Some people tried to get into my house at about 3am last night. *still scared*

[GreenPartyVoter]

This comes after a home invasion in another part of town. (That was in broad daylight and they pushed an older woman around to make her give over her money.)

I won't go into details but suffice to say thank goodness we started using the chain latch again when our kitties escaped a couple of weeks ago, otherwise these people would have gotten into the house.

I wish we had cops here. I would have felt better knowing there was someone here in town to check into these things, and the vandalism that has happened of late. :scared:

[datasuspect]

1. get a shotgun

more effective than a handgun in a home invasion.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. The odds that my kids would get in the line of fire is pretty high. The two bedrooms are at opposite

ends of the trailer. Anyone comes in either door the kids would be behind them.

[datasuspect]

7. one way in at each side?

that kinda complicates things.

is one door less high-traffic that you can block off better?

plus, hi-intensity lights with motion detectors at various angles around the dwelling can scare people off. sometimes.

the kids make it even more worrisome.

what sucks is that this type of random violence seems more and more rampant in suburbs and small towns.

a semi-auto shotgun that shoots slugs instead of shot might work better. you can squeeze off 5-7 rounds in a few seconds without having to rack it.

you could massive damage towards a definable target.

just look for autoloaders, they're pricey, but more effective for home security purposes.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Yeah, one door at each side and the kids room is in the line of fire if hubby shoots from

our room.

The back door light was off, but the front door one was on and they clearly were not deterred by that. Which is why I thought it was drunk kids trying to get into the wrong trailer. But when we saw them with flashlights going all around another trailer and looking over our neighbor's car that we decided to call the cops. Nothing came of it, though. The Troopers never came down here as far as I know. At least, they never came to my door and asked me if things had settled down.

[hedgehog]

3. Outlawing drugs has created an entire criminal class of dealers who are

now branching out into other crimes. Mexico is a bit farther down this path. When drug profits drop, the gangs start kidnapping guys like taco vendors and holding them for ransom.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I have no idea what prompted this. Could be unrelated to the home invasion and just stupid drunk

kids, but either way someone could have gotten hurt.

[tigereye]

4. it's really scary how desperate people seem to be - the economy isn't helping

Glad you and yours are safe. :hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Thanks! I am going to the school bus stop in a minute to wait for

YoungerGreenKid in a minute. I don't want him walking up here alone.

[grasswire]

8. dog

got a dog?

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Not allowed in the trailer park, and our attack cats were clearly no help. The marshmallows.

[rcrush]

15. You have a lot of 20 year old kids living in the trailer park?

College age drunks? I have a friend who lived in a trailer park with 3 other people and got a gun pulled on them in the middle of the night. They were always having loud parties and drinking all the time. Figured it was a matter of time before something happened.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. It's about half and half local vs. students. And usually the worst

of it is just loud music or the parties at the beginning and end of the year. Most times the kids are at worst indifferent and at best very nice. This was completely out of the ordinary.

[RebelOne]

19. I live in a trailer park and just recently they outlawed dogs.

The management said that dogs that are living here now are okay as long as there are no problems. I have a Rottweiler and I know just seeing her in the window has deterred anyone from breaking in, as there have been break-ins at other trailers around me. She is 12 years old now and won't be around too much longer. When she passes, I am probably going to buy a gun. I have an attack Chihuahua, but she wouldn't be much help if anyone broke in. All she does is bark a lot.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. We used to have dogs here as well, and the early ones were grandfathered in. But the insurance

was the reason why they were no longer allowed.

I can imagine your attack Chihuahua will be about as deadly as my 15 yo attack cats. LOL (Mind you, my cats can really take a chunk out of someone when they want to. The trouble is that if I want them to take out an intruder, the person will have to try to give them a bath before robbing us blind. :eyes: )

[myrna minx]

10. How scary!

Chain latches can give a false sense of security. It's more of psychological barrier - so keep using it for that, but they are easy to break (with the force of a shoulder or hip) if one is determined to do so.

