Is a gated subdivision worth it?

[TheFuzz]

Burglaries occurring at night is a common misconception. Most burglaries occur during the day, when you're not home. There are few true "cat burglars" and anyone breaking into your house when you're most likely at home is probably there for other reasons.

If you were a thief, when would you want to break into someone's house? During the day when most people are at work or at night when most people are asleep and loud noises are more suspicious?

[kaday]

Move to a subdivision where many Moms stay home. A lot of people around during the day discourages break ins. I don't think a gate would discourage anyone, but parents around with kids in tow is a great deterant.

[spacelord75]

It's so funny - I grew up in Dunwoody and we never had a security system and almost never locked the doors/windows. Now, after having lived all over the metro area and gotten used to having a security system, I have moved back to my old stomping grounds and insisted on having Brinks install wiring and set up service prior to moving in. It's such a comforting feeling, not only knowing that the house is monitored while I'm away, but also having those door chimes to let you know when someone comes into the house. I will never live without it, at least not near a large metro area.

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by kaday

Move to a subdivision where many Moms stay home. A lot of people around during the day discourages break ins. I don't think a gate would discourage anyone, but parents around with kids in tow is a great deterant.

It helps, as do community policing programs, neighborhood watch programs, and involved neighbors.

There's no guarantees, however. We had all of that -- my wife stays home with our kids, we had a very active neighborhood with very low crime rates compared with surrounding areas, a C.O.P.S. program that had been recognized as neighborhood of the year in Gwinnett County a couple of times, and we still got hit. They waited until my wife and daughter were out of the house picking up my older kids from school. Yes, the doors and windows were locked. We even had thick nails inserted into holes in the window frames to prevent the locks being forced open. Unfortunately, our back door and the window to kitchen opened onto a concrete patio, with lines of sight to the street obscured by the house and by landscaping. Don't know how long it took the guy with the pry bar to get in, but I expect it wasn't long.

Unlike most burglaries, we got an arrest. And a conviction. The only one, our burglary detective told us, her unit had managed in over a year. We had serial numbers for a couple of the musical instruments that were taken, and we proactively contacted a local music store that specializes in used instruments. Sure enough, the guy had sold them both there. But because he had sold them stuff before, the store didn't actually check his ID on that transaction -- they already had his name/address/etc. on file. Because they didn't verify ID on that transaction, the police weren't willing to make an arrest. They did have the store flag his account, however, and the next time he brought stuff in they stalled him with a story about computer problems, called the cops, and they came in and busted him.

Police were able to recover from his apartment a certain amount of the stuff that was stolen (though not the most valuable to us, which was my wife's jewelery, most of which was family heirlooms), and after a stint as evidence we got it back. Unfortunately, even though the guy was convicted and sentenced to prison, he walked away from a work-release program almost immediately after starting it. If we hadn't already moved by then, we'd have been worried about retaliation.

So do lock your doors and take all the precautions you can. Just don't assume that you're going to be safe from burglaries no matter where you are or what you do. Make sure you have serial numbers of anything that has one, and photos of everything of value -- even if you don't care about the crappy compact stereo set in the basement, if you have the serial number from it and they find it in a pile of stuff that matches your photos of your stuff in some guy's apartment, your odds of getting your stuff back are much better.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by TheFuzz

Burglaries occurring at night is a common misconception. Most burglaries occur during the day, when you're not home. There are few true "cat burglars" and anyone breaking into your house when you're most likely at home is probably there for other reasons.

If you were a thief, when would you want to break into someone's house? During the day when most people are at work or at night when most people are asleep and loud noises are more suspicious?

While more break-ins occur during "working hours", there are other crimes besides breaking and entering that can happen at night, though. Someone tamperting with your car... with items on your porch or around the landscaping... your mailbox, etc. A lack of proper lighting still allows someone to mess AROUND your house and not be seen.

And let's face it, as time goes on we see less and less "professional thieves" and more and more "meth heads" who do NOT think logically. Not to mention gang bangers who do home invasions with homes full of people just to "get in" a gang. They're just spaced out enough to enter homes with a driveway filled with cars as the next nut. My vote still goes to "leave your doors locked and your lights ON".

[richard112360]

Originally Posted by dls

OK everybody, thanks for the insights. I did notice that Dunwoody has
no gated subdivs that I can find. An the most massive place in Alpharetta, Windward has almost no gated areas.
I assume that means they are not needed.
I just want to go to sleep at night and not worry about break-ins (paranoia runs deep, they say...).

There are a few gated subdivision in Dunwoody. Several off Tilly mill close to the Georgia perimeter college Dunwoody branch and also a couple close to the Dunwoody library.

[TheFuzz]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

While more break-ins occur during "working hours", there are other crimes besides breaking and entering that can happen at night, though. Someone tamperting with your car... with items on your porch or around the landscaping... your mailbox, etc. A lack of proper lighting still allows someone to mess AROUND your house and not be seen.

And let's face it, as time goes on we see less and less "professional thieves" and more and more "meth heads" who do NOT think logically. Not to mention gang bangers who do home invasions with homes full of people just to "get in" a gang. They're just spaced out enough to enter homes with a driveway filled with cars as the next nut. My vote still goes to "leave your doors locked and your lights ON".

In my own personal experience, the only home invasions I have seen are where the victims are drug dealers or jewelers....and I've worked dozens.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I remember one of the things that amazed me the most when I moved down here was the completely backward way people handle using their outdoor lights (porch and security lights).

Back home, generally most folks leave the lights off until it's time to go to bed. Then, when you go to bed, you turn the lights ON. This discourages people from lurking around your house, and if someone IS lurking around, improves the chance that one of your neighbors would see them, or the cops would if they're driving around or would have been called, etc. Sounds logical.

I like our porch lights -- they have a light sensor that keeps them off in the daytime, but when it starts getting dark they turn on. They also auto-dim so they don't use as much electricity, but a motion sensor wakes them up when someone approaches so they get a lot brighter.

We also have motion-sensitive spots by the garage and on the back porch. Makes life simpler -- we just leave everything turned on! :-)

[IllinoiZ]

Heh. We have "gated" communities up here in Illinois too. But if there's not a guard, anyone can still drive though. Our "gated" neighborhoods still have home invasions.

Personally, I think they are a waste of money and sell a false sense of security. If anything, criminals like to drive through gated communities because more then likely, people in those homes make more money and have more stuff to steal. If anything, I think it makes you a target for burglary.

I drive through an area near where I work that is mostly Mexican and it's one of the nicest neighborhoods I drive through every day. It's mostly families moving in. This is an example, of a non-gated, non-white neighborhood that is still very nice. You don't have to live in a gated all white community to live in a safe area.

Just my two cents.

[jcowens2000]

Unless the gate is manned by 24 hour security, its useless. I live in a gated community in Alpha and we recently had a couple of car break-ins. People just jump the fences if they want in.