Another good tool in the home defense arsenal

A 15 foot electrified fence will work also. Guess that would make it a BG zapper.
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Great idea! But only the top 5 feet of the fence should be electrified, so that they can climb up pretty high before they get zapped and fall 10 feet :)

Then, have high quality video cameras of the area recording at all times, and you can post the 'stupid criminals falling' videos online...
 
car alarms, noises, real true stories of the Highway Patrol...

Many, many beers ago, ;) ; as a young lower enlisted US Army MP on patrol duty in a military housing area in Panama I saw a Captain's living quarters that looked unsecured. I was working with a MP that had a K9 unit. As we opened the unit's screen door to do a quick security check, the front door came flying open and the young Army officer armed with a aluminum baseball bat charged out screaming like a maniac! It was somewhat funny but I worked very hard to keep a straight face. After the captain calmed down and started to see what was going on he was a tad embarassed. It was strange because the other MP, me and the working dog looked at the officer like; "Really?". :)
Ive never seen a dog have that expression, lol.
Now I could see if the captain did not know who or what we were or if we were breaking in or making a loud racket but we were in full uniform, with our marked MP patrol cars(a large pick-up and full size GM sedan) in full view.

My point of adding this very real event is that in a home protection plan, be ready to react to anything and that includes a LE or private security response.
 
good idea!! my thought would be that the alarm might not alert the neighbors, but it might change the BG's plans if he thinks the blaring horn is part of a wired, Brinks-type system ... at the least, it would probably scare the poop out of him-them ... test it first, o'course ...
 
To the nay sayers, simply tell your neighbors about it and then they will know to look out their windows and possibly alert the police for you. Maybe they will start doing it as well, and you can do your part in helping them out.

Pretty simple solution.
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Wouldn't a house alarm be better for this? Come on? Having your car alarm go off when you are being raped, beaten, attacked inside your house just does not make sense folks. THINK ABOUT IT?

{Let's see, I am getting the crap knocked out of me inside my house and so I want my neighbors to look at my car, see that it isn't being burgled, and then decide if they want to call the police because they have reasoned out that it wasn't the wind, it wasn't kids, it wasn't a real car attempted burglary for which I haven't asked them to call the cops, but because they are supposed to call because I am being attacked inside my house? That makes senes.

How many times will it have to go off before they decide it is none of those other things and that I am under attack? 3? 4? What will they tell the cops and will the cops actually take them seriously? "My neighbor's car alarm is going off and so I think he is being attacked somewhere unseen inside his house...so you really should hurry because the car alarm makes noise and car alarms never go off unless it is an emergency!"}
 
It amazes me that so many still think that more than a fraction of a percent of bad guys actually want to stick around and fight it out. I think the OP's idea is a fine one. If you are really worried about home security a gun should be your last line of defence. Car alarms, home alarms, good locks, dogs etc etc should come well before the decision is made to arm ones self. 99% of bad guys would and should be stopped well before they ever even see a gun. Aside from what the internet will lead one to believe the VAST majority of bad guys want soft targets and will run at the first hint that things aren't going right.

I just wonder how many folks on here think they need to pack a gun every waking moment but don't have anything but open windows and cheesy locks to deter entry.

LK
 
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as a young lower enlisted US Army MP on patrol duty in a military housing area in Panama I saw a Captain's living quarters that looked unsecured. I was working with a MP that had a K9 unit. As we opened the unit's screen door to do a quick security check,
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I know people have no property rights on a military base, but his response sounds pretty reasonable to me. If I heard somebody monkeying with my front door in the middle of the night, they'd certainly be met with the threat of force.
 
I think some people are confusing what this is about. The neighbors will not come to your rescue. The Police will not come. They might go and look out the window. So it's possible an identification might be made as the intruder runs away. They might call the cops.

If you hear someone break in your window or door, and you hit the button moments later (not seconds. you need time to respond and or figure out what's going on), The noise from the car MIGHT be enough to scare him away. At the very least it creates a diversion for you to prepare (get your gun). Lets face it, if he's already in your bedroom with a knife at your throat, hitting the button probably wont help the situation.

You have to figure out if this will be useful for YOU!
I live in a community, and my neighbor is a cop. You can bet he'll be looking out the window. I can see where this might have some merits. But it's certainly not the only solution to HD.

