Interviewed?

[NcongruNt]

Suspicious persons need to be reported, especially when they make personal contact on questionable grounds. If something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't. Here is a post from a personal experience of mine shortly after I started carrying while at work late at night.

My first interaction with LE after getting my CHL was a suspicious person call. I was told by the 311 operator that suspicious persons calls are considered to be an emergency call and that I should dial 911 in the future.

I had a shady couple approach me late at night in the parking lot of my workplace and ask for a ride. I told them that I wasn't going anywhere, just to get food and that I couldn't help them. The guy offered his girlfriend's "services" to me in exchange for a ride, and I declined. When I got back, I didn't see them, but had strapped on anyway in the van, just in case (normally, I didn't carry at work due to policy, but I wasn't going to risk it then). Sure enough, she had walked up to the rear of my van where I couldn't see her in my mirrors and he was in a darkened parking lot across the alley about 30 feet behind her, calling me over to him. I again declined and called the police as soon as I got inside. APD ended up showing up within 2 minutes, apprehended the couple (they were still lingering around the property), and eventually hauled him off for possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a dangerous drug, and promotion of prostitution. APD was helpful and courteous and the only response to the presentation of my CHL was to keep my hands visible.

So for future reference, call in suspicious persons using 911. This will speed up police response and increase the chances of the shady characters being apprehended.

[Excaliber]

suspicious persons calls are considered to be an emergency call

Suspicious persons and circumstances are indeed emergency calls, and that's something I should have pointed out in my post. When things have developed to the point where a reasonable person's danger senses are alerted, something bad either just happened or is about to happen very quickly. It won't "keep" for low priority call handling.

You handled this situation extremely well. There is no doubt you were being targeted for something distinctly unpleasant. If you had simply extricated yourself and gone on your way, someone else with less situational awareness certainly would have been victimized by this pair.

[KD5NRH]

powerful (250 - 500W) motion activated halogen floodlights mounted out of reach from the ground and aimed at the major entry points (doors and low windows). There is a surprise and deterrent effect when the light comes on, and it provides you with some notice as well. You'll have to be prepared to become familiar with the habits of your local populations of armadillos, opossums, rabbits, etc. because these will trip the sensors if the high sensitivity settings are used, but the lights also produce a "deer in the headlights" response from intruders.

What I'd like to find is a few reasonably priced sets where the lights and sensor can be separated by at least 8-10ft. When you put the lights high up, the sensor has to be aimed down at such an angle that you can't simply avoid the low-lying animals. With a sensor at knee level, aimed and masked to ignore anything lower, you'll pick up humans while ignoring pets and most wild animals. Besides, it can be more effective to have several lights come on in different locations at once; it looks a lot less automated.

[Excaliber]

The passive infrared motion detectors used for motion activated outdoor lighting have optical viewing patterns that look like a series of fingers going out and down in a segmented arc from the detector. They look for moving temperature changes that cross from one observation "finger" to another. The info you need to understand how this works is on pages 1 - 5of the installation manual for a typical device of this type at: http://www.rabweb.com/common/catalog/install/STLSWO.pdf

With a little effort, you can adjust the sensitivity on the better devices to ignore small animals with some loss of detection range. I leave mine at a fairly high sensitivity setting which activates the lights for a short time when small animals occasionally come through the yard. At this point I know the patterns of their visits and don't find this undesirable because it verifies proper operation of the detection system every couple of days.

The desired linear detection functionality you described is typically provided by a straight line photoelectric detector set that uses a thin infrared beam projected from one point and received at another in a direct line (like the safety beam on an automated garage door.) The reasons these are not used for outdoor lighting control is that they require wiring to 3 points instead of 1 (transmitter, receiver, and light fixture) and will be set off by any blown leaf or other debris that flies through the line of sight between the detector and receiver. Most folks find this is cumbersome, expensive, and produces too many false activations to make it a good solution for what you're trying to do, but if that's what you've got to have, you could design something that matches your unique requirements. You might even end up inventing something that could be marketed to others.

