Posted on 01/09/2012 3:23:41 PM PST by fightinJAG
If you missed this thread of a few days ago on a 14-year-old boy shooting an intruder in N.C., or if you didn't see all the responses, it's definitely worth checking out. The thread is also linked at the "read more" button below.
On that thread, I asked for freepers' thoughts on whether there were things that made some homes more vulnerable to home invasion than others. (It seems like it would be obvious that a more rural or remote home would be more vulnerable, but news reports in my area do not substantiate that assumption at all. Homes in crowded suburban neighbors get hit, too.)
Also, it's clear that, for various reasons, not every person in a household is going to be able to use a gun, even if one is available. I asked about ideas and discussion on ways that might deter invasions in the first place, although it goes without saying that nothing is foolproof and no one wants to live in a total fortress environment.
A poster suggested I make my questions into a stand-alone thread, and I decided to do so. Reading reports of several local home invasions in today's news, as well as a rash of "smash and grab" buglaries, had nothing to do with reminding me of the topic. Right.
So, yes, we know about guns and dogs (and tips regarding those are always still welcome). But what other things might be unobtrusively effective in deterring home invasions or allowing them to have a "happy" ending (dead perp)?
In the comments on our local crime stories, I saw that some people were using baby monitors to be alerted to noises around their back doors, etc. Thus, allowing them more time to investigate or prepare if a break-in developed.
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
Thank you. Keeping the keys handy at night is also quite helpful if you need to make a quick getaway from your own home if you or your family are facing danger. There are always circumstances that no one could have predicted.
No one lives next to me. ;-)
I have to say it did occur to me that one should be very sure that one’s medical info is kept private. Several of the latest home invasions I have read about had to do with stealing prescription drugs.
Of course, the creeps could just be hoping they hit the jackpot. But imagine if people could find out who was taking what meds and, therefore, what could be found in their home?
Ping for later installation!
Hell, you may want the alarm on any time you’re home!
Consider if the kids in the story at the link had had the alarm on. That said, they also could have been playing out in the yard or the pool when these thugs showed up.
At the minimum, if you have someone in the home who is someone defenseless (for example, disabled to some degree), I’d think about using the alarm all the time.
LOL. One of my strategies also
I used to think the same as you do about lighting. But now I think it depends on the neighborhood. A dark home in a place generally well-lit does seem like a magnet. OTOH, I know of people who live more out in the country and they don’t want lights on; they figure people won’t notice the house if it’s dark, or they will wonder about the dog situation without being able to see.
That said, I think some strategic motion-detected lights would be good in that case.
But I’d like to hear people’s thoughts on whether a well-lit house is ALWAYS a good thing.
Have bright activating lights outside. Don’t have them all pointing down - shoot some light into your neighbor’s windows and into your windows. You want to arouse attention; not light the pathway for the perps.
Have a neighborhood crime watch organized and active. They are trained to notice strange, out of place happenings and sounds and are welcome to be nosey neighbors. It works. All but two of our neighbors participate at least to a minimal effective degree - getting trained and watching. And you get to have a lot of parties and you can organize shooting range outings!
Be armed throuhout the house and have plenty of portable telephones. If you don’t have an alarm system, put car transponders around the house so you can set off car alarms. Neighbors are trained not to ignore long alarms here. They call or come around. Dogs are good alarms if you don’t have doors and windows alarmed. Goldens are the best alarms God made. :)
We have an (armed) escape plan because our house design makes that a safe and likely possibility. God help the fool(s) who gets between us and our escape or who suprises us. Hope that never happens.
Those are great ideas.
A friend told me how when he lived in a place where he could not legally carry a gun in his car, he kept a bottle of — well, I’ll have to describe it — one of those bottles of spray that you shoot up about 20 feet onto your gutter or somewhere like that to kill wasp nests.
He had been carjacked once in Central America.
He never had to use the spray, but he said it was pretty sure it would repel any cretin who attempted to come too close to his vehicle, and I believe him.
I wondered about using it so as not to get the blowback. Guess the key is to fire it off early, as soon as you realize a problem is approaching.
Is it legal? Hey, you can use whatever is at hand for legitimate self-defense and so you just happen to have a wasp nest fogger in your car/utility room.
I’m getting ideas from reading this thread. Things like hanging a sign at the front gate that says, “We use night vision gadgets.” :)
I will definitely check that book out. The thing is, there are often several different places that need protecting, not just the main house. (Say a detached garage, etc.)
I could see the cargo nets being an easy way to install a defense similar in function to bars, without having to go the barred window route.
I’d think about putting them over the windows of an attached garage on the inside.
I did some work where I would drive by a place in the country. In front of the two dirt tracks leading back through the blackberries was a 4’x8’ piece of plywood, with the following scrawled in paint:
“Nothing back here is worth losing your life for.”
This suggestion for the ladies is not relevant to home invasion, but to ladies who may be out shopping, going to appointments, whatever. My wife was outside an office, waiting for a medical appointment. A weirdo approached her asking directions to somewhere that made no sense. after she tried to help, he didn’t leave, was just sort of hanging around, wouldn’t leave her alone, she put her hand into her purse, and left it there. She did not need to draw the .357 magnum. The weirdo quickly departed.
Yes. I’d like to hear how some of the people using them actually deployed them (outside on the porch, for example, or just near the door on the inside).
I guess the thing to do would be to try out various configurations for whatever app you are wanting the monitor for. Have someone go up to your back door and see if and what you hear and what adjustments you need to make.
Don’t they make baby monitors that also have a light that flashes when it detects a certain level of sound?
You could always just claim you were shooting for the wasp on the guy’s shoulder. You know... helping him out and all. ;)
Do you think small, yappy dogs are of any use? Some people just can’t have a big dog (or more big dogs), yet a few yappers who would fly off the porch and make a ruckus could fit on the roster.
Better than nothing and part of a plan, I suppose.
The word’s gotten out that you’re an ahole. You just sound stupid to me.
I posted about the wasp spray before reading your post. Had a friend who swore by having a can in the car at all times.
I wouldn’t hestiate to use it if that’s all I had.
Wrong thread, hon. This isn't the "i HATE Perry" thread. (or Newt or Santorum or whoever it is you think is stoopid.)
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