Thanks for the tip. It is another thing to consider. Right along with the base ball bat behind the door. :D
 
Regarding the OP. I think this is a good idea. It doesn't matter if the alarm doesn't get the neighbors running to your rescue. What it does do is throw off the burglar, distract him, put presure on him and in the event you confront him with a firearm, you will know what's going on - he will be scared and distracted.
 
Okay, quick raise of hands. How many people here have called the cops when they heard somebody else's car alarm go off?

What was the response time...more or less than 1 hour?

How many have called more than once?

A car alarm rates what sort of response from the cops? Is it a Priority 1, 2, 3, 4, or Q?

Our local cops don't respond to car alarms unless there is a verified break-in called in by the owner or neighbor. Car not verified as violated, they aren't responding to it as an alarm issue.

It amazes me that so many still think that more than a fraction of a percent of bad guys actually want to stick around and fight it out. I think the OP's idea is a fine one.
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What are they going to fight out? With who? They aren't burglarizing a car. Nobody comes when a car alarm goes off. Hell, the owners don't even so up much of the time.

The police? The only time I have seen them show up for a car alarm incident was when it became a noise complaint. The call was apparently routed by necessity and the cops showed up about 3 hours later.

No, somebody in your home isn't too worried about a car alarm going off somewhere outside. Almost nobody cares about car alarms going off, often not even the owners.
 
The question is, will the burglar care? I'm not a burglar (and I don't even play one on TV, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), but if I've just broken into a house and I think that I'm undetected so far, hearing a car alarm go off close by might be enough to make me turn around and go back out. If nothing else, it would let me know that someone probably knows I'm there, so I've already lost a good deal of advantage.
 
What are they going to fight out? With who? They aren't burglarizing a car. Nobody comes when a car alarm goes off. Hell, the owners don't even so up much of the time.
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You must be determined not to "get it". Anything that distracts the invader works in your favor, period. Nobody, not one person, has suggested an armed posse of neighbors or a SWAT team will respond to your car alarm.

What they have suggested is that it may cause the invader to beat feet, or it may just divide his attention and make it easier for you to kill the sumbitch with your 12 gauge. Releasing a dog would serve the same purpose. Remotely turning on a light behind him would serve the purpose. Anything that makes him aware that his invasion is no longer secret would serve the purpose - as long as you're ready to take advantage of it.

It's just a handy little thing that you could turn to your advantage. Most people have such a device, so why not incorporate it into your defense plan?
 
You must be determined not to "get it".
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No, I am determined that there are better things to be doing with my time and resources that will be better suited to my defense than pressing a panic button and hoping there is a remote chance that it will have a beneficial effect.

You are right. It might work. Of course, all the time and energy I put into believing that a car alarm might stop a home invader from killing me might be time and effort best put into other things like getting a better lock on my door, having a better alarm on my house, buying a dog that barks, etc.

Sure you might just happen to be surprised by such a neophytic criminal that he knows nothing of things like response times or what alarms mean to the general public or the police, but is somehow bright enough to best all of the defenses that you have an place as a person concerned about self defense. It could happen. The engine of a plane could fall of and crash through my house as well.

If you are betting on the remote chance that a car alarm might stop a home invader in your home, then you have already made some fundamentally bad decisions about self defense.

Put another way, if you think that the 2-5 seconds of pressing the panic button on your car alarm to get it to activate, after you find it in the dark or while being attacked, is a good investment of your time and resources for the chance that it might have some minimal impact on the aggressor's behavior instead, that is pretty silly. It is really silly when you consider that during that time you could be doing something like actually speed dialing 911 (that might bother neophytic attacker to know that you have called 911, it could happen) or doing something actually proactive in your self defense like manipulating an actual weapon for those 2-5 seconds that really could make a difference in your defense that you can count on instead of hope beyond hope that the effort might possibly beneficial.

For example, the MAAT-7500 requires a 3 second press...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/187699/MAAT-7500-Car-Alarm-Manual

Klimaco doesn't give a time, but through their complicated instructions note that the panic alarm works by "press and hold" so that you can not only scare away people in a parking lot, but find your car.
http://www.klimaco.com/caraudiopages/car_alarm_help.htm

Now some alarms do allow for immediate noise generation if you press the correct two buttons simulaneously. If they are on the same side, the process can be difficult or impossible to do readily with just one hand (my Toyota, for example). Some are more user friendly with the buttons on opposite sides, assuming the press the correct buttons (Subarua http://www.cars101.com/subaru/keyless.html).

