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Original poster

Oh Jesus... Just stopped a burglary

94 replies

QuestionableMouse · 02/12/2018 01:18

Please excuse any typos... I'm really shaking.

Heard a strange car drive down the back lane (houses are surrounded by fields and have a road back and front but only the front is lit). Stuck my head out of the window that faces onto the back and listen (we often get sat Nov failures) and heard them talking about where to break in and how easily the flat screen lift off the wall. Dialled 999 and kept watching. They headed to their car (assuming for tools) while I was still waiting to get through to 999.

So I found a police siren video on my tablet and played it at full blast. Well they ran so fast one fell over. Sadly didn't get a good look at the car, just a fleeting impression so not much help.

I'm feeling a bit shaky and at the same time proud of myself. Police took what details I had and we've just had a car driving round. I don't think I'll sleep tonight

OP posts:
Howmanysleepstilchristmas · 02/12/2018 06:58

Someone tried to break into my house a couple of nights ago (they were scared off by the dog). Sorry @workreturner, but I’d way rather they didn’t get into the house me and my 4 dc are in than that they got in so the police could catch them. Police CSI have examined the door and taken cctv from a neighbour so they may be identified anyway, no need for us to be traumatised, thanks! The police are also providing us with security cameras and lights: apparently they prefer to prevent crime too!

NutBiscuit · 02/12/2018 07:04

Agree Changenameday

We were burgled a couple of weeks ago. Disturbed them in the act. They were still in the house when we called 999. Did the police send someone to "catch them in the act" Workreturner? No they did not. Just a crime reference number for the insurance.

Now nearly 3 weeks later I am STILL waiting for the insurance company to fix the TWO doors they smashed through to gain entry. Personally I would FAR rather the burglary had been prevented in the first place!

wowfudge · 02/12/2018 07:05

OP given the circumstances I think your quick-tempered was great. Get an infra red camera that's triggered by motion. If you don't have one, have an alarm fitted and use it - have it on when you go to bed at night.

wowfudge · 02/12/2018 07:05

Quick-thinking - bloody autocorrect!

MyNameIsJane · 02/12/2018 07:08

I absolutely disagree with you Workreturner. If they had broken in, no insurance would reinstate the feeling that you should be and feel safe in your home.

IggityZiggityZoom · 02/12/2018 07:09

I don't know where you all live that you reckon the police would be straight out. In London I was hold for 999 when I watched a burglar smash through a window of the elderly neighbors house and crawl through. Did the police come? Sure. The next day. DH took the dog and went over himself because we were afraid she was alone in there and couldn't do nothing. The police are so overstretched in London they come for only the worst of the worst.

Workreturner · 02/12/2018 07:09

But they are still out there!!! They will do to someone else.
This was a chance to stop them.

JustKeepSwimmingJustKeepSwimmi · 02/12/2018 07:13

Gosh thats 2 people that have said the police wont come put to a robbery in progress/intruder in the house.

That is actually terrifying. When my partner is away I often inagine sounds downstairs. If a real inntruder was there Id want to know the police would come (is this why Americans are so hot on guns!? I hate guns but a quick shot might scare them off?!)

user789653241 · 02/12/2018 07:13

How cool! You are amazing. Clever and creative. Well done!

ImaginaryCat · 02/12/2018 07:17

@Workreturner are you not taking on board what others are saying? If OP was on hold for the police, that indicates it was a busy night. They may not have had a car available within an hour.
So you really believe she should have left the burglary to take place just so there might have been some fingerprints for evidence? What if it had gone wrong? What if they'd been armed. What if her neighbour ended up beaten to death with a hammer? Would you want the OP to have that on her conscience? Just for the sake of some bloody fingerprints?

StinkyVonWinky · 02/12/2018 07:19

workreturner All OP did was act as a deterrent, which is what most security devices do (security lights, alarms etc). We unfortunately live in a day and age where the police cannot respond to everything, and this situation might not have been high priority. Stop telling her what she 'should' have done. The police might not have caught them either, and then who would you be blaming?

fulldisclosureneverever · 02/12/2018 07:23

I phoned the police when my dog barked and I looked out the window to see a dude breaking into my car.

