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http://keyetv.com/local/local_story_036173021.html


(CBS 42) AUSTIN Austin police are looking for two home invaders, who tied up and robbed a couple in broad daylight at a home on Oriole Drive, just north of Rundberg and I-35 Monday.

Police say the suspects were wearing T-shirts with the word "POLICE" printed on the front. They took several items and left the couple who lived in the home shook up and the neighborhood shocked.

Neighbors say something like this doesn't happen around here.

"It's a fairly peaceful neighborhood, so I wouldn't expect it to happen here," neighbor Lewis Frost said.

It's a neighborhood where kids jump rope up the street and puppies play in yards. Now neighbors are locking their doors and on the lookout for trouble.

"As far as being concerned, I'm pretty concerned being a neighbor that lives around here, but hopefully they'll have more cops patrolled the area," neighbor Mark Acosta said.

Neighbors haven't seen police respond to the house before. Monday's news has others worried about their safety.

"My roommate’s wife was wondering about sometimes being home by herself in the daytime," neighbor Lyle Minnis said.

If you're the victim of a home invasion, the experts say to stay calm, cooperate, don't fight back and look for something unique on the intruders—like a scar or tattoo.

Police aren't saying what items the robbers took from the house or what they said to the folks who were in there.

Anyone with information is asked to call police. CrimeStoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)


Be a sheep and cooperate, maybe they won't harm you or your family.

Very sarcastic if it was not clear.

Sorry, I can't abide by that advice. Too many home invasions end with compliant dead bodies.

Reminds me of a story I saw on TV about a family who had a home invasion. A group of well armed men took over the house and forced the family(kids and all) to sit in the living room. The invaders had some sort of plans for the family that required the families cooperation. But they tested the family's compliance first, by loading an Uzi, setting it on safe, and leaving the gun in the living room with the family while the invaders went in another room.

The invaders believed that the family wouldn't know how to operate the safety on the Uzi. So the invaders didn't think they would get shot if the family went for the gun. If the family left the Uzi alone, they knew the family would be cooperative.

The family didn't touch the Uzi, and the home invaders moved ahead with their plan. Fortuantely the family made it through okay.

I've shot an Uzi before, it would have turned out quite different if they'd left a loaded Uzi in front of me.

fadlan12 wrote: If you're the victim of a home invasion, the experts say to stay calm, cooperate, don't fight back and look for something unique on the intruders—like a scar or tattoo.

What are the experts of? Being a victim??

what you think is going to happen when they find your safe.They know there is either guns or cash......a problem arises. I don't even want to think about it...

OK, so anyone with $5 can buy a shirt that says, in big block letters "POLICE" or "BATF" or any other LE organization.

When someone like that bursts into your home, or bangs on the door and demands entry "Police! Open up!" how do you quickly determine that they are not real LEO that have the wrong house?

I've mulled this over in my mind with no good answers. A sudden appearance of a man in my entryway wearing a POLICE shirt and armed, might be enough to make me hesitate, and that could be fatal.

Rex B wrote:OK, so anyone with $5 can buy a shirt that says, in big block letters "POLICE" or "BATF" or any other LE organization.

When someone like that bursts into your home, or bangs on the door and demands entry "Police! Open up!" how do you quickly determine that they are not real LEO that have the wrong house?

And THAT's what makes our decisions even tougher and more critical to get right, as even if laws were passed making it illegal to wear such garb if you aren't one (a police officer, or SWAT, FBI or BATF agent), just as with guns you know that it won't stop criminals from wearing them.

All you can really do, is do your absolute best at making the right decision based on what you've been able to observe and sense, and pray that it's the right one and you don't get killed or wind up with a capital murder charge I guess.

Maybe the Police need to be proactive and start changing thier approach on warrant searches. Of course they would be the last to tell that their procedures have changed. My guess would be call 911 as soon as you see someone and have them confirm that police are supposed to be there.
Otherwise its a scary scenario, the 81 yr old lady thought she was defending herself and got killed.

Rex B wrote: OK, so anyone with $5 can buy a shirt that says, in big block letters "POLICE" or "BATF" or any other LE organization.

When someone like that bursts into your home, or bangs on the door and demands entry "Police! Open up!" how do you quickly determine that they are not real LEO that have the wrong house?

A bunch of marked squad cars in the driveway with lights flashing would strongly suggest they were real cops.

Beyond that . . . seeing as nobody in my home has so much as an unpaid parking ticket, the odds of real police attempting to force entry are vanishingly small - it's virtually certain that they'd be imposters. Doubly so if they're not even in uniform.

IMHO police imposters who attempt to force entry to my home pose a real and immediate threat to life, and I'll deal with them accordingly, to the best of my ability.

