Do you really think your house is secure? Watch this 48 hours episode

[Erik88]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-live-to-tell-sole-survivor/

 

 

After watching this horrible story it really has me question how hard it would be for someone to get inside my house. If we're being honest with ourselves it really isn't that difficult to kick in most doors. This man kicked in the door and started shooting the family members before they could even react.

 

On top of that, it's incredibly difficult to be woken up from a dead sleep and instantly react to a threat. At best you're going to need several seconds to process what's happening and arm yourself. 

 

Last night I woke up to my dog barking loudly in my room. I instantly woke and reached for my gun but in my groggy state it was incredibly difficult to figure out what was happening. If someone was rushing in like this guy did, I highly doubt I would have been able to react quick enough. It turns out something fell in my pantry(good dog). 

 

I guess the only point I'm trying to make is that being armed is a start but this story really has me thinking that it's a good idea to reinforce all doors.

 

 

[gregintenn]

You can help keep an honest person honest, but you simply can't keep someone out of something if they have intelligence, and want in badly enough.

[E4 No More]

I don't believe that you can keep out a determined intruder unless you are forewarned and reasy to shoot as they enter. You can only delay them.

[Erik88]

guys I think we can all agree on that. My point was do you think you can react quick enough in the situation? I think my title for the thread is misleading.

[bersaguy]

That is why most people have a house dog. Best alert you can have is a dog with great hearing. Kasey was sleeping under my bed about 4 nights ago and all at once began growling and then went into full barking mode and came out from under the bed. My outside lights popped on and all it was in a neighborhood kid cutting through yards to get home after running out of gas. Kasey could hear him just walking through the yard long before he tripped the lights. I was able to have gun in hand and in living room ready for someone to try and kick my door in. When the lights came on I think it scared the kid so much he probably may have peed his pants and my opening up the door with a gun in my hand didn't help any his feelings any. He apologized for disturbing me. He lived 4 doors away and I know him well. My neighbor was also awakened by his house dogs to the kid walking through the yard and he was also up and gun in hand. I have some great security lights and when they come on you can play foot ball at night in the areas they light up............. :up:

[macville]

 

I guess the only point I'm trying to make is that being armed is a start but this story really has me thinking that it's a good idea to reinforce all doors.

 

Why if you have windows without bars? If I can't get in through a door easily, I would just bust through a window. Maybe it would buy you a little time, but that's about it. Honestly, I believe a security system that you can turn your doors on at night is best because then the alarm will go off and the cops will get called. Of course, if someone wants to get you, nothing much is going to stop them short of shooting them.

[maroonandwhite]

guys I think we can all agree on that. My point was do you think you can react quick enough in the situation? I think my title for the thread is misleading.

Oddly enough my body is the exact opposite when I am startled while sleeping. I mean I won't claim to be 100% ready to go but I have been awakened by our dogs barking a few times since moving to our new house and generally pop right up. I have always been more concerned about that while I am just sitting in the living room. I try to wear my gun at all times.

[bersaguy]

I don't have alarm system but my house only has half size sliding windows and two doors. The sliding windows all have wood blocks in the tracks preventing anyone from forcing one to slide. My doors have a door handle lock and twin long slide dead bolts on both doors. You may kick it in but your going to work your butt off doing it. Plus I am never more than 5 feet from a gun anywhere in my house including bathroom. Is my house really secure? Of course not. It is secure enough that I will have enough time to react and be somewhat prepared to confront an intruder YES!! but 100% secure NO!!!

[Erik88]

That is why most people have a house dog. Best alert you can have is a dog with great hearing. Kasey was sleeping under my bed about 4 nights ago and all at once began growling and then went into full barking mode and came out from under the bed. My outside lights popped on and all it was in a neighborhood kid cutting through yards to get home after running out of gas. Kasey could hear him just walking through the yard long before he tripped the lights. I was able to have gun in hand and in living room ready for someone to try and kick my door in. When the lights came on I think it scared the kid so much he probably may have peed his pants and my opening up the door with a gun in my hand didn't help any his feelings any. He apologized for disturbing me. He lived 4 doors away and I know him well. My neighbor was also awakened by his house dogs to the kid walking through the yard and he was also up and gun in hand. I have some great security lights and when they come on you can play foot ball at night in the areas they light up............. :up:

Did you watch the video? This family had a dog.

[bersaguy]

I guess a dog may not be the answer in every case but I still have faith that having a dog in the house is always an advantage. I can promise you  this if a truck or a car gets anywhere close to my house day or night Kasey lets me know it long before they could ever be kicking my door in....................jmho

 

I will never figure out why that one person did not put him to death and made 11 other people change their minds and guess I never will. He may have avoided the gallows but when it comes time to meet his maker I would bet he will pay his dues.............again.....jmho

Edited January 7, 2015 by bersaguy

[runco]

Bookmarked for later!

