Bad Guy Was Here...

[Spiky Bugger]

We went to Neighborhood Watch Meeting...free tacos, why not, right?...a couple of weeks ago. Got on the email list for weekly crime reports. Listened to tales of crime, mostly burglaries. Common approach: guy goes to door, rings bell, no answer (?), he goes to the back and breaks in while you are at work or out and about. (We ordered a home security system. It will be here Saturday.)

So, on Monday, I'm sprawled out on the sofa, reading, right under the living room windows, curtains only SLIGHTLY OPEN, that abut the front porch. Mr. Sue is gone...no car is visible...the house looks like a burglary target.

Doorbell rings. Whining, I get up--at which point I suddenly became visible from the porch through the slightly open curtains. I walk the three whole steps to the door, peek out the peep hole, and the bell ringer dude is BRISKLY walking away...off the porch, mostly past the driveway, and then...as I watch...he goes past my next door neighbor's house...the one with cars in the driveway.

So...not a salesman. A salesman would have gone to the next house. And he had nothing resembling literature--flyers, brochures, pamphlets--to use to sell his wares. No tools. He wasn't trying to sell me goods or services.

I called the cops.

Mr. Sue showed up right after that, announcing that cops were slowly driving on our street, in the direction I had given them.

I told MiniSue, who gave me a C- on my suspect description info. These days, bad guys wear layers of clothes, so the blue plaid shirt that you described to the cops morphs into a tie-dyed red and green "Dumb Ass for President" t-shirt. But they don't usually have a spare pair of shoes. Notice the shoes.

Anyway, today the Neighborhood Watch email showed up. It tells us that on Thursday and Friday, two nearby residential burglaries occurred, one between noon and 10:00 p.m., the other between 3:00 p.m. and midnight (what do you wanna bet those victims are shift workers), one a block north of here and one a block south.

(Don't tell me to move to a better area...the problem is that it is a relatively "better" area...that's why the bad guys make house calls here and not just where they live.)

I guess I need to add a security camera, too. Damn.

 

[k9ophile]

Move to a bad neighborhood and put car seats on the front porch and painted tires for flower beds?

 

[Clematis]

Get one of those those alarms that after someone rings the doorbell, it sounds like you have a loud barking german shepherd. Blast it through those booming giant speakers we had in the Woodstock days. The bad guy will move on. (Hell, he wasn't even gonna take on YOU.)

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Move to a bad neighborhood and put car seats on the front porch and painted tires for flower beds?

Can I take the car seats I have on THIS front porch?

 

[k9ophile]

Can I take the car seats I have on THIS front porch?

I don't see why not.

 

[southernlady]

But they don't usually have a spare pair of shoes. Notice the shoes.

Good idea...also notice pants. If they wear glasses, notice that alto the glasses might be fake.

 

[hilary1617]

Jeez! Glad you were home to respond to the bell and that you are beefing up defenses.

We're going to have to install security cameras as well.. Recently Charles, was up at the crack of dawn reading a book in our breezeway and was surprised by a man appearing two feet away from him within our fenced yard. Apparently the man is without a home and had spent the prior evening camping out under a bridge that crosses the ravine in our backyard. He had walked 23 miles north from Chicago and was on a quest to find family way further north (our road runs along the shore of Lake Michigan all the way from Chicago to Racine, WI). Our backyard is tree filled and we thought it was private, so we have no shades on the floor to ceiling windows on our bedroom that faces it. I'm sure our "intruder" was a nice person, but his unexpected visit was a good reminder that we don't live in a protected bubble even though we are in an overly sanitized, banal suburb, and it could have been someone with bad intentions. Hello security!

 

[k9ophile]

@Spiky Bugger Saw this on FB. It might work.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

View attachment 1179

@Spiky Bugger Saw this on FB. It might work.

Too funny...

 

[JackieOnLine]

I'm sorry to hear this is going on, Sue, damn ********

 

[KathrynK]

My problem is with people I let into the house. Like an idiot, I let a man in who said he was from the gas company, different from my usual guy but he had the outfit and a badge. I was slower than he was walking to the meter, but close enough to see him stopping at my dining room china hutch that had the 1850 silver coffee service I inherited. He said under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear, "bingo" and jiggled the handle of the door next to the meter. He left, I immediately call the gas company to check, and while I am occupied on hold on the phone, I hear someone else kicking at the door. Fortunately, it is reinforced, and he didn't break through. I went out on the porch and yelled to my neighbor who came over and we saw a man walking quickly away. Across the street was a third man on his phone, with a bold black and white shirt, a backpack, and a t-shirt underneath. (You are right about the layers). I assume he was there for the handoff of the silver to protect the second guy. We stood out there staring at him, because he was so out of place, and I pulled out my phone to take a picture and he left. The police said they would report the fake meter reader (but I only took note of his outfit and badge, and didn't have specific details) and they didn't see a need to investigate the attempted break-in guy, since I wasn't sure the man was the kicker, and the third guy didn't do anything illegal. They said to get a dog. So, I reinforced other doors to the outside with stronger metal plates on the door jams. The gas company installed a remote meter, so no more meter readers! Loaned the silver to my sister who has a security system. Since the carpet installers got my jewelry (I think it was them, but it might have been the plumber), there is nothing worth stealing, unless you call a 6-yr old TV and an 3 yr old I-pad valuable. Does anyone feel more vulnerable thin than they did fat?

 

[k9ophile]

Does anyone feel more vulnerable thin than they did fat?

No. I feel safer now. I can move faster and not as clumsy as when I was huge. I honestly felt like a sitting duck. I still don't feel as safe now as a 65 y.o., but at least I don't have both age and weight going against me.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

My problem is with people I let into the house. Like an idiot, I let a man in who said he was from the gas company, different from my usual guy but he had the outfit and a badge. I was slower than he was walking to the meter, but close enough to see him stopping at my dining room china hutch that had the 1850 silver coffee service I inherited. He said under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear, "bingo" and jiggled the handle of the door next to the meter. He left, I immediately call the gas company to check, and while I am occupied on hold on the phone, I hear someone else kicking at the door. Fortunately, it is reinforced, and he didn't break through. I went out on the porch and yelled to my neighbor who came over and we saw a man walking quickly away. Across the street was a third man on his phone, with a bold black and white shirt, a backpack, and a t-shirt underneath. (You are right about the layers). I assume he was there for the handoff of the silver to protect the second guy. We stood out there staring at him, because he was so out of place, and I pulled out my phone to take a picture and he left. The police said they would report the fake meter reader (but I only took note of his outfit and badge, and didn't have specific details) and they didn't see a need to investigate the attempted break-in guy, since I wasn't sure the man was the kicker, and the third guy didn't do anything illegal. They said to get a dog. So, I reinforced other doors to the outside with stronger metal plates on the door jams. The gas company installed a remote meter, so no more meter readers! Loaned the silver to my sister who has a security system. Since the carpet installers got my jewelry (I think it was them, but it might have been the plumber), there is nothing worth stealing, unless you call a 6-yr old TV and an 3 yr old I-pad valuable. Does anyone feel more vulnerable thin than they did fat?

****...this isn't good. Now you have to be suspicious of everyone.

 

[hilary1617]

Does anyone feel more vulnerable thin than they did fat?

I feel more vulnerable now, not to home robberies, but to potential personal attacks walking down the streets. I seem to be more visible / approachable in thin format and I draw far more attention, sometimes from pretty sketchy characters.