04/09/2018
Frighten Away Bad Guys
A few years ago we came home from work to find our house had been broken into. The culprit had gone into the unlocked detached garage and found a hefty sledge hammer and used that to smash the window in the sliding doors of the patio. The policeman said it was just kids and implied that there was, therefore, nothing to be done about it. He spent a good deal of time going over the safety precautions we should instigate for protection from future break-ins. He told us to get an iron rod to put in the door tracks so that they couldn’t be opened and recommended some additional locks for the same doors. He also suggested, forcefully, that we should hide the sledge hammer because there is no trick to resist a forceful blow against the glass.
The thief made off with a new stereo set we had purchased only the day before the break-in. He took nothing else. He wore large kitchen gloves which left marks on everything he touched. He picked up many valuable things but took only the stereo set.
About three months later a guy with a super pick-up truck smashed into our front door using his big bumper to crunch the door and the framing around it. Then he took off and parked the truck in the alley behind the house and then walked in through the broken door. Luckily our son was visiting from Seattle and arrived home from a walk, just as the thief was pushing through the broken door. Our son yelled and the thief ran to his truck and took off down the alley.
Nothing was stolen but it cost more than $5,000 to rebuild the door frame and replace the old door with something more substantial. We have been in this house for 40 years and those two events have been our only break ins. We have been really lucky, although I have heard recently that there have been many break-ins in the neighborhood, so far we remain safe.
How can I protect my home better? I have found some great ideas at http://personalsafetymentor.com A big noisy dog could frighten people away, but dogs can be a lot of work and it would cost a fortune to kennel them when we travel. On the other hand, we could get the recorded voice of a big dog to respond to a motion sensor. It is a good way to save on dog-food and having to pick up poo in the back yard and frighten away bad guys.
