"This Is a Quiet Neighborhood and Nothing Like This Ever Happens Here"

[American123]

Had the car stopped on the private drive in the dark, and not continued to the house, I'd have called "young couple." Been there, done that, but a dark spot off the main road is sufficient, not driving all the way until finding more houses. Since the driver continued all the way to in front of the home, seems more like a curious prowl for potential future shopping.

Based on all the other security measures you've done, if you felt so inclined you could add a speaker to the outside of your home and even have it programmed with some pre-recorded messages that could communicate to trespassers that they should leave. Then you could hit a button and it would play, "this is private property, it looks like you don't belong here, the police have been called," leave, whatever message you want it to say.

 

[salmon creek gary]

View attachment 1439431

Yup, that was me; , how'd you get my picture like that?

All I can add is, that driver passed up four accessible places to turn around in our lane before ending up see-sawing around in front of the garage.

 

[bcp]

If you have a gate, don't do as many do and only shut it when you are gone. It then becomes a steal-it-now indicator to a watchful thief. The lock/chain/latch can be cut in seconds.

Bruce

 

[Pete F]

The other evening I saw a car parked in front of my neighbors property. I kept an eye on it because it was partially hidden behind a fir tree. All of a sudden the car pulled forward onto my property, the door opened and a guy jumped in coming from the direction of my shop. The car turned around quickly and left in a hurry.

I didn't see him because the shop is hidden behind bushes and trees.

I grabbed my high capacity Extar EP9 full of 147 grain HST's. (with the brace attached) and checked the shop and property out. I have a motion sensor alarm in the shop if it is broken into, but that is it - other than the early warning dogs along our road. We are at the end and any car coming up the road gets ratted out by the dogs. Gotta love those dogs.

I am still wondering what went on. The car was a newer GMC mini-SUV.

 

[gmerkt]

Could have been a young couple simply looking for a quiet spot to park,

It's always good to be vigilant. But typically these kinds of nocturnal incursions are innocent. In that they are usually accidental. Remote areas are most often where people tend to take wrong turns, etc. Just within the past few months, there were a couple of cases splashed big in the news about homeowners shooting people who came along by accident. You don't want to be the Clutter family, but you don't want to be in court, either. Lots of judgement needs to be exercised.

Dogs are good insurance. Especially dogs that live outside. Motion lights are good. I've got some of those but I wonder if crooks are really deterred much by them now that their deployment is so common. As mentioned previously, a gate on that driveway would go a long way to cutting down on lost or amorous drivers. In fact, complete fencing is never a bad thing; it's harder for people to come wandering in. And when they do, they lack the excuse that they didn't know if was private property.

 

[Mikej]

I've got some of those but I wonder if crooks are really deterred much by them now that their deployment is so common.

I kind of feel like those lights just offer a better view making it easier to cut the cats of your CRV? Or in my case drain the tanks on the pick-up. Especially seeing as I live in a place where 911 puts you on hold and police can't/wont come out for an hour or more, if at all.

 

[edzz]

Don't understand why one would assume the signs would provide a deterrence. With the state of our educational system and the masses coming across our southern borders it seems silly to believe a set of signs in English would have the effect you desire.
In my neck of the woods an orange square or band painted on a tree trunk has the same legal standing as a no trespassing sign, is harder to deface, often more visible and requires no reading comprehension.

Electric gates rock.

 

[ma96782]

In my neck of the woods an orange square or band painted on a tree trunk has the same legal standing as a no trespassing sign, is harder to deface, often more visible and requires no reading comprehension.

Hummm.....interesting. But me....I've never heard of the orange square or band painted on the tree trunk thing.

But then....In my neck of the woods....we have the simple word "KAPU" painted on signs. Which means the same thing.

And then.....it seems that may tourist spots, that are obviously dangerous with obvious inherent dangers.... Well, now a days they must also be signed. So that a tourist will have less of a chance to sue successfully. BUT, But, but.....the Govt always seems to settle these cases. Why?

OMG?!?!?!......

