Coming home to find a burglar in your house...

[hooknbullet]

This happened to a young friend of mine Saturday, a week ago...he lives on a secluded 3 acre lot in the Glenloch Farms area.He & his wife come home about 8:20pm to find a burglar in their house. I wanted to tell his story as a reminder to us all.
Scenario: he entered the house from the garage, 7 month old daughter on his hip, the wife in tow, (carrying the diaper bag) to find the dogs in the house...
"How did you guys get in here?" That had happened before; the dogs had pushed the French doors open & gotten in from the back porch...but wait a minute, he thought...there's no way...I know I bolted those doors...what the...where's the TV?...and then, in an instant, a strange guy runs out of the bedroom, jewelry box in hand, heading for the open French doors, right where my friend is standing...so, first reaction, He grabs the guy...baby and all...dogs barking, wife screaming,jewelry flying everywhere...the guy pulls away & heads for the front doors...full speed ahead & crashes through a stained glass door, and gets away on foot! My friend jumped in his truck & went after him, but of course, he got away.
When he returned to his driveway, his only neighbor was there at the mailbox; the neighbor was also just returning home. It turns out that they'd hit the neighbor's house first. Apparently, this guy's accomplice had hauled off a load from the neighbor's and hadn't made it back to pick up his friend yet.
The good thing is, no one, especially the baby was hurt. Nothing was missing either...the TV was sitting on the back patio...Harris Co SD was there within 3-4 minutes he said. No prints on the TV, all were smudged. The odd thing was, they looked at all the broken glass for over an hour, but didn't find a drop of blood...and my friend tells me, the guy was wearing a tee shirt,cargo shorts, and a fanny pack.
Another good thing to report is that his wife has apparently changed her stance on firearms...He said they'd had several "discussions" on the subject in the past and she wouldn't budge (until now)...he said the deputies actually recommended CHLs and sidearms, and that his wife seems suddenly receptive to the idea.

[boomerang]

The good thing is, no one, especially the baby was hurt.

That's the most important thing!

[Rokyudai]

Thank you for the reminder and for sharing. Glad they are all ok.

[CainA]

Yeah, thanks for the heads up on this...I live across the street(Spring Cypress) in the cheap seats.

-Cain

[Excaliber]

Another good thing to report is that his wife has apparently changed her stance on firearms...He said they'd had several "discussions" on the subject in the past and she wouldn't budge (until now)...he said the deputies actually recommended CHLs and sidearms, and that his wife seems suddenly receptive to the idea.

It's amazing how a little reality contact can help someone understand that all those stories they read about can happen to them too.

When I lived in New York during the 70's through 90's, it was axiomatic that a liberal was a conservative who just hadn't been mugged yet.

[gregthehand]

I guess I will tell my story. It's actually somewhat close to this one.

When I was like 6 we came home from dinner one night and found the garage entrance to the house (36" man-door) open as well as the door into the actual house open. My mom stayed with me and my brother and my dad grabbed a golf club and headed in. Long story short my dad caught the guys heading to the other side of the house and they hauled butt when they saw him out the front door. They made off with something like $75k in jewelry. This was mostly hand me down stuff from realtives and was of-course non-replaceable. The Conroe Police came and didn't do a dang thing except to take a statement. By the way this was in a VERY nice subdivision off of Longmire Road heading towards League Line Rd. Those who know the Conroe area understand what I mean when I say VERY. So yeah it can happen anywhere. This was also around 1988 so Conroe was still somewhat low crime at that point. We actually had our vehicles broken into about a year later though and they made off with my parents center console thingeys (I'm sure people remember these. Back in the 80's cars didn't come with center consoles and so my parents used those igloo center console coolers for one ).

Anyway if it was me I think I honestly would have drawn and if he didn't stop fired at the guy. Now this is just me with the kind of jewelry in say my or my parents house. If he's running off with say my PS2 I'm just going to draw but if he doesn't stop I'll let him run. If he's running with one my guns I'm probably not going to give him a chance to drop it considering he might have loaded it.

As another side I love french doors but I hate how easy they are to push open. A good security system and a dog can thrawt this kind of behavior most of the time though.

[Humanphibian]

Time for me to play Monday Mornin QB on this one......what if the accomplice had been in HIS home when le left in persuit of the first BG?? He just ran out leaving baby and wife with a BG that KNOWS he is in deep and would probably do anything to get away.

Glad all went well though....these kinda things are VERY dynamic and very fast as I have learned, and your course of action is based solely on your experience, training, and perception of the situation at the time.

