Neighbor's house getting broken into - What do you do?

B

Bob Locke

New member
Had a buddy ask me this question the other day. I told him what I would do, and it was exactly what he did.

Late at night, you happen to be up (surfing TFL, no doubt) and you see a fellow entering the house across the street. You don't recognize him.

You are unsure as to whether or not your neighbor is home.

What are your immediate and followup actions?
 
Call police, take notes. Get full discription of suspect, where he came from, where he went, his vehicle if there is one, license number etc, etc to give police when they arrive.
Under NO circumstances interfere with the BG. You'll only be setting yourself up for a very hard fall.

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Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
 
I wouldn't know. the people across the street have about 25-35 cars in and out of their house all hours of the night. Unless I see someone actually breaking a window or something we wouldn't know.
As for the neighbor next to me, If I seen someone breaking into their house, I would call the coroner and then go outside with a 6 pack and wait. They have 3 the meanest dogs I have ever seen. I've known these dogs for about a year and they go ballistic if I go near our fence, I'd hate to imagine breaking in.
 
Answers are going to vary, but I could easily call the cops and then probably figure out which car he came in. Our building is mostly retirees and there's only one other car besides ours.

Half an hour later, when the Virden police cruised up, I'd give them an excellent description and license number.
 
Two branches:

1. Call cops

2. Read the 2nd Amend., fill yourself with honor and grab the guns and head over.

That's what we are supposed to debate.
How about call the neighbors and see who answers?

How did he enter? Through the front door?
Window, kick in the door, over the fence?

All relevant.

Reality says call the cops.
 
I would do as my neighbor did for our house when it was broken into bout 40 years ago... He knew that we were out camping for the weekend and that no one should be there.... so when the lights on the place went on...

He:

1. Called the sheriff.. (response time was estimated to be 30 minutes as we lived out in the boonies).

2. He grabbed his shotgun and went over to the house.

3. When the pert (who was an escaped convict) came walking out of the house, he politely placed the shotgun in his back and held him until the sheriff arrived.

Our neighbor had a nice long talk with him while they were waiting for the sheriff (took them another 20 minutes to get there)…. Seems that all he wanted and all he took was some food and a change of clothes. He was on his way to Reno and figured that he would have to hitch hike there. Figured that he would not be able to get a ride with anyone but a cop dressed as he was in his prison uniform. Seems he had escaped because he had been granted parole. He was in his early 50’s and had been in prison since he was 18. Prison was home to him and he did not want to leave. Was afraid of the outside. He did however want to spend some time in Reno, maybe make a trip out to Mustang.

And yes, like my Dad our neighbor was a WWII vet.

This just goes to show part of what has happened to our country…. While growing up in the 50’s and 60’s we knew everyone in our community and we watched out for each other. Won’t find that much anymore. Crime rate…. Well we did have crime…. I know I was part of the problem….. especially on Halloween night. The biggest crime wave the community had was when a bunch of us 10-12 year olds got together and fixed up a house on Halloween. We got together and awarded him the grand prize of **** of the year for ?? can’t remember now. Well anyway, we soaped his windows, threw toilet paper over and over and over his house and all around. But we did return the following morning and cleaned up our mess. Everyone but him thought it was funny. His house looked like it was covered by a giant spider web.



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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!
 
This is kind of situation-specific but...i see it breaking down a couple ways. Is my neighbor away? No brainer, call the cops, become a good witness. Property ain't worth human life, much less legal agg., period. Is it my elderly neighbors sleeping next door? Tougher call. I like calling THEM for common sense. However, they are responsible for their own personal defense, and if they insist on living in a "gun-free zone", part of me says that that's what they get. After all, they wouldn't be ABLE to come to MY defense. On the other hand, if I can see/hear them getting butchered, my principles won't allow me to do the Kitty Genovese thing. Good question...
 
Interesting and in some ways difficult topic, because, to me, the best course of action may be far from clear.

In general, I'd dial 911, note from a safe vantage point any info that might be useful (but I'm not sure what to watch for apart from the obvious), and wait for the police. LE reponse is typically pretty quick in my suburban area.

But it'd depend on which neighbor. One of our neighbors has so many family members coming and going that I'd have to see someone literally breaking in to his home before I'd know to dial 911. Also, this neighbor has a good alarm system and, besides, is a police sergeant. :) So his hatches are pretty well battened down. BTW, he's a good person to have next door. For instance, he's run off some questionable persons *before* they had an opportunity to do harm.

Anyway, the other neighbor is a single parent without many visitors apart from her gal friends and her ex. I'd certainly call 911 if I saw someone poking around her place and then keep an eye and an ear open.

[This message has been edited by jimmy (edited July 16, 2000).]
 
Funny you should bring this up.

I actually had this opportunity several years ago. The neighbor to the rear (about 150 yards away) was a 'guest of the state' for a robbery conviction. His wife, also his accomlice, avoided a prison term since they had young children to take care of. (She had planned the robberies and driven the getaway car) Gee, that's fair, don't you think?

Anyways, several years later, just a couple of months before convict comes home, the wife runs off with her new boyfriend. That left the house abandoned. Weeds grew very tall on their property. Convict had transferred title to the house to his father before his sentencing just to make sure the wife couldn't sell it and take off. How fortunate he was to do this! Convict's dad, upon learning the wife had taken off, changed the locks on the house.

The week before convict is released, I was sitting at my dining room table and happened to notice that a truck had pulled aound back of convict's house, out of sight from the road. I see at least two subjects standing around, trying to get in to the house. The next thing I see was male subject attempting to kick in the back door. I got on the phone to the County Sheriff. I was told to stay on the line to give updates to the officers en-route. I also took the opportunity to grab a scoped rifle and draw a bead on the goings-on from an upstairs window.

