This story may be a little long, but ever since the event took place 3 months ago I have put a lot of thought into what transpired, what I did right (maybe?) and what I did wrong, and what I have done afterwards to HOPEFULLY minimize the chances of it happening again. It is my hope that I can offer our members some things to think about for their own security, and maybe get some discussion going in critiquing my actions before, during, and after the event took place. I hope you take the time to read this, and I encourage feedback! THANKS in advance!!
I have been fortunate in my 55 years to have had very little experience with break-ins or for that matter anything of real value being stolen from me. I think a major reason for this is that I tend to be little overly security focused. I am a fanatic about locked doors (home and vehicle). My homes have always had a monitored security systems. And I try to not leave items visible/accessible (home and vehicle) that would usually tempt a thief. But even with this heightened attention to personal security we had a break-in to our garage recently. Not only did we have a break-in, but it was while we were home (early AM), AND the "bad-guy" was still in the garage when I made entry.
The Break-In (short version):
For the past 25 years or so, I have always had a monitored security system. Until this event, the only time the alarm has gone off was as a result of accidental activation, or problems with the system equipment. The system in our current house was pretty old when we bought it. Our monitoring service did some minor updates when we moved here 9 years ago (20 year old house). It is a fairly trouble-free system, but over the last couple of years we get trouble alerts because of things like remote battery power loss, wireless cell phone communication errors, etc. These trouble alerts result in a loud constant alarm from our keyboard panel. They definitely get you attention and results in us quickly re-activating the alarm. Since this is only a local alarm, we don't get a call from the monitoring service.
So, when the alarm went off for this event, my wife quickly deactivated the alarm. But since this was an actual door being opened you would think that the monitoring system would have been contacted and the police called!! Unfortunately, we found out later that all of our doors to the outside were programmed with a delay. This had been done by the previous owner to allow access through any door when the alarm was set, to give plenty of time to turn off the alarm. So, when my wife immediately cancelled the initial alarm, there was nothing picked up by the monitoring service!
Resolution: We have since had a complete overhaul of our security system equipment to minimize trouble alerts. We had all of the outside doors programmed to immediately set off the alarm system upon opening, which will contact the monitoring service without delay. The only door we access when we get home is our kitchen door and that remains on a delay. We also know now to look at the details on the keypad control panel before deactivating the alarm.
Lesson #2 - Communicating w/ 911:
I wasn't very happy that it took 25 minutes for the police to arrive since the local precinct is only 5 minutes away. After looking back on the series of events, I can "sort of" understand the delay. At the time I was angry at my security monitoring service, but it wasn't their fault (Lesson #1 above). When I asked my wife to call 911, I told her we had been broken into and the "perp" was gone. The 911 operator only communicated to the police that we had been broken into, but there was no "bad-guy"! Hence, the lack of urgency! Maybe we should have communicated that I had encountered the bad-guy and wasn't sure of his location and that he might still be on our property. Bottom-line, always be prepared to not see LEO re-reinforcements in a timely fashion!
Lesson #3 - Visible Access to your Assets:
My garage is (unfortunately) a large storage building! In hindsight, this may have slowed down the bad-guy's ability to quickly grab items of value. After reviewing the few pieces that were grabbed and taken outside, they all had one thing in common. They were easily seen through the windows of my large garage door. He obviously used a flashlight to look through the windows and see what he could grab quickly.
Resolution: 1) I'm planning to have a reflective film installed on the garage door windows.You can still see out from inside the garage, but the outside has a reflective surface that prevents looking in. Especially, at night with a flashlight. Should have done this already! 2) I leave the backyard corner floodlights on at night. Plan to install motion detectors soon.
Lesson #4 - Entry Access:
The door that was used for entry had a medium sized pet door installed by the previous owner. As "anal" as I am about security, I never thought of that as a entry point. I am pretty sure the bad-guy saw the door when he looked through the garage door windows. The pet door was pushed up and open, and the dead-bolt had been turned. No forced entry. It wasn't big enough for a person to get through, but just big enough for a head and arm to wiggle through to turn the locks. The police officer confirmed that this happens a lot more than most people know. Needless to say that this door has been "updated" to prevent easy access. Maybe a battering ram, but nothing less!!
