Police Activity in the Neighborhood

[NH_Esau]

This is based on a real-life that happened to us a while back at a place we've since moved from. Good results for us, bad for the BGs, but revealed some huge holes in our home defense plan. Would love to hear responses.

Situation:

You're asleep at 3am, the deep sleep from which you'll wake up with PSDS (Post-Sleep Disorder Syndrome) - in your home. The phone rings and caller ID shows your local PD.

You answer and hear a recorded voice say, "This is the Smileyville Police Department, there is an incident in your area and emergency personnel are responding. We request that you remain in your house and do not go outside." [Yes, I know the absurdity of this - at 3AM, I have no plans to go outside, and if I did, I wouldn't be answering the phone, but that's another subject]

It's quiet outside, but you go to double check that the doors are locked anyways [with whatever you normally would bring with you to do so - I know I've changed my answer on this since the event]. As you get to the front door, you hear a very loud noise - you're still a bit fuzzy, but it sounds like glass shattering or maybe even a gunshot from the direction of one of your kids' rooms [or your MBR if you don't have kids].

WWYD?

[Edit]:

To clarify - if you enter the room where you think the noise came from, how do you do it? What kind of comm, if any? What's your plan to ID friend/foe?

One more thing... after your initial actions, you are able to confirm your loved ones are OK. However, you suspect someone may be in the house. Do you move your family to a barricade location, and if so, how? Have you ever practiced this?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[First Sgt]

Easy...I'm already armed...I move to the perceived threat...Anything after that is dependent upon what I encounter...I do NOT leave my spouse or my granddaughter to the possibility of someone entering or being in their room...Hopefully one of the critters just knocked something over that broke. If it's a gunshot, my same response applies...I will fight to my death to protect them...Really pretty simple...JMO

[msgt/ret]

Immediately take cover then decide what to do after evaluating the situation.

[gasmitty]

I'd try to figure out from the sound of five (yes, five - count 'em) dogs barking where a possible threat was coming from. My MBR is on the second floor (much prefer the security of being off ground level) and I'm staying there, armed, to protect my lady until the situation is secured or at least better defined.

[NH_Esau]

I'd try to figure out from the sound of five (yes, five - count 'em) dogs barking where a possible threat was coming from. My MBR is on the second floor (much prefer the security of being off ground level) and I'm staying there, armed, to protect my lady until the situation is secured or at least better defined.

That's funny - this happened years ago, and this is the first time I realized that I have absolutely no recollection of where the dog was, which means that he was probably asleep on his mat in our MBR through the whole long (and occasionally very noisy) ordeal. Now granted, he's old.

Need a new dog, but I've known that for a while.

[dukalmighty]

I don't need to recheck doors and windows,they are locked 24/7 unless I'm going in and out,once inside the dead bolt gets thrown,don't have kids at home,so I'm sitting in the BDRM with one of my 45's and the SA 12 gauge with 5 rounds 00 buck.I will defend my position,I hear a crash somewhere in the house I guard my position,they can come down the fatal funnel to get to me,knowing my dog she is probably between my legs peering down the hall with a look like "What the hell was that"

[Inspector71]

That's funny - this happened years ago, and this is the first time I realized that I have absolutely no recollection of where the dog was, which means that he was probably asleep on his mat in our MBR through the whole long (and occasionally very noisy) ordeal. Now granted, he's old.

Need a new dog, but I've known that for a while.

Never sell an old dog short.

[ArkhmAsylm]

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Send the dogs in, call out to the wife, & evaluate the situation by their reaction. If I'm going in, it's with my flashlight ready & my firearm low.

[tiwee]

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.

[marcclarke]

Get on the local ham radio repeater and find out what is actually happening.

[Badey]

You left me hanging! I was looking for the rest of the story!

[DeathRales]

Send up the night flares; pop off a couple of claymores and go back to sleep.

[NH_Esau]

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.

[BenGoodLuck]

I would take cover, assess the situation, then try to call 911. Check to ensure kids and wife are ok. If unable to reach 911, proceed with caution to clear house.

[Doodle]

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.