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Why are people so fearful of burglaries at night?

24

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 465 ✭✭merengueca


    As so many people have said, it's because you are at your most vulnerable.

    I was victim of aggravated burglary a few years ago, asleep on my own at home and woke up to the front door being smashed in. Decided (or reacted would be a better word as there was nothing operating but sheer instinct) to stay where I was and let them nick what they wanted... they decided different, four blokes smashed into my bedroom, all with hoodies/masks on and one with a crow bar.

    As one poster before mentioned being absolutely outraged, I was at the time but the over riding emotion has been the feeling of violation.

    So yeah, kinda freak out about household security at night.

    Best security you can ever have is a dog.... doesn't have to be a muscle breed, I only got through the remaining years of living in that house by getting my dog, he is a lab but, by god, no scumbag burglar wants to run into 7 stone of angry teeth and muscle which is what he becomes if threatened!


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,370 ✭✭✭TheChizler


    Surely it's very unwise to confront a burglar unless they're actually trying to harm you. The last thing most burglars want is a confrontation. In my experience and most cases I've heard of, as soon as they realise they've been copped they will most likely make a run for it. Confronting them with a bat or knife means they're going to have to defend themselves and there's no option other than violence. It's along the same lines as cornering a scared wild animal, you're best off leaving a clear, direct path to the exit. The type of person who burgles is most likely able to handle any weapon you present better than you. If they get it off you they now have a weapon and you are still a threat, not a good situation.

    Imagine being submissive on the weapons front, retreat but make your presence known, by calling out that the Gardaí are on the way or something. Worst case scenario they make off with something of value, you are safe.
    Imagine attacking the burgler; best case scenario somebody is injured. Worst case scenario they overpower you and use your own weapon against you, you or a member of your family end up being killed.

    I've heard it from multiple sources, people who practice self defence and know what they're talking about, do not attack a burgler or confront with an obvious weapon. Unless you value your property more than your health.


    -- Of course as in the above post you may find yourself in a situation where the confrontation is brought to you, but this is an exceptionally rare occurrence.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,027 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Christ. I'm sorry scum like that should be hung from the neck until dead. Preferably in public. I'd happily pull the lever too.
    Snowie wrote: »
    my dog sleeps bye the door and patrols the house at night... thats what a dogs for, a deterrent and if the dumb fvcks still try break in there just stupid...
    Ditto.
    TheChizler wrote: »
    Imagine being submissive on the weapons front, retreat but make your presence known, by calling out that the Gardaí are on the way or something. Worst case scenario they make off with something of value, you are safe.
    Imagine attacking the burgler; best case scenario somebody is injured. Worst case scenario they overpower you and use your own weapon against you, you or a member of your family end up being killed.
    I'd agree, though would respectfully disagree on the best case scenario. For me that would be them dead.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    Day or night , the harder and more difficult we make it for them to break in , the less chance of them succeeding .


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,979 ✭✭✭Stovepipe


    There was a case in the UK not so long ago where the cops picked up a toerag for burgling and they found a hit-list on him. Turns out his method was to stroll up and down both sides of a street, noting which ones had dogs or not, side entrances, windows open, people in attendance during working hours and so on. He had checked every single house and had narrowed down his list to the likeliest targets. The cops were impressed by the quality of his reconnaisance and when they went to the householders to advise them to improve their basic security, not one of them recalled seeing the guy on his walkabout.
    You never know, do ya?

    regards
    Stovepipe


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  • Registered Users Posts: 22,929 ✭✭✭✭ShadowHearth


    As a petrolhead: night time is the worst time for burglaries.
    Car outside, keys inside.
    Good if they find them, of they won't be bothered to look for them, then you might wake up and see a kettle of hot water over your face or your partners.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,398 ✭✭✭whatdoicare


    I foiled an attempted break in a while back by turning on all the lights in the house and turning the telly up full blast with the metal music channel on - called gardai, they didn't show up for four hours and even though I mentioned I was a girl, on my own in the house, they never bothered to stop the squad car to see if I was dead or alive.
    Since then I have not been able to sleep at night if I'm by myself and I am often still up with all the lights on until 6 am - which is when the people living on my estate start to get up.
    I'm trying to convince the husband to get a dog for me - a big dog.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,395 ✭✭✭✭mikemac1


    - called gardai, they didn't show up for four hours and even though I mentioned I was a girl, on my own in the house, they never bothered to stop the squad car to see if I was dead or alive. .

    Should have told them you have a knife and were about to slaughter the burglar.

    They would have shown up then


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    Stovepipe wrote: »
    There was a case in the UK not so long ago where the cops picked up a toerag for burgling and they found a hit-list on him. Turns out his method was to stroll up and down both sides of a street, noting which ones had dogs or not, side entrances, windows open, people in attendance during working hours and so on. He had checked every single house and had narrowed down his list to the likeliest targets. The cops were impressed by the quality of his reconnaisance and when they went to the householders to advise them to improve their basic security, not one of them recalled seeing the guy on his walkabout.
    You never know, do ya?

    regards
    Stovepipe
    Some people have a lazy attitude to property security and think ' it won't happen to me ' ...until it does and then they decide to up their security and burglars love them for this oversight but why 'after the horse has bolted the stable ' wait for it to happen ?

    You could argue that every stranger who walks down our road is a potential burglar making notes as you said on each house and many do which is why we should always take note of them (strangers) even if they are wearing commercial clothing ie, gas ,utility etc and make it part of our security routine .

    The barking dog that only barks at night in reaction to a noise or supicious movement around your property is the burglars worst enemy and probably more so then the house alarm which can be triggered off by a fault or passing car.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,398 ✭✭✭whatdoicare


    mikemac1 wrote: »
    Should have told them you have a knife and were about to slaughter the burglar.