Examples of the signs:
Warning -
Shark/High Surf/Rip Current/No Life Guard On Duty
Dangerous/Slippery when wet/slippery
Do not jump off
Loose rocks/Do Not climb
Etc... Etc.....

So yeah.....once it WAS a scenic spot but no longer.

Aloha, Mark

 

[gmerkt]

Don't understand why one would assume the signs would provide a deterrence.

I'd thought of this also and forgot to comment on it. To the extent that potential trespassers might not be able to see / read them at night, especially from within a vehicle.

As a practical matter, I don't know how much good signs do anyway. They are like locks; they will keep out honest and semi-honest people but crooks will go right past them if they feel like it. I've got a couple posted along one fenced boundary. Because I've noticed possible indications that someone bedded down behind some brush on the opposite side of my fence. I put up the sign to let them know, should they return, that I've got my eye on the area.

As a legal matter, signage conveys certain rights to property owners when trespass does occur. As do fences. It varies from state to state, but in Wash. for example, lacking signage and fencing, people entering open / unimproved land do so with "license and privilege."

 

[salmon creek gary]

That was my thought upon reading this. Most likely just a DoorDash or Uber Eats driver that realized they were at the wrong house. OP, you may want to consider putting a sign with your house number at the entrance of your private drive. That should help greatly reduce visitors that are looking for one of your neighbors' houses.

Your suggestions are good and valid, and they were implemented nearly twelve years ago. We never had any instance of a neighbor's visitor mistakenly arriving at our house. However, our secluded location made it necessary to mark our lane clearly so that delivery drivers and our visitors could find our house more easily.

This incident was the only midnight arrival in front of our house since we moved here in early 2011. That low incidence is partly because the entrance to our gravel lane has been so well-marked, and partly because our lane turns off pavement near the end of a short (two tenths of a mile) dead-end road.

Any midnight motorist who leaves pavement to turn into our clearly-identified private gravel lane and proceeds past restrictive signage for a tenth of a mile is highly unlikely to be a neighbor's confused visitor or a driver for DoorDash or Uber Eats.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The uppity gall. Did they catch the scallywags?

 

[salmon creek gary]

The uppity gall. Did they catch the scallywags?

No point in doing more than watch them leave the property. My cams did yield one pic with partial plate, and several others that would aid in identifying the make/model vehicle, That's pretty limited and actually useless unless there's an ongoing investigation of criminal stuff done elsewhere in the neighborhood that night. So far, my neighbors haven't reported any such bad stuff.

 

[edzz]

Hummm.....interesting. But me....I've never heard of the orange square or band painted on the tree trunk thing.

But then....In my neck of the woods....we have the simple word "KAPU" painted on signs. Which means the same thing.

And then.....it seems that may tourist spots, that are obviously dangerous with obvious inherent dangers.... Well, now a days they must also be signed. So that a tourist will have less of a chance to sue successfully. BUT, But, but.....the Govt always seems to settle there cases. Why?

OMG?!?!?!......

Examples of the signs:
Warning -
Shark/High Surf/Rip Current/No Life Guard On Duty
Dangerous/Slippery when wet/slippery
Do not jump off
Loose rocks/Do Not climb
Etc... Etc.....

So yeah.....once it WAS a scenic spot but no longer.

Aloha, Mark

The orange paint is an Idaho thing.
2020 Idaho Code

 

[Siglvr]

I once thought a thief was breaking into a neighbors home, later realized it was mine. Use to leave the windows 8' off the deck open in the summer. Dog slept through it but I'd woke up @3am to a noise. Wound up going after the criminal and chasing the dude down the street, unarmed, near naked wearing only my skimpy briefs (that was my skimpy brief phase of life when I was in better shape). The first officer to arrive, a very kind policewoman, didn't chuckle at all, for which I am still grateful

I had kept my weapons locked up downstairs in the gunsafe so as not to alarm my wife who is not an enthusiastic 2nd amendment supporter and shooter like me. The next day with a wry smile and a cocked eyebrow she noted: "Did you consider that if the thief had gotten in, he'd have been directly between you and all those guns...". LOL. A situation I fixed immediately.

