Local burglary, scared, ideas to prepare for self defence in a night time break in?

[AMalteserForYourThoughts]

I know that looking at stuff like this at 11pm at night is probably a bad idea...

Locally an elderly man who lives alone near to me had two men break into their home at night when he was in bed. It has totally terrified me and I was thinking what would I do if that happened to me.

So if you are in your home at night upstairs and the alarm goes off - what can you do to prepare for this situation?

After some googling around, it seems that

most likely best bets are a blinding high lumens torch to blind the attacker - a head torch I was thinking for hands free to keep by the bed if the alarm goes off.

I've also found some self defence sprays that combine a horrible smell to distract and confuse them, dye and uv for identification. But not sure that would have presence of mind or confidence to use it.

Rape alarm - but not sure adds to the house alarm.

Anyone got any other thoughts. I'm not sure that I would think to call the police first partly through panic and also partly because false alarms (spider over the sensor type thing) do happen.

My parents got an alarm fitted years ago. One of the features it has is a panic button. Its not a monitored one but if you press it it sets the house alarm off. Could you get something like that?

A lock on the inside of your bedroom door, as well as a fully charged mobile phone.

Burglars just want to nick stuff. They don't engage with house dwellers.
Stop panicking.

A mug on the inside handle- when it turns, it breaks and makes a noise. Brooms against the door- trip hazard.

Do you have kids? Guessing not with that suggestion! 🤣
Bolt yourself in- let the kids fend for themselves!

I have a monitored 24/7 alarm system, cameras, panic button, smoke system so they would be unable to see and still don't feel safe.

I search the whole house before I go to bed to make sure no one has sneaked in.

I'm crackers, I know. I wish I could change the way I feel

The idea is you get the kids in there with you so you have a secure room. This tip came from one of those SAS survival books!

There was a burglary in the village where I work last week - two men in balaclavas! We don’t even have an alarm, so I’m not really sure what I’d do, and my dog is comically unscary. Luckily I don’t think we look worth burgling, even the tv is about 13 years old.

I have a 10stone dog 🤣

He is a giant softy, but he would not tolerate an intruder.

Good luck to Bob the burglar with a English Mastiff waiting to greet him 👍🏻

Me and child will stay upstairs and call 999.

I'll let the dog eat them.

Leave your handbag & your car keys down stairs, not within sight of a front window or door, but easy enough to see if you are in the house.
Anyone breaking in either wants your car keys or small portable items like cash or jewellery - none of this stuff is worth fighting over & can mostly be insured so in the event of a break in let them take it

A lock on the bedroom door is a great idea - so simple! I didn't think of that. Maybe I should get the door changed to a heavier one - I don't mean like a "panic room" door but something a bit more robust.

No dogs, no kids.

@Redglitter I'm not sure a panic button would add anything because the downstairs is already alarmed - so I'm talking about a situation if you are in bed, and the alarm goes off.

The trouble is if that happens, human nature is to feel that you have to go downstairs to investigate and turn it off.

If you grab something, make sure its something like a rolling pin, the theory is, if you grab a knife you are in more danger of being stabbed than they are .

In my case, I would send out the cat

I have this paranoia every night, but I've spent quite alot of time in a country where this is rife.
All the helpful suggestions above seem great.
For us, we have a plan:

1. every night make sure house, windows and cars locked, keys hidden.
2. use timers on our lights throughout the house. So they come on different times on different days. And change that pattern weekly.
3. keep your curtains, blinds etc down at night.
4. be aware of your surroundings outside. So monitor strange cars etc around. We back onto a road, then a farm, and everyday I'm monitoring our back fence for human activity from the road, as I drive past it.
5. if we do get a breakin, the plan is to run to my son's room and lock the door. My dh will come with if time, if not we keep a defense item close at hand that can be used. Now, the trick here is obstacles. We have a very loud baby gate at bottom of stairs and 1 at top of stairs which are locked every night. They are difficult to just climb over, buying us a few precious seconds to defend or hide. Unfortunately things do happen, but planning should help ease some anxiety...

Burglars scare me too but I have two huge german shepherds which is just like having a couple of hairy security guards in your house. Mind you I still get worried sometimes especially if they start barking in the small hours

I’m home alone with four DC in our isolated house this week and now freaking myself out. There is no way I could wake the DC from their own rooms and gather us together in one room that quickly.

DH works away a lot and like a previous poster had said I leave my purse and car keys at the front door and hope that would be enough for them.

Just throwing ideas out there.. my brother was robbed (not in the UK) and they didn’t try to harm him - he apparently scared them off by running at them naked with a sword (I think partly decorative).. I know I’d run from that! But he lost a lot of things.

So that had me thinking.., Maybe have a large bottle of something really irritating to the eyes - like heavily concentrated fairy liquid in a bottle without a top on it but water too so it’d successfully spread.

Perfume - the cheapest, most stingy, best spraying version you can find (an old self-defence piece of advice).

A bit out there - anything sharp or spiky that you could level at “tracksuit “ bottoms or the like.

but that’s no substitute for alarms, mobile ready, locked windows etc. Camera in the areas of entrance.

Also - remember - it’s likely it’ll never happen to you. These pricks target the vulnerable elderly for a reason

Plan, plan, plan

If you have kids, maybe include them in it and let them know what to do.
Same works for fire drills.
However you obviously don't want to scare them, so turn the practice drills into a game, maybe use 1 code word you can instantly shout alerting the kids to eg. Lock their door (depending on age,).
Ugh...it's a minefield. But planning is essential

Why do people hide the car keys?
The car is insured, if they find they keys downstairs they don’t come upstairs- where your kids are

Monitored alarm with panic button. Lock your external doors and windows.

Self defence spray - hairspray, deodorant or deep heat spray are good alternatives.

A hockey stick or bat by the bed and ...

You can find heavy, heavy torches encased in a long metal baton-type tube. Always handy to have a torch nearby, house, car etc.

As people have said leave your car keys and handbag not visible from the window but easily visible if they get in

99% of the time they are after easy cash and don't want any conflict either

A police man once told me to have a big heavy maglight by my bed just in case. Useful in a power cut and heavy enough to hit someone with

In reality, as someone who has the night waking where you think you are awake but you cannot move and it seems like someone is standing over you I absolutely know my instinct is to hide under the covers and pretend I am asleep 😁

A counsellor once said on a training course tgat if your fearful of something take action. Put a lock on your bedroom door for example of keep your golf clubs nearby.

Also dogs are a def put off. You don't need a dog, but a dog sign and something tgat sets off a dog barking if the door is knocked or tried could be really useful.

Alarms are also a put off and cctv is so easy now, put it inside and outside your house.

Mine is slightly different as I live in a ground floor apartment. Plan is to literally climb out the window, lock myself in the car and ring the police
I wouldn't even try and investigate

@Strawberry2012 thanks good list.

hadn't thought of perfume either.

@Tummytroubles22 I'm freaked out myself which is why I'm asking this crap in the night when I should be in bed!

Don't go downstairs. Lock your bedroom door, get an alarm panel in your bedroom so it will tell you the location where the alarm was tripped. I'd also consider installing CCTV. Great peace of mind.