breaking and entering

[threeplusfire]

Alan woke me up at 1am Saturday, convinced that he heard someone trying to get into the house. I thought he must have heard a cat, and was over-reacting because he hadn't been sleeping well and wasn't feeling so good.

Today, I'm doing some laundry here at the apartment laundromat because my mother has the flu. I stood in the grass and looked at our windows. There are some footprints in the mud under our bedroom window, and part of the weather stripping has been pried up as if someone was trying to find a way to the latch. The weather stripping for one of the living room windows was laying in the mud, and had been pulled right off. I checked the second window, and part of the weather stripping had been pried off there as well.

Someone did try to break into the house.

I am completely freaked out, after the fact. I'm a bit mortified that I didn't take Alan more seriously the other night but I really did think he was just startled by a cat outside or something.

I wonder if I should talk to the office about having the weather stripping repaired. I haven't the faintest idea how to make the windows more safe. We keep the curtains and blinds down almost all the time.

Comments

[n-o-m-i-c.livejournal.com]

That sucks, but good thing you're all right.

The only thing I could suggest are those little thumbscrew window locks. They clamp on the inside of the window frame and keep the windows from being opened even if the existing locks are unlocked.

I think Home Depot (or maybe Radio Shack?) also sells little stand-alone alarm things for windows that sound and alarm if they're opened. IIRC, there's one that you have to press the little disarm button, then wait 15 seconds or so to prevent the alarm from sounding.

Hope that helps.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Those are excellent ideas, thank you. I'm going to look into both of those.

[tamperevident.livejournal.com]

yup, definitely get alarms, preferably ones that have a small flashing light, visible from the outside. that stops most burglars in their tracks.

it also can't hurt to register this occurence with the local police dept, before you repair the windows. also a good way to find out if its been happening to other people in your neighborhood, as well.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

We live in a not-so-great neighborhood, right next door to some of the worst neighborhoods in town crime-wise. :/ I am going to talk to the office, because they are required to notify tenants of break-ins and suspicious incidents.

[alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com]

That's icky. :(

So far today I've seen Cate's entry linked to two of the communities I belong to. She's made quite a stir.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

No kidding!

Oh, that is so awesome. That entry just blew me away. I've seen Cate with her boys for years now and it's always been clear that she was an awesome mom. It makes me happy to see that so many other people can be touched by it, even complete strangers.

[deviantsaint.livejournal.com]

get some of these:

http://www.eztone.com/contact-hs4310.htm

and a gun, just in case. (I suggest a winchester 1300 12ga shotgun loaded with aguilla mini shells).

an robery at night is considered "aggravated robbery" (at least in the state of texas). Carries a stiffer penalty since there's a greater chance of someone being home at the time.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I will definitely look into the alarms. I would love to have a gun in the house again, but there are some home factors that make that unfeasible at the moment. :( But in the future, it will be a great comfort. I miss being a kid, and knowing that between my dad with the shotgun and the big black German Shepard that I was alright.

I didn't know that it was considered aggravated robbery at night, that's interesting.

[deviantsaint.livejournal.com]

yup, the aggravated robbery thing as well as the guidelines for the use of force in texas are all taught at concealed handgun licensing classes (and are included in the manual). You can also find them in the texas penal code (which I highly suggest everyone get a copy of, know the law).

-DS

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I haven't even started reading the penal code yet, I've been so sunk into reading the family code for work! I've read more law documents in the past two weeks than in my entire life.

[puella.livejournal.com]

You would really shoot someone who was breaking into your house?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

If someone was breaking into my house, I would be comfortable shooting them. I wouldn't be out to kill them, but I wouldn't have a problem putting a bullet in them to slow them down.