Most Important Lesson Learned:
All of the lesson above are important. It is amazing what you overlook, or don't think about, until you have something like this happen to you. But the items above are the physical fixes.
Now I deal with the psychological impact! This event caused me a few sleepless nights thinking about how close I came to actually coming face-to-face with a bad-guy in my house with a loaded handgun in my hand. All it would have taken is for that bad-guy to have been out in the middle of my garage and not by the door, and this event might have ended A LOT different! How would I have handled it?
I have always been around firearms. I am a FIRM believer in the 2nd Amendment and everyone's right to protect themselves! But I REALLY never actually thought that I would be put into this situation. I am very familiar with my handguns. I practice at the range. I stay on top of the laws governing my use of firearms. But AGAIN, what if....
Bottom line.... Stay vigilante, and always be prepared! You never know!!
Hope this helps some of you! Let me hear from you!
I have been fortunate in my 55 years to have had very little experience with break-ins or for that matter anything of real value being stolen from me. I think a major reason for this is that I tend to be little overly security focused. I am a fanatic about locked doors (home and vehicle). My homes have always had a monitored security systems. And I try to not leave items visible/accessible (home and vehicle) that would usually tempt a thief. But even with this heightened attention to personal security we had a break-in to our garage recently. Not only did we have a break-in, but it was while we were home (early AM), AND the "bad-guy" was still in the garage when I made entry.
The Break-In (short version):
- Around 5:45 AM I was just getting out of the shower. My wife came in and told me that our alarm had just (within 2 -3 minutes) gone off and it indicated the garage door (side door to backyard patio) was open. She had silenced the alarm (Lesson #1 below).
- I retrieved my pistol (Glock 30SF) and went down the stairs and through the kitchen towards the inside garage access door. As I approached the door, I heard a noise in the garage. To be honest until that moment I wasn't expecting to find anything wrong. I immediately double-checked that I had a round chambered. Without much more thought, I quickly turned the dead-bolt, flipped on the light switch and opened the door. As the door was opening, I yelled something to the effect of "I am armed and will shoot your ass!!" There was a loud noise by the door to the outside patio. It is located in a little "alcove" of the garage that is out of sight from the door into the kitchen where I was. I immediately ran down the steps and around the corner towards the door. When I got to the door it was still moving and I heard the aluminum fence gate (backyard to front yard) slam shut. I continued to pursue, until I got through the gate and on my driveway. I never actually saw the person, but I know I was within 20 feet of him! It was very dark and lightly misting rain, so I decided to go back inside and yell to my wife to call 911. (Lesson #2)
- When I knew my wife had called 911, I grabbed my large flashlight (still armed) and went back outside to look around. I noticed about 4 items that had been stashed on the other side of the fence. There was also a small box of my cordless drills and impacts that he(?) had dropped by the garage door in his haste to leave. LUCKILY, I was able to interrupt his plans before anything was actually stolen! (Lesson #3)
- The police arrived 25 MINUTES LATER!! (part of lesson #1 and #2). He swept my yard and the neighbors. I told him I was pretty sure nothing was stolen. By this time the items outside were pretty wet from the light rain. We discussed the mode of entry (details in Lesson #4). I had touched the door knobs (inside and out). So basically, he said that he would issue a report, but there was not really anything else he could do. (NOTE: I had secured my weapon as the police officer was arriving. I did tell him that I had a license to conceal carry and that the gun had been secured.)
- I did several more inspections inside the garage and am positive nothing was missing. There are a lot of ways that this could have been A LOT worse. We were lucky!
