Someone is casing our house

[Anonymous]

The data shows that defensive uses of firearms outnumber accidents.

Yeah, you're going to have to show your work on that one. Source, please?

[Anonymous]

Definitely call when "odd" solicitors show up too.
Last week Friday an adult woman rang at 7:30pm on a hot Friday. My European husband nicely opened the door and stepped outside to speak. First she asked for a charity donation, but couldn't explain it well. Then she asked for a signature supposedly saying she was "well spoken and presentable." And then she asked for a drink. My husband didn't understand anything she was saying, but like an oof he signed the paper and gave her a can of sprite. He later told me he didn't want to be accused of discrimination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why has no one stated the obvious solution?

Get a gun.

Unless you're in DC, where you have to cower to a home invader and just hope he doesn't feel like raping you.

Refuse to be a victim.

Ha! Or BETTER yet, get a gun, and let him come in and steal it while you're out. OR, get a gun, and shoot him at the front door and maybe also hit an innocent bystander. OR, get a gun, let your kid find it and hurt himself. OR, get a gun, and while you're in the basement and he's breaking in, you race him to the upstairs "hiding spot," have him overpower you, and you're effed. AMERICA, EFF YEAH!!!

Or, you know, create a safety zone around yourself with neighbors always keeping eyes out, check your security cameras, and call the cops for any reason you suspect something's amiss. I don't think the security cameras are going to accidentally shoot anyone or be used to overpower you.

Put an NRA sticker on the door with " please give me the opportunity to shoot you" on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why has no one stated the obvious solution?

Get a gun.

Unless you're in DC, where you have to cower to a home invader and just hope he doesn't feel like raping you.

Refuse to be a victim.

Ha! Or BETTER yet, get a gun, and let him come in and steal it while you're out. OR, get a gun, and shoot him at the front door and maybe also hit an innocent bystander. OR, get a gun, let your kid find it and hurt himself. OR, get a gun, and while you're in the basement and he's breaking in, you race him to the upstairs "hiding spot," have him overpower you, and you're effed. AMERICA, EFF YEAH!!!

Or, you know, create a safety zone around yourself with neighbors always keeping eyes out, check your security cameras, and call the cops for any reason you suspect something's amiss. I don't think the security cameras are going to accidentally shoot anyone or be used to overpower you.

Put an NRA sticker on the door with " please give me the opportunity to shoot you" on it.

Ha! Although, seriously, in my old 'hood, that would be an invitation to come in and rob the place of your gun.

[Anonymous]

This drives me nuts. People are always posting about suspicious and even criminal activity on local listservs and asking, what should I do?

CALL THE POLICE. Believe me, they WANT you to call these things in.

[Anonymous]

PP here -- I also second the idea of getting a dog. Our dog (quite a nice dog but large and barky) makes me feel safer than any alarm system.

[Anonymous]

Booby trap the house with a pressure cooker nail bomb and go on vacation.

[Anonymous]

The police and the local authorities know who is a PITA, trust me. As long as you are not trying to mob others in the neighborhood, or wasting time and resources, you will be fine. Otherwise, to get a reputation with the police and local authorities as a nuisance is a bad thing. You would be surprised the stories I have heard and who is oblivious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Is George Zimmerman on this board?

Wow. Neighborhood watches work for a time, then tend to peter out, statistically. This is 2013, not 1962. Get with the program.

Get an alarm installed, get cameras in place, get a dog that notices everything. The latter is not practical of human beings. Plenty of human beings notice neighbors comings and goings, yet are useless when a crime actually hits (cars and houses broken into, especially, as these are most often at "inconvenient" times).

Learn about crime and when and where it happens and act accordingly. Unless you plan to "neighborhood watch" between the hours of 2 AM and 6 AM every evening. EGADS. Brains anyone?

+!

I used to live in Baltimore. there were a series of robberies in the neighborhood. the neighborhood watch was kind of useless (not for lack of trying), but the robberies happened during the day, when most people were working, and the neighborhood watch "patrols" (2 to a car, so it's not like a SAHM could do a daytime patrol) were in the evening. The signs were useless. In fact, I think the signs only hurt real estate, because prospective buyers got worried when they saw a bunch of neighborhood watch signs (and rightly so, perhaps).

There are a few things that I think did/do help.