[puella.livejournal.com]

But it is very easy to kill someone accidentally with a gun. It's common to die from blood loss from a "minor" wound in the arm or leg (despite what we see in the movies where you're fine and dandy as long as you weren't shot in the heart or head).
Do you think it's OK to take someone's life because they tried to break into your house? Let's assume for the sake of argument that they were breaking in only to steal, not to harm or rape you and that they aren't armed.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

If someone is breaking into your home, then I think you have a good reason to fear for your own safety and the safety of other people in your home. If I felt my family was in danger, I wouldn't have any qualms about using a gun in self defense. There is no way you could know what that person intends when they are breaking into your home. It's not like you could ask, "Hey are you just here for the TV or are you going to try and rape me?"

Don't think that I want to shoot someone, and don't think for a moment that I wouldn't be affected by it. Yes, there is probably higher risk of lethal force with a firearm. But I could kill someone with a sword, or any other weapon. If my family was threatened, I would do what I had to do to protect us.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

That's a nice little " what if " but then you could just as easily say " What if they were breaking into your house to give you milk and cookies ? "


Do you think it's ok to break into a persons house if you don't intend on killing or raping them, just stealing ?


Ok so they only want to steal, then you wake up and see them, oh no, panic they can ID me, oh now I have to do something, BAM head injury. Didn't mean to kill just watned to knock them out so I can get away.


3 days in a ER later they pull the plug.

The person breaking in is not going to give the same consideration you are asking for.

Several years ago in NOLA, a kid was followed home. The crook did a push in, cracked him over the head - took his bicycle and CD's, sandwitched his body between 2 mattresses and lit them on fire.

the day before, I was talking to a mutual friend. The kid had asked him about girls ( he was all of 18 ) and my friend had told him ' dont worry about it, you've got a long time to deal with that '.

No urbal legend. No make believe, no maybe they will just take my TV and leave me alone. This is reality.

Do I want to see my friend laid out in a coffin or a ER, or filing a police report on shooting the person who tried to break into her house.

I know my answer. Perhaps you should rethink yours.

[puella.livejournal.com]

I think you are being pretty presumptious saying "I know my answer. Perhaps you should rethink yours." I was curious on what Amanda's stance was and she answered me. I never asked her to rethink anything. I asked about the theoretical only breaking in because I wanted to know wether or not she thinks its justified to kill or possibly kill someone for breaking in.
I personally think its morally wrong for a human to take another human's life. So no, I would not use a gun in any circumstance.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Without psychic powers, there is no way for me to know the intentions of the person breaking into my home, so I think it's impossible to answer your question. We can construct nice theorectical answers that won't be applicable in the moment. When someone busts in the window I'm not going to ponder their intentions.

I would rather live with the knowledge that I took someone's life in defense of my family than live with the knowledge that I failed to protect my family and their lives.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I'll mea culpa to the presumptious, but what's a human to do when emotions run amuck while friends are threatened?

You have about as much way of knowing the intentions of a person breaking in as you do predicting what a cat will do when you leave the house. I don't think that A. has to rethink anything. If I did I would have said so.

I think that anyone who breaks into a house to steal deserves what they get. If that's jail, shot, wounded, or any of the above. When you break into a house you know that you are breakign the law. If you intend to kill the people inside, or if it happens accidently or if you just want to scam their nintendo. How can you possibly expect to break into a house at night, and expect to cry wahhh if you get shot or hurt in the process?

I think your answer needs rethinking because you are giving a pollyannaish gloss to someone breaking in to a house. What if they only watned to steal, that's ok isin't it?

I'm not an advocate of needlessly taking human life. I agree that it's wrong. However if I am attacked, if a threat is made on me or mine, I reserve the right to defend and protect - if that means running away, taking a stand or killing in the process - that's what a criminal faces when going forward to commit a crime.

I would rather spend my rent money to bail out a friend who acted in legitimate self defense than to spend it on funeral expences because they were killed in their sleep.

I've heard your ideas brought forward before from people I know. After they have been stalked, beaten, robbed, or otherwise harmed - they change. They don't advocate needless killing, but they do advocate self defense.

Morally wrong, takes a slight turn when someone wants to take your life, or the life of someone you love. If you have the courage of your convictions to stand by and watch that happen, or to just lay in bed and mutter " I hope they just want to steal " ... I hope you live in a good neighborhood.