[Excaliber]

my dad grabbed a golf club and headed in.

BIG MISTAKE! The guy who's already inside has all kinds of major tactical advantages. If you suspect a burglary has occurred, back out quickly the way you came in and call for help from a position of safety outside. It takes at least 4 officers (2 outside at diagonal corners and 2 inside) to do a reasonably safe search for intruders and to prevent escape.

Time for me to play Monday Mornin QB on this one......what if the accomplice had been in HIS home when le left in persuit of the first BG?? He just ran out leaving baby and wife with a BG that KNOWS he is in deep and would probably do anything to get away.

Excellent point - where there's one there are often more, both inside and out. Another reason to back out and call for the cavalry.

A good security system and a dog can thrawt this kind of behavior most of the time though.

Security systems and dogs are both good things to have. Unfortunately, not all dogs and security systems are equal, and many are overrated in expectations of what they can do. Here's a bit of perspective from a former burglary squad commander:

Daytime and early evening are the favored times for burglary because this is when homes can most often be found unoccupied. (It's unhealthy to break into occupied homes in Texas.) Burglars look for homes that can be entered without taking a lot of time or making a lot of noise. (This is relative - if your house is on 5 acres of land, noise isn't an issue.)

Beginning burglars generally try to avoid homes with security systems altogether. This is good. Experienced burglars will often attack alarmed homes anyway, particularly if the system doesn't go off as they are attempting entry and is only triggered after they are inside (e.g., in economy setups where not all perimeter openings are protected, and reliance is placed on motion detectors inside.) They are particularly unconcerned about systems that do not have loud audible devices out front to notify the neighbors - they know that no one outside can hear the interior siren. In these cases, the BG simply limits his time inside to 3 - 5 minutes because he knows the alarm company will take nearly that long to determine they need to call the police, and police response will usually take another 7 - 15 minutes at least. He won't get away with everything inside, but you can bet he'll have an armload of jewelry, guns, furs, and any other high value easily disposed of items he can readily carry unless he is intercepted by an alert and prepared neighbor.

Dogs are great for early warning to you when you're home, and a large aggressive dog is valuable as an additional barrier to a bad guy. However, they are not the ultimate solution. I have seen dogs let out into the yard, fed meat from the victim's refrigerator, beaten, shot, tied up, and gagged. Dogs, unless they are specifically trained to attack when presented with certain stimuli, are highly unreliable for burglary protection when no one is home. You just can't predict what they'll do.

As an example, I recall doing an initial search for suspects on a possible burglary in progress call when I was approached by a neighbor who advised me to watch out for the vicious dog which was well known in the neighborhood and had bitten people before. I thanked him for the info, and advised him that I hadn't seen a dog yet. While searching the last guest bedroom, I lifted the comforter and looked under the bed to find a large mixed breed dog with its paws over its eyes. It lifted one paw to look at me. I told the dog he should be ashamed of himself. He put his paw back over his eye and stayed right there - he never came out the whole time we were processing the scene. Further investigation revealed a puddle in the kitchen where the dog and the intruder apparently met. The intruder either kicked or struck the dog, the dog lost bladder control, and headed for the hills since there was no owner to defend. The takeaway is: The dog that will fiercely stand between you and a threat isn't nearly as attached to your jewelry, and can be readily persuaded to find something else to do.

On the other hand, in another incident we responded to a report of a man screaming for help. Upon arrival we found a hysterical would be burglar on the ground outside a very nice home just below a window which had been broken outwards from the inside. A large german shepherd was standing on the BG's chest growling, barking, and snarling. Investigation revealed that our erstwhile burglar was peering in the window prior to making entry when the shepherd, who took his territory protection duties seriously, launched himself from inside through the multipane window frame and storm window and hit our villain square in the chest, taking him to the ground where we found him. It took a few minutes to stop laughing and to convince the dog to let us take his prize away, but we were successful. Reportedly the dog ate steak that night.

Like I said, you just can't tell what they'll do in your absence.

So - what actually works?