[israel67]

With a simple wireless intercom system (example: http://homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123 ... uctID=1823) and a little prior planning, you can get all the information you need on how to manage an unexpected visitor without exposing yourself to potential attack by the person at the door or his or her unseen companions. For folks willing to part with a few more hard earned shekels, a video intercom and/or CCTV surveillance of the main entry area provides a whole other dimension of information beyond what you can secure through an audio intercom alone.

Just to 'butt in' to a slightly older thread, setting up 'CCTV' is easy-peasy, if you have a Mac (probably just as easy with a PC, but I don't know 'em at all).

You get yourself a reasonable quality USB webcam, say $100 worth. This is mine:
You buy this: http://www.evological.com/evocam.html (the cost is like $30 for the licence)

Depending on how far your Mac is from your front door, you might need to buy a USB extension cable. Then you just set up the camera to watch the door. Obviously, if the door has a glass panel on it (the smaller the better, for reasons of security), you can point the camera through the panel. If you put the camera outside, you might have weather issues, or you can put it under a porch.

Then you configure EvoCam to be on all the time, and you have a ready-made surveillance system, on your desktop. You can add as many as you can afford (I don't think that there's a limit to the number of cameras you can connect).

I used this system in April when I was in the US. I pointed the camera at the door of my appartment, and configured 'hotspots' in EvoCam. Any movement in those hotspots,and it took a picture. The best part is that it can send the picture to a remote FTP server, or to any e-mail address so that even if the skuz breaks in and steals your Mac, you have his fizzog on record.

'course I was a bit stoopid and made the camera too sensitive, so it was basically sending me piccies every time a bird flew past the window and cast its shadow on the door.

[LedJedi]

Opening the door to unknown persons is, IMHO, an unacceptable risk in the current environment. Going outside to assess the situation is almost never a good idea because it gives tactical opportunity to a stranger and/or his confederates at distances where effective response to surprise attack is problematical, even if you are armed. If the primary defender exposes himself to attack and is neutralized outside the home, where does that leave the rest of the family?

When you're at home, the interview process should work the other way - the homeowner "interviews" the stranger.

With a simple wireless intercom system (example: http://homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123 ... uctID=1823) and a little prior planning, you can get all the information you need on how to manage an unexpected visitor without exposing yourself to potential attack by the person at the door or his or her unseen companions. For folks willing to part with a few more hard earned shekels, a video intercom and/or CCTV surveillance of the main entry area provides a whole other dimension of information beyond what you can secure through an audio intercom alone.

With the remote intercom unit at the door above the doorbell and the master unit in a convenient area of the home not visible from the exterior door, you can converse with a visitor from a position of safety. A simple "How can I help you?" or "Who is it?" will usually elicit all the information you need to decide if you want to have a face to face conversation. This places the occupant in strong control of the situation, and the visitor in a clearly inferior and off balance position without giving direct offense. If there isn't a good reason to open the door (defined as something of benefit to you from someone you have reason to trust inside your reactionary gap) the general rule is - you don't, and you advise the caller you do not wish to conduct business or carry on further conversation with him. The advantages of this procedure are considerable:

- You don't have to get dressed to answer the door after you've gone to bed
- The individual doesn't know what you look like or where you are
- You can conduct the interview from a position with easy access to defensive tools and your safe room
- You have announced that you are inside, which is a "no go" condition for burglars screening for unoccupied premises
- There is no opportunity to conduct a push-in invasion because the door remains locked
- You have effectively communicated that you are aware of risks, have taken precautions, and quite likely have a plan if the situation escalates
- You have maintained distance that buys you reaction time to activate your home invasion plan if a violent entry is attempted

Bad guys expect things to go as they envisioned, and quickly lose enthusiasm for their random crime visions when things go in a direction that suggests they are not in control of the situation and may well find themselves on the wrong end of someone else's tactical plan.

Excaliber

wow. that is a mondo cool idea. I think i'm getting one of those.