 

[DunRanull]

I wear shoulder holsters to bed so that I have a 556 pistol on one side and mp5 on the other side. Good thing I sleep on my back and not on the side.

(J/k)

I sleep with a bowie knife. Bugs the Old Woman, but she's used to me by now...

 

[Ragnar]

Normalcy Bias. Thinking everything will always remain the same because it always has, so far.

Our house got robbed in '04. They got my CMP M1, a Mossberg 12 ga and my Arsenal Bulgarian AK copy. After that we got two Akitas. About 200 lb of territorial, protective bear hunting dogs. I'm still mad about the AK....

 

[Ragnar]

I sleep with a bowie knife. Bugs the Old Woman, but she's used to me by now...

I've got this wicked Kukri hanging from my bedpost. I tried hanging a sword there but drawing them was impossible. I'll use the Kukri to fight my way 5 feet to where my Shockwave is hanging

 

[Tinman357]

Home invasions with multiple assailants have been on the rise in recent years. Millions of illegal immigrants are only going to make it worse in the years to come. Where these people come from, they work in crews. One on one is not their M.O. they hit fast with overwhelming force. It's difficult to defend against if they target you for a hot invasion.

Out of control inflation, easy access to drugs, most police departments understaffed, soft on crime judicial system. Stuff just getting weird, it's only going to get worse, soon.

Layered defenses aren't an option as I live on a boat, but I've hardened as much as I can. Good security system with cloud connected cameras. At least the police will know who did it. Big plus, I don't look like I have anything worth stealing. Grey man lifestyle, I don't attract attention. Most people look right through me.

I've taken to being armed inside my own home. First up is my EDC. Either a 1911 and 4 mags or a Sig p365 with 4 mags. I keep a G-17 with a 33rd mag by the bed at night and within easy reach during the day.

Still pretty good at accurate enough rapid fire at close range, practice mag dumps often. It's going to get noisy in here. I can't compete with Jerry Mickulek, but I wouldn't want to be the first critter in line through the door.

Older, so I doubt there will be time to get to anything other than what I grab first. I'll have to repel boarders with whatever I happen to have on hand and hope for the best.

I have no illusions, John Wick I ain't. A determined crew of 3+ will put me down pretty quick so my only option is to get ugly fast and unleash hell in what very little time I will have.

Yes. I am working on moving as soon as home prices drop as I figure I'm more secure here than in an apartment.

Doing the best I can with what I've got.


Edited: too much personal, irrelevant information.

 

[jrmh]

Could have been a young couple simply looking for a quiet spot to park, but it's good to be ready.

I live in a "

"SheeT Like That Happens Here all the time neighborhood"

kind of place. Yesterday it was some young mexican fella running around with a gun doing armed robbing and shooting up the place in the wee hours of the morning. The police sent out a "shelter in place" to the locals phones. My brother, who lives a 1/2 mile away, was awake and on the phone to the cops describing his movements while watching him from his window.

"OK, heading west to the blackberry bushes, he's now bubblegum deep in them...OK, now chest deep...that's got to hurt those things are old growth blackberries, and looks like he's dropping his gun". Dude was shortly arrested and likely out 15 min after booking due to a soft on crime DA....I started pocket carrying a kimber pepper blaster 2. If I had a carry firearm there would be dead street cochroaches left from random self-defense encounters....

lents?

 

[bradsteen]

On the topic of home invasions, one was recently foiled near my brother's house. Cop happened to be parked nearby and saw a team of 5 pull up in a blacked out SUV wearing masks and try to kick in the door on a house up for sale. 1 stayed behind the wheel, 4 went up to the door. Cop drew down and they ran off.

No idea what happened after that, but point is (a) it happened in a really nice area (houses are $1 million +), and (b) 5 assailants in total. Good luck facing that with a 6-shooter or a 10-round semi-auto.