Someone tried to break in today

[MegaMx]

So this morning, I dropped my gf off at the skytrain, returned home. I was sitting on the couch reading up on some stuff with the TV on and I notice a black blob on my patio, I stood up and had a look and 6 feet from me on the other side of the window is a guy waring all black with a bandana on his face covering everything up to his eyes. We make eye contact and he just casually turned around. I quickly turned the alarm on so if anybody opens anything the alarm goes off. I called up 911 and within 10 minutes at least 5 cruisers were patrolling the area and came to talk to me.

Now I'm freaking out and have no idea if I was targeted or if it was random since none of my neighbors noticed anything and all of them were at home (I know almost all the neighbors around me).

I have a good alarm in my home which wasn't on since I was at home but I'll start using the stay feature more often. Regarding preventing and making it safer I'm considering two more options:

1) adding some cameras so at least i can see what direction he came from, car or no car, random or not random
2) dog, i wanted a dog for a long time but this gets me a better excuse since i heard a lot of criminals are not fond of barking dogs

Any ideas?

[Honyoung]

get the dog its more useful

[Culture_Vulture]

dogs/hounds are a better deterrents than cameras imo.

Can't think of anything else except:
-Buy some of those automated light switches that are set to go off at certain times.

-When I used to live in the suburbs in Asia, I kept a baseball bat near my doorway. My dad kept a machete beside his bed (LOL). It's a good way to tell them to GTFO without using force.

[MegaMx]

Originally Posted by Physixx

dogs/hounds are a better deterrents than cameras imo.

Can't think of anything else except:
-Buy some of those automated light switches that are set to go off at certain times.

-When I used to live in the suburbs in Asia, I kept a baseball bat near my doorway. My dad kept a machete beside his bed (LOL). It's a good way to tell them to GTFO without using force.

lol nice, i got a few hunting shotguns and rifles in my gun safe but it's a lot easier (at least for me) to talk the talk than when it happens because standing 10 ft from somebody who's wearing all black and a mask only showing his eyes freaks the shit of you and the only thing you can think of is how much time do you have to make a reaction.

I'd love to corner one of these mofos and point a shotgun right in his face but I never thought I'd be as scared as I was. If he (or they) come back again I'll be more prepared but I want to see how I can prevent them from even thinking about coming back.

I'm in one of the lowest crime neighborhoods in the tri-cities and my neighbor has been here for over 6 years without even the tiniest of incidents.

[iwantaskyline]

There was an attempted home invasion at my buddys house before. He's got a barking dog as well and all they did was bear mace the dog and continued trying to break in.

[EuroTRASH]

don't forget to keep a ball and a glove with your bat, because "it's not there for defense"

[BabyblooLexus]

sry to hear that, last yr my house got robbed twice,
aft that my mom upped our alarm system (now we have that 'stay' feature u speak of)
and we have 5 cameras outside our house. the camera system can be viewd from any of our computers/laptops in our house that has the program. it records any movement.
so far its only been useful for annoying door to door knockers
but ya camera system definately gives us a peace of mind

and yes a dog wud definately help, like a doberman pinscher (my fav!) or something
my neighbor actually puts a "beware of dog" sign up even tho he doesnt have a dog
that'll probably help too

Edit: oh yea, and we have 3 motion detectors. it even detects small movements like cats. it makes a really loud noise that can be heard from outside, so that'll probably scare the robber off

[What_the?]

do you have motion detection lights around? like if they walk around your backyard, at least make it light up so they aren't hiding in the dark?

[cococly]

where do you live?

You have to tell us where this happened and any RS member in the area could keep an eye on their cars

[MegaMx]

Originally Posted by What_the?

do you have motion detection lights around? like if they walk around your backyard, at least make it light up so they aren't hiding in the dark?

