Something to Think About

[actaeon277]

This was also the day I committed to carrying every day. I hadn't been bringing my carry gun to work so I was unarmed when I walked in the house and I had my 2 year old behind me.

It took 5 minutes to get a 911 dispatcher. About 12-15 mins more to get a patrol officer there.

I bring that up to people who say "just call the police".
Then I ask them how many times they think they can be stabbed in that time.

 

[Wolfhound]

Sounds like the security system really paid off in this instance. Do you have any signs or stickers from your security company outside your house or on the doors?

You might consider some exterior security cameras with a DVR and a cloud back-up. Most can be monitored with a smartphone now with no service charge of any kind.

 

[CPT Nervous]

Sounds like the security system really paid off in this instance. Do you have any signs or stickers from your security company outside your house or on the doors?

You might consider some exterior security cameras with a DVR and a cloud back-up. Most can be monitored with a smartphone now with no service charge of any kind.

Yes, I do have signs. I have thought about cameras.

 

[Topshot]

I installed Door Armor on all my exterior doors, put 4" screws through all my hinges and latch plates, and installed Schlage double cylinder deadbolts on all exterior doors.

I might look into the Door Armor though I figure they could easily break a window if the door is overly hardened. It's not clear to me how you attached plexiglass to all your windows. I've already done the longer screws when I remodeled.

I had a package from AIM Surplus stolen from my porch.

I always have packages delivered to work for this reason. I think your suspicions of being targeted are dead on.

 

[jgressley2003]

Sorry to hear you got broken into, hopefully the thief gets caught. Thanks for the info, I keep putting off adding longer screws and dead bolts on 2 of our doors.

 

[MrsGungho]

I bring that up to people who say "just call the police".
Then I ask them how many times they think they can be stabbed in that time.

exactly.

The place I work had an armed robbery last summer. The staff was on the phone with 911 before he could get the money and get out. I had just gotten home, had my uniform off and was getting ready to climb in the shower. I got the call, was dressed and back at the store, following the police in. Now granted, I am only about 4 minutes away, but I got the call AFTER they hung up with 911 and got dressed and ran up the basement steps and out the back and started the car... etc.

I don't blame the police, they got there as quick as they could. The store is in the farthest corner of their district and we don't see them much. We see East District all the time, but they couldn't call in East because it was a SE call.

We can't rely on the police because they can't be every where at once.

BBI was there, as the investigator. was nice to meet him, just wish it had been under better circumstances.

 

[actaeon277]

exactly.

The place I work had an armed robbery last summer. The staff was on the phone with 911 before he could get the money and get out. I had just gotten home, had my uniform off and was getting ready to climb in the shower. I got the call, was dressed and back at the store, following the police in. Now granted, I am only about 4 minutes away, but I got the call AFTER they hung up with 911 and got dressed and ran up the basement steps and out the back and started the car... etc.

I don't blame the police, they got there as quick as they could. The store is in the farthest corner of their district and we don't see them much. We see East District all the time, but they couldn't call in East because it was a SE call.

We can't rely on the police because they can't be every where at once.

BBI was there, as the investigator. was nice to meet him, just wish it had been under better circumstances.

I hear he's always grumpy, not just then.

 

[CPT Nervous]

I might look into the Door Armor though I figure they could easily break a window if the door is overly hardened. It's not clear to me how you attached plexiglass to all your windows. I've already done the longer screws when I remodeled.

The plexiglass is only on the windows of my back doors with glass in them. They are wooden doors with glass windows on the upper half. I put dual cylinder locks on all the doors, so if someone gets into my house through a window, that's the way they're leaving. Doors are a lot easier to kick in than windows are to smash, so most likely, someone would just move on if the door wasn't working. Those Door Armor kits are legit.

 

[Rbooher7526]

I was the victim of a burglary a couple months ago. Someone kicked in my back door, and entered my home. I was not at home when this happened, and thankfully the only thing taken was my laptop. I want to share some thoughts, and what I changed after this incident.

First I want to commend the South Bend Police Department on their response and handling of the incident. I do not remember the officer I spoke to, but his professionalism was outstanding. It could be due to the fact that I am a police officer, but I'd like to think that he would treat everyone with the same respect he showed me.

I do have an alarm system that is monitored, and I received a call that several of my sensors had been tripped. I was advised that SBPD was enroute. I was headed home as fast as I could, and I got another call, this time from my department. It was my supervisor, and he told me that SBPD was in my house, and that someone had indeed forced entry into my home. He gave me the number to call SBPD dispatch, and I called them to let them know I was a few minutes away. This is my first point of commendation to the responding officers. They saw my uniforms hanging in my bedroom closet, and immediately called my department to try to get in contact with me.

