Vandalism in westcliffe

[sonier]

A good reminder happened to me today, One of our neighorbors who is a part timer from denver had her house broke into, nothing was stolen, may have just happened. someone must have crawled through a window and unlocked all the doors, and left them open. She called my father and I to come to the house and clear the house. This was a good reminder why we have rights to be able to own guns. We have had vandalism occur a lot this year all around us, and mind you we have a really large county and 3000 population We are a VERY small town, you cant even get coffee or a soda past 9pm. This has made me even more cautious and has me realizing that I need to keep a firearm near by. Keeping a firearm near by is not a problem i reload my own ammo and open carry 90% of the time. We have had vandalism occur to our fences about every other week, and there is no patern to this either so catching them has become impossible nearly. Any ideas on how to prevent vandalism would be appreciated. And any ideas to catch them would be even more appreciated. As discussed in a thread before shooting a trespasser or vandlizer is illegal in colorado, only if i am in imminent danger can I use lethal force, and this is where the make my day law comes into effect, so please restrain from shoot them comments.

 

[kingpin008]

Any ideas on how to prevent vandalism would be appreciated.

What you're describing is not really vandalism, but breaking and entering - even if they didn't take anything.

In any case, your best bet as far as prevention goes would be one (or all, ideally) of the following:

Tall fences with locking gates
Some type of perimeter alarm (motion lights, cameras, etc)
Lockable garage doors
Sturdy, lockable doors and windows
Good in-house alarm system
Visible stickers or signs on the outside of the house warning of alarm systems inside

In short, multipe layers of defense are good things in this situation. The more a bad guy has to go through to make you or your property his target, the less likely he will be to bother trying.

 

[sonier]

Its a agriculture community, we already have gates and fences and it isnt practical building a pallisade. and we have had vandalism our fences have been tore down our horses have been ran off miles, weve had animals let out of certain pastures and chased off, along with gas siphoning. this has happened to few places around as well.

 

[rondog]

Your little Mayberry town is probably becoming infested with tweakers, meth heads. They'll steal anything that isn't tied down. And B&E is a shootin' offense in this state.

 

[kingpin008]

Well, cameras might be the name of the game then. If you can't stop them, at least try to get them on tape so the law can deal with it.

That said, this really isn't gun related.

 

[sonier]

yea it is I had to room clear our neighorbors house lol

 

[Apple a Day]

Big dog. Really loud,big dog.

 

[Just One Shot]

Electric fences might help.

 

[Mainsail]

Since nothing was taken I'm going to guess it was just some young kids.

 

[UKShooter]

I second dog. If the guy crawls in through the window and is met with a 90lb Pitt, Shepherd, Bull mastiff etc, he is going to wish he had chosen another house. More likely the dog will go nuts before he gets close to the house, at which point he will go off to find an easier victim.

 

[Sam1911]

I'm moving this to S&T because it really should be focused on hardening your home and property against B&E (and maybe on whether or not good samaritans should volunteer to "clear" a neighbor's house when a break-in occurs!).

 

[alsaqr]

Do not dismiss that breaking and entering as a childish prank. That B&E may have been a recon operation. The perps may come back with a truck to clean the residence out. This happened to a rural friend of mine several years ago. The family had a B&E where nothing was taken: A month or so later they went on vacation: The family returned to a home that was completely empty.

 

[DaBull]

If my neighbor had come to me with a B&E complaint, I would have made her comfortable and then called the police to clear her house.

 

[quatin]

Home Security Cameras

I've always advocated cameras. Home security cameras are very cheap now a days thanks to the popularity of web cams and wireless routers. A few hundred bucks can get you setup and some offer a web hosting service so you can monitor all the cameras online. I'm sure some can offer things like sensors that trigger a phone call to your cell phone.

http://www.google.com/products?clie...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CEoQrQQwAg

 

[MileHighMan]

Make A Report

Make a report to the sheriff's office. This may be part of a pattern of offenses. They may have stopped a strange car in the area the same day... etc. All sorts of good reasons to make a report. They will also have suggestions on helping to prevent vandalism.

Do elk knock down fences?

A trail cam setup may catch them if they return.

 

[eatont9999]

If I were a burglar and I broke into a house and no one was home, but they had a video system going, my first thought would be "thanks for the video equipment."
I vote dog; big, mean, scary, defense dog. I had a German Shepherd mix at my last house and he let us know when anyone got even close to the house. God help you if you went around to the back door and knocked. If someone broke into my house after hearing that dog bark, they were no doubt high or insane enough to harm someone. It is also really hard to steal a TV with a German Shepherd around your throat.

 

[sonier]

Well we did get a dog to try to prevent a lot of stuff and it has helped somewhat. When animals knock down the sheep wire the fence gets real kinked up you can tell where the animal got hung up, this was obviously pulled away from the post, then curled inward back towards the fence.

Thankyou sam for moving this thread.

 

[sonier]

on cameras especially trailcams, is there a way trail cams can take pictures without using flash at night?

 

[poker88]

Since nothing was taken I'm going to guess it was just some young kids.

Since the neighbor is a woman there is also the possibility that the B&E was a stalker trying to scare her.

 

[sonier]

its possible but she lives 5 hours away and comes to westcliffe once a month, so a stalker being out here is highly unlikely.

 

[Cosmoline]

someone must have crawled through a window and unlocked all the doors, and left them open. She called my father and I to come to the house and clear the house.

That sort of thing worries me a lot more than a mere burglary. The fact that whoever broke in DIDN'T steal anything tells me they may have been after something that wasn't there--the woman. Very disturbing.

Also, are you trained to clear houses?

 

[ForumSurfer]

That sort of thing worries me a lot more than a mere burglary. The fact that whoever broke in DIDN'T steal anything tells me they may have been after something that wasn't there--the woman. Very disturbing.

I agree. A local principal took a tough stance on gangs and the exact same thing happened. It was more or less a warning for him.

When people break into your house without trashing the place or stealing anything, they are typically looking for something else that they know should be there but isn't.

I also agree that the OP absolutely should not have "cleared" the house. If there was a break in, she should have called the police and reported it. The police can handle the "clearing" duties. I'm a very generous and helpful person, but that isn't something to be generous or helpful with. How will the police be informed about a rash of break-ins in an area if everyone clears their neighbors' houses and no one calls the police?

 

[sonier]

I went behind stepfather he has extensive room clearing training and real life experiance, just listned to what he told me too do. Dont worry im not like a 15 yea old kid either im 19 and have fired literally thousands of rouns through my carry piece. Well id much rather have a Iraq vet clear the house than the local volunteer deputies and posse.

 

[BullfrogKen]

For fools rush in where angels fear to tread . . .

 

[psyopspec]

yea it is I had to room clear our neighorbors house lol

You didn't have to do that. You chose to. Given that no one was actually in imminent danger, I would have called someone who gets paid to do that for a living rather than risking my life for someone else's property.