2 weeks ago thier moter home was broken into... they stole a couple small appliences but that was it. during this time my dads 2 black labs were barking like crazy. So after that he didnt put them in the kennel at nite he let them stay in the yard and brought thier dog house up onto the back porch. then last week they dogs go nuts in the middle of the night my dad wakes up and goes intro another bedroom looks out and there is someone crouching in the niebors back yard just outside the range of the motion light. So he called 911 and grabbed his shotgun and watched the guy. And Just as the cops pulled up he took off behind the back yard and down a brushy hill and went to the highway. His propery is on the edge of town and borders a highway with a repairian zone in between. And in the last couple weeks there have been alot of people walking around at odd hours checking things out and I personally think they are casing the place looking for more opertunitys in the area. but Im sure theyll be back to the niebors. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 9:45:35 PM EDT
[#30]
Quoted: Your common everyday house burglars are not going to fool with golf clubs, tools, mtn. bikes, etc. What they are after is cash, guns and what is now the big ticket item, *prescription pain killers*. I bet if your neighbors go into their bathroom their medicine cabinet has been gone through, that is if they had enough time and really got into the house. A friend of mine had this happen. They busted open his front door in the middle of the day and went straight for the bathroom. Man, my sister and her husband were working on their house recently, and were driving some supplies back and forth from just down the street. They left the garage open because they were only gone about 5 or 10 minutes, and some asshole took all their tools (power drills, tool sets, etc.). Damn assholes. |
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Posted: 12/28/2003 9:52:49 PM EDT
[#31]
Glad your neighbors weren't there. Glad the jerks didn't take more.
Good job. Be careful. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 3:47:32 AM EDT
[#32]
Quoted: BTW, KA38, I wish you were MY neighbor. W3rd. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 4:23:24 AM EDT
[#33]
I am one of the first living in a new development, and will be glad when my neighbors move in, as I'm isolated and people know it.
2 houses not occupied yet on my street were ripped off (contractor tools- good chance some other contractor working on houses) and kids come up near my driveway to smoke weed in their cars once or twice. A floodlight turned on always scares them off, but they're coming here because they know it's pretty dead. I think having my car in the driveway, a light and radio on, may be what kept my house from being broken into, as I was away on a 2 week work trip when the other two houses within sight of me got hit. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 4:43:32 AM EDT
[#34]
ED_P:
I was in your shoes when my wife and I moved into our house three years ago. We were the third occupied house on our block in a very new development. I made a point of greeting and offering help and beer to every new neighbor as soon as I could. Now I know almost everyone on my block and the block behind me. Everybody waves to me when I drive or jog by. It's just the neighborly --and smart-- thing to do. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 4:48:19 AM EDT
[#35]
Quoted: I think it's not my place to tell them if I think their kid did it (which I don't). I don't necessarily think their kid was directly involved, his friends may have removed the bar while visiting, just knew the family was gone, etc... No, I wouldn't mention thier son to them. Too little evidence, too much chance of ill will. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 4:55:53 AM EDT
[#36]
Quoted: According to them they hit up the medicine cabinet and took all of their prescription medicine - including vicadin and percocet - and and 8 or so cans of various spray paints. Hmmm, what did I tell you? The spray paints were taken more than likely to be "huffed" later. Prescription pain killers are worth some bucks on the street or they will use them themselves. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 4:58:45 AM EDT
[#37]
Quoted: Would I get in trouble for putting poison, labelled "Oxy Contin" in my medicine cabinet in case some piece of garbage breaks in? GunLvr No more so than if you tie up a shotgun to a chair and then tie a string to the door knob and attach it to the trigger. Can you say "booby trap"? |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 5:04:32 AM EDT
[#38]
Interesting story, KA3B,
One of the morals of the story is it's important to keep stuff locked up as best you can. A while back one of the LEs on this board was telling people how they need to run out and buy one of those $1,200.00, one ton safes for all their firearms. This kind of shit pisses me off. Because most people can't afford that kind of security, they give up and don't do anything. This is the same guy who was badmouthing Homack gun cabinets. I don't think that anyone should be telling anyone exactly how to secure their stuff. What's right for an old guy who lives alone out in the middle of nowhere and who only owns an old shotgun for protection is not going to be rght for a guy who lives in a major metropolitain area with an extensive collection of firearms including Class III stuff. Most of us fall somewhere in between. The thing to remember is that 98% of all robberies are crimes of opportunity. Few, if any of us will ever be the victim of a well planned out, determined, professional burglery. The usual robbery involves acquaintences of family members who have access and opportinity to get their hands on stuff they have no business getting their hands on. The other most common kind of robbery is the "smash and grab". "Smash and grabbers" may be semipros, but they never want to hang around very long. They also target small, light, easy to get away with valubles such as cash and jewelry. If they come upon a handgun in a drawer you can bet they'll take that too. These guys won't spend more than about five to ten minutes ransacking your place, however, so anything that will slow them down will probably keep your stuff out of their mitts. Basic security that will work in the real world isn't very expensive or complicated. We gun owners need to do our part. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 7:09:49 AM EDT
[#39]
[b]KA3B[/b], while some of the folks here might think you should have just left well enough alone, I commend you for your efforts. The world WOULD be a better place if people took more of an interest in their neighbors and the goings-on in their neighborhoods.
