I had a VERY SCARY experience yesterday!

[jeffg]

> Guess it pays to know your neighbors and some of their personal business. <

If a neighbor wants to know you, and share their personal business with you, that's great. But otherwise, PLEASE mind your own business.

We've had some truly awful experiences with busybodies over the years. Our next door neighbor at our last house was Mrs. Kravitz. We sincerely considered putting a bullet through her head. We couldn't even open a friggin door without her peeping out at us between her miniblinds.

 

[strongenough78]

That sucks!

Sorry to hear about that Kevin. Some people are so scantless. Last summer I had left the windows down a crack in my Lincoln since it had been so hot outside. And someone had pushed the window the rest of the way down and went through it. They didn't take anything, luckily I didn't have anything in there worth taking. They just left the glove box open and all my cd's scattered all over the seats. The cops couldn't get a clear set of prints either. All I can suggest hun, is get a BIG ASS DOG. That'll teach the next person not to break into houses anymore.

 

[spankomatic]

they didn't expect me and my brother in law to chase the

That is a good way to get SHOT! I was a 911 operator for 20 years. I took a call of an in progress auto burglary in the driveway of the residence. While on the phone the owner of the car ran outside (against my advice) to catch the burglar and was shot DEAD in his driveway. If you get home and find a door or window open... go to a neighbors and call the police. Do not go inside. Yes,rapeist do hide in closets and wait. It is not a myth. Neighbors and dogs are your best defense. Burglar alarms are usually the LOWEST priority call. Good burglars know this. They have lots of time before the police arrive even if the neighbors and alarm company call them. In some cases they do not respond at all and will wait for you to call with an ACTUAL crime to report. Hope the info is helpful.
Jim

 

[imperialmarkxii]

LA. Riots

Gee Kevin, sorry to hear about this; this way. How did this scumball,get past your neighbors dogs' radar??? Or did they think he was just barking at nothing?

Back in the early 90's, shortly after the "Rodney King Riot" (several weeks), my early 1980's silver blue Cadillac w/navy blue leather interior was stolen off the street in front of the tri-plex we lived at the time. And we were nowhere near where most of the looting and destruction was occurring. Dis-belief, YES. VIOLATED, like never before. I contended that these thugs demolished, and trashed so many of their OWN belongings; that they were out to "replace" them by saturating any AND ALL neighborhoods to get whatever they could pry loose.

We only had one off-street parking place there, and as my Mother was living w/me at the time we would trade-off nite after nite parking in the street. Forget that i had the "CLUB" anti-theft device on the steering wheel; they cut right thru the steering wheel, and removed it. ...

Funny thing; the landlords wife, (some of the nicest people you could know) had a dream the evening that happened that MY car was being stolen. Needless to say she felt REALLY bad about it the next day.

Long story short,the car had been recovered, TRASHED, CHOPPED-UP ... A VERY SICKENING THING TO SEE how someone could do this to what was a BEAUTIFUL sedan DE Ville. INSULT TO INJURY?? i had just had front-end suspension work done; and new rubber on it,

Time softens the shock of it all, but you NEVER really get over it. I share your feelings my friend.

-Russell

 

[frapdoodle]

i know how you feel

about a month ago my two friends and i were walking to town. we had just turned a corner, and i looked into the forrest and there was a man up there. now that may not sound like much, but he did not have a county jacket. so i looked to my friends and i said "now alexis, daniella do you see that guy"
? they answered "yes". so just for the hell of it they started running. i did not feel like running so i kept walking. luckly i looked behind me and the guy was chasing us. i started running, and alexis and daniella werwe slowing down. i told them to keep going because the guy was chasing us. the guy was gaining on us fast. so we dove off the road to try and hide from him. he found us. we were scared poop-less. he told us to give him all our stuff, but i was wearing skinny jeans. whitch i look very sexy in if i do say so myself. but thats beside the point. the guy saw my cell phone, itouch and 36 dollars cash besause of my sexy skinny jeans. so we gave him our things and he left. then i flagged down a car and the police came and cought the guy. but i did not get any of my things back cause he already sold them.

as you can imagine i was quite distrought. the next day i went to school and by third period EVERYONE knew what had happened. and when i say everyone i mean everyone. even teachers. and actually one of the counclers told me to start carring pepper spray. so now i carry pepper spray everywere i go. even school. but no one knows. so its all good andf i dont show or use it so yueah

 

[alr2903]

Me too in 1982, they made off with a portable tv, the freaky thing was the 80's console tv (heavy as hell). was pulled out, cord rolled up and ready to move. to this day i think they were in the house when i drove up. We now have bars on the back windows and an alarm system and the neighbors have a big woofin dog that i love. More than anything in here i worry about our 2 cats they hopefully would hide, and they are the only thing in here i would kill your ass over Deadbolts that are keyed on both sides are best, make the burglar go out the way they got in. My realtor told me the biggest "boon" to the thug home burglary busisness is cordless power tools, they can work on doors and windows in seconds with a power drill ( the cordless tools they prolly picked up at the last house robbery). The other half works strange shifts and really we don't have set patterns leaving the house, routine is bad too. Kevin get an alarm and beef up your security/locks. I feel for you, it's very unsettling.