[runco]

Watched the video.  48 Hours knows how to stretch the length of the story.  Very sad for the girl. 

 

Regarding what I would do, all I know is that I would give it my best! 

[JAB]

Regarding what I would do, all I know is that I would give it my best! 

 

Me, too.  I think that at a certain point a person has done just about all he or she can do to prepare.  In my case, having a monitored security system would be a waste of money because there is no way police would arrive in time to save my behind.  I have mentioned, before, in discussions about monitored security that police patrols in my neighborhood are so infrequent that when deputies do patrol on my road they leave a little note card in the mail box saying that they patrolled that day because it is such an unusual thing (I guess just to let us know that they do patrol our neighborhood at least once every three or four months - and it literally is once every three or four months, at most, that those cards show up.)

 

I also think that, for me, the K-9 early warning system is the best option.  I know from previous experience with non-threatening situations that she would be barking long before anyone got close enough to kick in my door.  Heck, she'd be barking before they ever got inside my fence and probably before they ever got into the driveway.  That is why I like a security model shotgun with a mounted light for bedside HD (backed up with a handgun).  Shotguns do not create a 'cone of death' but pretty much if something is centered in the beam from the light - an in-home distances - a load of buckshot isn't going to miss.  No one else lives in my home so as long as I aim high enough to miss the dog (she is a medium sized dog, about knee-high) I don't have to worry about injuring other people with the shotgun/buckshot combo.

Edited January 9, 2015 by JAB

[Peace]

As much as I hate them, solid storm doors and windows outside of your standard window (as exists on a lot of homes from the 50s and 60s) buy you a decent amount of time.  They are noisy as heck to defeat, and then the attacker has to deal with your actual window or door - after you've been alerted.

 

If one had storm doors locked outside of your regular door, it is just one more layer.  

 

If one wanted to minimize the risk:

-don't advertise what you have... even here.   - this especially goes for things that thugs would also like to have.

-don't advertise where you live

-in general don't be an "attention magnet" outside of your trusted groups.  (this goes for high school and college kids especially)  IMHO: It shoes a low sense of Situational Awareness - in a way that is easy for victimizers pick up on.

[Oh Shoot]

It's a rare modern home that doesn't have a sliding glass door somewhere, which is often duck soup to get into. Hell, even if you have to bust it, can do it pretty quietly -- tempered glass will just crumble into a pile of beads or broken flexible sheet using a glass cutter.

 

- OS

Edited January 9, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[runco]

A lot of truth here!

If one wanted to minimize the risk:

-don't advertise what you have... even here.   - this especially goes for things that thugs would also like to have.

-don't advertise where you live

-in general don't be an "attention magnet" outside of your trusted groups.  (this goes for high school and college kids especially)  IMHO: It shoes a low sense of Situational Awareness - in a way that is easy for victimizers pick up on.

[Erik88]

Me, too.  I think that at a certain point a person has done just about all he or she can do to prepare.  In my case, having a monitored security system would be a waste of money because there is no way police would arrive in time to save my behind.  I have mentioned, before, in discussions about monitored security that police patrols in my neighborhood are so infrequent that when deputies do patrol on my road they leave a little note card in the mail box saying that they patrolled that day because it is such an unusual thing (I guess just to let us know that they do patrol our neighborhood at least once every three or four months - and it literally is once every three or four months, at most, that those cards show up.)

 

I also think that, for me, the K-9 early warning system is the best option.  I know from previous experience with non-threatening situations that she would be barking long before anyone got close enough to kick in my door.  Heck, she'd be barking before they ever got inside my fence and probably before they ever got into the driveway.  That is why I like a security model shotgun with a mounted light for bedside HD (backed up with a handgun).  Shotguns do not create a 'cone of death' but pretty much if something is centered in the beam from the light - an in-home distances - a load of buckshot isn't going to miss.  No one else lives in my home so as long as I aim high enough to miss the dog (she is a medium sized dog, about knee-high) I don't have to worry about injuring other people with the shotgun/buckshot combo.

 

Loudon county is not that remote. I lived there most of my life. I completely disagree with your assessment about an alarm. It's far more beneficial to have an alarm in a rural area. If someone breaks in and your alarm goes off chances are that they will leave right away. Worst case they will only stick around a few minutes and the LCSO will be there within 15 tops. 

 

Right now you're running the risk of someone coming in and completely cleaning you out.

[Patton]

Right now you're running the risk of someone coming in and completely cleaning you out.

I can get over a theft. What I do not want to do is to walk into a burglary in progress in my own home; your odds of being killed are pretty good. If you survive walking in on a burglary in progress you will be traumatized. If I pull up and my alarm is going off I know to clear my house.

