Did they leave doors unlocked or open?
Doors which are out of sight are best left closed and locked.
This almost sounds like you are blaming @Sue22 's parents for being robbed. I don’t think I would lock up my house tightly if one partner was in the garden and one was in the house. My doors are usually locked because we enter and exit through the garage 95% of the time, but I often will play with the dog in the backyard and leave the door unlocked so I can get back in.
Someone needs to make a “doggie door” entry lock that would unlock/not chime if a registered person walks through but would make a beep or some other noise if a stranger walks through. Our Tesla would not unlock unless I carry her “key” or use the app.
Not robbery related, but back to the point the police made about training dogs not to jump so as not to annoy the robbers who might kill them…
Public Service Announcement - it shouldn’t take the threat of death to encourage dog owners to train their dogs to have basic manners. Robbers may be horrible enough to act on their annoyance, but trust me - everybody who doesn’t own your dog is equally annoyed when it jumps on them, they’re just polite enough to not actually hurt your dog. Regardless of whether you might be robbed, teach your dog not to jump on people because it’s part of being a good dog owner and not being rude to other people.
Only if you interpret the suggestion of any crime resistance measure (which some have asked for in this thread) as “blaming the victim”.
No one seems to have any trouble telling college students to lock the doors of their dorm rooms when they are not present. Why is it different from anyone living in a place other than a college dorm?
Do you know anything about the gang members? What is their association with your community? How do they select their targets?
As far as they could tell they walked right in the main entrance, the kitchen door. This is an extremely safe suburban neighborhood and most people don’t lock their doors when they run errands. My parents did lock their doors, but not when one of them was in the house and another in the garden. That seems a bit much. I would imagine most people don’t lock their houses up when they go to the garage to get something from the car or when they’re playing ball in the yard with their kids. This was the first and last time a home in the neighborhood was hit in the 40 years my parents lived there.
The gang was one of a certain ethnicity from out of state that swept through the area committing a number of similar burglaries. There were a half dozen people in at least 2 cars. Neighbors reported that they had seen one of the cars earlier in the day but they hit my parents early in the spree so the police had not yet recognized the pattern and sent out a community alert. They targeted large houses and one tactic they used was for one person to come to the front door and distract the homeowner by asking directions while another slipped through the side or kitchen door and grabbed the homeowner’s purse or whatever else was readily available.
It’s more than a bit much! My H is a habitual door locker and he’s locked me outside a few times while I’ve been gardening and I’m just lucky he was still home to let me back in later, lol. I wouldn’t recommend it.
"The gang was one of a certain ethnicity from out of state that swept through the area committing a number of similar burglaries. There were a half dozen people in at least 2 cars. Neighbors reported that they had seen one of the cars earlier in the day but they hit my parents early in the spree so the police had not yet recognized the pattern and sent out a community alert. "
Oh. Travelers. Nice neighborhoods in coastal FL are targeted by this group, too. Hard to catch because they constantly move around; hit a group of houses then drive to the next community. They also often use fairly nice vehicles and middle aged women, which don’t alert people’s suspicion. Last year, we had a team come through and it was two vehicles (newish Suburban and older Lexus SUV) and the robbers that the police got good pictures of were all in their 40s-50s, one man and several women, all well groomed. Similar methods to what Sue22 is describing. Bold, quick, grab and go.
Habitual door locker, here! We try to remember to close the garage door and keep all doors locked, even when working outside. I have a house key on one of those spiral bracelets that I slip on when I work outside (something like this - I tuck the key under the bracelet so it isn’t dangling https://www.walmart.com/ip/Custom-Accessories-Products-Wrist-Coil-Key-Chain/19862992?athcpid=19862992&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=PWVAV&athieid=v0&athstid=CS020&athguid=466001f5-7896f1bd-812810d31c5a64d5&athena=true )
A suggestion for compromise on the locked door while gardening issue. I am not a habitual door locker. Although logically I know that locking the door makes sense, I also associate the action of locking the door while gardening or while taking out the trash with people who are overly ungracious, paranoid or with a few beloved relatives who started to get paranoid and afraid as they lost their memory and mind. Maybe an unfair association, but it’s how I view the action and didn’t want to live like that or be that person.
