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Home Invasion Victim Shot With His Own Gun

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Years ago, I appeared on the Maury Povich show to discuss weaponry. The producers called me to discuss a show they had in mind where the shows subjects were those facing jail time or in jail because they killed their attackers.

In each case, it was their word against a dead mans. Some of the subjects were victims of domestic violence where others were victims of home invasions or stalking. The producers asked me what the subjects could have done differently so they wouldn’t be facing jail time. My response was “use non-lethal weapons” opposed to lethal such as guns or knives.

While I believed this was (and still is) a sensible alternative, I was booed and ridiculed. Even Maury thought my suggestion was poor. I further suggested placing non-lethal weapons like pepper spray strategically throughout the home as a layer of defense. Again, I was ridiculed. It’s not that I’m anti-gun, it was, and is an alternative. Another option.

I know that you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. I understand non-lethal doesn’t always work. I get that people love their guns. I also know that when you kill someone it’s your word against a dead mans and facing life in prison is an option even when you shoot and kill an intruder in your own home.

Plus, there is always the chance that the same weapon can be used against you.

The New York Times reports that a “New York man suffered a bullet wound to his leg after being shot with his own gun during a struggle with an intruder when a man entered his home through an unlocked door around 9:30 a.m. The homeowner grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and confronted the intruder. Police say the two men got into a struggle, during which the gun went off, striking the homeowner in the lower leg. The intruder stole property from the home and fled.”

Call me crazy, but first, have a home security system that helps prevent the home invader from getting in. And while I’m sure there are plenty of stories that involve the homeowner shooting a killing the home invader, there are as many where the homeowner was shot with his own gun. What do you think?

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Maury Povich.

New Jersey Home Robbery: One Unlocked Window Brings a Life of Pain

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Robbery as defined in Wikipedia is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Robbery differs from simple theft, a break-in or burglary on its use of violence and intimidation.

Many of us are told that when you are attacked to let it happen so it doesn’t get any worse. In some cases that may be your only option. Studies have also shown that fighting back might be a better option. Showing resistance and making it difficult for your attacker to do their job often helps you get to safety.

In New Jersey near Atlantic City “a woman, identified only as “L. L.” in documents, was asleep in her bed and a 28 year old man crawled in an open window at about 1:30 a.m. L.L. heard something fall, got up to investigate the noise and met the home invader  inside her home.

The predator is accused of beating and raping her, then filling a trash bag with personal items in order to derail an investigation before fleeing her home. Armed with a knife, police said, he threatened to kill L.L. if she talked with authorities.”

The best course of action is always to put systems in place to avoid having to confront a predator in the first place.

There are some things that can be done to reduce the chances that your home is targeted for robbery:
1. Install outdoor lighting that may keep the bad guy away

2. Lock all doors and windows always
3. Install security cameras
4. Install a home alarm system. Have a panic button for your home alarm that calls for help and sends a screaming alarm
5. Always run to safety when attacked. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home invasions on the Gordon Elliot Show.

15 Break-ins at Boston Area Churches – Nothing is Sacred

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Last year around the holidays I wrote about burglars preying on churches.

This year is no different. The Boston Globe reports “You know things are bad when they start knocking off churches. And judging by the number of churches knocked off recently, things are very bad indeed.”

“I’m seeing levels of desperation out there I haven’t seen for a long while,’’ said the churches Priest. “Like most priests and ministers, he sees a lot of people who live on the margins. They come to the three churches he oversees for food and laundry money and help with the rent. They come because they don’t belong anywhere else.

And sometimes they come to steal. There have been 15 break-ins at Boston area churches in the last few months. And that’s just the Catholic ones.”

It doesn’t matter where, when or who, a burglar will go where there is easy access and easy money, or goods to be resold.

Often, it is those on the inside that have knowledge of how things work and where they are. So, it is important to beef up security to protect from the inside-out and from the outside-in.

In some cases burglars enter through unlocked doors; in others, broken windows and they will even bust doors off of their frames.

Theft happens. Protect against it.

  1. Lock up. Even if it’s an “open access” environment
  2. Have someone always watching the door
  3. Install visible motion sensitive security cameras everywhere recorded by a DVR
  4. Install hidden motion sensitive security cameras everywhere recorded by a DVR
  5. Install “Monitored by Video Surveillance” signs everywhere
  6. Lock doors and windows always
  7. Install glass break prevention film
  8. Install a monitored alarm system

9.     Be proactive with the help of wireless home security systems and new interactive smart home solutions that go beyond traditional security to a new level of control, accessibility and connection with the property.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing  Home Security and Identity Theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.