Mindless, needless killing is wrong. It doesn't matter if it's a human, a cat, a dog, etc.. but when threatened, when laws are broken things are different. You don't know if that person climbing in the wondow has a baseball bat or a sawed off shotgun, any more than you know their intentions.

Yes, put up alarms, yes put new locks and take extra precautions. Yes notify the police. Then what if all of that does not deter a thing?

There can be days of arguments made about accidental shootings, wrongful slayings, and other things. There is good and bad to every equation. You can have the greatest ADT alarm system in your house, and trip it off when you lock your keys inside, and try to get in through a window. That does nt mean that it's wrong to do so. You could do just as much damage with a baseball bat, a kitchen knife, or a fireplace poker.

Again, I agree with you that it is morally wrong to take the life of another human being, however I think it's equally wrong to allow it to happen. I was not born thinking that way, but I came to that conclusion after years of watching people robbed, stalked, beaten, and worse.

I won't assume, but it's quite possible that you have never had to face this sort of thing. There is real horror out there, and there are people who could give a damn about any morals, ethics or objections that society has brought forward. I have liven on places where you can be killed for your shoes. They will break into your house and kill you first then rob the place. There are people who will walk up to you on the street and punch you in the face becasue someone 'dared ' them to. This is not an excuse to run willy nilly old west style waving a pistol, but it's also a damn fine reason to protect yourself and those you love. Intelligently, sanely, and within the laws of the land.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Is there a patron saint of typos? liven on... Gah! Who gave me a license to type - why can you not edit LJ comments after the fact!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I've certainly made a fair number of typos.

[alainn-sorcha.livejournal.com]

I like you. And I thank you for being a voice of reason. :)

[delchi.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's 2 things I don't hear every day :)

Hi!

oh my god!!!

[feu-de-fripe.livejournal.com]

did you call the police?
i am not usually a big fan of the police, but they can check for prints etc...

stay safe.

Re: oh my god!!!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

No I didn't call the police that night. I'm going to get some extra locks and perhaps an alarm.

Re: oh my god!!!

[feu-de-fripe.livejournal.com]

i think you can still call the police to come out and fingerprint. unless of course you have windexed your windows since then

[trueliminality.livejournal.com]

I hope that the office will do something. if nothing else it would be good to tell them so that they do not hold you reponsible for any of the damage.

hope it goes well...

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Given that it is outside, they would be hard pressed to show that I damaged the window. :/

[serpina.livejournal.com]

My experience with the Austin police was that they really WANTED to hear about anything questionable. I actually got lectured by a cop once for delaying contacting them when something scary happened in my neighborhood. So I really recommend calling the non-emergency line and talking to them -- they might be able to increase patrolling in your neighborhood.

This is completely and totally unrelated, but I immediately thought of you when I saw this (http://www.ontariogifted.org/meghan/sweater.htm) in a knitting community.

Oh -- and I also was really impressed and touched by Cate's post; thanks for linking to it.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I really want that sweater now!

I think I will call them later. We haven't had much luck with getting them to come out here, except for the time they guy was beating his girlfriend.

I'm glad I could share Cate's post.

[geoectomy.livejournal.com]

Noise-makers. Maybe you've got to start decorating your windows with strings of bells or something... C-clamps are good, even if the window-lock is jimmy'd. Do you have an alarm system in the apt? Even a dummy pad with a red light makes a difference if it's visible...

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

We have no alarm system, but I think I will get some of those window ones that make noise if it is opened. We have one window mostly blocked with furniture.

[a311renegade.livejournal.com]

I hope your apartment complex is better than mine... my apartment and car got broken into in Austin but the management didn't seem to care. I would definitely pester them about the stripping and the incident. Glad you're ok.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Our management is sometimes very less. Hopefully they will be very more when I speak to them.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Fuck, I'm glad you're all right.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thanks, me too.

[frostwalrus.livejournal.com]

Electric current running throught the window frame. That will get their attention.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Hahah no shit.