The officer went with me through my house, and the only thing missing was my laptop. I think the audible alarm scared off the intruder, because I had several unsecured firearms in my bedroom, very easily accessible. The other thing I noticed was my screwdriver that was in my garage (I have an attached garage) was sitting on my living room floor. It was a large flat head screwdriver, and the perp used it to pry open my back door. A $0.69 screwdriver from Menard's was used to gain entry into my home. I'll touch on that later.

The officer dusted for prints, and we actually got a few good sets. I know they're not going to catch this POS on that alone, but if that could tie him to more thefts, I'm all for it. He mentioned that this guy was lucky that I wasn't home when he decided to let himself in.

As he was leaving, I walked with him to his car, and he was loading up his CSI kit, and complaining about lack of space in his trunk. He asked me if my trunk was that crowded, and I looked inside, and said, "Well we don't use VHS anymore, and your tape deck is taking up most of your room!" He laughed and said that a lot of their cars still use tape recorders for dashcam. Welcome to 2018. He offered me a box of .40 S&W FMJ ammo he had in his trunk, which I graciously accepted. In return, I gave him a shoulder patch from my department. I could tell by the look on his face that he really and genuinely appreciated that. I thanked him for coming out, and left. The detective that followed up was also very professional. I wish I remembered their names.

Anyway, now on to lessons learned.

1) The screws that come with hinges and strike plates are only maybe an inch long. My back door was pried open, and I have another door leading into the house, which was locked with a deadbolt, but kicked in. The frame splintered and tore the strike plate right out. AT A MINIMUM, put 3.5"-4" screws in all your hinges and strike plates. Residential doors are very easy to pry open or kick in. Make it harder.

2) Have an alarm system. I'm thankful I did. If I didn't have one, who knows how long this guy would have been in my house. Alarms do work.

3) LOCK UP YOUR FIREARMS!! All of my guns are now secured when I leave the house.

4) Back up your files. I didn't have any online or other backups of my files. I do now.


I installed Door Armor on all my exterior doors, put 4" screws through all my hinges and latch plates, and installed Schlage double cylinder deadbolts on all exterior doors. I also reinforced the glass on my exterior doors with thick plexiglass. I'm very confident that no one is going to force entry again.

Don't wait until something happens. I know this isn't something we think about until it hits us, and unfortunately, I was forced to think about it. I hope you can learn something from this as well, and keep it from happening to you.

That sucks. Too bad you were not at home to welcome the scum. The ling screws are a great idea. However, a lot of doors are shimmed into the rough openings and the trim covers that gap. Make sure those screws reach past the gap into a solid 2x4. The other suggestion I have is to install motion detector lights on the corners of your house. You'll be able to point the bulbs in different directions. Scum hate lights. And last, thanks for your service to your community.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

 

[CPT Nervous]

That sucks. Too bad you were not at home to welcome the scum. The ling screws are a great idea. However, a lot of doors are shimmed into the rough openings and the trim covers that gap. Make sure those screws reach past the gap into a solid 2x4. The other suggestion I have is to install motion detector lights on the corners of your house. You'll be able to point the bulbs in different directions. Scum hate lights. And last, thanks for your service to your community.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

Motion sensor lights are a great idea. Wouldn't have helped me in this situation, since it happened around 3 in the afternoon.

 

[Trigger Time]

I hope you get your property back. I hope you get your peace of mind back and are able to get over the feeling of having your sacred space violated. Thank you for sharing your experience for others to learn from.

I'm not an expert but I've learned a lot from people who are and others who have had experiences like yours. Also from statistics of how average criminals break into the average house. If the professionals want you then you are most likely boned.
I've tried to make our house not look like a target of opportunity to the average criminal. Here's some things we have done. We just updated or are updating some exterior doors ourselves. OP the below isn't directed towards you it's just general info I've learned that I'd like to share for the group.

- good monitored alarm system. Verify it works and calls the company and you and how fast they notify the police. There are tests you can run as not to waste valuable police resources.

- cameras. Backup cameras too. Both visible and invisible.

- front door camera and two way speaker that allows you to communicate even when you aren't home. They don't know that.

- A dog that barks. Yep, it works.

- alarm signs. I used to be against them. I was wrong.

- good steel entry doors with no lower windows. No windows is better.

- quality storm door with break resistant glass. Not tempered glass, but real impact resistant glass that actualy can take a baseball bat and hold. With a good locking bolt or hook system that locks top and bottom. USE YOUR DOOR BOLT LOCKS!

