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.

Thought about this many times...... for a burglar I'd just pretend to still be asleep...... let them take what they want and leave!

@nancy75 i know right? I’ve been told before not to bring car keys up to bedrooms because of exactly what you say. They’re insured! Take it!

Please also think about fire safety in your plans as statistically this is a far greater risk than a home invasion, particularly one where they want to hurt you. Stair gates / door locks etc are likely to hinder your exit in an emergency.

I’d opt for an alarm system, lights that are remotely controlled and keeping a phone near you. Most burglars are likely to run off if you make it known you are aware they are in your house.

There was a video online a while back of a woman scaring off an intruder with a youtube video of dogs barking and growling. They heard it and ran before getting upstairs.

We have netatmo cameras - feed straight to my iPhone app and you can download videos from there. No monthly subscription and you can fit them yourself fairly easily.

They are usually after car keys so just keep your car keys out in an obvious place. They'll take them and leave rather than coming to wake you up to fetch them.

We had four Hik cameras fitted by a local burglar alarm company, about £1000 five years ago.

The installer tried to sell us a monthly maintenance package after the first “free” year but I didn’t see the point so haven’t bothered. The control box, which I can’t do anything with, is in our attic, but an app allows me to view the cameras and to download any playback images or video I want to keep - it stores stuff for about 7 days on a rolling loop. At installation I got the engineer to block out the neighbours areas from any recording, so their comings and goings don’t fill up my recording space.

After a couple of years the system became slow, constantly unable to connect to our home Wi-Fi. It got so bad that I was at the point of calling the engineer back, when the app suddenly asked me to allow software downloads which I did and since then it’s run a lot better. Was recently able to help the police with action video when they knocked on after an incident.

Ring doorbell. Simpli safe alarm with multiple cameras (you can fit this yourself and and it’s cheap). Thick doors and sturdy windows. Always lock doors, even in daytime when at home. Apple lightbulbs that you can set from your phone. Dog signs. I know this is a bit much, but we do have two large dogs and I’ve been told this is the best deterrent.

And burglars always use the front door...

Exactly this. The worst possible scenario for a night time burglar is for the occupiers to wake. Generally they will just flee, very very rare for them to engage

As others have said leave car keys, handbag, purse downstairs so they can just take them and go, the worrying ones on the news like recently Mark Cavendish and various footballers are because they have £100ks worth of stuff, they are not your general neighbourhood burglar who wants to be in and out quickly.

I’ve got cameras that record 24/7 very obviously placed on every elevation of my house and a very obvious burglar alarm. But, I do think dogs are the biggest deterrent. Whilst staying at a different property (that didn’t have all the obvious cameras) some asshole came sneaking through the side gate in the middle of the night. The noise my dogs made was indescribable. They are a big soft bunch of idiots but they sounded like a pack of feral wolves…..he froze then legged it. These nasty robbing/rapey feckers want an easy time and they won’t get that when there are dogs involved……

@ladyofshertonabbas That didn’t stop the sticky bandits reoffending!

I had an attempted break in last year and was told by the police that what I did was the right thing (hid in the bathroom with the door locked whilst on the phone to 999).

the detective said the only thing he would change is to be in a bedroom as there’s movable furniture, put whatever you can infront of the door and brace it yourself if you need to to buy yourself time. And unofficially, have a weapon to defend yourself and just wait for the police (circa 10 minutes+)

ultimately though he also told me that what happened to me is extremely rare and he has only known it once personally in his 20 year career.

This! Don’t do anything that will put you in danger. Belongings can be replaced. Make sure your doors and windows are locked. Look at measures to prevent entry rather than what to do if someone does break in.

Years ago, I lived in a complete hell hole. It was mainly drug addicts breaking into houses. There were a couple of times when they woke people up trying to find valuables, a few people were assaulted.

Best advice I ever got from police was to leave handbag and purse and car keys on kitchen table/handing up over night. If they can’t find what they want quickly, that’s when it escalates.

I was broken into twice.

They just took my purse and car keys (and car) and didn’t come up the stairs where me and my children were sleeping. Didn’t ransack the house looking for things.

I don’t give a shit about an insured car that we got back in the end, or the money in my purse and cards that I got back, but I do care about my children sleeping safely.

I am back living in another shithole now and I do the same.

A porch is an additional security measure for your front door.

Lock all rooms downstairs so if they come in not via front door they have another door to get through.

Alarm

Locks on bedroom doors so you can lock yourself in. If no lock throw towels/bedding behind & under the door to create natural resistance or put furniture there.

Have mobile to hand, call police, alert neighbours.

Dog - but depends on the dog.

Weapon - bats aren't great unless you can swing really hard & fast. Heavy shorter object would be better.

Oh and yes to leaving keys/purse/bag downstairs.

move to America. Then you can just shoot them. And anyone else you want

Can you get some security cameras in your house so that you don’t have to do down ? There are some good plug in ones.

I was burgled when I was home alone. I had one of those flats where the bedroom was on the lower ground floor and the living area on the ground floor. They broke in through the window on the ground floor when I was asleep downstairs. My first thought was that there is no way that I will stay down here and wait for them to make it down, so I quickly switched all the lights on and I stomped the loudest I could up the stairs to make myself sound heavier/larger. Once I got up I could see a man climbing back out of the window he had come in through. He'd stolen my handbag, but that was all he had time for.

Of course you never know who it is that come in and what they are capable of, but I couldn't just sit and wait for them to come find me locked in somewhere in the house.

Dog. He isnt massive but his bark is and he is very protective of the house and garden.

Burglars are essentially lazy and risk averse. They want a quick and easy in and out.

I believe, statistically, most burglaries are through the front door. Keep it (and all other external doors) locked. Have a well lit and visible front door. Remove bushes or trees which conceal the front door.

Plant pyrocantha under windows which could be used as a means of entry, it's as thorny as all get out.

If you get new consumer goods (TV, microwave etc) dont leave the packaging visibly out with the rubbish. It advertises that you have new items and also gives packaging for them to be put in for sale.

Be sensible, you're not going to stop 2 burglars ( it's not home alone) when you've woken up in bed. Best bet is to lie quiet ( if the alarm hasn't scared them off) and hope they don't come upstairs.

Big dog would be my choice. Burglars generally don’t want confrontation.

Had a spate of burglaries local to me last year, houses all been entered by the side gate and through back windows, we’ve always had our side gate bolted and padlocked. So would have to be jumped. Had second gate put in down the end of the alley also now padlocked. So figured two doors would be more of a deterrent.

also fitted a Ring doorbell and leave porch light on all night now.

never thought about leaving car keys near door as read that if spotted can be a green light for a burglar to attempt a break in - I leave my bunch of keys, having locked front door, at the top of the stairs incase of a fire emergency.