Home invasion, Part 1 of 2

Survival Manual/ Prepper articles/ Home invasion, Part 1 of 2)
 

A.  HOME INVASION FACTS
Apex SelfDefense Products
http://www.apexselfdefense.com/Home_Invasion_s/370.htm
There are many differences between a typical burglar and a home invasion robber. Most burglars fear a confrontation and therefore work while the homeowner is away. A burglar will look for an easy entry point, an unoccupied house and will usually work alone. A burglar will often be deterred by alarms, strong locks, sturdy doors and will most likely flee rather than face a confrontation with a homeowner. A burglar basically wants to steal your belongings but doesn’t want a confrontation and will go to great lengths to avoid one.

However, a home invader is much more bold and brazen. They will target a home that is occupied, with the intent of taking control of the occupants and the dwelling. Home invaders almost always work in groups and are most likely armed with a firearm. They may choose a target based on the type of vehicle they drive, jewelry, lavish house, or other obvious signs of wealth. A typical home invader will use a ruse to enter the home rather than break in. They will pose as a delivery person, repair person, stranded motorist, salesman, etc.

The most common entry point is the front door. After enticing the homeowner to open the door, the accomplices will come out of hiding and rush into the residence, subduing and intimidating the occupants. Sometimes they will kick in the door, but more often than not, they will use a ruse to gain entry.

The initial confrontation is usually the most violent of part of the home invasion and is the point at which the occupant’s safety is most at risk. Once the invaders have taken control they will search the home for valuables. Home invasions aren’t carried out for DVD players and big screen TV’s. They are looking for items far more valuable such as jewelry, cash, antiques, or high dollar collectables. Often, they will force the occupants to provide PIN numbers and ATM cards.

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B.  21 Things Your Burglar Won’t Tell You
June 8, 2011, Modern Survival blog, Submitted by: Ken
Pasted from: <http://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/21-things-your-burglar-wont-tell-you/&gt;

1.  Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.

2.  Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.

3.  Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste… and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have.

4.  Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it..

5.  If it snows while you’re out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house. Virgin drifts in the driveway are a dead giveaway.

6.   If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set. That makes it too easy.

7.  A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom – and your jewelry. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there too.

8.  It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door – understandable. But understand this: I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.

9.  I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters. (Don’t take me up on it.)

10.  Do you really think I won’t look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet.

11.  Here’s a helpful hint: I almost never go into kids’ rooms.

12.  You’re right: I won’t have enough time to break into that safe where you keep your valuables. But if it’s not bolted down, I’ll take it with me.

13.  A loud TV or radio can be a better deterrent than the best alarm system. If you’re reluctant to leave your TV on while you’re out of town, you can buy a $35 device that works on a timer and simulates the flickering glow of a real television.

14.  Sometimes, I carry a clipboard. Sometimes, I dress like a lawn guy and carry a rake. I do my best to never, ever look like a crook.

15.  The two things I hate most: loud dogs and nosy neighbors.

16.  I’ll break a window to get in, even if it makes a little noise. If your neighbor hears one loud sound, he’ll stop what he’s doing and wait to hear it again. If he doesn’t hear it again, he’ll just go back to what he was doing. It’s human nature.

17.  I’m not complaining, but why would you pay all that money for a fancy alarm system and leave your house without setting it?

18.  I love looking in your windows. I’m looking for signs that you’re home, and for flat screen TVs or gaming systems I’d like. I’ll drive or walk through your neighborhood at night, before you close the blinds, just to pick my targets.

19.  Avoid announcing your vacation on your Facebook page. It’s easier than you think to look up your address.

20.  To you, leaving that window open just a crack during the day is a way to let in a little fresh air. To me, it’s an invitation.

21.  If you don’t answer when I knock, I try the door. Occasionally, I hit the jackpot and walk right in.

Here’s an idea…
Put your car keys beside your bed at night.
If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. (This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator.)

Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It’s a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation.
Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage.
If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won’t stick around.
After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won’t want that.
And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there. This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.

