The trespasser, after review

[TTSX]

First, for context: I live right in the thick of no less than 4 homeless camps within 1/4 mile radius, and I guarantee i could find at least 1 in 10 minutes walking in any random direction. They're as common as cats.

So, the story: About 2:30AM, several days ago, my motion activated light in my driveway lit up, telling me someone was on my property when they certainly shouldn't be. I have the sensitivity dialed way low so it'll take something at least a little significant to activate and ranged to most of the length of my driveway so people on the sidewalk won't activate needlessly. My reaction was to get up and confront whomever it was, which I did in either 37 or 17 seconds, depending on which of the two times the trespasser set off my light (I reviewed the security footage after the fact). I yelled out in a shockingly loud and clear voice that they were on private, posted property and needed to leave NOW. There was a short back and forth verbal argument in which there was supposedly a second person he was "with" which turned out to be the voices in his head but I wouldn't know that until later. He vacated the property without (thank goodness) a physical meeting and proceeded to talk to his voices and giggles while rocking back and forth in the street. Out of my hands, can't really kick him off public property for being weird.

Here's what I did well: I was able to keep him well lit by maintaining motion within range of my light and had my truck between us the whole time. All commands were clear, short and repeated LOUDLY. My neighbors were certainly aware of the situation.

What I did poorly: Made contact blind. I did not know who, or what I was going to encounter. I was not armed and that could have gone very, very badly if he were inclined towards violence and did, in fact, have a second live person with him. If I WERE armed, despite having a truck between myself and him, a shot would have been a bad idea given line of sight was directly into two of my neighbor's houses. I turned my back on him, briefly, to point at my sign. I was not wearing shoes.

What I learned: I have a bedside gun. It's there for a reason, but still got left behind. which tells me a had different priorities than not dying, whatever those were. People are sneaky. Footage shows he was on the property (doing nothing but standing there) for OVER AN HOUR before I found out about him. I need more lighting so people can't just hide. I need to put on shoes.

I would appreciate input/questions from the forum

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[NW Backpacker]

I do not open the door for any reason. Call the cops. Grab firearm first thing. If you want to talk, open a window, preferably one they can't reach.

Assuming you were asleep, great job on waking up so quickly!

 

[ron]

I have been thinking of this trespasser scenario.Stay in your house and call the cops? Reality is the cops are not coming unless
there is a threat of violence. Lie to 911 and say I think they are armed? I think if you stay in your house and do nothing they
will be back again and again to steal anything that is not nailed down. Or maybe they are looking for an assault victim?
I would go outside with a open carry holstered pistol. And a baseball bat ready to rock. A Surefire 200 lumen flashlight. If all you have
is a gun some crazys will challenge you. Thinking you will not use it. I have seen many of these guys carry a big hunting knife.
Have a cell phone on you or someone in the house with a phone. You cannot point a pistol at a trespassing person.
You have a pistol in your hand they can claim you banished it or pointed the gun at them. You don't want the cops showing
up with you holding a pistol. I am interested to see what others think.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

 

[Mikej]

Are you in potland? It makes a difference with police you know?

 

[308]

At my first home I had several confrontations with people who shouldn't have been on the property (SE PDX)...what I learned was this:

First few times I got an adrenaline dump and it affected my ability to process information. When I figured out what was really happening, I would then begin to prepare by putting on clothes, shoes, flashlight, personal protection (just in case)

I learned that if alerted, I should FIRST do the basic things I needed to do while my foggy brain was coming online...(those things mentioned above)...sort of like handgun training for muscle memory...I just did first things first.

After doing what I mentioned above, I was much better prepared to go respond to things in the dark on my terms so to speak, rather than being unprepared and reacting poorly to what may or may not be happening.

All this was at a time when creeper crackheads were beginning to expand their nocturnal adventures of theft, car prowling, etc. It wasn't like than when we first built our home in that area.

Edited to add:

Only called the cops once when my neighbors got involved and we had a bg on the ground.

One guy was in my neighbor's truck stealing his stereo. I opened the door and asked what he was doing. He jumped at me with a screw driver so I hit him on the head with my 4-cell maglite hard enough to burst the batteries. He hit the ground then gimped off down the street. Later found out it was the neighbor's son who bragged about never getting caught stealing.

(I know...cool story bro...lol )

 

[P7M13]

Fortunately the guy appeared to be in a stupor and wasn't harmful - at least at that time.
Thanks for your insights.

 

[jbett98]

 

[AMT]

We all learn from our "mistakes" when we have an open mind.

You're learning.

 

[Jonnyuma]

Somewhere between calling the cops immediately and not calling them at all is the more measured, "take your phone with you", or have a second person standing by with their finger on the button.

I wouldn't expect them to ride in and save the day... I look at a 911 call as a CYA excercise. If it goes bad, at some point somebody (hopefully not a DA or prosecutor) is gonna ask why you didn't call LE.