Of course, few folks buy dedicated panic button fobs (which you can) and so are left with the multiple buttons on their car alarms, that potentially will turn off the system if the wrong buttons are pressed or will reactivate the system such that the system goes through its brief shutdown or setup sequence before it the panic alarm will initiate.

Of course, the folks at Snopes have their own ideas about this topic. Sure, somebody is breaking into your house you can do the whole panic alarm and maybe it will work. Then again, turning on a light does the same thing in a fraction of the time and tactically offers several more advantages.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/caralarm.asp

Most folks just don't have enough brains, hands, and abilities to be doing all the things actually necessary for their defense as well as trying to initiate all those things that might have some remote possibility of helping as well.

It is a car alarm. Nobody cares. Of course, if you aren't going to do anything actually helpful to try to protect yourself, then you go ahead and push that button. You push it like your life depends on it because you are committing an undue amount of your available resources that could otherwise be protecting your life.
 
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You are right. It might work. Of course, all the time and energy I put into believing that a car alarm might stop a home invader from killing me might be time and effort best put into other things like getting a better lock on my door, having a better alarm on my house, buying a dog that barks, etc.
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You already have a car alarm on your key chain, so just lay it next to your bed. It doesn't prevent you from doing a hundred other things you might also do to make your home safe.

Personally, I picture a homeowner pressing the button right before he opens the bedroom door and levels a 12 gauge at the momentarily distracted intruder. It may not play out like that (plans rarely do), but it's one more tool in your tool box.

It is a car alarm. Nobody cares. Of course, if you aren't going to do anything actually helpful to try to protect yourself, then you go ahead and push that button.
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Can you indicate the post where somebody suggests pushing their car alarm and simply cowering in fear with no other actions taken?
 
Here ya go. You want to press a panic button? This guy has the right idea. It does several things at once. Maybe the home alarm going off will scare away the bad guy. Maybe the lights all going on all over the house will. The police have been summoned for something other than a noisy car alarm. This doesn't depend on a neighbor who might call the cops either.

http://www.defensivecarry.com/vbull.../99581-lets-see-your-home-defense-setups.html

On top of my nightstand I also have a key fob zip tied to the base of my lamp. It is for our home alarm system. If I hit the panic button the alarm goes off, police are notified and it lights up an overhead light in each interior room and the flood lights outside the house as well as the audible alarm.

The alarm company will not call for our password but dispatch police regardless if the alarm is shut off.
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Can you indicate the post where somebody suggests pushing their car alarm and simply cowering in fear with no other actions taken?
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Nope, can you point out where pushing the car's panic button is an efficient use of resources?

Why you want to waste time by finding the keychain and trying to push the button when you could be going for the shotgun first? You really think the keychain is going to save your life before the shogun?

You think I am determined to not get it. Based on your responses, my assessment is that you are determined to be naive in what is going to stop your attacker. If you need the shotgun, do you you think you need it several seconds later or do you need it now? And contrary to all the supercharged ninjas who sleep in condition yellow, most folks when they wake up to a stressor such as a home invasion do not have instant ballet-like economies of motion where their hand flies to the bedside table where it will swiftly grab the key fob without the fumbling with the keys and in a practiced and fluid motion be able to depress the correct button or buttons whilst on the way to engaging the bad guy.

You know very few of the under prepared uberninjas practice regularly with their panic buttons, right?

but it's one more tool in your tool box.
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Like bandaids. You are trying to fight the guy with bandaids. Sure they could be a weapon that works. They are a tool in the tool box.
 
KB, security PLANS, LE-private security response

to K-Beer; The Army officer's response was completely wrong, IMO. There is an old US police saying; "don't run into a bullet". ;)
Stress, chaos, loud noises & confusion will be a part of any home invasion or break-in. Your goal or response in a critical incident is to protect/defend yourself & your loved ones, not jump up, wig out & shoot at anything that moves.
If run out of your house/condo/apt screaming like a maniac swinging a Louisville Slugger I don't think a armed security guard or uniformed LE officer(s) would be patient & understanding.

As I posted before, alarms, warning lights, motion sensors, guard dogs, weapons are part of a PLAN. I wouldn't put a lot of faith into a loud alarm but it may distract or distort a violent felon fast enough to draw a firearm, hit a direct line to 911 or a emergency call center, or move to a safer location.

CF
 
Clyde, I'm not going to lock my bedroom door and wait for help while somebody ransacks my house. If that's your plan, fine, but I'm going to meet an invader with force.
 
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