Ugh! House broken into...

[grumpeeduck]

Another thing you could do if you haven't already is get motion detector lighting for outside each of your doors and garage door as well. We have those and as soon as anything moves in that area-the light goes on and stays on for a period of time. My DH installed ours himself, and gives us huge peace of mind at night. Thank goodness for our alarm system-mine is on right now even though it is broad daylight, but I am home alone and I take no chances. Also, it's good to be armed!!

 

[grumpeeduck]

I'm having a lot of work done on my house right now. There's a lot of strangers around. I do not like people I don't know in my house when I'm not here,so I stay home!
There was a terrible crime(I think it happened in 2007,just getting to court now)where 2 men broke into a home,beat the husband/father severely and tied him up in the basement while the 2 scumbags raped and beat his wife and daughters. The husband (near death) managed to escape the house but by the time police got into the house the 2 men had set the house on fire and they died. The 2 were caught and are on trial now. The connection of the 2 men and this family? An Electrical contractor that had done work in this house. Its never a good idea to allow strangers to have access to your home when you're not there. Never.

This story freaks me out, and I have to wonder if the outcome might have been different if an alarm were in use.

 

[ChrizJen]

I think we're going to install a motion light this evening.

 

[tiggger1]

sounds like its a cocky teenage coming back for more.. do you have any kids? Could it be one of their friends or are they any teenagers in the neighborhood?

The other thing you can do is get a cheap night video camera and set it up facing the house.. if they come back you will probably catch something.

my dad has one on his house because they had an issue with someone shooting out of the front window with a bb gun twice and my dad's car got stolen once..( they live on a main road that connects alot of street and there are alot of woods and it tends to be the road people use for get aways~

 

[LuvOrlando]

Oh my, that is just unbelievable. Sounds like you are doing the best you can do considering the situation. Hopefully this person will get tired of the arrangement and move on quickly.

Just out of curiosity, is it easy to tell you have an alarm from the street? Do you have signs or those little window stickers to act as a deterrent? I was just wondering if the alarm surprised the thief or if the person went in knowing there would be an alarm.

I am just stunned that someone would mess with an alarmed house over a game system, how on earth can that be worth jail time? The thief can go out, get a job and save up for less time than would be spent in jail.

 

[mzozzietj]

Wow, I'm so sorry this happened to you and that they keep coming back! So scary. I'd look into having a security camera with tape/digital recording installed for piece of mind. Perhaps there is a relatively inexpensive option you can install yourself?

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

OMG, so sorry to hear about all the break-ins. That happened to us in the middle of the day while my mom was home watching tv. Luckily they only broke in, but left when they heard her w/o taking anything. Still a horrible feeling.

I delibertly got a german sheperd because of that. We had always had dogs growing up and never had any breakins. This attempt occurred between dogs actually. Now whenever I see anyone strange around our house I make it a point to let them see the dog.

 

[pixiefairy]

Oh my gosh...I'm so sorry this happened to you! But I'm happy you have an alarm system you actually use. A lot of people get very complacent and don't even bother setting theirs. We've had ours for 9 years...always set it. Even if I'm going out for 10 minutes. We live behind a police station, so you'd have to be ballsy to try and break in, but there are definitely stupid criminals out there. I used to work for a company that was bought out by ADT (Securitylink) and we have ADT as well. My mom is still customer service for ADT, lol. If you don't already, make sure you either have window stickers or a house sign displayed. You can call customer service and request them. Just having the signs displayed is a deterrant. Have you ever heard of that show It Takes a Thief that used to be on TLC? The reformed b & e guy that used to do the break ins even said it does give them pause and will usually move on to a home without signage. We have had our alarm go off in the middle of the night (back sliding door), but we had a large dog at the time, and he stuck his head through the blinds. Then the siren went off...whomever it was though twice about coming in.

You mentioned motion lights...also a good idea. And if you have large bushes by your windows..cut them down. No one can hide behind them. Planting thorny bushes and plants may deter would be thieves as well. Sliding doors should have a bar or other object so they cannot be slid open...and they don't always want to draw attention to themselves by breaking a large window. Be safe! Hope all is well in the future, they catch these morons and you feel at least a little bit more safe.

 

[Jewel1310]

Another thing you could do if you haven't already is get motion detector lighting for outside each of your doors and garage door as well. We have those and as soon as anything moves in that area-the light goes on and stays on for a period of time. My DH installed ours himself, and gives us huge peace of mind at night. Thank goodness for our alarm system-mine is on right now even though it is broad daylight, but I am home alone and I take no chances. Also, it's good to be armed!!

I thought the motion detector lights I had would deter someone, but after I was robbed I noticed that they had been unscrewed about half way so they didn't work. Just be aware that people are devious and find ways around everything it seemed. I now check them almost daily to make sure they are screwed in....

 

[grumpeeduck]

I thought the motion detector lights I had would deter someone, but after I was robbed I noticed that they had been unscrewed about half way so they didn't work. Just be aware that people are devious and find ways around everything it seemed. I now check them almost daily to make sure they are screwed in....

Yikes! I asked DH about that and he said that you can't get at ours that they are sealed. Whew! Good advice to check them and make sure they are tamper-proof! We also have 2 noisy beagles who bark whenever they hear something plus we have a 6 foot privacy fence with gates that lock on the inside (a pain when we need to get back there, but better safe than sorry).
I love and totally agree with the tip someone wrote to cut down shrubbery-there should be NO hiding places around any doors or windows (or anywhere else around the home). Our motto is to keep our shrubbery looking like it was just planted - rather smallish! That way everything looks open and not overgrown. This is a great thread and I hope we can help each other out and stay safe!