- quality locks in your doors. There are different levels of pick and bump protection. Do your research and don't just settle for the cheapest locks. Your average store bought lock can be picked in like 3 seconds or less by an amateur and I'm not even kidding.

- quality impact resistant windows. If you cannot afford the actual built in Windows then you can buy a film to put on all of your glass that makes them impact resistant. It's not as expensive as new windows and it's worth it IF YOU INSTALL IT PROPERLY! this is key.

- motion activated lights. And more lights. Lights inside and even outside on timers or the ability to activate them via smart phone. The more you can light up the outside of your home the better and the earlier you light up a bad guy from your house the better.

- always carry your gun in your home. So many people don't and sometimes they find out too late that they should have. Carry always for that matter.

- keep your blinds, cutains and Windows closed. During the day while you are home it's ok to keep blinds and curtains open, but at night you should never allow people to see jnto your home and see your movements and home layout and your goodies. (All your goodies )

- keep your garage door closed and wait to drive away until you see your garage door close. Lock the door between your garage and home and reinforce it the same as your outside doors.

- use door reinforcement kits that put a strip of metal on your door frame and hinge bolt kits. Also plates that attach to your door to reinforce the lock. All doors. Even just replacing one screw per hinge with a 3" or longer screw will help.

- put window bars in your windows that open. And always lock and check your window locks daily.

- do not allow tall shrubbery to grow under wimdows. It allows intruders to hide.

- If you see suspicious activity or strange people or vehicles in your neighborhood or on your street then call the police non emergency lime and give them a detailed description. Keep a note pad by your doors with a pencil. Pencils always work on demand.

- communicate with your neighbors if possible. No one can be awake or on the lookout 24/7. You are stronger together.

- harbor freight sells driveway motion detectors with audible alarm units. Or they used to. You can build aditional weather resistant boxes around the outside unit and camo it into your environment. The wireless receiver can be put inside and sound off anytime someone trips it wjen they even step foot into your property way before they are at your door. I recommend slightly elevating them because of ****ing squirrels and cats that set them off low to the ground.

Review your camera footage. Sometimes you will be surprised by what you catch that can prevent a future attack. Also some criminals don't hide their identities when they are scouting so it may allow the police to identify your burglar later.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things but that's a start. Sorry for the long post but this is important stuff that can save a life and also protect your property. Do your research. All of this info and more is out there and people who can articulate 100 times better than me can explain it to you.

 

[Topshot]

Doors are a lot easier to kick in than windows are to smash, so most likely, someone would just move on if the door wasn't working.

Interesting. I never would have guessed that. I suppose that only applies to newer multi-pane windows. I'm confident I could have easily busted the single pane that were there when we moved in.

 

[Tanfodude]

Anyone here have any security glass film on their sliding glass doors?

 

[Tanfodude]

- If you see suspicious activity or strange people or vehicles in your neighborhood or on your street then call the police non emergency lime and give them a detailed description. Keep a note pad by your doors with a pencil. Pencils always work on demand.
.

To my knowledge, 911 is preferred any suspicious activities in progress.

 

[CPT Nervous]

I hope you get your property back. I hope you get your peace of mind back and are able to get over the feeling of having your sacred space violated. Thank you for sharing your experience for others to learn from.

Thank you for sharing those tips. I need to Bernie my rep around, but you have some coming. I started this thread to try to get people thinking about some simple ways to secure your home, and to remind us all that it can happen. I agree with everything you listed. Cheap locks can be picked or bumped very easily. I put high quality Schlage locks on my doors, and I might even step those up to some offerings from Medeco. Don't cheap out on locks, that's your first line of defense.

I'm going to look into a few of the things you mentioned, I really want to get a perimeter proximity alarm, so I can scare off intruders before they even get into the house. All very sound advice, thank you again.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I won't tell you what I've done to my doors, but nobody's coming through without machinery. The sliding one won't move if I don't want it to, but the glass annoys me.

Anyone here have any security glass film on their sliding glass doors?

Im getting ready to install some on the glass doors at my church. I'll let you know how I like it.

and replacing the striike and hinge screws with >3" screws is critical. Door Devils are also good. But if you dont have the cash, a $5 bag of screws is better than nothing.

 

[CPT Nervous]

Im getting ready to install some on the glass doors at my church. I'll let you know how I like it.

and replacing the striike and hinge screws with >3" screws is critical. Door Devils are also good. But if you dont have the cash, a $5 bag of screws is better than nothing.

I am looking into the film, as well. And I can't agree more with the screws. the ones that come with most door hardware only mount into the frame, and don't even go into the studs! One good kick and the door is wide open. If someone tried to kick in my door now, something might break, but it's going to be bone.