A defense in depth that makes your place simply harder to mess with than those around you. The random burglar goes for the easy hit, figuring that most of the folks in a given neighborhood have roughly the same contents in their homes. Easy entry = low risk = he gets to do it again tomorrow. You don't need to make it impossible to enter (which is in itself impossible) - you just have to make it obviously more difficult than the neighbors'. Here's an outline of the way to approach it:

1. Solid exterior doors in strong frames
2. Quality deadbolts with at least 1" bolt throw and extra length reinforced strike plates bolted into the wall framing (not just the doorjamb).
3. A high quality safe bolted to the foundation slab for jewelry and guns
4. An alarm system that covers all perimeter doors and windows with magnetic contacts or alarm screen and reports alarms to a central monitoring station.
5. Glass break detectors in all rooms with exterior glass
6. Motion detectors in the master bedroom and main hallway / traffic areas
7. Loud interior and exterior audible sirens
8. An exterior strobe light visible from the street to help observers pinpoint the location
9. A safe room with a reinforced door equipped with a dead bolt to provide the family with a retreat location if an intrusion occurs while people are home.
10. Motion activated lights to illuminate approaches to all exterior doors

[hooknbullet]

What I failed to mention in my original post was what his comments about how FAST the whole thing happened. He said the entire episode from the time he walked in until the guy crashed through the front door took 30 seconds, if that.

That's the thing that worries me most. These type things always seem to happen quickly...Will I be prepared? I'm more cautious these days, especially if I'm out and about, but when I'm at home I find it real easy to be condition white...fat, dumb & happy, condition white.I'm sure the majority of us are that way, though many will not admit it.

[HighVelocity]

First, I am glad that nobody got hurt.

Second, your friend took off after the thief and left his wife and baby in the house not knowing if there was any more bad guys?
That could've been a fatal mistake.

[petroleumag07]

This is why I enter my home with nothing in my gun hand. I have my shirt up and my gun exposed, I use my left hand to unlock and open the door.

You can always make multiple trips. It's best to enter a house with as much flexibility as you can get, at least the initial entry.

I tell my wife to carry all the stuff in while I open the door for her.

I usually have to go back out.

A couple of things I do:

Leave ONE light on when you leave, make sure it's the same one every time. Make it a big big habit. When you pull up to your house you can instantly tell if someone is home. If extra lights are on or none are on at all, you know to proceed with caution.

We have a dachshund, if he isn't by the door when I walk in, something's wrong. That allows me to switch from coming home mode to defensive mode right away.

[Purplehood]

My Ex and my son live in that neighborhood. She is out of country right now, but she is sure going to learn about this when she returns.

[Hos]

1. Solid exterior doors in strong frames
2. Quality deadbolts with at least 1" bolt throw and extra length reinforced strike plates bolted into the wall framing (not just the doorjamb).
3. A high quality safe bolted to the foundation slab for jewelry and guns
4. An alarm system that covers all perimeter doors and windows with magnetic contacts or alarm screen and reports alarms to a central monitoring station.
5. Glass break detectors in all rooms with exterior glass
6. Motion detectors in the master bedroom and main hallway / traffic areas
7. Loud interior and exterior audible sirens
8. An exterior strobe light visible from the street to help observers pinpoint the location
9. A safe room with a reinforced door equipped with a dead bolt to provide the family with a retreat location if an intrusion occurs while people are home.
10. Motion activated lights to illuminate approaches to all exterior doors

Good stories and advice. Thank ya. I also like the idea to keep one hand available. I don't know why me and my wife feel the need to bring every sack of groceries in on the first try, as though we've failed some unwritten code if we have to make a 2nd trip, while our fingers are about to fall off from the lack of blood from the plastic sacks.

[KD5NRH]

9. A safe room with a reinforced door equipped with a dead bolt to provide the family with a retreat location if an intrusion occurs while people are home.

And for $167, this seems like a great add-on just outside the safe room, with a panic button for it inside the room.

[Excaliber]

9. A safe room with a reinforced door equipped with a dead bolt to provide the family with a retreat location if an intrusion occurs while people are home.

And for $167, this seems like a great add-on just outside the safe room, with a panic button for it inside the room.

I'd be kinda careful about this one. It's not designed for residential applications, and, while it would probably cause the intruder to leave the area quickly, the drawbacks are pretty severe.

First of all, it's designed as a commercial area denial device connected to an alarm system. If the alarm goes off, after a preset delay, the OC aerosol is discharged. This means if your alarm goes off and you don't get your family into your safe room in time, you'll be disabling yourself and your family unless you connect it to a manual switch. That would be a nasty surprise while you've got a few other things on your mind.

Unless you also turn off your HVAC system before activating the device, as soon as the AC or heat come on, it will draw the aerosol into your safe room as well unless you have a separate air handling system that isolates that area from the rest of the house. This will force you and your family to vacate the safe room as well.

Note that it is advertised as covering approximately 2400 square feet of space. That would cover the first floor of most residences, and would make the area quite uninhabitable until thoroughly ventilated.

I wouldn't suggest this for residential purposes.