Paladin wrote:Reminds me of a story I saw on TV about a family who had a home invasion. A group of well armed men took over the house and forced the family(kids and all) to sit in the living room. The invaders had some sort of plans for the family that required the families cooperation. But they tested the family's compliance first, by loading an Uzi, setting it on safe, and leaving the gun in the living room with the family while the invaders went in another room.

The invaders believed that the family wouldn't know how to operate the safety on the Uzi. So the invaders didn't think they would get shot if the family went for the gun. If the family left the Uzi alone, they knew the family would be cooperative.

The family didn't touch the Uzi, and the home invaders moved ahead with their plan. Fortuantely the family made it through okay.

I've shot an Uzi before, it would have turned out quite different if they'd left a loaded Uzi in front of me.

Oh, please don't throw me in 'dat briar patch!

fadlan12 wrote:Be a sheep and cooperate, maybe they won't harm you or your family.

I have a serious problem with this being bad advice.
You have to look at the target audience. They are people who, obviously, aren't trained, are not active in their own protection, and are not going to be able to do much in the way of effectively handling a threat.
and to them, compliance is the best advice.
you see, if you are trying to stand up to the bully, and have no way of doing anything about it, you are most likely signing your own death certificate. if you don't have any training in how to handle yourself (self defense classes, school o' hard knocks, whateva), and/or don't have an equilizer (boomstick, smokewagon, pig-sticker), then you're just looking to be a statistic, and a chalk outline.

in the same way that "GunBuster" signs don't apply to us, this same advice does not apply to us. We, as a populace, must (IMO) look past the commentary of such pieces, and rather, preach our own editorials on self-sufficience and self-defense.

if I'm outgunned, disarmed, and/or uneducated, you bet I'm complying. doesn't mean I've given up on life, just means you pick the battles you think you can win. this also depends on circumstances like significant other's (my ol' lady) involvement, 10YrOlDaughter's involvement, things like that. somebody busts in, pre-CHL, and has all three of us cornered, we comply. they just want stuff, I'll probably just let'em have it, under those circumstances. they then make a move on aforementioned SO, or 10YOD, I'm doing my best Bruce Lee/Jet Li impersonation!!!

it's what my CHL instructor always said, totality of circumstances.
now plug that same scenario in with your knowledge, experience, and hand cannon. different deal, completely, huh?

G.C.Montgomery wrote:Sorry, I can't abide by that advice. Too many home invasions end with compliant dead bodies.

You are correct. I agree 100% with that statement.

JLaw

HankB wrote:A bunch of marked squad cars in the driveway with lights flashing would strongly suggest they were real cops...

I agree, but I've seen HPD serve warrants with not a single marked vehicle in sight. When they've served warrants in my area, the marked units were down the street or even a couple streets over. But the vehicles in front of the offending home were completely unmarked.

The lesson learned for me is that as much as possible, I need to make it impractical for someone to knock down the front door in one shot. Windows entry, unfortunately is fairly easy too so the answer becomes finding a way to buy time to identify your threat.

Ideally, I'd have trip sensors that gave audible alerts to anyone in the yard. But I'd be shooting dogs and cats every night with such a system. Instead, I have motion sensors on some exterior lights as well as static lights on normal approach angles like the front and back doors. When time and money permit, I'll add cameras but that may have to wait until we move. My exterior doors are also reinforced with steel and the longest bolts I could find around the frames and the doors themselves are steel skinned. Hopefully any entry guy will sprain his wrists on the first whack with the ram. I've also got prickly plants around all the windows to make climbing in a hassle. I really thought about bear traps behind the plants and under the windows but, there's this goofy clause in the penal code about booby traps designed or known to cause injury and death. I was hoping I could claim they were for rabbits but my lawyer says even he couldn't find a jury that dumb. After seeing Robert Durst walk for murder I thought surely he could but he still says no.

G.C.Montgomery wrote:Sorry, I can't abide by that advice. Too many home invasions end with compliant dead bodies.

Every incident will have its own set of circumstances and dynamics, so each person will have to decide for themselves what is an appropriate response. However, I am inclined to agree with you on this one.

A "home invasion" is very different from a burglary that occurs when no one is at home. We must consider the mindset and goals of someone who would knowingly enter a home that is occupied. Generally, the purpose of this tactic is to use the person(s) inside to gain information/access to as many valuables as possible.

It takes a fairly "gutsy/crazy/fearless" person to commit this type of crime, and IMO....they are much more apt to harm you than someone who seeks to avoid contact...(as in the burglary of an unoccupied home).

Everyone must assess the situation for themselves, but I'm going with GC on this one, (be ready to fight for your life).

My uncle,who is in his 90's,lives in an affluent part of Houston.He told me the new problem,in his neighborhood, is criminals following elderly people home from the grocery store in the middle of the day and attacking them in their front yard.Older people in nice cars seem to attract the attention of this type of criminal.Oh,I guess I should refer to the criminal as an "actor".God forbid I hurt the self esteem of those who attack the elderly.Sarcasm intended.[/i][/b]