11 Ways To Prevent Home Invasions

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Strangers and posers: You tell your children not to talk to strangers, so why do you open the door to a total stranger? And never talk to strangers via an open or screen door. Home-invaders pose as delivery people, law enforcement or  public workers.

Distress: If someone is in distress tell him or her you will call the police for them. Don’t open the door for them.

Make a call: Under no circumstances do you open the door unless you get phone numbers to call their superiors. Even if that means making them wait outside while you call 411.

Money, jewels and drugs : One simple reason your house is chosen is someone tipped off the home-invader that you have valuables. You may have done it via social media or your friends or children or baby sitter might have unintentionally bragged. In states where medical marijuana is legal that may be an additional consideration.

Peephole: Install peepholes, talk through the door.

Do not call the police!: If you live in a high crime area where law enforcement takes a while to respond, and if someone is trying to break into your house while you are in it, calling the fire department will sometimes get help to the scene quicker. Do this only if you are desperate. Firefighters are not equipped to handle violence. However squealing sirens can deter a criminal. And call the police!

Get armed: Having a non-lethal weapon in the form of a Taser or a Pepper spray in close proximity to your bed or front door can debilitate your attacker before they gain control. But realize these can be used against you.

Have your mobile handy: Consider a second line or a cell phone in your bedroom. Burglars sometimes cut phone lines and often remove a telephone from the receiver when they enter a home.

Get alarmed: An alarm system activated while you are sleeping will prevent a burglar from getting to far. And keep it on 24/7/365. With a home alarm system on, when someone knocks on the door, a conscious decision has to be made to turn off the alarm. Most people will keep it on.

Locks: Call a qualified locksmith to take a physical security survey to help you determine the most efficient way to lock up. Many products on the market are a false sense of security. A qualified locksmith should be a professional associated with well known manufacturers.

Cameras: Install a 24-hour camera surveillance system. Cameras are a great deterrent.  Have them pointed to every door and access point.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams. Disclosures

Police Arrest Six People in Ritzy Robbery Ring

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Burglars broke into more than 50 homes in the high end areas of Miami and Palm Beach. Most of the victims were out to dinner and some were victims of home invasions.

The perps may have had a network in place of valets, waiters/waitresses or others who had an idea of who the victims were, their addresses and what their schedules were. Most importantly, someone on the inside of this network would inform the thieves when the victims would be gone from the home.

The thieves would enter the homes through locked or unlocked sliding doors generally in the back of the home. Their targets included high end jewelry, watches, gold and diamonds. Losses could be as high as 2 million dollars.

Getting the stolen jewelry back is often next to impossible. Jewelry is the quickest and easiest to fence.

“Police have dubbed the six people arrested for their participation in a burglary ring spanning three counties as the “Dinner Crew Set.”  Home surveillance video captured one of the thieves in action — a masked man with a two way radio.”

It’s obvious that most of these homes did not have home alarms or home security cameras. Many of these burglaries could have been prevented with simple investments that equate to a dollar a day for your family home security.

It’s amazing to me how people go out and spend all this money on expensive items but don’t lock them in a safe or protect them with a home security system.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel. Disclosures.

Protecting Your Property When You are Home

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In a down economy, people make decisions they otherwise wouldn’t need to consider. Home invasions and robberies make the news every day multiples times a day.

In Huntington West Virginia in just the last two weeks, they’ve seen several different instances where homeowners have fought back and won. But, where is the line when it comes to self defense and protecting what’s your home?

One man says a machete saved his and his family’s lives. “They came at me physically with firearms, as far as I was concerned,” he said. When two thieves broke into his home waving a baseball bat and a toy gun that he thought was real, he wasted no time fighting back.

The suspects spent some time in the hospital before heading to jail. Jeez, the homeowner goes at them with a machete and they went to the hospital. Makes sense.

“They were masked and hooded, but due to their injuries, they were bleeding profusely from head and neck area,” the County Sheriff said.

This homeowner chose an extreme solution for an extreme situation. The whole event could have seriously gone wrong for the homeowner and put himself and family at risk. Ultimately whatever you to survive you’ve done the right thing.