Take care. :hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. This door opens outward so they had to pull instead of push, but yeah I worry that

it's not enough. Because it opens outward a deadbolt won't work, so we are going to replace the door knob and see what other options we have.

We used to never lock that door. Never felt the need to, until the inside kittehs escaped. Now I plan on keeping it locked.

[Blue Diadem]

17. You might check out a slide bolt and see if that would work.

They come in various sizes.

We use a couple big ones for an outbuilding that has double doors that swing out. We got those after some kids broke into it and stole some stuff.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Yep. We're going to Lowe's and look into everything they have. There's got to be something

we can do. I dunno if multiple chain locks is better than one, especially since this isn't a door you can throw your weight against but rather have to pull hard on it.

[RebelOne]

20. Unfortunately, I found that these doors in my trailer that also open

outward can easily be broken into. I locked myself out once and my brother-in-law opened the front door with a crowbar. Boy, that made me feel so safe.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Dang! I hadn't thought of that. Actually, the windows have always worried me most. We've

been locked out too and just prying the screen out allowed us to chuck the younger kid in so he could unlock the door. Dunno how I would get the windows open in winter, but at least in summer it's doable. Which is why I close the kids' windows when I go to bed. I know they cook in there afterwards but I worry too much about how easy it would be to climb in and just take them out through these near door-size windows.

[hedgehog]

23. Your situation is so common and it is so frustrating. One kid gets snatched

and what ? 100 million adults 150 million? worry about it happening to their kid. I hope this was some drunk at the wrong trailer.

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Stupidest thing I ever did was watch a bunch of those true crime shows that

featured child victims. Holy Hannah did I flip out! I was so paranoid after that.

[fizzgig]

13. that's so frightening

i'm glad everyone is ok

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Yeah. I think I won't be able to sleep well tonight, though. I'll be up peering through

the curtains a lot. :(

But yes, thank heavens everyone is ok. :)

[grasswire]

24. keep in mind that everyone needs to be able to exit quickly too

....in case of fire or other emergency. Be careful about that.

I'm thinking motion lights might be the best investment.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. The motion light at the back door was off, but the one on the front door was on and that

was where they started knocking first.

The exit thing is one of the reasons why I haven't gotten grates to put over the windows. Weighed the possibility of child snatching vs fire and figured the latter was far more likely. And in a trailer, every second counts.

[hedgehog]

27. The more I think about this, the more I think you can relax.

If you have drunken students in the area, or even if they have friends visiting, i can see someone walking up to the wrong door in the middle of the night. On the other hand, do home invaders ever knock? I would think they would kick the door down and move fast before you could react. The fact that you have neighbors close by would seem to be a deterrent as well.

Have your landlord check with the insurance agents. A rottweiler, German Shepherd, doberman or anything resembling a pit bull might raise the rates, but a medium sized mutt or hunting dog might not. I've got a 70 # beagle /shepherd cross, and his bark is pretty intimidating.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. Well, that was our thought at first. Which was why we didn't call the police until they

started wandering around the neighbor's trailer and car with flashlights.

Hopefully it was a one-time incident and we can rest easy after this.

[hedgehog]

30. That clinches it in my mind. Probably drunk and/or stupid,

which presents its own hazards. I hope you got good response from the police. A belligerent drunk can be dangerous.


For those suggesting you buy a gun: imagine the outcome if you had shot first and asked questions later.

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. Police took the report over the phone and that was he end of it. And yes, the

thought of accidentally shooting some stupid drunk kid (or my own) did cross my mind. :(

[BuelahWitch]

29. Glad you're ok

:hug: Get whatever protection you can for your family.

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. Thanks. We will do that. *hugs*

[yurbud]

32. you don't have cops there?

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Teeny tiny town, so no. Hasn't been a cop here in oh, 20, 25 years or so I have been told.

[rrneck]

33. If your door opwns outward..

try a drop bar. It's basically a couple of big "L" bracket you can screw on the inside of the door. You can drop a 2x4 in them that spans the entire door frame. It'll make it almost impossible to force open. You should be able to find them in the fence and barn department.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. I'll check into that. I wouldn't have thought to check anything other than home door locks.