Door Bell Rings At Midnight

And the cops arrive and Heineken and Family are hostages?

I had an alarm system and just wasn't thrilled. The false alarms when lightning hits or someone opens a door late at night are too much of a pain.

 

We answer the door when that happens... with a shotgun.

Seriously. It's happened a number of times. Doorbell rings, dad answers door with shotgun. Everytime it was someone with a legitimate need -- two car wrecks and a hostage situation next door.

 

If I had to make a choice, I'd choose "Cops arrive and Heineken and Family are hostages" over "nobody arrives." But that's me.

There's positives and negatives to having an alarm system. You just have to weigh them and decide what's right for you. For me, it meant having one at my last home and not having one at my current home.

 

Leave an outside light (or two or three, if you have them) on at night -- all night. I'll second the comment of others about getting a security system, if you can afford it, and make sure you put one of those small signs near your front entrance (and on all the windows) that let people know you have a system. And I'll second the thoughts of those who commented about leaving your recycling bins, newspapers, mail, etc., out there too long; take every precaution you can to NEVER do that.

While we're on the subject of home security, I've read articles recently that thieves and burglars use a small tool (a bump key, I think it's called) that can open just about any lock in a matter of seconds and, worst of all, it leaves no apparent sign of illegal entry. A call to your local locksmith might be in order.

And you can be damn sure that if I'm opening the front door at midnight, I know with 100 percent certainty who's there.

 

Choices...

Move. You went to college. No need to live in fear.

Buy a big dog that barks really loud.

Buy a gun or at least put a sign in your front window showing a picture of the gun you own. An NRA sticker might do as well.

Buy motion lights for around your house.

 

The bump key story was really popular during local TV sweeps. I honestly think local locksmiths pushed the story to drum up business.

It involves filing down a blank in a specific way so it'll open a lock. But the catch is one bump key will only open one specific kind of lock, it's not a master key for every door lock and deadbolt in the nation. So for a burgler to effectively use it, he's got to have one for every kind of knob and deadbolt around because his Qwikset doorknob bump key won't work on a Qwickset deadbolt or a Schrade lock.

 

Agreed, though I don't know if I would have the wife ready to hit 911. I would probably start with her calling 911, given what Heineken said.

 

Your doorbell rang late at night and you want to
a) get a gun
b) move

think about that

 

If you read the entire thread you'd see there have been other issues in his neighborhood.

 

Alarm system=good idea. Same with floodlights to illuminate the house.

Our local cops give you three false alarms per year and then you get a summons. Sounds like a good deal to me.

 

As for false alarms, either the mustards had a really good system or we didn't have it set right. We never had a false alarm in the year and a half we had the system.

 

Heineken,

Got some lights on your porch with motion sensors. Those don't cost much.

And steal someone's alarm sign and plant it in your front yard.