I do on the patio but this happened at 9am! From what I learned in school most crime like this happens during the day

[MegaMx]

Originally Posted by BabyblooLexus

sry to hear that, last yr my house got robbed twice,
aft that my mom upped our alarm system (now we have that 'stay' feature u speak of)
and we have 5 cameras outside our house. the camera system can be viewd from any of our computers/laptops in our house that has the program. it records any movement.
so far its only been useful for annoying door to door knockers
but ya camera system definately gives us a peace of mind

and yes a dog wud definately help, like a doberman pinscher (my fav!) or something
my neighbor actually puts a "beware of dog" sign up even tho he doesnt have a dog
that'll probably help too

Edit: oh yea, and we have 3 motion detectors. it even detects small movements like cats

how did it get robbed twice? did your mom have any alarm at all? was it robbed when the alarm was off or when somebody was at home?

the camera system i picked up today allows me to get txt notifications of movement in certain areas and can view video from any camera on iphone or internet with login.

[moomooCow]

Originally Posted by BabyblooLexus

sry to hear that, last yr my house got robbed twice,
aft that my mom upped our alarm system (now we have that 'stay' feature u speak of)
and we have 5 cameras outside our house. the camera system can be viewd from any of our computers/laptops in our house that has the program. it records any movement.
so far its only been useful for annoying door to door knockers
but ya camera system definately gives us a peace of mind

and yes a dog wud definately help, like a doberman pinscher (my fav!) or something
my neighbor actually puts a "beware of dog" sign up even tho he doesnt have a dog
that'll probably help too

Edit: oh yea, and we have 3 motion detectors. it even detects small movements like cats

Wow, how much did a system like that cost??

[mickz]

You can also use one of the P buttons on your keypad if this situation would arise and assuming your installer has enabled this feature. This will automatically sound the siren (attempting to scare the thief away) and if your system is monitored the station will dispatch the authorities.

If you have the older DSC Keypad it's the two buttons on the bottom right you have to hold together for 3 seconds


If you have the newer style keypad it's got it's own button on the bottom left


If it's an Ademco system you have there should be a dedicated button labeled "Police"

[godwin]

Under $1000?

A PVR cost about $400 (you need a harddrive to store images.)
Each camera is about $60 bucks..

The rest you just have to route / wire everything.

Of course you want to still hide things discretely so they won't have time to steal the system

Originally Posted by moomoocow

Wow, how much did a system like that cost??

[aNGAIhilate]

Lol. My house got broken into a couple years ago. We harsh fortified it since then. Bars on the windows, bars across the doors, and sensor activated lights around my house. Havent had any incidents since.

[yangwenli]

paintball gun plus dog

[Zyzz]

most dogs are pretty useless

you just throw some food at them and they will stay still

[dachinesedude]

Well obviously get some aggressive dogs, like german sheperds, pitbulls, dobermans, etc, you know, the mean suckers, oh and get two or three of them

[djm]

what area is this

[k20a]

Oh that's easy, get some bear mace.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Originally Posted by dachinesedude

Well obviously get some aggressive dogs, like german sheperds, pitbulls, dobermans, etc, you know, the mean suckers, oh and get two or three of them

2x for German Shepherds. Those bitches are badass scary.

[Meowjin]

it's the 100 grand cars in the driveway

[Vansterdam]

yea man get dogs, you should also get a 10 foot electric fence as well as some landmines

[joolee]

that's why i love my dog, he barks like crazy whenever there's anything outside regardless if it's just a cat or whatnot.

i remember when my whole family went on vacation and i was the only one home (most of the time i'm out) my neighbor spotted some random guy trying to break in through my front door and he scared him away. since my neighbor knows i'm the only one at home or i'm out lol.

and.. another time.. i was doing the dishes with the blinds wide open (i can see the whole backyard) some junkie looking guy walks into my backyard and heads down the flight of stairs towards my basement door trying to open it. i was scared since i was home alone, i immediately called the cops and i opened the window to yell at the guy. all he does is say he thought it was the new place he's renting, wtf?!

[tough]

Originally Posted by yangwenli

paintball gun plus dog

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