CPT Nervous
Grandmaster
I was the victim of a burglary a couple months ago. Someone kicked in my back door, and entered my home. I was not at home when this happened, and thankfully the only thing taken was my laptop. I want to share some thoughts, and what I changed after this incident.
First I want to commend the South Bend Police Department on their response and handling of the incident. I do not remember the officer I spoke to, but his professionalism was outstanding. It could be due to the fact that I am a police officer, but I'd like to think that he would treat everyone with the same respect he showed me.
I do have an alarm system that is monitored, and I received a call that several of my sensors had been tripped. I was advised that SBPD was enroute. I was headed home as fast as I could, and I got another call, this time from my department. It was my supervisor, and he told me that SBPD was in my house, and that someone had indeed forced entry into my home. He gave me the number to call SBPD dispatch, and I called them to let them know I was a few minutes away. This is my first point of commendation to the responding officers. They saw my uniforms hanging in my bedroom closet, and immediately called my department to try to get in contact with me.
The officer went with me through my house, and the only thing missing was my laptop. I think the audible alarm scared off the intruder, because I had several unsecured firearms in my bedroom, very easily accessible. The other thing I noticed was my screwdriver that was in my garage (I have an attached garage) was sitting on my living room floor. It was a large flat head screwdriver, and the perp used it to pry open my back door. A $0.69 screwdriver from Menard's was used to gain entry into my home. I'll touch on that later.
The officer dusted for prints, and we actually got a few good sets. I know they're not going to catch this POS on that alone, but if that could tie him to more thefts, I'm all for it. He mentioned that this guy was lucky that I wasn't home when he decided to let himself in.
As he was leaving, I walked with him to his car, and he was loading up his CSI kit, and complaining about lack of space in his trunk. He asked me if my trunk was that crowded, and I looked inside, and said, "Well we don't use VHS anymore, and your tape deck is taking up most of your room!" He laughed and said that a lot of their cars still use tape recorders for dashcam. Welcome to 2018. He offered me a box of .40 S&W FMJ ammo he had in his trunk, which I graciously accepted. In return, I gave him a shoulder patch from my department. I could tell by the look on his face that he really and genuinely appreciated that. I thanked him for coming out, and left. The detective that followed up was also very professional. I wish I remembered their names.
Anyway, now on to lessons learned.
1) The screws that come with hinges and strike plates are only maybe an inch long. My back door was pried open, and I have another door leading into the house, which was locked with a deadbolt, but kicked in. The frame splintered and tore the strike plate right out. AT A MINIMUM, put 3.5"-4" screws in all your hinges and strike plates. Residential doors are very easy to pry open or kick in. Make it harder.
2) Have an alarm system. I'm thankful I did. If I didn't have one, who knows how long this guy would have been in my house. Alarms do work.
3) LOCK UP YOUR FIREARMS!! All of my guns are now secured when I leave the house.
4) Back up your files. I didn't have any online or other backups of my files. I do now.
I installed Door Armor on all my exterior doors, put 4" screws through all my hinges and latch plates, and installed Schlage double cylinder deadbolts on all exterior doors. I also reinforced the glass on my exterior doors with thick plexiglass. I'm very confident that no one is going to force entry again.
Don't wait until something happens. I know this isn't something we think about until it hits us, and unfortunately, I was forced to think about it. I hope you can learn something from this as well, and keep it from happening to you.
First I want to commend the South Bend Police Department on their response and handling of the incident. I do not remember the officer I spoke to, but his professionalism was outstanding. It could be due to the fact that I am a police officer, but I'd like to think that he would treat everyone with the same respect he showed me.
I do have an alarm system that is monitored, and I received a call that several of my sensors had been tripped. I was advised that SBPD was enroute. I was headed home as fast as I could, and I got another call, this time from my department. It was my supervisor, and he told me that SBPD was in my house, and that someone had indeed forced entry into my home. He gave me the number to call SBPD dispatch, and I called them to let them know I was a few minutes away. This is my first point of commendation to the responding officers. They saw my uniforms hanging in my bedroom closet, and immediately called my department to try to get in contact with me.
The officer went with me through my house, and the only thing missing was my laptop. I think the audible alarm scared off the intruder, because I had several unsecured firearms in my bedroom, very easily accessible. The other thing I noticed was my screwdriver that was in my garage (I have an attached garage) was sitting on my living room floor. It was a large flat head screwdriver, and the perp used it to pry open my back door. A $0.69 screwdriver from Menard's was used to gain entry into my home. I'll touch on that later.
The officer dusted for prints, and we actually got a few good sets. I know they're not going to catch this POS on that alone, but if that could tie him to more thefts, I'm all for it. He mentioned that this guy was lucky that I wasn't home when he decided to let himself in.
As he was leaving, I walked with him to his car, and he was loading up his CSI kit, and complaining about lack of space in his trunk. He asked me if my trunk was that crowded, and I looked inside, and said, "Well we don't use VHS anymore, and your tape deck is taking up most of your room!" He laughed and said that a lot of their cars still use tape recorders for dashcam. Welcome to 2018. He offered me a box of .40 S&W FMJ ammo he had in his trunk, which I graciously accepted. In return, I gave him a shoulder patch from my department. I could tell by the look on his face that he really and genuinely appreciated that. I thanked him for coming out, and left. The detective that followed up was also very professional. I wish I remembered their names.
Anyway, now on to lessons learned.
1) The screws that come with hinges and strike plates are only maybe an inch long. My back door was pried open, and I have another door leading into the house, which was locked with a deadbolt, but kicked in. The frame splintered and tore the strike plate right out. AT A MINIMUM, put 3.5"-4" screws in all your hinges and strike plates. Residential doors are very easy to pry open or kick in. Make it harder.
2) Have an alarm system. I'm thankful I did. If I didn't have one, who knows how long this guy would have been in my house. Alarms do work.
3) LOCK UP YOUR FIREARMS!! All of my guns are now secured when I leave the house.
4) Back up your files. I didn't have any online or other backups of my files. I do now.
I installed Door Armor on all my exterior doors, put 4" screws through all my hinges and latch plates, and installed Schlage double cylinder deadbolts on all exterior doors. I also reinforced the glass on my exterior doors with thick plexiglass. I'm very confident that no one is going to force entry again.
Don't wait until something happens. I know this isn't something we think about until it hits us, and unfortunately, I was forced to think about it. I hope you can learn something from this as well, and keep it from happening to you.
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