How safe is your home from bad guys? (1 Viewer)

[eoMMan]

He didn't address security cameras.You can also teach dogs not to accept food from strangers.

I would think that if a robber sees cameras, he assumes there are valuable items inside.

My doberman, who doesn't take food from strangers, has a camera mounted on his head next to the laser beam.

This. Also, I taught my dog how to use a shotgun so we should be aokay.

 

[Apple Jack]

I have a security system. It certainly isn't foolproof but it keeps the honest burglars out.

You didn't listen.

I'm assuming cellular phones are an option for home security now.I'm assuming that because I have a fake security sign in front of my house.

My bil is a completely gadget-head dweeb. And paranoid. So, yeah, he's got the super deluxe security system with cell phone alerts every time a freaking shadow passes on a window.

 

[Das Boot]

I have a security system. It certainly isn't foolproof but it keeps the honest burglars out.

You didn't listen.

I'm assuming cellular phones are an option for home security now.I'm assuming that because I have a fake security sign in front of my house.

My bil is a completely gadget-head dweeb. And paranoid. So, yeah, he's got the super deluxe security system with cell phone alerts every time a freaking shadow passes on a window.

Along with that option I was also thinking that instead of a phone line to cut (the glaring weakness that "Knuckles" referred to as why home alarms were not a problem for him), I was assuming that cellular systems are available now so there is no phone line to cut.

 

[Fensalk]

The more sophistcated the technology, the more suseptible it is to primitive attack.

Anyone can break into your house with a brick.

 

[Fensalk]

I really doubt they have an answer for 24-hour armed security guards.

 

[Fensalk]

Have your retired grandparents live with you. Someone always is at home.

 

[The Indestructible]

 

[massraider]

This is a really interesting listen.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow.

Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.

He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

 

[scottybo]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

May have made it national if you had used a lightsaber.

 

[Das Boot]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

May have made it national if you had used a lightsaber.

Or a Samurai sword.

 

[footballnerd]

prob because this is 10 yrs old, but his only solution to alarm systems is cutting the phone line. most alarms now offer a cellular option so if your phone line gets cut, the system will go on back up with a built in cellular module hidden by the alarm's brain. also if they cut your phone line, there are systems that will run off your cable broadband connection (like network security cameras that send alerts/updates to your smartphone via the web), but if they cut your broadband cable then that's that. Best back up would be the cellular module I guess.

Sounds like having a front metal screen door, and applying a deadbolt to that and the front door might be enough to have them move on to the next house.

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

May have made it national if you had used a lightsaber.

Or a Samurai sword.

Think he was poking fun at my board moniker (which is admittedly lame).

 

[Das Boot]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

May have made it national if you had used a lightsaber.

Or a Samurai sword.

Think he was poking fun at my board moniker (which is admittedly lame).

Hey, nothing wrong with an homage to one of the most famous movie franchises ever.My name is from a 1981 German WWII sub movie. There was a real life incident with a Samurai sword a few years ago:http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-15/justice/samurai.sword.killing_1_student-burglar-police-spokesman-anthony-guglielmi?_s=PM:CRIME

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Ha! That's awesome.

 

[Ned]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

Was the shotgun loaded? Were you prepared to use it?

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

Was the shotgun loaded? Were you prepared to use it?

It was not loaded but he didn't need to know that. I have kids, I'm not keeping a loaded gun in the house.

 

[Ignoramus]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

May have made it national if you had used a lightsaber.

Or a Samurai sword.

Think he was poking fun at my board moniker (which is admittedly lame).

That seems quite a stretch. I'd be more inclined to think he was suggesting you should have actually used a light saber to fend off a would-be burglar.

 

[St. Louis Bob]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

Was the shotgun loaded? Were you prepared to use it?

It was not loaded but he didn't need to know that. I have kids, I'm not keeping a loaded gun in the house.

Plus you could have him over the head with it.

 

[GoFishTN]

Have your retired grandparents live with you. Someone always is at home.

I read somewhere (this thread?) that you are most likely to be robbed during the day by a teenage male in that lives in your neighborhood. So, this is good advice.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

prob because this is 10 yrs old, but his only solution to alarm systems is cutting the phone line. most alarms now offer a cellular option so if your phone line gets cut, the system will go on back up with a built in cellular module hidden by the alarm's brain. also if they cut your phone line, there are systems that will run off your cable broadband connection (like network security cameras that send alerts/updates to your smartphone via the web), but if they cut your broadband cable then that's that. Best back up would be the cellular module I guess. Sounds like having a front metal screen door, and applying a deadbolt to that and the front door might be enough to have them move on to the next house.

Cell phone jammer.

 

[Ned]

Stopped a guy trying to sneak off with my wife's purse and camera last year, she had left her car unlocked in the driveway. The dog started barking so I peeked out the door and noticed that the car's overhead light was on and there were a bunch of tracks in the snow. Grabbed my 12 gauge and walked outside and see this guy's legs sticking out of the driver's side door while he's presumably digging around for more stuff and there's a black bag on the ground. I yelled at him to dump the bag and get off my property and hurry the hell up because it's like 10 below zero out here. He dumps the bag and runs off through the bushes.He had dropped a bunch of other stuff too, a couple of prescription bottles and some jewelry. The police came and eventually returned the stuff to everybody. I was the hero of the neighborhood for like a week, even got my name in the paper.

Was the shotgun loaded? Were you prepared to use it?

It was not loaded but he didn't need to know that. I have kids, I'm not keeping a loaded gun in the house.

Plus you could have him over the head with it.

Have the wife throw the shells at him from an opened window.

 

[jhib]

Half the time I forget to lock the doors. Double sliding glass doorwall in the back..anybody that wants in would get in pretty easy.

Just responding to this because my wife just called to say she heard her mother is freaked out because there are footprints out in the snow leading up to and around her doorwall. Picturing her house, it took me awhile to figure out what she was talking about. I looked it up to see if I was an idiot for not instantly knowing what a doorwall was, but found that it's mostly a MI term (my wife and in-laws are from MI). Searched for the term on here, and sure enough, a handful of you MI posters came up.

Huh. Learn something new everyday.

Anyway, I guess it's good she keeps her doorwall locked.

 

[MC Gas Money]

I went to a sportsmans store and they were having a good sale on knives. I picked up a rambo style knife that also has a mini survival kit in the hilt. Thats the extent of my security system

My aunt bought a machete for her home.

 

[Fat Nick]

ah, here it is: It Takes A Thief on Discovery Channel: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/ittakesathief/about/about.html

This show was AWESOME. I did several things for security in my house that I got from this show.

The one thing that struck me the most was how often he'd break into a house that would have a car in the garage. He'd take the keys off the key hook, load the car with their stuff, and just drive away. He stole their car AND used it to steal their stuff. Kick in the nuts.

I installed 2 wall safes in our house because of this. One is by the door, and has ALL the unused keys in it. If a car is left at home, the keys are in the safe. Both sets. The other safe is hidden and has all our documents and a gun. I never thought about how easy it would be to steal the car if you broke into someone's house until I saw this show.

I've got a security system, a camera in the driveway, safes, and all sorts of monitoring, both alarm monitoring and stuff on my phone. Ultimately, if someone wants in, they'll get in, but they'll have a limited amount of time in there before someone shows up, and they'll likely be recorded.

 

[steelerfan1]

dog looks legit. i could barely find him in that last pic.

http://i.imgur.com/A5sGlM9.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Qw93f1d.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xhtPrGr.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lqPQhdV.jpg