NationStates Jolt Archive

Yesterday began as a terrific day, left the home to go Christmas shopping with my wife. Came home a few hours later, and my home had been burglarized, in broad daylight...Originally terror struck me, as my wife was freaking out, and dialing 911. Then I made a conscious decision that I am putting the fear behind me (as much as possible), and going vigilante instead... I grabbed my baseball bat, and toured the house, making sure no one was still inside. Immediately my mind raced to three thoughts: 1) I love my home, and I will do anything in my power to make my wife feel safe in the comfort of our own home.. 2) The frustration of having to clean up the whole house (which was trashed in the process) not to mention take inventory on exactly what was missing. 3) I can understand taking things like my xbox, my dvds, my fireproof safe, etc. but home videos of the birth of my child, my wedding video, etc. are senseless, and irreplaceable. With that in mind, I have now decided that not only am I getting an alarm system, but am personally starting a neighborhood watch, both good ideas, but things one shouldn't "have to" do to keep their family and/or belongings safe.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it logical to move past the fear of "someone was in my home, violating my family possessions" and onto the "I want to prevent this from happening to anyone around me, raise awareness, and fight back"?

In follow up, the local police department was terrific about the whole thing, 4 police cars quickly arrived, they surveyed the scene, did dusting for fingerprints etc. and really it was like watching an episode of CSI in that regard, except for no Jorgia Fox, who is a hottie..

bumpity bump bump..

I am so sorry! That sucks big time.

But good for you on the neighborhood watch thing! Yes, it is a fine idea to take that anger and hurt and instead of dwelling on it, or withdrawing behind alarmed walls to turn it into something positive and help others. The neighborhood watch program is a terrific idea, in that it not only gets everyone looking out for everyone else, but it can raise pride in your neighborhood, encourage people to keep the neighborhood looking good, and give you a forum for settling small concerns ("he put his garbage cans on my front lawn... they had a loud party... her kid knocked over my mailbox...") without having to resort to court proceedings in some cases. And a neighborhood where the neighbors all know each other and are actively taking care of each other is just a nicer place to live.

thank you for your response... I know there is no way to negotiate with criminals, but you would think they would at least give you the dignity of your personal affects, like movies of your newborn son....that sucks big time.... (just venting at this point)....

Yesterday began as a terrific day, left the home to go Christmas shopping with my wife. Came home a few hours later, and my home had been burglarized, in broad daylight...[...]

What did you expect? Some guy with a black mask to hide his face sneaking in your flat at night?

What did you expect? Some guy with a black mask to hide his face sneaking in your flat at night?

Where were you between the hours of 11:30am and 3:15pm Central Standard time on Saturday December 8, 2007??? (we have our first suspect)..

I guess you do make a valid point, if I were a criminal I definitely wouldn't want to break in if there were a chance of a large, angry owner such as myself being home..

I guess you do make a valid point, if I were a criminal I definitely wouldn't want to break in if there were a chance of a large, angry owner such as myself being home..

Reality check:

Most (about 95%) home burglaries take place at day times. NOT at night as most people believe. People are at home in the night and away for work, school, whatever during daytimes.

BTW, the best protection against home intrusion or burglary are shielded doors, locks and windows. You can get home security consulting at your local police or private security services. Throw in a (certified) alarm system and 24/7 alarm response and you should be pretty much safe, because:

1. Your home will be far too much trouble for the average burglar to deal with (he'll check out your neighbours flat instead, which might be easier prey)

2. In the event of a attempted burglary - depending on your contract with your security provider - you'll have armed alarm responders and/ or police showing up in less than 10 minutes to deal with the situation

Sure, it'll be expensive to get such equipment and services, but you're home insurance payments will be reduced. And you can feel safe again.

[...] I am putting the fear behind me (as much as possible), and going vigilante instead... I grabbed my baseball bat, and toured the house, making sure no one was still inside.[...]

BTW, that was a foolish thing to do.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you. I don't know if I would be able to get past the nerves of living in a house that had been broken into.

But yes, it is definitely the logical thing to do to turn your bad experience into a tool to make sure it doesn't happen again and that the security level for the whole neighborhood is raised.

My personal philosophy is that to go with just the assumption that a place is safe to live in is very foolish. Nowadays, even in some remote area, we are never really far from strangers -- for instance, the underpopulated and remote parts of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont are far from as empty as they look, but are full of illegal pot farms and meth labs, together with the armed gangs that run the goods back and forth across the Canadian border. So I guess I disagree that neighborhood watches, etc, are things you "shouldn't have to do." I think they are great things to do, because they bind the community together in a somewhat personal way, giving everyone a stake in what happens to their neighbors, increasing security for all.

I grew up in NYC, surrounded by both tight-knit communities of trusted neighbors and ongoing crime. I once lived in an apartment building that regularly got targeted by burglars, with a break-in nearly every 10 days. An interesting event happened shortly after we got a dog. One evening, during dinner, the new dog went nuts with fierce barking and growling, and as my mom went into the hallway, yelling at him, she heard someone walking quickly away from the front door. Later, she found the word "dog" written very small in pencil among the pattern of the wallpaper next to our door. So she checked out the rest of the floor and found that everyone that had a dog had "dog" written by their door. A family whose dog had recently died, had the "dog" notation crossed out. That was a "oh shit" moment.

So as far as I'm concerned, securing your property and banding together with your neighbors is just the smart thing to do.