Have you ever been robbed or mugged? Do you have an alarm system?
By lisado
@lisado (1227)
United States
July 15, 2009 5:44pm CST
I was watching a TV show the other day and it said that every 10 seconds someone's house is broken into, or something to that effect. Someone tried to get into my parents' house once, about two years ago, but they had an alarm and whoever it was got away, but nothing was missing. Their house was also broken into about 15 years ago, but I wasn't living at home then, either. It was a different house than the one they're in now. They had left for work and the kids that broke in were caught. It was an accident that they got caught. They had stolen my dad's handgun and since they were only 16-ish, when they were pulled over for speeding the cops saw the gun in the backseat and arrested them, knowing they were to young to have a permit. That ended up being the son of a friend of the family who knew his way around the house and knew the dogs.
I was curious if anyone else had been robbed, and if you were home or not. It's scary thinking about someone breaking in while we're home. We have an alarm, and we have the signs up outside given to us by the company to let people know we have one, but it's still kind of scary since my husband works nights. Plus, it's hard to know if we're home since we have a garage with no windows or anything, so no one can tell if we're home or not since we put the cars in the garage. We always leave a light on it the kitchen no matter if we're home or not. The TV is about the only give away. If it isn't on we're either not home or sleeping. We always turn it off when we leave. Our neighbors are pretty close, though, and would notice a strange car in the driveway, which is nice.
My mom and dad won't put signs up outside about their alarm. They usually give stickers for the doors or windows, as well as yard signs. They think it encourages people to try to break in, see if they can get in without setting off the alarm. I would think a person would see that you have an alarm and not take the chance, but I don't know. What do you think? Think it makes people want to try to break in to see if they can get away with it or skip your house to find one without an alarm?
1 person likes this
2 responses
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
15 Jul 09
I've had my car broken into a couple of times. The first time, they stole my cell phone and the overhead light bulb. A few days later, I got a phone call from some guy saying that he had bought my phone off of another guy on the street, found that it already had someone's numbers and information in it, and tried to sell it back to me for more than the phone was worth brand new! The second time my car was broken into, nothing was stolen because there wasn't anything in it worth stealing.
When I was really little and living with my grandparents, some neighborhood teenagers broke into our house and stole a couple of cartons of ice cream out of the freezer. That was all they took. We found the empty ice cream cartons out in the back alley.
For the past couple of years, I've lived in apartments, so I really can't install an alarm system, nor could I afford to anyway. The entry hallway to my current apartment stays locked, so only residents can enter, and that makes me feel a little better. But our windows are at ground level and wouldn't be too difficult to open from the outside, even if locked. So we might have to do something about that.
