[elfyum]

My "gut" tells me that the people who "attract" this stuff have stuff that calls attention...I mean, if you live in a house that's all vaulted & wired & what have you, you must have something to protect, right? And that's exactly what robbers want! I mean, yeah, there are "amateur" (sp?) thieves who just break into anything, but I think if you bother, you do it with the intent of actually getting stuff worth your while! In my neighborhood everyone leaves stuff out & nothing gets taken. Everyone leaves their doors open at least sometimes. And there are always people around, so...
Maybe that has to do with it as well. If there are always cars in the carport & always neighbors awake, that's less inviting to a theif. Also not being on a through street helps.
But, I mean, if I was a burgler, I'd go for the million dollar houses in the Keys & on the beaches too!
Just my take on the whole thing.
That of course sucks though...!

[MaryLou2007]

Originally Posted by tallrick

I have been dragging the last few days and didn't sleep more than 10 mins at a time. Finally g ave the sherriff a call and the deputy , she looked at my door and took a report, that's all there was to it. Evidently the same night a car was stolen and three homes broken into. I caught some video of the culprits in the yard, evidently there were two of them. Hopefully tonight I will sleep a lot better. Had a friend come by tonight to help me retest the security system. Every sensor works perfectly and the guns are loaded. Ahh isn't Florida life wonderful! Actually a friend in Miami thinks I have nothing to worry about. He thinks I am some kind of survivalist. Well maybe he's right, but I hope the house is strong enough to keep people out, otherwise they may be leaving in a horizontal position. Well at least in Florida we have the right to shoot.

Tallrick, you have the right to shott, but you need to be in fear first. Don;t shoot anyone outside, ok? Don;t want to see you in trouble, you seem like a nice person who just want to be left alone and in safety.

Now, HONESTLY, is this really worth it? We have guns in the house too, we all know how to use them very well, but really, is that what people move down here for? In CO, we had guns too, but our concern were sometime wild animals, here, we truly fear people.

We had to hold our ground and our power generator during the 2005 hurricane season. Like I said, is that worth it to avoid a 3 or 4 month winter? I need not to say what I think, but what do you think?

[macguy]

Originally Posted by elfyum

My "gut" tells me that the people who "attract" this stuff have stuff that calls attention...I mean, if you live in a house that's all vaulted & wired & what have you, you must have something to protect, right? And that's exactly what robbers want! I mean, yeah, there are "amateur" (sp?) thieves who just break into anything, but I think if you bother, you do it with the intent of actually getting stuff worth your while! In my neighborhood everyone leaves stuff out & nothing gets taken. Everyone leaves their doors open at least sometimes. And there are always people around, so...
Maybe that has to do with it as well. If there are always cars in the carport & always neighbors awake, that's less inviting to a theif. Also not being on a through street helps.
But, I mean, if I was a burgler, I'd go for the million dollar houses in the Keys & on the beaches too!
Just my take on the whole thing.
That of course sucks though...!

There are a lot of things that are "tells" that this may be a place to rob. People who work and put out their garbage cans and they stay at the curb till they come home. It is like putting up a sign "No one is home, come on in". My house is non descript and looks like a house where an old person may live. We also only have one car and when one of us are out the house may look empty. I don't like that.

My nephew lived in my guest cottage for ten years and there was always a few cars around and obvious activity, but now the house may actually look empty to someone sometimes. There are a lot of things you can do to at least cut down the odds of being targeted if you do an assessment. Most thieves are looking for something easy they are opportunists. If you can keep them away you have eliminated like 99 % of the problem. Hard core criminals there is not much you can do, if they target you it's going to happen.

I had a friend have a Corvette stolen right out of his locked garage. If someone wants it you are not going to stop them, they just need a good plan. Us personally we don't present the image of victims. I have long hair, a full beard and look very much like a biker to a lot of people. I know from the sense I get people are often afraid of me at first, but to be honest, I like that. I prefer people leave me alone, no one ever pan handles me. My wife is a good size German girl who doesn't tale any S#*t from anybody and not too many people bother her either.

My biggest problem around the house is there is a bus stop not far away and it gives people an excuse to be around. There can be a dozen or more just walking around right near my house. There are also a lot of tourists who walk the area looking at the houses and you just never know who anybody is. You just do the best you can to not be, at least, an easy victim I guess, what else can you do. Who wants to live with bars on the windows.

[TriMT7]

Would an alarm system with an "instant" wailing alarm feature be a good thing to install if this seems to be a recurring thing, lol?

[sunrico90]

I believe that the area needs some Police care. I will say that they are playing with Tallrick, just imagine if they set fire in the front and back of the house, no way out. The iron bars don't let no one in or out. Robbery and drugs is well know in that area: county sheriff log, 359 calls in seven days