Chased him up the street in my nightie and bare feet. Didn’t catch him.

Police never came out.

nottakingthisanymore · 02/12/2018 07:26

Well done op.
My friends parents were on holiday. She went round to collect post, water plants etc and on approaching one evening she could hear burglars in the house. She phoned the police who told her not to go in- sensible advice as they could be armed. She was crouched in a bush in the front garden listening as a group went through the entire house. Police didn’t come until they’d long gone. I agree with others that you have to stop them in the first place.
We live in a lovely area and a cul de sac. Since the neighbours got cctv it’s been a scary eye opener just how many times people come down the road in the middle of the night for no reason. They are potentially scouting for break ins. So cctv is a good idea, security lights too and obviously an alarm.

WereYouHareWhenIWasFox · 02/12/2018 07:29

What tablet do you have with speakers like that? My iPad can’t even be heard in the next room on full volume!

DaffydownClock · 02/12/2018 07:30

Where I live there are two patrol cars covering the whole county at night and the chances of them coming out to a burglary at night, let alone during the day, is zero unless someone is badly hurt.
You get given a crime number and that's it. Infinitely better to prevent.

Snipples · 02/12/2018 07:31

Well done OP! That is genius! Would be chuffed to have a neighbour like you. Workreturner, not so much 🙄

Charmlight · 02/12/2018 07:43

Bull

ResistanceIsNecessary · 02/12/2018 07:48

Workreturner seems to live in that rare part of the country where the Police will attend for burglaries. Meanwhile in the rest of the UK, most of us are painfully aware that their resources are so stretched that they won't attend unless it is really serious. Hint - nicking a telly from a private house won't qualify. Workreturner also seems to be under the impression that being caught and booked would deter the thieves from doing it again - as if this was the first time they'd had a brush with the law!

OP - CCTV and get the decent stuff, which is infra-red and will work at night. We had ours installed a few months ago (tucked away location, not overlooked). It caught someone trying to break into our garage - thankfully they didn't get in, but it was useful to see the footage as we were able to make some security improvements as a deterrent.

user789653241 · 02/12/2018 07:50

workreturner, it's not as simple as that you describe. Have you ever encountered something like this?
I have, my next door neighbour was a victim of burglary when I was a student living with my sister in a flat.
It could have been prevented the neighbour being injured severely, if there was someone like OP. I lost it and was shaking, couldn't move, even I was able to here what was happening.

user789653241 · 02/12/2018 07:52

*hear

Miscible · 02/12/2018 07:55

Are you going to warn your neighbours in case they come back?

RedDeadRoach · 02/12/2018 07:57

Quick thinking op!

Reminds me of a police officer friend who told me he was chasing a criminal once and couldn't catch up to him, so my friend shouted out to stop or he would let the police dog loose, and made barking noises. The criminal was most upset when my friend caught up to him and he realised there was no dog Grin

LookImAHooman · 02/12/2018 08:11

OP has taken the car details and got a detailed description of culprits.... 2. The police would have actually caught the culprits and prevented this happening again.

I’m just glad I was sitting down supported to read this because I would have fallen over laughing. Is point 3 ‘and everyone had a cup of tea and lived happily ever after’? Was the police’s next emergency a missing cat? I want to live in your world.

OP, that’s serious smarts. Huge well done. Hope you’re feeling ok this morning. FWIW, infrared cameras will pick up motion without security lights.

wellhonestly · 02/12/2018 08:12

Well they ran so fast one fell over.

That made me chuckle!

Xenia · 02/12/2018 08:14

Very clever idea. If you scare them off that is much better than hoping if the police were called they had time to turn up and would attend in time before they were in the house with guns killing the poster. I think the siren idea is much better an idea than just hoping police might turn up in time before you were killed.

On security measures I hear things at night too as I have the window open which is quite useful. I do think my automatic lights that go on deter people. My son's teenage friend came into our garden at night once and he said he left because everywhere he went he lit up and thought people would see. most burglars don't want to be seen.

We had a 12 point email from local police yesterday about the run up to Christmas and things to do - don't leave presents out visible from the street and that kind of thing.

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