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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Home Invasion Yesterday at my Nephews Home

My parents and brothers live in Europe as some of you know.
But when my brother got divorced his ex-wife moved back here with my 2 little nephews.
She moved together with a friend from school and had another kid.
They live just a few blocks away and I try to keep a good relationship with my nephews in spite of what happened.
Well, yesterday they got robbed.
They live in a house that has two floors, right next to two other homes exactly like it.
None of them had burglar bars, which, as I’ve said many times are simply a fact of life here.
They broke into the house from the back yard, jumping through the back yard from a neighboring home that is usually empty because the woman that lives there travels a lot. They forced the wooden shutter, forced the window’s weak lock and got inside.
My brother’s ex wife new couple is what some of us would call a wimp. Nothing against the guy but you know, the kind of person that says he’s afraid of guns and has the fighting instinct of a butterfly, so there was no home security planning, no burglar bars, no alarm, of course no firearm or any level of awareness. Must be nice to not give a damn or worry about things that I think 24 hours a day!
Anyway, they got inside and robbed everything they found on the ground floor, since the bedrooms are upstairs. Nintendo DS (which my brother bought for the kids) Wii, cell phones, clothes, appliances, TV, purse, wallet and everything they found worth taking.
They have a dog (….Bichon… Frise… yes, makes sense) but its 45 days old and apparently sleeps with them upstairs.
In case anyone is wondering, for good security you should have real dogs (plural) outside and a dog inside, not in your bed but down stairs doing what a dog is supposed to do.
Typical of the kind of crime we see these days, they robbed the other two neighboring houses as well, they all have the same layout and design.
The neighborhood is just 5 blocks away, but they don’t have private security there. Properties cost ½ but as they say, you get what you pay for.
Nothing ever happens and those of us that worry and think about these things are paranoid lunatics, but I prefer to be the way I am.
I couldn’t live with myself being that way.
Be honest with yourself about your home security guys, and work on your weak spots right away. Don’t wait until you learn the lesson the hard way.

FerFAL

10 comments:

Totalinvestor said...

Don't they read your blog?

FerFAL said...

No, my nephews are just kids, 10 and 12, and the adults dont care I suppose.There's lots of people that simply take things like that as an act of God and dont take responsability for themsevles.

FerFAL

Anonymous said...

Thank God nobody was hurt.

Anonymous said...

At least they had wooden shutters, most of the windows up here are fake shutters. What I wouldn't give if my house had real honest shutters made of iron or steel. Or those fancy roller indoor chain link shutters. I'm not quite rich enough to afford that though.

I know lots of people like that. How can they play the role of victim and get lots of sympathy and attention if they know to do better?

Life truly is a stage and we are all actors.

BulgarWheat said...

FerFAL,

It has not gotten to that point here in America yet. I have been giving a great deal of thought to reinforcing windows and doors on my home. Too easy to kick in a door or break a window for access. There's a tremendous amout of work to be done due to the construction of the home.

I also see this as a potential business opportunity for other home-owners in the same situation as I am in.

Anonymous said...

Was this a burglary while they slept, and the perps didn't go upstairs? In the states, a "home invasion" usually means the owners were taken hostage during the event. Just curious about terminology.

Shambhala said...

BulgarWheat said...
FerFAL,

It has not gotten to that point here in America yet.


You are quite mistaken. It happens A LOT. And it will get much, much worse.

It happens in Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburg, Dallas, Miami....

Jono said...

Just got the final quote and are going ahead and replacing all the windows / doors on my GF's house with shatter resistant and Low E windows from Home Depot. Had to search for the product because most of the HD employees didn't know they carried it. Expensive but worth the peace of mind. It's coming USA, it's coming!

Anonymous said...

We applied the 14 mil security film to our windows on our last house and on this one. Expensive but looks better than bars on the windows and almost as secure. Seems logical to prevent burgularies than respond afterward.

As for home invasions while occupied, that's why man invented the 12 gauge riot shotgun, 00 buckshot, and slugs.

Two recent home "invasions" in our city - result - two dead perps. Same with carjackings here - perps die more often than not. Cause of death is lead poisoning.

Anonymous said...

Nice...lead poisoning. Apparently, lead from gunshots usually gets sealed in and doesn't cause poisoning, unless it lands in or near a joint.

In those cases, more like, extensive trauma, bleeding and shockwave damage as PRECURSORS to lead poisoning.

RIP, perps. Sad sad world.