Please Be Aware of Thieves (Huntsville, Madison: crime, how much, new house)

[hey teach]

Our home in the north-east section of Madison county was broken into this week. I want to encourage everyone to be vigilant about locking up your house and protecting your valuables. Most of what was stolen from us was jewelry that was easy to walk off with and medications. Our doors were locked, but the person got in anyway.

Seems many in the Huntsville/Madison County area are falling victim to thieves. What bothers me most is that someone strange was in our house.

[dijkstra]

Its that time of year again. Burglary and theft always escalates along with all the con-artists and beggars coming out in full force in the shopping center parking lots around the holidays.

[harry chickpea]

Country folk know the rules. When a cop is only 15 minutes away, you have to know what to do.

You must make reasonable attempt to defuse a situation, such as someone attempting to enter your dwelling.
You have the right to defend yourself and shoot to kill if you feel your life is in danger
You do not have the right to shoot into a car or at a fleeing person.
You may not continue to shoot after the danger is passed.
It is a really good idea to be empty handed when the sheriff's deputy arrives to pick up the body.

For some strange reason, few thieves attempt break-ins in the country...

[writerwife]

Sorry to hear that teach. I can hardly stand to watch the news anymore (and some crime shows) as I am finding I am becoming less and less tolerant of thieves. Punks who won't go get a job and believe that your stuff (that you worked for) belongs to them. Whether it be in the home or on the street. Past few yrs I've been much more militant in my thinking about them. Another group that has a sense of entitlement and they care not for what it does to the victim and even going so far as to take the victim's life at times for their belongings.
I'm with Harry Chickpea on this one...although, I guess you'd have to be home but, anyone breaks into our home when we're here and they'll be met by 2 dogs and a fistful of firearms...without compunction.

[E Limestone Dude]

Hey Teach, sorry to hear that.

Could you share any more details such as what time/day it occurred and also how they got in and out? It would be helpful so I could adjust my security system if necessary.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Country folk know the rules. When a cop is only 15 minutes away, you have to know what to do.

You must make reasonable attempt to defuse a situation, such as someone attempting to enter your dwelling.
You have the right to defend yourself and shoot to kill if you feel your life is in danger
You do not have the right to shoot into a car or at a fleeing person.
You may not continue to shoot after the danger is passed.
It is a really good idea to be empty handed when the sheriff's deputy arrives to pick up the body.

For some strange reason, few thieves attempt break-ins in the country...

Hence the phrase: Southern Hospitality

Couple additional advice to ensure legal justification

Make sure the perp's body is inside the house by the time cops arrive

Make sure the perp has a gun in his/her hand

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by writerwife

Sorry to hear that teach. I can hardly stand to watch the news anymore (and some crime shows) as I am finding I am becoming less and less tolerant of thieves. Punks who won't go get a job and believe that your stuff (that you worked for) belongs to them. Whether it be in the home or on the street. Past few yrs I've been much more militant in my thinking about them. Another group that has a sense of entitlement and they care not for what it does to the victim and even going so far as to take the victim's life at times for their belongings.
.

So I am guessing Occupy Huntsville is out of the question ?

[Keeper]

Sorry about that Teach. I agree it is horrible to know someone was in your house. Maybe the sheriff or police chief need to ramp up patrols in areas where there have been burglaries.

I would get an alarm or at least a sign stating you have an alarm..

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by E Limestone Dude

Hey Teach, sorry to hear that.

Could you share any more details such as what time/day it occurred and also how they got in and out? It would be helpful so I could adjust my security system if necessary.

Most burglaries happen during the daytime while the residents are at work. The thieves often watch targets and their neighbors for a week or so and learn the residents schedule so they are reasonably sure when you will be gone and how much time they have and sometimes it is people you are acquainted with in some fashion so they already know your schedule.

The usual method is they pull up attempting to look like they belong there, go around back, break in a door (quite often a garage entry door that is not visible from the street or neighbor. Once in the garage, they open the garage door, back the truck or van in and close the garage door. They load the vehicle up with your belongings, sometimes have a sandwich and coke on you, and then open the garage door and leave.

Just an FYI, deadbolts on most modern exterior doors are almost useless and provide little to no extra protection. The cheap exterior door units used in construction of most new homes have jambs made out of a soft low cost wood such as spruce, fir or pine. The more holes you put in it for door locks and dead bolts, the easier it is to break because you are weakening the already cheesy jamb. It is so easy to kick or ram your shoulder into modern doors and break the jamb to get in, it isn't even funny. Seriously, a 12 year old kid could kick one in. You can reinforce them by buying a high security deadbolt that comes with metal plates and long screws that screw into the framing to replace your current deadbolt. However, even the framing is a soft wood so it is still not that hard to break in and besides, if the door is too hard they just go though a window which is another security issue. Most new houses have vinyl windows which the locks are screwed to the vinyl. Some even have plastic locks for crying out loud. You can break in most vinyl windows with something as simple as a butter knife. Besides all of that, if they want in they will just throw something through a window and be in in 10 seconds anyway.

It is a waste of your time and energy to be paranoid about thieves. Don't make it easy for them, take your precautions and at least discourage them or make them work a little but if they want in, they will get in.

The best precaution in my opinion is along the lines of harry chickpea's thinking. Keep the guns cleaned up and ready for action and it doesn't hurt to go out in the back yard and fire off a couple boxes of ammo for target practice and to make a little noise every now and then.

[hey teach]

I agree with almost everything everyone has said and frankly, we thought we had done a relatively good job protecting our home. We thought wrong. The perp managed to hack through our security system and is almost certainly someone we know or who has been in our house previously. The thief only items they could easily walk out with and not draw attention; jewelry, collectable coins, collectable knives, mostly my jewelry. They also knew exactly where to look for it and it was not displayed openly or in a jewelry box.

Two details that might help: they came in during the day, between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm and they were able to circumvent our security system and go through the garage door. Also, we found evidence of some dog treats that are not the kind we typically give to our dogs, so we think they probably brought the Jum-Bones to keep our dogs occupied.