It's tough to fight the adrenaline dump and the urge to make the unknown known ASAP... but shoes, phone, pants, and weapon are luxuries that you've provided yourself by virtue of your outside security measures, exploit those extra few seconds to your advantage. I wouldn't be shy about waking up my partner either... I'd rather let her sleep through it all, but it's best to have a second set of eyes/ears during the episode and it's best if she's up and alert. If I go down silently (SAPPERS IN THE TREES!), she needs to be ready to fight, not dreaming of unicorns and kitten videos only to be awoken by Cyrus the Virus in the room.

Nice job.

ETA: Your video setup will protect you should the derelict claim that you brandished your weapon or assaulted him so... double-kudos for that.

 

[jbett98]

Is your property posted with no trespassing signs?

 

[sobo]

Is your property posted with no trespassing signs?

...I yelled out in a shockingly loud and clear voice that they were on private, posted property and needed to leave NOW.

...I turned my back on him, briefly, to point at my sign.

My guess would be, "Yes."

 

[TTSX]

Are you in potland? It makes a difference with police you know?

No, Eugene. Probably not better.

Is your property posted with no trespassing signs?

Yes, many. There shouldn't be any time you can't see one




Thanks for all the input/suggestions so far, guys!

 

[Siglvr]

Eugene!? Hrumph, thinking you were a neighbor when you said: " 4 homeless camps".

Have cell phone and car keys. I learned that the hardish way. BTW, I have a pair of shoes stashed under my bed for me and did the same for wife so after the next earthquake we don't have to worry about walking over broken glass to get down and shut off the gas etc.

 

[RicInOR]

What I learned: I have a bedside gun. It's there for a reason, but still got left behind. which tells me a had different priorities than not dying, whatever those were. People are sneaky. Footage shows he was on the property (doing nothing but standing there) for OVER AN HOUR before I found out about him. I need more lighting so people can't just hide. I need to put on shoes.

There are jobs & situations where what you have by your bed matter and it is better if it becomes 'muscle memory': Think Firefighter.
Socks are a luxury, Shoes are required. What if it was a fire, or an earthquake - need to protect feet.
Do you need pants, shirt? Maybe in winter -cold weather.


Good on you for performing an after-action review. And, Thanks for sharing.

 

[deadeye]

First mistake was reviewing the footage AFTERWARDS is this the type of security camera that you could have viewed before going outside? You have no real defense if you end up shooting someone outside your home so it falls on you for going out looking for trouble or so it could be construed in court if it came to that. Not putting you down just pointing things out.

Nothing outside is worth your life so take your time getting ready to set foot out the door ie shoes, light, gun, someone ready to call the police or back you up etc.

Remember this is Eugene and would most likely be as bad as PDX on how the police and courts would treat you should it come to that. The people in such positions don't tend to be on the victims side a good percentage of the time. It is best to CYA so you and your family can continue to be as you are. I know it is sad to think that way but it is what it is in this day and age.

I wont give legal advice per being a staff member here but I would advise you research the laws and cases in your area that may be similar to possible outcome.
Also check homeowners insurance for what and how much is covered for theft and deductibles.

 

[Member 5605]

My camera system allows review by computer and by any authorized phone from anywhere with net access.
This would be as mentioned above the FIRST review.

I sleep stripped down as I'm always warm would have had plenty of time to grab glasses, pistol and phone to review the footage. Running 24/7 cameras allows for a nice review in a few seconds of the motion clip, what happened just prior and what is happening now.

It's my stealth SitRep and nobody knows. easy to walk up behind from a different angle and surprise or stay inside behind the curtains and have the element of surprise.

Dogs bark... I'm checking.

 

[edzz]

Now that things are good call the police business line and report the incident and ask what you can do to prevent a recurrence. Won't do any good however may get it on the record and may (fat chance) get more patrols in your neighborhood.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Glad you're alright b

Getting up and at least seeing what is going on is still a lot better than doing nothing. Each encounter is a learning lesson. So you taking away observations from the encounter gives you a great advantage to being better prepared should this happen again.

A lot of folks underestimate crazies and drug users. They can be wildly dangerous and unpredictable and not seem so initially.

 

[TTSX]

Now that things are good call the police business line and report the incident and ask what you can do to prevent a recurrence. Won't do any good however may get it on the record and may (fat chance) get more patrols in your neighborhood.

Believe it or not, we already have quite a few patrols coming down my street. Just happens to be the most convenient access between two much busier streets and separate neighborhoods

 

[Sirius]

Good to hear it was a low threat event. Thank you for sharing this. Thanks to those who have shared additional useful info as well. Echoing what others have already said, I'm told in our area the more calls LE get the more patrols that area gets. I picked up some very handy tips I hadn't thought of and will make improvements in our readiness as a result. Thanks!