Funny, but with a serious side.

I have been a home owner now for over 16 years. One thing that has amazed me is how many people "try/tried" to get into my home with me standing right there.

In my career, I work around 4.5 months out of the year if I compressed all the days together. Needless to say, I am home a lot and get to see a bunch of different things. Here are some of my experiences:

-Some people pose as Utility Workers and attempt to get into your home. The chance of this is escalated after a weather storm or something that causes major power/service outages. I have had two experiences with this, and knew how to handle myself since I work for a Utility company. Ask for ID, period. Also, call the Utility company to see if something is going on in the area. Trust me, most utility work is done outside. Only time someone needs to come inside is to change a water meter (rare), or if a natural gas outage occurred and a pilot light needs to be lit. All other utilities are outside, or if something is bad inside the home, that is contracted out from you, since the homeowner is responsible for those costs.

In Colorado Springs a few years back, people were posing as utility workers and while talking with someone at the front door, people were breaking in the back door and doing home invasions. Mostly elderly people were targeted.

-Garage access. I have had a few people walk up my driveway over the years and "check" if someone is around. I normally always have my 90 lb dog out front with me. Not because he likes being outside, he is working for me and earning his keep. When I am working in the garage, usually I have earplugs, safety goggles, welding hood, or under some vehicle. This puts me in a bad spot for defense. My dog warns me when something is not right and gives me that extra few seconds to prepare. I find it amusing when people are selling shit, see my dog and ask one of the most stupid questions "is he nice? does he bite?" Well I always say "He is nice to me, but I'm his friend, and he has teeth, so I can assume he does bite."
The most interesting one was coming home from work, I slid under my 02 Trans Am since I grenaded the rear axle again and was in the process of installing a Strange Engineering S60 axle. I was just laying under the car on my creeper, minding my own business. I had not gone inside yet, so my daily carry was with me, and in fact under the car with me. A guy actually walked up into my garage and started touching my tools and looking around. I was in total shock. I slid out from under the car, pistol in hand, but not pointed and said a few choice words to him...but it was asking what he was doing in my garage. He wasn't even scared. I'm pretty sure he knew that in CO, a garage is not an extension of your home. Shooting him would have me in a world of legal nightmare. He just turned around and walked out without a worry. Totally blew my mind. From that day forward, my dog was outside no matter what.

Speaking about garage access, if you have the release cord on your garage mechanism still, go take that off at your next convenient time. The fastest way inside your garage besides having the code for an external keypad or the portable garage door opener is this cord. Go check it out. Go outside, push on the top center of your door. Think you could fish a clothes hanger inside and hook that line and pull it outside or release the door? It took me about 2 minutes the first time I was told this about 14 years ago.

-ADT sales/or other alarm company. Popular to belief, ADT does do door to door sales. You all should check out their site and see the company policies. I have had this happen a few times. The best one I will tell you about, and a little about me.
First off, anyone that knows me well, understands to contact me before coming to my house by either text or calling. I do not usually answer the door, but make it known I am home. I do this so someone doesn't make the mistake of trying to access my house without me inviting them inside. In the event I do answer the door, 99.56871% of the time Mr 19 is in my possession. So anyway, there was two nicely dressed young people at my door, male and female, and asked if I had a security system. I told them yes. Well of course they asked by who, and I replied it isn't by anyone in the city and it is none of their business.
***Now I am going to stop right there for a second. Now to just lay this on the line. They were dressed in business casual clothing, both shirts had ADT embroidered in the polo shirts, looked very convincing for sure. Back to our scheduled story.***
They were very insistent to come inside my home to see my current system. I would not let them in. My dogs could sense I was a little tense or something. The door was just cracked and they were trying like hell to get out and see what was up. My youngest was growling. Warning #1. The next thing I asked is if they had ID or business cards. Of course they left them in the car. Warning #2. Then they said that my neighbor across the street just purchase a system from them. Here is the freaky part. I did know if they did or didn't have a security system (they did already), but they knew my neighbors names. There are several ways of getting this information on public websites, but nonetheless, tricky and convincing if I didn't know otherwise. Where I caught on, is they said the males name, whom was deployed to Korea at the time. So they were full of shit saying they sold him a system. Warning #3. I had enough of these smart thieves by now. Anyway, they just wanted to know what system I had. I told them in the most polite way an agitated man could..."I have an alarm system, the back up is what is growling at you, and the back up to them is what I have had pointed at you this whole time"....and tapped the door with my 1911. Their eyes got pretty big and they quickly left the neighborhood. I called ADT, and they had no representatives in the area that day, and of course tried to sell me a system.