[Erik88]

I can get over a theft. What I do not want to do is to walk into a burglary in progress in my own home; your odds of being killed are pretty good. If you survive walking in on a burglary in progress you will be traumatized. If I pull up and my alarm is going off I know to clear my house.

 

That's a great point as well. Having an alarm has so many benefits. It may not be bulletproof but it certainly can't hurt.

[Patton]

That's a great point as well. Having an alarm has so many benefits. It may not be bulletproof but it certainly can't hurt.

If you have an alarm do not use a key fob to disable it before entering your home. Enter your home, lock the door behind you, and then do a quick scan to ensure everything looks in order. I have heard more than one story over the years of a person, it's not always women, that get approached and pushed into their home/buisness by an assailant. If this happens you will have a silent distress code that will silence your alarm and alert the police that you are under distress.

[DaveTN]

One of the worst calls (emotionally) I ever responded to was a home invasion. The perps grabbed the home owner while he was trying to put a magazine in his unloaded handgun. They beat him, tied him up and made him watch while the raped his wife. They both lived, but as you can imagine they were devastated; I’m sure their lives were never the same.

It made me understand that I need to be able to get a functioning gun in my hands, a gun that I can trust my life and the lives of family members to, and be able to engage a suspect in a matter of seconds. I know reading these stories on the internet don’t have the impact of being on the scene; but I use it in conversation with friends and family in the hopes it will make them think.

Home invaders are a much different criminal that a burglar. They want you to be there and they are fully prepared to engage you when they enter the house. You need to be able to counter a fast attack.

[gregintenn]

I can get over a theft. What I do not want to do is to walk into a burglary in progress in my own home; your odds of being killed are pretty good. If you survive walking in on a burglary in progress you will be traumatized. If I pull up and my alarm is going off I know to clear my house.

I don't think I could. A person invading your home violates you; much like a rape in my opinion. If it ever happens, I hope I would get over it, but I doubt that would be the case.

[JAB]

Loudon county is not that remote. I lived there most of my life. I completely disagree with your assessment about an alarm. It's far more beneficial to have an alarm in a rural area. If someone breaks in and your alarm goes off chances are that they will leave right away. Worst case they will only stick around a few minutes and the LCSO will be there within 15 tops. 

 

Right now you're running the risk of someone coming in and completely cleaning you out.

 

The LCSO won't be coming, at all.  I now live just barely on the Roane County side of the Loudon/Roane County line (close enough that I still have a Loudon address.)  It is the RCSO that would respond to my area and I would posit that I live just about as far from them as I could and still be in Roane County.  Rather than 15 minutes, tops, response time would likely be more like 20 minutes at the minimum if I am lucky.  Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if 30 to 45 minutes were closer to reality.

 

I used to live at 2314 East Fifth Avenue in Knoxville.  That is just off of Magnolia and located about halfway between The Old City and Chilhowee Park, more or less.  A couple of times we had to call the KCSO when I lived there and it never took them less than 20 minutes to respond.  Some elderly folks my grandmother knew had some people break into their house while they were home.  The wife called 911 and was on the phone with the authorities as the home invaders carried their stuff out.  The invaders had carried out what they wanted and were gone by the time the cops arrived.  This was in the city with the Sheriff's office not more than ten minutes away even with moderate traffic.  My real life experiences tell me that the function of police in such cases is to take a report and try to solve the crime, after the fact.  They simply will not arrive in time to stop the crime.

 

Heck, I have a friend who used to live just off of Middlebrook Pike.  When he and his wife first moved to that house - as in maybe their second or third day there (they no longer live there) - their monitored alarm was accidentally triggered one day.  As the alarm was there when they moved in, he wasn't sure if it was still being monitored or what number he should call so he waited for police to arrive so he could tell them it was a mistake.  After about an hour or so he stopped waiting and went about his business of doing some yard maintenance.  About three hours after the alarm sounded, he came around the corner of his house and nearly bumped into a startled officer.  The officer was responding to the alarm.  Three hours later.  I don't know what company was monitoring it but my friend cancelled the monitoring service the next day.

 

Now, notice that I did not say that alarms are useless.  Sure, some would-be thieves might be deterred by them but I think it would be more the audible alarm than whether or not it was monitored that would scare thieves and intruders away.  I simply said that a monitored alarm would be a waste of money, for me, and I believe that to be true.

Edited January 12, 2015 by JAB

[Spiffy]

I don't think I could. A person invading your home violates you; much like a rape in my opinion. If it ever happens, I hope I would get over it, but I doubt that would be the case.

 

 

I've never had anything real stolen from me but I had the account for a video game I play hacked. The feelings are horrible and you go through anger and depression that everything you spent 3 years building is just gone. It would be a million times worse to lose real stuff than pixels on a screen.

 

And there was more of a chance to get almost everything back in the game.......in real life  not so much.