As mentioned above, get a dog. No, it doesn't have to be a mean dog. but it does have to be a large dog with a loud bark who will bark when someone is on your property. People think that a guard dog needs to be mean or tough, but that actually isn't the case. For a dog to be helpful with security, the dog just has to have a presence -- be large -- and be loud. that is enough of a deterrent for a burglar. I love my big dog. He's a big baby and he is a great family dog, but he also adds some security because he has a really intimidating bark. And he's huge. So anyone coming to the door or poking around the house is greeted with an intense and frightening bark as well as seeing glimpses of him jumping up in the window.

Burglars are risk-averse, especially if they're the kind who will take the time to case the house. so things like big, scary-looking dogs will make the burglar decide to rob another house instead of yours.

the other thing that policemen have said is that alarm system SIGNS are deterrents. It isn't that the system itself is especially helpful, but if there are signs in front of a house that suggest there's a security system, again, it adds another element of risk. And sometimes it causes a burglar to move on to a different house.

And the final thing that is helpful is to leave not just a light on but also a tv or radio on when you're not there. If a burglar goes up to a house and hears the tv or radio from outside, they might think someone is home.

These are all things that can help prevent a burglar from even ATTEMPTING to rob you. the issue I have with people who suggests guns is that it isn't a deterrent for a robber. What you really want is to prevent the person from breaking in to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Booby trap the house with a pressure cooker nail bomb and go on vacation.

Anti criminal terror... Lol

[Anonymous]

Previous PP here.

I would add that there really is little a neighbor can do beyond call the police if they notice something. I think a dog or cameras or signs for a security system are things that are much more useful in PREVENTING a break in.

I know someone who was at home and saw from her window someone breaking in to her neighbor's house. She called the police. but by the time they got there, the burglars were gone. There really wasn't anything she could do. And in fact, it was better for her safety that she make sure the burglars didn't see that she was there.

This is the problem with "neighborhood watch" groups. They can report "suspicious activity," but in my experience, the police aren't very responsive to "suspicious activity," especially if a neighborhood watch group is reporting a lot of it. (It could just be the neighborhood I lived in, but I think the neighborhood watch group had the effect of crying wolf.)

Not to mention, I live in an area where the police viewed property crime as small potatoes. So even when a neighbor's house was robbed, they didn't do much. They were sort of apathetic about it. One public relations person came to a neighborhood watch meeting and gave tips. But that was about it.

Of course, I would still call the police as an individual homeowner if someone is on your property. But I wouldn't expect much unless and until the guy actually does something.

[Anonymous]

^^^ that should read "lived in an area." The issues I had with robberies and apathetic police were in my old neighborhood/city.

[Anonymous]

ITA that the NW signs can deter potential buyers. But those who favor NW groups are stuck in the 50's, anyway, so why would they want new buyers/new homes coming in? Perhaps if the other neighbors are tired of them, they could try to hit up the "new" neighbors with crazy ideas, but new neighbors catch on *very* quickly. Besides, I knew all about the who's, whats, and wheres before I moved in! Moreso than the (one way) crazy NW neighbors!

Dogs, lights, cameras and alarms work best. If they are in your house already, better use the back door! The cameras will do the work for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

One word: cameras. Many of them.

My friend has a creepy neighbor who is obsessed with their comings and goings, among other intricacies. They posted cameras and have caught the neighbors actually being worse than my friends ever imagined! Lets just say that neighbor is in extremely deep trouble.

Cameras are one of their many sources of proof. Without them, my friend would be the one who looked like the "crazy neighbor". In addition, the (real) crazy neighbor is preoccupied with appearances, so my friend having proof (in addition to the cameras), is priceless!

GL OP. It is no fun having a neighborhood crazy.

OMG please share some of the things creepy neighbor has done!

My mom found, under our ground floor living room window, long after we kids had moved out, piles of cigarette stubs. Someone had been standing outside the window, smoking, and watching her watch TV.

Yup. when I first moved to DC in 1996 and lived in Adam's Morgan on Lanier Place, I was watching TV in my living room one night, looked out the bay window and saw a man standing on my porch and watching me watch TV through the window. Worse, when he saw me see him and he left, I saw him walk about 7 houses down and go inside.

I think that is the MO of a rapist

[Anonymous]

Go buy a shotgun ASAP.