League City: Man walks in on burglars - unsolved

[seamusTX]

A League City man came home for lunch Thursday and fell victim to two burglars who were inside his home in the 4200 block of Masters Drive. They forced him to show them where the goodies were, and then tied him up. They escaped and have not been identified. Police say this crime may be related to other burglaries in the area. (Ya think?)

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This is an upscale golf-course community and probably a good place to burglarize houses.

At this late date, I cannot fathom how anyone who owns anything worth stealing would not have some kind of burglar alarm. This guy is very lucky to be alive and uninjured.

- Jim

[WildBill]

This is an upscale golf-course community and probably a good place to burglarize houses.

This is a gated community. Some people feel safe if there is a guard station or key card required to drive into the streets.

[seamusTX]

I think some, maybe all, of these crimes in gated communities are inside jobs. Either a minimum-wage guard or a resident is complicit. Owning a half-million-dollar home in a place like South Shore Harbor is no guarantee that the homeowner's kids or shirt-tail relatives are not crooks.

- Jim

[ELB]

At this late date, I cannot fathom how anyone who owns anything worth stealing would not have some kind of burglar alarm. This guy is very lucky to be alive and uninjured.

- Jim

I don't think it is a slam dunk case to have a burglar alarm, at least for guarding the house when one is not home. Quite frankly, I think they are not much more useful than car alarms, which I think are largely ignored. Monitored alarms, like ADT, are not inexpensive, by my standards anyway -- the installation and monthly expenses are better put to use paying for a loud dog.

I had an alarm in my last house, came with it when I bought it, but the only reason I kept it was because it was also hooked to the smoke alarms. I knew the fire department would show up in a hurry, as I had occasion to use them. On another occasion I came home to find a deputy in my driveway. He said the alarm company had called. He had just finished walking around the house. We both checked it again, nothing out of order. I happened to ask him when the call came. Turns out it took him 45 minutes to respond, because he worked a traffic accident enroute. House alarms do not rate sending a second officer if the first one gets tied up, they are just not that important. In fact, allegedly because of the number of "false" alarms responded to, Bexar county instituted an annual fee for house alarms, and some penaties I think for having "too many." More fees better spent on dog food. In fairness, I did have some false ones of my own -- there was one door that when the wind blew hard against it, it would trigger the alarm. Could never get it set right. I seemed to be home for all of those, except perhaps for the time the deputy visited.

I now live out in the sticks, and would not consider an alarm. I doubt the response time is any better here for monitored alarms, and no one would hear a standalone, except the burglar.

And I suspect most burglars know all this too...


Here's a another case where the homeowner walked in on a burglar (my summary of several news articles):

Sparta TN - While Mr. Girdley was away from home, his daughter notified him that a strange man was banging on windows in the neighborhood. Arriving home Mr. Girdley encountered an unknown man coming out the front door. When the man attempted to draw a gun (unfortunately stolen from Mr. Girdley's house), Mr. Girdley warned him to not do it. The man persisted and Mr. Girdley fired several times, killing the man. Police discovered the dead assailant was wanted in several counties for burglary. Mr. Girdley, who has a license to carry a concealed handgun, was not harmed. “He had a permit and was on his own property,” said [White County Sheriff] Shoupe. “He is an upstanding citizen of White County, and this has been very hard on him.”

[seamusTX]

I happen to have a different opinion. I have a monitored alarm, advertised around the perimeter, and I have not had even an attempted break-in in the 14 years that we have lived here. That is a pretty good record for this area.

What you say about response times is correct. In many jurisdictions, the police will not come in response to an alarm until a live person on the scene reports that an intrusion actually occurred.

However, I think most burglars who trigger an alarm would flee. They don't know how soon the police or homeowner will respond, and they have nothing to lose by fleeing. They will always be able to find a house without an alarm.

When the alarm company calls you, you know that some kind of intrusion occurred, and you won't walk in on burglars like the guy in this story.

If you turn on the perimeter alarm when you are in bed, it will let you know that someone broke in.

Dogs are fine. I think they are a great component of a security strategy for those that want to own a dog. However, dogs can be whacked on the head or otherwise taken out of action.

Every security measure can be defeated. It just a question of how difficult you make it to get in and stay in.

- Jim

[TDDude]

I think some, maybe all, of these crimes in gated communities are inside jobs. Either a minimum-wage guard or a resident is complicit. Owning a half-million-dollar home in a place like South Shore Harbor is no guarantee that the homeowner's kids or shirt-tail relatives are not crooks.

- Jim

Bingo, Yes and Your sooooo right!!

[Liberty]

I think some, maybe all, of these crimes in gated communities are inside jobs. Either a minimum-wage guard or a resident is complicit. Owning a half-million-dollar home in a place like South Shore Harbor is no guarantee that the homeowner's kids or shirt-tail relatives are not crooks.

- Jim

The only thing those gates do is make people feel safer, provide something for the home owners association to support their exorbitant fees, and slow down emergency responders. They won't keep anyone out that doesn't belong.