-Cleaning product sales/vacuum sales/or surveys for products. Some are legit, and others are a big red flag. The most recent was last week and the follow up was last night. So last week a young girl caught me going outside to check the mail. My whole family was home at the time, and my wife was able to hear the conversation. She introduced herself and said she wasn't selling anything (I have a no solicitation sign on my door), and was doing a local survey of what supermarket people used and why. So I did her little survey (form looked professional and expensive to make) and at the end she thanked me and asked if I wanted to be in the weekly drawing for a 300.00 gift certificate. I should know better, but I put my number into the drawing with just my first name. Fast forward to last night. I get a call and sure as stink on shit, I won the weekly drawing for 300.00 gift certificate. Now to get the code to the website to spend the 300.00, a representative from a air purifier company would stop by, and we would have to review the air purifier and that was it. 15 minutes tops. At this time, I'm thinking that isn't going to happen. Then she said we would also get two movie vouchers to a local theater for the night, but would expire that evening, so we would need to use them. Now that really said "red flag" to me. So someone would case my house from the inside, and then fully know that we would be gone for at least two hours on the same night? Yeah that is going to happen. I told her not that night. She said that they would call back on Monday so we could go to the movie. I haven't decided if I want to set someone up yet or not. Could get sporty. Lots of people with bump keys these days....

To add, I now take pictures of people coming up my driveway, my door, or in the neighborhood walking around that look out of place. This throws people off. They usually ask why I took a picture of them, and I give them an honest answer. I let them know I download their picture off my phone in the event a break in happens in the neighborhood, you are a person that may be contacted by local PD. Some say that they don't authorize me taking pictures of them, and I politely tell them that they are on my property uninvited and do not care.

Not sure why I thought of this, but just pay attention to what is going on. So may crooks out there trying to take advantage of people, it is just scary. Stay informed my friends...

 

It is pretty sad Jim.

Looks like your community of neighbors are organized. Pretty impressed.

 

My garage is attached. I have to take a 10 year renewal class this year. I will find out for sure. There has been a few laws that have been changed, that is for sure.

I can't say I would bet my life on a law abiding citizen knowing all the rules....lol.

I wouldn't think of using deadly force if someone was just stealing tools. I can buy a auto repair facility for what my legal fees would be if I did something like that. Might win criminal case, but civil could get Spendy. Going through that right now, so I have first hand knowledge on criminal vs civil side of the law. (Not related to this thread)

 

From the horses mouth...so to speak (criminal defense attorney).

https://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/what-is-the-make-my-day-law-1

 

Pure scum, and your grandma is not alone in this.

Right now, one of my friends mom was recently going through a legal battle from a "in home" provider. This person flat out lied and said she was hurt on the property. She sued of course. This went on for a few years before she just "dropped" the case due to costing over what she might get in a settlement out of court.

Come to find out, this provider has done something very similar around 6 times before. Only difference is most settled out of court with insurance and didn't fight it.

Wanna know what saved her? In home security system.

I tell you, it is all out war against our elderly community, and sadly they are losing.

 

Such a waste as well. Memphis could be so much more, but doesn't sound like it has changed much since 1993-4 when I was there.

 

Great testimony on how being alert to your surroundings is definitely in your benefit.

The "few months back" situation is exactly why I will never come out of my house to engage. Unless you have a damn good security system with cameras, one does not truly know what is out beyond your sight. Even then.... Someone could be beating my new truck with a baseball bat and I would not come out. I would look at it like this...I just spent 300+ on a deductible, which is cheap considering what I am protecting inside.

 

You know exactly how I feel and sounds like have some similar experiences. Unfortunate for sure.

I did start a security camera thread a while back. Check my started threads, there is a lot of good information in there. We have some experienced people on this board in a wide range of expertise....trust me.

Glad you like the topic. Things ol' TJ has rattling in his simple mind....

 

We share a common problem with mountain lions. Let me be the first to say you (and your wife) are lucky to see them and they are considered one of North America's most efficient killer for a reason. In your area though, they are way more populated due to less humans and the ample supply of food. (beautiful area as well, one of my favorites)

Your best bet is a large breed dog(s). A Mountain lion can jump fences with a full grown Lab in its mouth, but having a bigger dog or dogs is a deterrent for a cat and moves on to another easier prey. Dogs will detect the threat long before you ever will, both four and two legged animals...if you feel what I am putting down.

Colorado is an open carry state. Open carry how you see fit on your property. There are laws for certain areas and buildings within city limits. I open carry on my mountain property all the time, but that is the only place I do it. I am not a big fan of open carry, but a huge gun and 2nd amendment supporter. Probably due to the "element of surprise" and I do not like making others feel uncomfortable due to my own beliefs. I like to always suggest a CCW class or similar even if you do not intend to carry concealed. The classes are informative.

Colorado has no gun registry, so no problem there. The 12G, depending on style (if it is a pump, semi-auto, single or double) is the perfect weapon for most situations besides long range hunting. I carried a Remington 870 around in Montana when in the mountains with a specific load up of 00 buck and slugs for the rare run in with Grizzly bear or moose.

For the defense question, and I am not your legal representative, but if a weapon is used in self defense on your property, I would advise that they be inside your home and not outside of it, and if they are trying to leave...let them. An entry wound to the back does nothing for your defense and pretty much destroys your "in fear for my life" testimony. The only time using deadly force outside your home would be for someone being hurt and you were the 3rd party that protected them (lets say a neighbor's boyfriend was beating her with a bat brutally), and you went out to try and stop the certain death. Again, this is where going to a Conceal Carry Weapons class for our state is so beneficial. There are some gray areas, and things you need to decide on before even strapping on the weapon to your person.

Here is the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning weapons. A good read.

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/firearmstatutes

 

Damn man, you are like me...an idiot magnet. It took me a long time to understand I wasn't alone. Welcome to the club brother.