If you ever move down to AZ, you're more than welcome next door to me any day. Mike |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 7:31:31 AM EDT
[#40]
My stereo system has an alarm mode. You can set the time for the evening and people may think you are actually home.
My RCA TV has an alarm mode too. Quoted: Quoted: I always try to make my house look "occupied" when Im not home... *leave a light inside the house turned on *leave a radio in your garage turned on to make it look like somebody could be working in the garage. *I noticed leaving a car parked in the driveway is a good deterent, because it makes the thief think somebody is home. But after a while the thief will figure out nobodys home, so you need to change tactics once in a while to confuse them. This is especially true of the light and radio. If all you do is leave a light on and/or a radio running, it is really a giveaway that no-one is home. Put them on timers at the very least so the lights come on when it gets dark - in fact, get a few timers, and stagger them, so that it looks like someones in the living room, then at bedtime turn that one out and turn on one in the bedroom/bath, then turn that one out. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 7:34:13 AM EDT
[#41]
Let me join the "kudos" crowd on this one. I am sick and tired of these low-life assholes that are too lazy to get a GD job and earn what they want. If someone were breaking into my neighbr's house, I would take a stand, too. Say "No more" to these leaches on society.
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Posted: 12/29/2003 8:55:03 AM EDT
[#42]
Quoted: Quoted: No offense, but since your neighbors weren't home, and their lives were not in danger, why, then, did you take the unnecessary risk of reconning their property? This is what we called Neighborhood Watch...Neighbor watch out for other neighbor property and to fight crime in the area. I would like my neighbor to watch over my home when I am away and I would do the same for him. Good Job KA3B. You did the right thing. I understand and agree. We have much the same thing hereabouts, and I participate. However, I do not expect, and do not want my neighbors to risk their lives for my replaceable property. I can always replace the stuff, good neighbors are much harder to come by. All I expect them to do is to be observant, and call the cops if they see anything untoward. And I do the same for them. |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 9:12:41 AM EDT
[#43]
I agree, I was just watching a Discovery channel story on Miami police. One officer said his biggest fear, as he was chasing a perp through a neighborhood was that he would encounter an innocent homeowner with a gun.
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Posted: 12/29/2003 9:28:06 AM EDT
[#44]
Update - hehehe.
I found the neighbors empty gas can this morning when I went into work. It was laying in a ditch next to the main road about 3 miles from the neighborhood. I called the cops on my cell phone, they said they would come get it. It was gone three hours later when I came home. Hmmm..... |
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Posted: 12/29/2003 2:55:15 PM EDT
[#45]
Let's discuss the likelyhood that the perps will be back, and how to prepare for that?
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Posted: 12/29/2003 3:57:54 PM EDT
[#46]
Quoted: I agree, I was just watching a Discovery channel story on Miami police. One officer said his biggest fear, as he was chasing a perp through a neighborhood was that he would encounter an innocent homeowner with a gun. That seals it for me - Civilians shouldn't own guns. |
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