Police Activity in the Neighborhood

[NH_Esau]

This brings up something I haven't thought about in my house... Being relatively small (1700 sq ft) and having no way of getting to my daughters room without literally crossing through all of the main areas, if some one actually gets in the house before I can respond I'm going to have to fight my way to my daughters bedroom. Mind you I have 2 big dogs, a monitored alarm system, and armored deadbolt jams with secondary sliding bolts, but if someone managed to get through before I could traverse the length of the house I may have to use the violence of action approach rather than ambush.

Exactly the situation we had in the previous house, and one of the reasons I like this one a lot better.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Billspider]

Never set up a fair fight. I am going to cover and will ID/ambush any one who is inside our home as a threat to our lives. Once I start moving around in the house at night, the intruder will have equal tactical footing. If I remain still in a dark location in my own house the odds of a successful engagement are in my favor.

The experts claim you should never try to clear your house and leave your loved ones alone. So I totally agree with the above statement.

[Hiram25]

HONEY! The cat just knocked over your flowers!

[TSKnight]

HONEY! The cat just knocked over your flowers!

Our cat knocked over the flowers my wife had placed on top of the console TV one night. water pouring in the top back of a TV makes for a rather RUDE awakening! LOL

[MisterAvis]

This is about the one good reason I can think of to have children of reasonable age with a cell phone. (Easier to win over the kids with that than with walkie-talkies lol).. 'Course you gotta explain that will you not be texting them with emoticons that you are clearing the home... But in all seriousness perhaps they are alerted before you are and they have a plan in action to alert you and a plan to retreat.

[Eagleks]

My 3 dogs will try to eat them..... they only want love and attention from my grandkids when they are staying here (which is a lot). "Any" noise, the dogs are taught to "alert" me, then if I tell them to check it out.... they will show me exactly where the noise came from. If there is someone who shouldn't be there, they'll make that obvious it's someone that doesn't belong and exactly where they are. Plus I'ld then light them up with my flashlight. I also have 'key' lights in specific locations that will put someone in a lit area if they were breaking in, but they wouldn't be able to see me. They would have also set off outside motion lights that will be on (which I can tell) , and outside motion / heat alarms that will sound as well.

I think I have it covered.

[paching]

That's why I don't have cats.

[1911srule]

Lots of comm between wife and me as well as me yelling stuff like "Get out of my house! I have a gun and I will kill you!"

Just my opinion, but I think its potentially a fatal mistake to verbalize this. Especially not knowing where or how many BG's are in your home. Don't give up any advantage. Only time I'd consider issuance of any verbal command is after illuminating BG and covering him with 12 ga/surefire combo. Then only if no weapon is visible, and you've determined its only that one BG. In your case had a BG been in your home, he could have ambushed you since your giving him a homing beacon. You can only scare off someone who is somewhat rational , others may kill you and do God knows what to your family.Just saying...

[1911srule]

depends on too many variables on whether or not to even clear the house, vice stay with family and wait. Our home is small, every family member in other rooms. If entry were being made, it'd have to be addressed immediately at that specific point...

[Yoda]

That's why I don't have cats.

I hate cats, that's why we have four.

[killam1357]

Our house is pretty small and we live with room mates not kids. The roomies live on the other side of the house than we do. First thing we do is heck our respective doors, then sweep out through the great room. It is kinda like a trailer house but if we see anyone the whole house knows identify themselves fast and clearly.

One room mate came in late one day and we were in bed and thought everyone was home. I poked out and saw it was them, being a smart ass his GF said she expected someone with a gun, I then reveled my cocked and locked pistol and our other room mate opened his door all the way showing his mos500.

Not the brightest idea poking out first, but house is small enough that every room is pretty well connected.


Si vis pacem, para bellum

[accessbob]

That's why I don't have cats.

I don't have cats, because I'm allergic to them. I do have 3 dogs, however, one of which is going to grow into a very large dog (vet says over 100 lbs - Pit Bull). He's a puppy at the moment (about 3 months old).