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C.  10 Things To Do When A Stranger Knocks On Your Door
August 13, 2012, Modern Survival Blog, Submitted by Ken
Pasted from: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/10-things-to-do-when-a-stranger-knocks-on-your-door/

Here are a few ideas how to handle a situation where someone (a stranger) is knocking on your door. It happens to all of us, sometimes somewhat regularly. That is, we here an unexpected knock on our front door. The question is, what do we do?

Open the door
NOT the best idea (maybe the worst?)… Some people blindly open the door to see who it is or what it is that they want. I mention this only if you know the person on the other side.

Ignore the knock on the door
While ignoring the knock, you may want to go about your normal business and NOT pretend that you are not home, but instead continue to do what you were doing, or even make some noise or turn on a light so that the person knows that someone IS home (possibly avoiding a burglary).

Look out a window first to see who it is
Avoid looking out a door window, but instead go and look through another window away from the door if possible. If you don’t recognize them, you could shout through the door and ask what they want, or you could choose to ignore them altogether.

Arm yourself
…just in case. If you don’t own a firearm, consider pepper spray, keep a baseball bat or golf club by the door, pick up a fireplace poker, etc.. It’s your life – don’t waste it.

Set the door chain
…and crack open the door to speak to the person through the gap. Be sure that your door chain is set well with LONG screws into the door frame to help resist a ‘push in’.

Ask what they want
…and ‘interview’ the person through the closed door. You may consider installing a heavy duty security door (the kind with steel bars) outside of your existing front door so that you can see anyone who comes to the door and talk to them ‘securely’.

If you are a woman at home alone,
…mention that your husband (or father, if you are young) is fixing the bathroom faucet and cannot be bothered right now (or something similarly indicating that a man is at home).

Have an intercom speaker system
…at the outside of the front door for 2-way communication

Have a security camera
…to see who is at the door (and to deter a potential burglar). Having a sign indicating video surveillance, is a good deterrent.

Have a dog
…and allow the barking to ‘tell’ the solicitor that a dog lives there too.

In today’s world, it is always better to be on the safe side and NOT blindly open the door for anyone. The few thoughts listed above are just a sampling of many options for you when someone knocks on your door. The point is, think about your options and be prepared with a plan of action.

Remember that people can be dressed to impress but they may have ulterior motives. People may be wearing official looking uniforms while actually ‘casing the joint’. You are NOT obligated to let anyone into your home (except for police with a search warrant). Use your head and be cautious and suspicious. It may save your life or property.

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D.  5 Home Invasion Scenarios Your Family Should Train For
22 Jan 2013, Prepper-Resources.com, by PJ
Pasted from: http://www.prepper-resources.com/5-scenarios-your-family-should-train-fo/

Many of us realize that the key to a good bug out is all of the preparation which is done prior to the actual event taking place. Pre-positioning all of the bug out gear, talking through various scenarios, conducting rehearsals with family members which results in being able to efficiently evacuate a home in mere minutes with all required equipment. Natural disasters aside the chances of having to conduct an actual SHTF bugout are slim. Admittedly most of us would prefer to bug in given the choice and still we train just in case the need ever arises. We train because we do not want to be caught off guard, 20 minutes to leave the home and all of the SHTF gear is in unorganized piles throughout the basement and garage.

It’s safe to assume you have your bug out strategy nailed down, but what about other life threatening scenarios which are far more likely to occur in your home? Do you practice with your family what each person should do in the event of a home intruder? Do you have a plan for multiple intruders? Or is the shotgun under the bed and the knowledge that “dad knows what to do” your family’s only plan?

Because home invasions are typically filed as a robbery, burglary, battery, assault, rape, or murder, keeping the public informed of the frequency of home invasions within their communities is difficult. However, thanks to data gathered by the FBI and Statistics USA, we’re able to get a better idea of the prevalence of this sinister crime:

–  Home burglaries occur approximately every 15 seconds in the U.S.
–  Most home intruders force their way into homes through the front door.
–  From 1994 to 2000, an average of 3,600,000 home invasions occurred each year.
–  In the U.S. alone, 1 out of every 5 homes will be victimized by a violent home invasion or burglary.
Source: Global Security Experts

I would submit to you that any well laid plan to defend your home against evil doers should involve discussing a few scenarios which I have listed below and rehearsing your plan of action to deal with those scenarios. Rehearse them during daylight hours first, just talking through some of your considerations and “what ifs.” Once you feel like you have a decent plan try to implement it during the evening or even during the middle of the night unexpectedly. Dialing 911 should always be part of your plan and additionally please remember to never train with loaded weapons. I can only assume that my plan(s) will differ from yours because we all have different family sizes, ages of children, home layouts, dogs/alarms and proximity to law enforcement).