For the past 25 years or so, I have always had a monitored security system. Until this event, the only time the alarm has gone off was as a result of accidental activation, or problems with the system equipment. The system in our current house was pretty old when we bought it. Our monitoring service did some minor updates when we moved here 9 years ago (20 year old house). It is a fairly trouble-free system, but over the last couple of years we get trouble alerts because of things like remote battery power loss, wireless cell phone communication errors, etc. These trouble alerts result in a loud constant alarm from our keyboard panel. They definitely get you attention and results in us quickly re-activating the alarm. Since this is only a local alarm, we don't get a call from the monitoring service.
So, when the alarm went off for this event, my wife quickly deactivated the alarm. But since this was an actual door being opened you would think that the monitoring system would have been contacted and the police called!! Unfortunately, we found out later that all of our doors to the outside were programmed with a delay. This had been done by the previous owner to allow access through any door when the alarm was set, to give plenty of time to turn off the alarm. So, when my wife immediately cancelled the initial alarm, there was nothing picked up by the monitoring service!
Resolution: We have since had a complete overhaul of our security system equipment to minimize trouble alerts. We had all of the outside doors programmed to immediately set off the alarm system upon opening, which will contact the monitoring service without delay. The only door we access when we get home is our kitchen door and that remains on a delay. We also know now to look at the details on the keypad control panel before deactivating the alarm.
Lesson #2 - Communicating w/ 911:
I wasn't very happy that it took 25 minutes for the police to arrive since the local precinct is only 5 minutes away. After looking back on the series of events, I can "sort of" understand the delay. At the time I was angry at my security monitoring service, but it wasn't their fault (Lesson #1 above). When I asked my wife to call 911, I told her we had been broken into and the "perp" was gone. The 911 operator only communicated to the police that we had been broken into, but there was no "bad-guy"! Hence, the lack of urgency! Maybe we should have communicated that I had encountered the bad-guy and wasn't sure of his location and that he might still be on our property. Bottom-line, always be prepared to not see LEO re-reinforcements in a timely fashion!
Lesson #3 - Visible Access to your Assets:
My garage is (unfortunately) a large storage building! In hindsight, this may have slowed down the bad-guy's ability to quickly grab items of value. After reviewing the few pieces that were grabbed and taken outside, they all had one thing in common. They were easily seen through the windows of my large garage door. He obviously used a flashlight to look through the windows and see what he could grab quickly.
Resolution: 1) I'm planning to have a reflective film installed on the garage door windows.You can still see out from inside the garage, but the outside has a reflective surface that prevents looking in. Especially, at night with a flashlight. Should have done this already! 2) I leave the backyard corner floodlights on at night. Plan to install motion detectors soon.
Lesson #4 - Entry Access:
The door that was used for entry had a medium sized pet door installed by the previous owner. As "anal" as I am about security, I never thought of that as a entry point. I am pretty sure the bad-guy saw the door when he looked through the garage door windows. The pet door was pushed up and open, and the dead-bolt had been turned. No forced entry. It wasn't big enough for a person to get through, but just big enough for a head and arm to wiggle through to turn the locks. The police officer confirmed that this happens a lot more than most people know. Needless to say that this door has been "updated" to prevent easy access. Maybe a battering ram, but nothing less!!
Most Important Lesson Learned:
All of the lesson above are important. It is amazing what you overlook, or don't think about, until you have something like this happen to you. But the items above are the physical fixes.
Now I deal with the psychological impact! This event caused me a few sleepless nights thinking about how close I came to actually coming face-to-face with a bad-guy in my house with a loaded handgun in my hand. All it would have taken is for that bad-guy to have been out in the middle of my garage and not by the door, and this event might have ended A LOT different! How would I have handled it?
I have always been around firearms. I am a FIRM believer in the 2nd Amendment and everyone's right to protect themselves! But I REALLY never actually thought that I would be put into this situation. I am very familiar with my handguns. I practice at the range. I stay on top of the laws governing my use of firearms. But AGAIN, what if....
Bottom line.... Stay vigilante, and always be prepared! You never know!!
Hope this helps some of you! Let me hear from you!
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