[ducatirider]

OK, here are the basics, some details left out to keep the humiliation to a dull roar...

- Mistake 1 - living in town. Never again.
- Mistake 2 - previously discussed: Poor/inadequate/lousy planning, and no discussion w/family
- I run empty-handed direct for the room where I thought I heard the noise - firearms are safely ensconced elsewhere (mistake 3). Windows intact, kid OK.
- Wife is right behind me, collects kids and moves to barricade room (first good thing - we actually had that determined in advance)
- I run to collect the weapons, phone, and flashlight from MBR that should've been in my hands in the first place.
- I clear house solo on my way to the family. Lots of comm between wife and me as well as me yelling stuff like "Get out of my house! I have a gun and I will kill you!"
- 911 and non-emergency lines to cops jammed.
- After a few minutes, no noise and we're pretty sure house is empty, but we spend about an hour or so barricaded before I talk to dispatcher who tells me my street is OK. I clear the house again, then we get the kids back in bed. I don't sleep the rest of the night.
- Never figure out the noise - pretty sure it was the cat tipping over something in one of the kids' rooms (but they'd had a long play day w/friends and the rooms were a bit "disordered" so sleuthing what was out of place wasn't going to happen).

SWAT corners BG down the road. He ends up killing himself.

After-action: We congratulate the kids on doing so well in our "safety drill" the previous night. They barely remember anything except that they slept on the floor for a bit. Wife and I debrief the event and come up with a better plan. Later, we get to move, and home defense becomes a bigger part of the house-shopping formula.

Any idea why the lines were jammed? Maybe as a result of the police calling people, or people calling back for more info? Even then, why would 911 be jammed?

As for me, I'd toss on a holster and pistol and do a walk-about. There is almost no way that someone could get into my house without me knowing. If you shift your weight the house itself makes a ton of noise.

[1984]

1st Sgt and Doodle seem to make the only sense to me. My wife and children don't have guns, and I hear what might be gunshots coming from their room, the time for thinking and tactics was 5 minutes ago.

I am running full throttle to where I heard the sound. If someone is shooting my family they already had one shot. There is a chance they missed and I am praying for that. I am going to take them through the wall and down 2 stories with their carotid in my mouth and it won't matter what caliber hole or how many they perforate me with at the time. We are going for a flight.

For those who aren't charging at the sound of gunfire in a loved one's room you really have to ask yourself - what if the next sound you hear is "Damn- she's still movin'. (Rack)."

(Even if your family is armed and may be the shooters. Even then, I'm coming like a freight train screaming like a banshee... If I die from friendly fire so be it, better than surviving in a good tactical position hoping the dogs figure things out while my family is executed).

So I guess I totally disagree that #3 was a mistake.

[NH_Esau]

1st Sgt and Doodle seem to make the only sense to me. My wife and children don't have guns, and I hear what might be gunshots coming from their room, the time for thinking and tactics was 5 minutes ago.

I am running full throttle to where I heard the sound. If someone is shooting my family they already had one shot. There is a chance they missed and I am praying for that. I am going to take them through the wall and down 2 stories with their carotid in my mouth and it won't matter what caliber hole or how many they perforate me with at the time. We are going for a flight.

For those who aren't charging at the sound of gunfire in a loved one's room you really have to ask yourself - what if the next sound you hear is "Damn- she's still movin'. (Rack)."

(Even if your family is armed and may be the shooters. Even then, I'm coming like a freight train screaming like a banshee... If I die from friendly fire so be it, better than surviving in a good tactical position hoping the dogs figure things out while my family is executed).

So I guess I totally disagree that #3 was a mistake.

I'm 100% with you - pretty much exactly what I did. Now it's all about thanking God that we have the opportunity for hindsight and thinking/preparation, and then taking that opportunity to do something about it so if it goes down for real next time, we've got other options.

Hunker down while family is unarmed on the other side of the house? Not going to happen, even if I have to go all Naked Zulu warrior against a Panzer division.

#3 mistake wasn't charging into the room, but that I was empty handed in the first place.