 

[appliguy]

Wow...I am impressed with all the big talk of killing people

NOT!!!!!!! Unless I had to do it in self defense I could never kill anyone....to me material objects just are not worth the guilt I would feel over taking a life. I also agree with Spankomatic that it is very dumb to chase after anyone who has tried to break into your car or house. You guys need to think of how it would affect your family and friends if you were killed doing something stupid like that. I had a macho friend who did the same thing when someone tried to break into his neighbors house and he got shot. He was lucky for 2 reasons though. First, he was shot in the shoulder and second, he was shot with a bee bee gun. When his sister found out what he had done she was mad as hell and told him thats what he deserved for thinking with his dork instead of his brain. She said she could not understand how he could put his life on the line for material possesions ....his or anyone elses. Looking back on it my friend now says if he had it to do over again he would have handled it differently. All I am asking all you macho guys out there is are material possesions worth it? I understand about about feeling violated ..... my car was broken into one time. the guy used a shiv to pop the lock on the door of my 1983 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser. He tried to hot wire it but he got interuppted by someone entering the parking garage. To this day I can not figure out why the guy wanted a car that was 15 years old at the time. even though it was in really good shape...A STATION WAGON?????? PAT COFFEY

 

[iheartmaytag]

If a neighbor wants to know you, and share their personal bu

I actually live across the street from Mrs. Kraviz right now. I understand what you are saying. She is a real PITA.
BUT--If someone is going on vacation, or be away overnight. or even moving; it is a good ideal to let your neighbors know so they can watch out for your stuff. That is unless you are afraid that your neighbors would be the one to clean you out. In any case notify the Police so they can increase patrol in your area.

 

[revvinkevin]

Thank you for all of your heartfelt comments. Yes it is a terrible thing to experience, very unsettling and disturbing just KNOWING some stranger was in MY own house, going through MY own things! I felt uneasy and violated. I would not wish it on anyone.

So far it would appear it was just some kid, based on what was taken and what was not. There were a number of things which I was surprised, but also very relieved to see was still there. Of course the thought what came to mind was, "Now they've seen what's here, they know what to come back for!" When I mentioned this to the police officer, he told me "The vast majority of the time, it's a one time deal, and almost never return to the same residence".

I am very fortunate because a lot more could have been taken, but wasn't and no one was injured. My 82 year old father lives with me but he was not aware anyone had been in the house.

I feel for all of you who have experienced anything like this and I'm sorry to hear you had to go through it, especially that home invasion John! I cannot even imagine going through that! I am happy to hear you and your family was not injured! It's very unfortunate that some "assholes" chose any one of our homes as a "target" to see what they can help themselves to. But the items taken from me, you or your loved ones are just material "things" which can be replaced, someone's life cannot.

 

[qsd-dan]

"Unless I had to do it in self defense I could never kill anyone....to me material objects just are not worth the guilt I would feel over taking a life."

But how will you be able to decipher if the break-in is over material possessions, rape, or taking ones life out of anger?

The way I see it, that's one less idiot in this world that tax payers don't have to pay massive amounts of $$ over the course of a life sentence. This kind of liberal thinking is the reason why crime is out of control. If everybody was armed and properly trained to use a weapon, there would be little to no crime. Texas is a prime example of this.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Just as long as your washer/dryer collection survived!

Maybe I shouldn't have joked about "cleaning out your garage" like I did...

Seriously, That sucks. I live in a older neighborhood in a small town where all the families know (and watch out for) each other. I doubt half of them even lock their doors. I do just from force of habit from living in the SF Bay Area for so long. I currently rely on a 'Security system by Labs, inc.' setup. The dogs do a very good job of policing the property.

RCD

 

[iheartmaytag]

Labs are excellent security

They are teritorial, so they protect what is theirs.

I had a policeman tell me that he has on several occasions gone to a reported break in where the perp. was still inside. It seems the Lab would allow them in, and were wall freindly with them, but when they tried to walk out with their TV; the dog wouldn't let them leave.