The perps finally kicked in the door and were carrying things out of the house when the LEOs arrived out front. They walked around each side of the house and observerd subjects carrying stuff from the house to the truck. The cops must have told them to 'drop it' because I heard a woman's scream as she ran back in to the house. Cops guns get drawn and order the perps out of the house.

It turns out the wife, along with her new boyfriend, had indeed come back to loot the house and trash the inside. They knocked holes in the plaster, tore cabinets off the walls, broke open accessible plumbing, and really made a mess out of the inside of the house. They had access to the house for about ten minutes before the law arrived. I really wouldn't have been surprized if they didn't plan to torch the place when they got finished.

I was actually surprised that The cops got here that fast! I live a good ways outside of the nearest town. The Sheriff's Office is about ten miles away. Later I made a statement to the cops that I 'had them covered' from my upstairs window. They appreciated that fact and said as much.

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Remember, just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you!

[This message has been edited by Cougar (edited July 15, 2000).]
 
My answer (which is what my friend actually did):

1.) Call the cops. That's a no-brainer. I said that I would give them a description of myself just in case I had to go in there. Also, write down license plates of any car with which I am not familiar.

2.) Since I stated that (in this scenario) it is unclear as to whether or not your neighbor is home, is it more prudent to assume they are away and out of danger, or that they are home and quite possibly in harm's way? To me, the latter is the obvious choice. Given that, I would arm myself and make my way over there VERY carefully.

3.) All of that would change, obviously, if gunfire is heard. Time to get moving, at that point, though still VERY carefully.

I have good neighbors. We look out for each other. I know, however, that most of them aren't in a position to come to my aid in a similar manner. That's why I have enough guns for all of us. :D
 
The first thing that came to my mind when reading this scenario was that entering a neighbor's house armed without warning is asking to get shot if you are wrong about them actually being home or not. If I had this discussion with any of my neighbors, I would tell them not to even think of coming into my house after someone else they thought was a perp. How am I going to be able to tell who's the perp and who's not quickly enough in the dark? Target identification is important, but I'm going to shoot as soon as I see a weapon. So I agree with the poster that said try calling the house, although the best that I think you can really hope for is that you would wake them up if they weren't already -- a no answer does not necessarily mean they are not there (if I were investigating noises in my house and the phone rang I wouldn't answer it). I would also call the police if I were familiar enough with the neighbor to believe I knew who belonged there and who didn't (I'm really not in that situation with any of my neighbors except one).
 
Had it happen once. I called the police and armed myself (let the uniforms do the investigation, but if they didn't get there in time, I'd intervene). Turned out it was a relative who was unknown to me. Opps. Apologized to the relative when he came over. He was good natured about it and was happy that his relatives had neighbors who cared.
 
When I was still an apartment dweller, I saw a guy (actually just the legs of a guy) going in the window of the duplex next door. I figured, sure, it may be the resident, maybe he locked himself out -- and it turned out that's who it was -- but that, if it were my apartment and I was going in the window, I'd be glad if someone called the cops just to be sure. So I called, explained that I was not sure it wasn't the resident but could they please check, and they did, and everything was ginger peachy.

It reminded me of the time in the '70s when my family was on vacation and our home was burglarized. My dad lost his WWII Luger and my mom lost some sentimental jewelry. The old lady across the alley saw the guest enter the window in a stocking cap and assumed we had "hired him to do something to the house" while we were gone. She didn't call the cops.

Also, last summer, I had a guy slit my kitchen screen and reach around and let himself in my apartment while I was sleeping in the next room (I had the AC and TV on and didn't hear him). He stole cash off the table but nothing else. The old lady below me had seen him peeking in her window -- this was at 3am in a driving rain -- and said, "Go away or I'll call the police!" That's it. She didn't call. Great, huh? When in doubt, I say call, just to be safe.

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*quack*
 
CAUTIONARY NOTE

Everyone agrees the first step is to call the police. I urge those who would head over toward their neighbor's home -- armed -- to make VERY SURE THE 911 DISPATCHER KNOWS THEY ARE ON-SCENE. IN FACT, I WOULD REMAIN IN TOUCH WITH THE DISPATCHER ON A CELL PHONE OR AN IN-HOME WIRELESS. The point is, when the LEOs arrive you certainly do not want them to see an armed, unknown individual ... that could get very bad, very quickly.
 
Definitely situation specific.

In all situations call the police first and try to stay out of it. If the neighbor's safety is an issue, it would be your duty to get involved.

It would be interesting if you could call all the other neighbors and tell them what was happening. Everyone could surround the house. I didn't say it was a good idea or a bad one, but it would be interesting.
 
Hi Everyone-

Claemore 70, looks like your response could be taken several ways:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>If they're pro-gun, they get to share in the benefits of a well-armed populace.

<LI>If they're pro-gun, let them fight their own battles so you don't get accidentally shot with friendly-fire. :(

<LI>If they're anti-gun, it's their tough luck and they should learn the benefits of having neighbors with legally-owned firearms! ;)</UL>

Regards,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
I've been thinking about this since it was forst posted a couple days ago....wasn't sure so I left it alone to see how some other, perhaps more experienced people would react. Calling the cops and keeping a eye on them seems prudent. Heck, being a photographer I can provide images of the perps and vehicles from quite a distance. :)

Sure, screaming and such...I'd have to take a 'look see' and decide from there. Anither prob besides possibly getting shot by neighbor or perp is the cops....they are gonna be on edge too and armed.

I do know that in several places I've lived or my family has lived no one bothered calling the cops when we were burglarized. In one case at my own apartment I came home sevral times with the front dorr open...no one there/no thing missing...just door out of kilt with the jam so it wouldn't lock properly. Been nice if someone pulled it shut or something. :(
 
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