……………….5 Scenarios To Train For
1- Bad guy(s) outside the house, trying to gain entry
It’s the middle of the night and your dog starts barking. You wake up and look out the window, you think you see a shadow and a bit of movement outside…or did you see two figures? What’s the plan? Someone calls 911 but they are at least 10 minutes away on a good day. You hear glass break downstairs while you reach for your shotgun. What to do with your family? Your dog won’t stop barking now and your wife is freaking out. You want to go downstairs but aren’t sure how many men there could be in the home. What are you going to do?

2- Intruder in the house, unknown location
You wake up to the sound of breaking glass, instinctively you reach for the shotgun beside your bed. You hear your dog barking loudly and then a large yelp, your dog has gone silent. Nobody else is awake yet but in the fog of your mind you quickly realize someone is in the house, either going through items in another room or mere seconds from entering your bedroom. The kids are down the hall, you need to call 911, you are fumbling with the safety on the shotgun and stubbed your toe trying to quickly move across the bedroom. Your wife calls your name out, it’s only been 15 seconds since waking up but feels like an eternity. You shouldn’t have drank those 4 glasses of wine before bed, you hear another sound in another room. Now what?

3- Multiple Intruders in the house, unknown location
Everything that happened in scenario #2 except you hear multiple voices. You’ve only got one shotgun which happens to be a side by side coach gun (2 shots), will it be enough? Your wife could use your pistol to back you up but you have never practiced that before. Does she even know what sectors of fire means? You have seconds to react, no time to explain. You wish you had practiced this like PJ told you to. This is when you realize your pistol is locked up in the safe in your office along with the rest of your shotgun ammunition.

4- Unexpected attack, forced entry
Ding dong, that’s your doorbell. Your wife opens the door because two men in uniforms are standing there holding clipboards. As soon as she opens the door they bum rush her and force their way into your home, pulling pistols out simultaneously. In a mere second this has gone from mundane to armed robbery and you are in the garage working on your lawnmower. Are you even armed? Where is everyone else in the house, do they know what to do?

5- Dad isn’t home, intruder alert
This is one of my biggest fears. Let’s say you have to travel for business and any one of the above scenarios happens while your wife and children are home. Do they know what to do? Has your wife actually trained with weapons enough to know how to employ them in the dark? Or does she just pop a few rounds off at the range and hand you an empty gun which you reload for her…

The bottom line
I’m not suggesting that everyone in your house should sleep in a 360 degree perimeter keeping one person up at all times to pull guard duty. What I am suggesting is that you take a little time to discuss/rehearse practical and rational reactions to likely life threatening scenarios which statistics tell us are quite likely to occur. You might be thinking something like this could never happen to you, after all your home is in the suburbs and you live next door to a cop. I bet Melinda Hermin never thought she would be putting her recently acquired gun skillsto use earlier this month to defend her children from an intruder. I also believe Dr. William Petit never thought it could happen to his family either (tragically it did).

In dramatic testimony, a prominent Connecticut doctor described how he was beaten in his sleep and woke up face-to-face with two men who sexually assaulted, tortured and killed his wife and two daughters in a brutal home invasion.

Dr. William Petit, who took the stand Tuesday at the trial of one of the men accused of murdering his family, was the sole survivor of the 2007 attack. He told the court for the first time how Steven Hayes, along with co-defendant Joshua Komisarjevsky, allegedly broke into his Cheshire home, raped his wife and one of his daughters and set the house on fire.

[When times gets bad, there will be a lot more predatory human behavior and a decline in the level of police protection. Reduce your chances of becoming a victim. Be armed. Be prepared. You’ll be glad for your foresight. Mr. Larry]