    They would have shown up them

    Yeah - I doubt they'd believe a girl has a knife and is going to take on (what I had already described to them) two tall well built males one with what looks like a crow bar. They didn't really care either way - it took me two attempts to actually get them to listen to me in the first place.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭M cebee


    response time can be slow out the country these days with closures etc

    not the guards fault

    a good dog and a shotgun is yer only man

    knives are no use,they'll take it off you


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,073 ✭✭✭Pottler


    Had the front door sledge-hammered in in the early hours. Burglars started coming up the stairs.:eek: Worst bit for me was the two mile walk back home through the City Center in just my pyjama bottoms. Very embarassing as they were Paisley ones. The fitter of the two robbers was a bloody good runner, have to give him that.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,916 ✭✭✭shopaholic01


    As a petrolhead: night time is the worst time for burglaries.
    Car outside, keys inside.
    Good if they find them, of they won't be bothered to look for them, then you might wake up and see a kettle of hot water over your face or your partners.

    Apparently this is very common so you should always leave keys, bags etc. where they can be easily found. I wouldn't care if my car, purse etc were taken as long as they didn't come near me.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,073 ✭✭✭Pottler


    Apparently this is very common so you should always leave keys, bags etc. where they can be easily found. I wouldn't care if my car, purse etc were taken as long as they didn't come near me.
    PM your address please:D I promise not to come near you!


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,398 ✭✭✭whatdoicare


    M cebee wrote: »
    response time can be slow out the country these days with closures etc

    not the guards fault

    a good dog and a shotgun is yer only man

    knives are no use,they'll take it off you

    I don't live in the country - I live literally 5 minutes drive from a Garda station in Limerick city. They still took four hours to drive to my area, drove up - did a u turn - drove away. Didn't even see me running out to them. Zooooom.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭Sky King


    I don't live in the country - I live literally 5 minutes drive from a Garda station in Limerick city.
    Ah.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,395 ✭✭✭✭mikemac1


    You get an immediate response, suspects picked up off the streets and detectives working on the case.......if you are Alan Shatter

    Happened his house last month

    Anyone else can shag off, you won't see those resources when your house is burgled

    Some Irish citizens are more important then others


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,398 ✭✭✭whatdoicare


    Sky King wrote: »
    Ah.

    Thanks for that - where I live obviously makes me less deserving than you of garda protection.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,398 ✭✭✭Paparazzo


    To any women living on their own, you should be fearful of rapists at night, not burglars.

    Nighty night


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,515 ✭✭✭LH Pathe


    I bet the guy next door w/ his 3 kids and a wIfe has been sweating bullets since he heard about em new dongles is always fiddling w/ his alarm


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  • Registered Users Posts: 78,218 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    Apparently this is very common so you should always leave keys, bags etc. where they can be easily found. I wouldn't care if my car, purse etc were taken as long as they didn't come near me.
    No, its a common urban myth.
    Paparazzo wrote: »
    To any women living on their own, you should be fearful of rapists at night, not burglars.
    Most rapists are known to the victim. The rapist is as likely to already be in the property and to have to break in.


  • Registered Users, Subscribers Posts: 13,408 ✭✭✭✭antodeco


    There are 2 entry points in my house. The back, at night, has a very large dog guarding it. Think of those arctic wolfs you see. Front door is triple bolted and locked. There's also a log cabin in my back which might distract them more, but there's obvious security on it, as well as some hidden ones


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,221 ✭✭✭A_Sober_Paddy


    I have a dog and a baseball bat by my bed side, I'd like to think I'd have it in me to smash the fecker's head in with the bat


  • Registered Users, Subscribers Posts: 13,408 ✭✭✭✭antodeco




  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 2,283 Mod ✭✭✭✭Chorcai


    We are thinking of getting another dog, an Alsatian, train him to be a proper guard dog.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt_kjo-pzXA&feature=related


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 8,561 Mod ✭✭✭✭Rhyme


    antodeco wrote: »
    There are 2 entry points in my house. The back, at night, has a very large dog guarding it. Think of those arctic wolfs you see. Front door is triple bolted and locked. There's also a log cabin in my back which might distract them more, but there's obvious security on it, as well as some hidden ones

    What? Are you Abraham Lincoln?


  • Registered Users, Subscribers Posts: 13,408 ✭✭✭✭antodeco


    Rhyme wrote: »
    What? Are you Abraham Lincoln?

    I don't think so. Let me double check and come back to you.

    EDIT: Nope. Afraid not. My neighbour thinks I'm weird though for asking him


  • Site Banned Posts: 2,037 ✭✭✭paddyandy


    OP. I think i've figured it out .Is it 'cause it's dark ?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,005 ✭✭✭GalwayKiefer


    I'm not going to go into how I have my house set up to make sure I sleep soundly at night or at ease while I'm away but there are two things I would say to people here regarding dogs and weapons:

    Dogs can be poisoned prior to burglaries, I know one person personally where this happened by laced meat being shoved through the letterbox while she was at work, keep that in mind. For example train your dog to only eat when it receives a secret command word. Also, they are not security devices that need feeding - they are a member of your family. Love them and treat them as such and they will love you and protect you till their last breath.

    Secondly, choose your personal defense "household object that happened to be nearby your honour" carefully because if you don't know how to effectively use what you're holding it will be taken off you and used against you. Also objects like baseball bats are only good if you have the space to use them - the landing at the top of most stairs is one place where they're only useful for giving hard pokes with.

    If they want your tv, let them off with it, it's only a blasted tv. If they come up the stairs where you and your loved ones are -> game changer. It's better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 919 ✭✭✭wicklowstevo


    because its a shamefull crime to commit, day time breakings are frequent because people are out and about or in work, espically in rural area, night time breakins are often atempts to steal cars ,


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