*KRACK craaaaash*!!!! 2:45am me: what the @&*% wife: oh my god! so i get up and look at the security panel and realize i forgot to set the alarm before heading off to lala land. -****- i quietly creep over to the door to see if i can hear anything, i hear something but can't make it out. now if this was say 10yrs ago i would've grabbed a weapon of choice and headed down to dispatch with extreme prejudice who/whatever was there. but common sense has pre-vailed and with kids and another on the way i wasn't going to risk it. so i turn on the heat/motion sensors and wait to see if they get tripped. as i wait the fog is lifting from sleep and i review what i had heard, my guess is one of the downstairs lavs and then i remember i couldn't get a sensor to read in that room but if you step out you'll trip it, so i wait. nothing--- at this point i figure eithier they split or they're waiting it out. i hit the police call button and wait. within 5mins i have 4 cruisers out front... (background info) my wife decided we needed a bigger place, so bought a bigger place, 3,000sq/ft on just the first level. two wings and a more windows than wall. one of the many reasons i'm not up to walking down to "look" and starting to wonder why we need all this "space". first officer rings door bell, i go over to the game room above the entry and open the window, PD: "Sheriffs dept. can you come down and open the door?" ME: "i would like to but i don't know if some ones downstairs or not" PD: "what makes you think someone's downstairs?" ME: "well i was woken up by a very loud crash and set off the alarm" PD: "if you don't open the door then we have two ways of doing it ourselves the first is kicking in the door, you wouldnt' like that" ME: "no, but how about you check the windows?" PD: " we're not going in a window" ME: " no, i don't want you going in a window i want to know if any have been forceibly opened." PD: " oh, sure my partners pulling up we'll go in groups" this conversation takes place while i have 8 officers standing around out front. a few mintues go by and one asks me to open the back slider to let the others inside, -****- i go down and there are 3 officers one is at the slider the other two are flanking him with guns drawn. i let him in and he tells me to go up and they will get me when the're done. i wait, a few minutes go by and one comes up to get me. he wants to know if i had placed a black duffle back with silver in it out on the side of the garages, gee let me think -no!- they found the noise, it was a very large oval mirror that fell off the wall and hit the sink and floor in the bathroom where the sensor doesn't read. this stupid mirror is 3'x5' and 1/4" thick so it made some great sounds on the marble. it didn't seem to be forced off in any way but the duffle bag is suspicious, not my stuff though. so now i wonder, talk about sheer coincidence, a mirror falls off the wall getting me up to check it out, hitting the alarm and spooking off somebody with a duffle bag full of loot. the police were cool and found it funny, they were also really freaking amped about it. god i hate getting woken up that way. my wife was wondering what they would've taken. i didn't really care as long as they stayed out of the garages. she didn't find that amusing and i was being serious! so i've been wired since 3am ugh..
Wow if it wasn't for the mirror crashing you would have slept through the whole thing. Good thing it crashed. Glad to hear everything came out okay. By the way have you seen the TV show called "It takes a Theif". It's about two reformed burglers that go to peoples houses and break in. With the owners permission of course. They set up cameras, and then the owners watch the whole thing. The show reminded of you, because they alway say that the first part of home security is the people that live in the place. After they do their thing, they help make the house more secure. But alot of the time when they go back to check up on the owners they find a door unlocked. I bet you don't forget to set the alarm anymore. LOL.
my biggest problem is the freaking HOA, by HOA rules i can not install motion lights or exterior lighting aimed at the house. there are no street lights; absolutly not a @#$$% one. my exterior entry lights and the lights under the porte-a-cachere -i know i can't spell- are limited to 25watts. utterly useless. our neighbor hood is a burglars dream come true, multimillion dollar homes and no lighting with rent a cops patrolling once a night at the same stupid time. yeah we have gates but the const access are open becouse they're still adding homes to the other side of the golf course. most times the burglars are the "hired help" by the const. companies becouse they know where to get in. the HOA ofcourse doesn't seem to care, this isn't a new "problem" - idiots-
You think the thieves didn't know this? (Probably neighborhood kids) Since it seems you had a house to house raid going on, I'd say there is a damn good reason to bring this shortcoming up at the next HOA meeting. Rally the neighbors and change the policy. DL
That's porte cochere Crazy story ... perhaps you should change your alarm brand to Rottweiler. . We have a mix of Lab-Rott ... and I can tell you no one comes in at night!!! BTW, I'd have stayed in the bedroom and told the cops to slm the front door!!! lol
You may want to install bright motion lights. The dog suggestion would definately help. Good luck with it.
I've taken the same approach with my pit/lab mix, but he'll just stare someone down (his normal look is pretty intimidating) however if the intruder is brave enough to continue on they'll find that he's the biggest pu**y you'll ever find and will actually welcome strangers into the backyard. If you can't get motion lights, what about some cameras placed around the property? Might be better to flip on your TV and see where they are before they get into the house. -Chris
Ours certainly won't. He barks like crazy and actually sounds like a mean dog when someone comes in the driveway. Really intimidating, according to some delivery guys that left without delivering more than once! lmao .But we've never actually tested him, as he's never chased let alone bitten anyone. With me, family and friends, he is a teddy bear. A 130lbs teddy bear. But don't tell anyone . I love my dog. Funny thing is that we never ever trained him like that. He has always been the family pet, around little kids and everything. Just naturally protective, I guess. He even gets between me and my sister when we pretend to be fighting. Now that he turned 6, he finally calmed down, and only plays 23h/day 360days/year.
thanks guys, glad to know it didn't go sour. i have thought of dogs but i'm not really a dog person or much of a pet person really. i have thought of installing CCTV and building a security room off the walk-in in MB. the smart house system should work with that. but i would really prefer to have some sort of deterence. time to lobby for a change to the CC&R's...
Crazy story, glad to hear everybodys safe also. My dogs (2 of them)......ugh.....they are little japanese dogs (shiba inus) they arent security dogs that will take down an intruder, but instead alert the entire city of Denver with a bark both of them do, which resembles a siren of some sort, which is good in the case of a burgler, except they do it at least 4 times a day; when I come home during the day for lunch or after I get home from track practice, if they want to go outside, or come inside. Our neighbors havent said anything but I know everyone within 4 blocks of us hate our dogs, they are great dogs, but geez they make a lot of noise.
Scott, wierd story. Lucky you i guess. What cars do you have in the garage that you wouldn't want to be seen? Btw, you spelt McLaren wrong in your profile
I have a shih tzu, when she was young her and her brother would start barking at anything and would not stop until we told them to. I was told they were always kept in temples b/c they will alert you to anything.
Yep, sounds suspicious....anyone in the neighborhood have a break-in that night or missing silver(ware?)? I think your neighborhood should take this more seriously. I would guess that your response would deter anyone from coming back. Also, if you go the camera route, get the ones that work well in darkness.