You're on Your Own

[jmorris]

Make a family plan based on the layout of your home.

If we are fortunate enough (the luxury of time) to execute ours, we should hold off invaders until the deputies arrive.

I start outside the house. I know if someone is on my property before they could get to the house. I even have enough time to look busy between the time Mrs. Morris turns off the road and enters the house.

 

[The Night Rider]

Indoor issues, yes.

True.

I know you're going to raise hell and disagree but not being outside of your house after about 9:00 at night we'll take care of the other 10%

 

[Kleanbore]

I know you're going to raise hell and disagree but not being outside of your house after about 9:00 at night we'll take care of the other 10%

In many places, probably yes.. That's what I do.

 

[kidneyboy]

I start outside the house. I know if someone is on my property before they could get to the house. I even have enough time to look busy between the time Mrs. Morris turns off the road and enters the house.

LOL. I had a dog that could hear my ex wifes car turn onto our street. It was like a 2 minute warning.

 

[TarDevil]

I start outside the house.

Of course. Part of the plan.

 

[Pudge]

If you own a camp or cabin in a rural area, be aware that the difference can be profound. Our 911 dispatch covers 2 counties and part of a 3rd. Roughly an area the size of Delaware. Where I live the responding law enforcement would be the State Police. Often there are 2 officers on duty, the nearest could easily be 40 minutes away. The rest of the first responders are volunteers.

When I'm at home I never see anyone I'm not related to or I haven't planned to see. They don't show up on my doorstep, I hear them on my driveway long before they reach my house and the dogs make sure I'm aware. But if someone does want to break in, they won't attract anyone's attention but mine. No one will see them, no one will hear them, no one is coming to help.

 

[redcon1]

The last time I called 9-11, it was for a multi-car pileup right in front of my house. It took about 30 minutes for the police to show up during which time there were "agitated" people walking around in the street. In defense of the police here, most of the city's LEOs were in a very large convoy paying their respects to a fallen officer who was being transported to the coroner's office for official cause of death determination or something. The deceased officer had recently been shot in the chest and killed in a parking lot a couple blocks from my house. There's still a memorial for him there. But, still, it took them 30 minutes to arrive at the accident scene.

 

[aaaaa]

I mostly agree with you, Robert, but for a lot of these folks, their minds won't change until they themselves become victims. Kinda like my life-long liberal, PETA member, vegan, tree-hugging, greenie sister who lives in a "nice" suburb of Chicago (like Bainbridge Isl. or Bellevue) and got car-jacked at gunpoint in her apartment complex's parking lot a year or so ago -- wanna guess the substance of her first phone conversation with me? "So, I'm applying for a FOID and a CCL, I need you to take me shooting."

That is a great response. I think there are many who would simply say, "I'm moving to a safer community."

 

[film495]

even if people don't want to have a firearm, they don't like them or whatever, have a can of mace or good personal defense spray, and know how to hit something hard with a fireplace poker, real hard.

 

[Old Dog]

That is a great response. I think there are many who would simply say, "I'm moving to a safer community."

Yeah, I may not always agree with all of my sister's choices, but when push comes to shove, she sometimes surprises me with common sense. As an old friend used to tell me, the definition of a liberal is often just a person who's not yet been the victim of a violent crime.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

There was the Sarah McKinley case in Oklahoma in 2011. She claimed it took law enforcement 21 minutes to arrive, their records show 14.
There was a case in Philadelphia a few years ago that revealed gross negligence and incompetence by the dispatchers, it being government, it dragged out, attempts at covering up, etc. They were of course civilians, got their jobs through connections.
Occurs to me that a good time to commit mayhem is at the beginning or the end of the school day. My town of 30,000 has 5 schools, a number of officers on duty to control traffic, ensure the kiddies safety.

 

[Archie]

Since the late 1970s or so, I have told all and sundry police will respond to emergency calls as quickly as they are able. However, that does not carry a time involved.
At that time, I was living in El Centro, California. One source on the Police Department (in a personal conversation on the subject) told me El Centro had one of the fastest 'average' response times in the nation. The time was about two minutes. Remember at the time this was among the fastest.

Consider how long two minutes could be to one who is be-sat upon by villains. This presumes a distress call can be made at all. Two minutes is quite a while to wait when being stabbed. Or raped. Whatever. Incidentally, since the late 1970s, I expect more cities (or even rural areas) have become more populated and general more congested in terms of traffic.

El Centro was (still is) small in area and relatively small in population. So a larger city - of size or population - would likely be longer in response time. Not only that, but the possibility of having "X" number of responding officers available and "X + 1" number of emergency calls is reasonable. If such a state exists, the "+ 1" emergency will have to wait. Does your luck run any better than mine?
One is on one's own until suitable assistance arrives. From being attacked by one or more thugs to motor vehicle accidents, one is on their own - as a victim or as one who feels obligated to help.

One is on one's own.

 

[wayneinFL]

I've always believed his statement "you are your own first responder"

True. If the first responders really were first responders, who's calling them?