So how did our family move from being one that didn’t lock any doors for years to being one that always has the doors locked with everyone feeling happy and welcome, and nobody getting locked out? Tech savvy DS installed a keyless entry lock. No need to carry a key, a simple code opens the door. It doesn’t feel paranoid or crazy, since it’s always locked and the entire family can always get in.
Really? We have quite a large lot, and nobody can see me when I’m working in the backyard, so it looks like nobody is home. I am neither ungracious nor paranoid; just doing what I feel is common sense.
Things we now know: the people who have plagued this area are, in fact a gang. They want to expand their territory by the beach and want to control of downtown. They have seemed to leave left here and moving to the east end of BH.
Our home always has people in it. No diversion to these people. They came in at night. They came in with my husband sleeping in the same room. No problem. I was sleeping but my tv was on. More people? No problem.
We have a couple of keyless entry locks. Be careful about the batteries. I feel like ours “died” earlier than they should and then we couldn’t use those doors. One had batteries that leaked and ruined the interface so we can never use it again, but it works with a key. These are back doors, upstairs off a balcony, and we don’t use them often so we didn’t realize the batteries were going bad.
Our daughter have used them while locked out, after climbing over a high metal gate.
Wow. Unbelievable that the gangs/criminals aren’t afraid anymore. A couple of thoughts:
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Lights and cameras, prominently displayed. Nobody wants to be on tape, I would hope.
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See something, say something. Anything out of the norm, make the call. Being the nosy neighbor may not be such a bad thing.
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A Great Dane – big as a horse and very scary. We had one when I was a kid and the cops wouldn’t even enter the house. Nicest dog in the world, wouldn’t harm anyone. But kept people on the other side of the door many times.
"Really? We have quite a large lot, and nobody can see me when I’m working in the backyard, so it looks like nobody is home. I am neither ungracious nor paranoid; just doing what I feel is common sense. "
It absolutely is common sense, logical and correct to lock your door. No argument. Unfortunately, my only personal experience of this type of door locking had some bad personal connotations. My grandfather who I was very close to was a funny, generous, kind person. As a former football player, he wasn’t afraid of anything, was a calm and gentle person. He and my grandmother lived on a 5 acre fenced property in a very safe area. They were also close friends with the head of the Doberman rescue, so although they had only owned dogs like poodles and retrievers, ended up with a large, protective Doberman who guarded the property fiercely (but was sweet to family and friends.) He regularly worked on his property without locking the doors. When people would arrive, he’d happily greet them.
As my grandfather slipped into Alzheimer’s, the first major symptom he had was increased paranoia. Instead of being relaxed and friendly, he constantly worried if the door was locked. He started locking the door when he took the garbage out, sometimes locking himself or my grandmother out. Being near him was unsettling and sad, his stress and fear were palpable. We lost someone who was funny, open and friendly and in his place was someone who constantly obsessed over security, locked himself and others out of the house and was so afraid he felt unsafe in what was one of the safest situations in the country.
So although on the face of it, him locking his door wasn’t at all illogical, it marked a major shift in his personality, risk assessment and actions. I didn’t want to go down that road. Everybody’s experience, perception and risk assessment is different - this was mine.
I lock the front door when I go to the car unless it’s bright midday and I know no one’s out there. No big deal. Big bushes, wider door that can blow open, and a vicious attack dog who could run away. (18lb rescue, a sweetheart in the house.) I’m not going to test how she treats an intruder or anyone passing by. She’s ok with some friends, not others.
I doubt they knew BevHills’s DH was in that room.
So very sorry to hear!!
Get some motion detection cameras, too.
They knew Mr. Ellebud was in the room. All the lights were on in the den (where they entered)). Their street creed would have skyrocjked
Are these gangs known for hurting/killing residents? I wonder what they would have done if your husband would have awakened.