The best defense is a good offense as they say. In this situation preventative measures would keep them from getting in the first place. Therefore, there is no need to hack them all up with a machete. Plus it’s all messy. Icky.

Home security tips:

Timed and/or motion activated lights, inside and out. This burglar stated lights turned on made him nervous and he would go to a home that didn’t pose a threat of getting caught.

Trim bushes and shrubs. Anything covering doors and windows that give a burglar cover is an invitation to a thief. I also recommend defensive shrubbery with lots of thorns.

Encourage your neighbors to report any suspicious activity around your home while you are gone or even while you are home.

Install a home security system. It’s not enough to just lock your doors. A home alarm is an effective deterrent while you are away and while you are home. Even home alarm decals and signage is a layer of protection.

Dogs big and small. A dog need not be an attack dog to be an effective deterrent. Barking dogs bring attention to the home they are protecting.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams.

Burglars Burgle the House Then Burn It

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Desperate people do desperate things. A home burglary is a desperate act. And when the burglar wants to absolutely, positively cover his tracks, he may torch the house.

It’s a troubling crime pattern and Syracuse Police are asking for the public’s help. In the past two weeks there have seven burglaries near the Syracuse University area. In two cases, after the homes were ransacked the burglar set them on fire. No one was inside the two homes at the time of the fires.

When a home is broken into the burglars almost always steal something. Sometimes they break in just to “party” or need a place to hang out or crash for the night. Other times it’s for vandalism and they generally do a pretty good job of destroying the property when they set their minds to it. With home invasions it’s often to torture the residents and make them miserable. This is certainly the worst case scenario for the homeowner.

But breaking in and burning it is probably the most destructive of all tactics. When a person’s home is entered without authorization, people generally feel a sense of violation they don’t easily get over. For a dozen reasons a person should make certain their home is as secure as possible. To prevent any of the above acts, one needs to invest in their home security.

Home security tips:

Timed and/or motion activated lights, inside and out. This burglar stated lights turned on made him nervous and he would go to a home that didn’t pose a threat of getting caught.

Trim bushes and shrubs. Anything covering doors and windows that give a burglar cover is an invitation to a thief. I also recommend defensive shrubbery with lots of thorns.

Encourage your neighbors to report any suspicious activity around your home while you are gone or even while you are home.

Install a home security system. It’s not enough to just lock your doors. A home alarm is an effective deterrent while you are away and while you are home. Even home alarm decals and signage is a layer of protection.

Dogs big and small. A dog need not be an attack dog to be an effective deterrent. Barking dogs bring attention to the home they are protecting.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston.

Does a Home Alarm System Really Prevent Break-ins?

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Back in the day, the home was occupied all day. Mom was a “stay at home” working all day taking care of the kids and people had bigger families too. Often there were 3, 4, and even 5 generations under the same roof. Today, Mom works out of the house, dad works and the kids are at school. Today, grandparents are healthier and more self sufficient, and sometimes on their own traveling. Today, the house is vacant.

So, what to do? Invest in an alarm? According to a Rutgers study, alarms are a valuable crime fighting tool.

“Data showed that a steady decrease in burglaries in Newark between 2001 and 2005 coincided with an increase in the number of registered home burglar alarms. The study credits the alarms with the decrease in burglaries and the city’s overall crime rate. Neighborhoods in which burglar alarms were densely installed have fewer incidents of residential burglaries than the neighborhoods with fewer burglar alarms” said study author Dr. Seungmug Lee, professor at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.

Today a home alarm system is cost effective, easy to install, can be activated and viewed over the internet and even a mobile phone. Monitoring an alarm system that calls the local police cost a dollar a day.

More than four in 10 Americans are worried that the current economic environment can expose their families to crime, according to a nationwide survey of 1,000 people sponsored by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. Many survey respondents also indicated that economic conditions are causing them to reduce their spending on security systems and devices.

If there was ever a time to make smart decisions about ones security it’s now. I can’t even imagine being without a home alarm. There are too many bad people who don’t care about you and me. As a home owner and a dad, I need every edge I can get against the bad guy. And understand it’s not about being “paranoid”; it’s about being in control and taking responsibility for your family’s safety.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home invasions on the Gordon Elliot Show. Disclosures