Geek Warrior has person or persons unknown probing the defenses of his house. He's looking for opinions on what the Tangos are up to.
I have to confess myself mystified as to the rocks. However, my opinion is:
1. I'd pass the word on to all my neighbors. This seems pretty clearly to be an intrusion attempt, and they should know.
2. Then I'd pass the word on to the cops. They can't help if the Tango gets in your house, but may know what else is going on in the area.
3. I would absolutely move my kid to a different room for a few days. The breakin attempt was outside his kid's bedroom.
4. He already has the gun thing down. The only real question is 00 or #2 buckshot.
5. I'd put in motion activated lights, although this would clearly only cover part of the house. You can't defend everywhere, but this will raise the aggravation cost for the Tango, and may give you some warning. Warning is good.
Any thoughts you have on hardening your home against this sort of thing, go leave him some comments.
7 comments:
Cameras. He needs more information. Cameras set up with the lights and capturing on motion will provide him with identification. Even the motion fired cameras that hunters use to monitor game trails might be enough.
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Claymores.
Or a motion-activated trebuchet...
Add hand-thrown bolts to the top and bottom of any exterior door. This prevents the tango from getting enough leverage to break the lock out by warping the door with a blow.
Make sure that the lock's bolt penetrates the jamb entirely. It's only 3/4", but a lot of bolts only go in 1/4" The reinforcement is worthwhile.
No substitute for situational awareness. Be hyper-alert for signs of attempted intrusion while you're away. Also: watch your environs closely when you exit. The moment your back is turned to lock the door is an excellent time for an ambush.
M
Along with the other excellent suggestions, may I add another few?
Add a very loud alarm to those movement or infrared activated lights. Light is one thing. SOUND is quite another - and it is SOUND that'll wake you up at 2am.
Install a home alarm system, but also use an autodialer and a prerecorded message to call local friends with guns, and whom would be happy to enforce the castle doctrine by proxy.
Consider replacing some ground-level dual-pane glass windows with dual-pane plexiglas or Lexan. Yes, it much more expensive, but those materials resist breakage and thus may deter a burglar long enough for your friends (with guns) to arrive.
And make sure you're using #00 steel buckshot, full choke. A dead burglar can't tell lies as a witness against you.
The disturbed rocks are intriguing.
I suppose Occam's Razor tells us the dude is just clumsy, or that he was looking for a key, or maybe that he was hefting them to see if he could heave one through the window.
Why he'd need to heft multiple identically sized rocks is a questionmark. Maybe he piled them up to get additional height to look at the window casing or to get a better viewing angle into the house...
I don't know if it'd be an easy thing, but a bed of fine gravel (chunky sand, really) around the place is a great way to capture footprints. Rake in a distinct pattern not easily reproduced and you've got a decent deterrent to peeping toms.
Jim
I've posted an update to this here:
http://warriorgeek.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/like-7-11/
Thanks for all of your suggestions. I have implemented some of them, but obviously I can't say which ones.
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