Gregg,
Sorry to hear it - I know how that can feel.
Kind of a violation. But glad that things were not worse.
Thanks for the heads up.
A few hints for avoiding a repeat:
(1) A territorial dog. Nothing is more effective.
Doesn't have to be a killer. Just territorial.
I lived in an area where every house except two on the block was burgled (I like the sound of that word) at least once that year. Some twice. "Mixed neighborhood." "Urban Renewal." "Revitalization." Whatever you want to call it.
Lotsa stories.
But to remain on topic - ours was one of the two houses that year on that block that was left untouched by burglars.
We had an inside dog. So did the other house.
Burglars did not leave us a note, but it was our impression that they would generally just prefer to go on to the next house than to break into a house with a territorial barking dog.
It was easier. And burglars do what is easier.
(2) "Operation Identification." This is usually in conjunction with your local police department, but if they do not participate, you can likely try other sources (state or whatever). Basically, the police have a kit - an etcher and a booklet and stickers for your door stating that you participate in Operation Identification. You etch your valuables with your driver's license number, write 'em down in your booklet, photograph them - then put the stickers on your doors that you participate. Then return the etcher to the police department.
Burglars see the sticker on your door and - if they can read - move on to the next house instead of burgling yours. It is a practical issue for them - it is easier to fence stolen property if it doesn't have the numbers on it.
In one survey I saw in an area where one out of eight homes was burgled a year, only one out of eight thousand homes that was participating in Operation Identification was burgled in the same year.
It is my impression that Operation Identification is much more effective than stronger locks, etc.
Due to your experience I just called - our local police department "Community Affairs" department no longer participates in Operation Identification - they are now more into "Neighborhood Watch" and scaring kids about drugs and harassing sex offenders - but they still recommend etching your valuables and record keeping as a good idea.
I still would like the Operation Identification door stickers. They were said to be as effective as Burglar Alarm Company stickers at keeping the baddies away - at no monthly fee for Operation Identification. Hmm . . . maybe that is why the program is no longer offered here . . .
(3) Hardening your house. Consumer Reports does a good report on house security every few years - I am sure that there are other good sources, as well. Both strengthening the house defenses as well as burglar psychology. Strengthening the doors and locks - strike plates for the door and 3-4" screws on locks and hinges and such (burglars don't generally pick locks, they usually just kick in the door - you can make this much harder for them to do, and they may give up and go elsewhere). Timers on lights. Leaving the TV on while gone during the day. A car sitting out in the driveway instead of in the garage. Lotsa little things.
Learn to think like a burglar. Then make the house less inviting.
(4) Guns. A mixed bag.
Last I looked at the stats, "home defense" guns were five or six more times more likely to be used on family members than on the bad guys. Most gunshot wounds that I have dealt with have been secondary to arguments with "friends" and relatives - plus the occasional suicide attempt. Gunshots involving robberies - less common - in my experience usually involve the white male victim being shot by a black male, usually associated with the victim's car breaking down somewhere, usually at night - usually a crime of opportunity that could happen to many people. "They" know that white males may have a home defense weapon, but that white males are not generally "packing."
I expected policemen that I got to know in my work to advise me against owning a gun - after all, that is one more potential domestic violence call/suicide/whatever - but to my surprise I found them to be most encouraging, instead. I guess in the dichotomy of "us against them," I had become one of "us." To the policemen with whom I spoke, the statistics about guns are useful as a broad brush, but they do not necessarily speak to the individual involved or to the specific situation. The policemen advised learning on a 22 target pistol, which is what they practice with - only later moving up to larger hardware as I felt it appropriate. They spoke highly of Rugers in regards to bang for the buck. Heavy for it's size - six inch target barrel.
I followed their advice.
Oh – stopping power from a pistol depends much more on barrel length than on powder charge – but that’s another story.
From another vantage point:
You may not think much about it, but here is a lot of burglary out in the country. The bad guys can get in and out before any burglar alarm system people or rural police can get to the place.
E.R docs who live out in the country do so knowing that they are a target and that they are pretty much on their own. Those going the gun house defense route tend to favour legal relatively short barreled wide gauge shotguns over handguns. Fatality rate of handgun wounds to the belly is about 20% (last I looked, but handguns do keep getting larger and more lethal). Shotgun wound to the belly - 80% fatality - a surgeon can only patch so many holes. Plus - shotguns do have knock down power and you do not have to worry that much about accuracy - the idea being that you don't have to worry that much about aiming - just try for the center of gravity - but anything you hit will get the job done.
It may give you insight into how ER docs think. It is what they learn on the job.
These guys typically have specific house defense plans - go into bedroom, lock the door, activate the weapon, dial 911, hunker down quietly and keep an eye out for flashing red lights. Do not be a hero. I.e., do not go searching around your house at night for a mysterious noise with a shotgun in your hand - if there actually is a bad guy around, you just encourage early escalation - and a shotgun can be wrestled away from it's owner a lot easier than a handgun. And you don't really want to shoot your dog, a guest making a late night snack, or a leaking water heater - it's embarrassing.
When I have been a housesitter at a rural mansion that had been burglarized three times - my job included that of guard - I followed the house plan idea of the ER docs, albeit with my trusty .22 Ruger. I figured it would make some noise, anyway - otherwise it would probably just get me killed. Plan: locked bedroom door / cocked gun / telephone 911 / watch for red flashing lights / don't be a hero. Happily, my presence alone seemed to be sufficient - the plan never needed to be put into effect.
But there were a number of cars that showed up at the end of that long, long driveway - drivers saying they were lost - when I happened to be there in the middle of the day – any of which might have been yet another burglar checking out the place. Or maybe the same one come back again.
You just don't know.
Oh - a note on the house that had been burgled three times. The baddies took the electronic equipment, the silverware, the jewelry and the guns. Repeatedly. They wait for you to put in your insurance claim and replace it all with brand new stuff, then they come back and get all your brand new stuff. The only thing of value that they left alone through three burglaries was forty years of family pictures on the wall. By the time of the third burglary, the family who owned the house decided that the family pictures were the only thing that they really cared about, anyway - and they stopped replacing the other things.
Also - the insurance people were raising their rates and getting pretty antsy - hence, my being there as housesitter.
The result: a huge house - I mean, every time I counted up the rooms, I came up with a different number - with one lousy dinky 13" television set off in a corner somewhere. Those sorts of incongruities.
Lesson - your friends will be back. But they will wait for you to replace your computer and other stuff with newer ones, first.
Corollary - it might be time to be thinking of Operation Identification, a dog, hardening the house and/or a burglar alarm.
Guns are a whole 'nother story. Not for warding off daytime burglaries when no one is at home, anyway - they would then be just one more thing to steal. Guns are a different kind of call - lots depends on individual circumstances, the crime profile of your particular community and your police response times and your own inclinations. I would not recommend them. Nor do I tend to argue people out of them - unless there are children, adolescent males, or any hotheads or mentally ill/depressed types in the home - and modern life can get depressing, at times, for many people. A lot just depends on whether a person comes from a background where he is comfortable or uncomfortable with such things.
Best regards,
Epaminondas
