Has your house ever been broken into?

[SC Minnie]

Not our home but a business my family owned, twice. The first time they stole money out of the safe, inventory, and things from the office. The second time they didn't get anything because we had installed an alarm after the first break in. They found the people that did this. The sad part is they were cops that we knew. We often used off duty police officers on the weekends for security and used this one guy a lot. It was him. I never felt completely safe there again. I didn't feel safe in my home after that either. When we moved into our knew house about a year later the first thing we had done was an alarm installed.

DD car was gone through in our drive way on Christmas eve last year. The lock on the driver door was broken (she hadn't told us about it so we could get it fixed ) so they didn't technically 'break in'. They went through the car but she didn't have anything of value in there. Luckily she had the garage door opener in a side panel and it had papers covering it. The bad thing was the person left the door open all night and the battery went dead.

 

[RunningGirl]

Almost exactly a year ago. I came home to find the garage door up. I was a bit suspicious and then, before entering my home, found a man's wallet in my garage that did not belong to anyone I knew. I called the police who came and went through my house with guns drawn. They came out and asked if I used to have a tv in the living room ... yes ...

They broke in during the day and took our big screen tv, 3 MacBooks, an iMac, 2 iPod touches (yes we're an Apple family), a PS3, money, and a camera. I was thankful my jewelry was not stolen since I have a couple of things that were my mom's.

My 12 pound dog was home and when I got inside (after the police) and I found her upstairs. She was very upset and was quite anxious for a few weeks following the incident.

All our dresser drawers were open so they obviously did some pawing through our stuff. My kids could not sleep in their rooms for a couple of days and then thoroughly cleaned and sanitized everything in their rooms.

My house is a bit isolated so it's pretty suseptible to this kind of thing. Now, however, we have an alarm system and use it consistently.

It was a major pain and took a lot of time to get through all the insurance stuff, but the biggest loss were some of the pictures on the computers that hadn't been backed up yet.

 

[j's m]

We were broken into about 22 years ago, within 5 months of moving into our new house. They used a crow bar and wrecked the side door. We think it was either someone that had worked on the house or a disgruntled former employee, someone who knew we would both be at work at noon.

They stole the stereo system and the cabinet it was in. It was at least 20 years old! Since they couldn't fit the cabinet in the trunk, they left us their spare tire. They took all the cassette tapes and CD's. They went upstairs and took an old VCR and the TV remote, thinking it was for the VCR. Scratched up the hardwood floors, and broke a picture frame.

The only good thing was that we had an alarm system and that kept them from staying too long. The alarm company said it was 7 minutes from the time the alarm went off to the time the police arrived, we're only about 3 minutes from the police station. This kept them from looking through drawers or really trashing the place, so the alarm system was well worth the money. Big surprise, they never did find the robbers.

It took me a few years till I felt comfortable by myself at night. If my DH was out, I would go in our bedroom, lock the door and set the alarm. I'm ok about it now, but still worry when DS16 is home alone at night. Over the years, quite a few houses on our street have been hit.

 

[Safetyal]

Yes.

We were living in an apartment, while having our house built. We were debating on whether to install an alarm system. We decided we probably would be fine without one.

I came back for work and noticed the door was loose and saw part of the door jamb on the ground. They took mostly jewelery, but lucky for us the apartment had an alarm system and it scared him off.

We got the door fixed that night, called the insurance company, and then the very next morning, called the builder and told him to go ahead and install the alarm system.

 

[Acklander]

Oh yeah, July of 1982. It was the day my daughter died. We had been at the hospital all day while she was in surgery for a minor procedure (which went bad real quick); on that same day we found out our son (her twin) had a brain bleed which caused massive brain damage and we were asked to make a decision about organ donation for when he passed, followed by having to walk several miles home (mass transit was on strike and we were dirt poor and couldn't afford the taxi), got home and our apartment had been broken into. Not much taken - maybe $50??? - but it was all we had in the world - followed by me freaking out on the responding cop because of an insensitive comment I felt he had made, I'm lucky he didn't shoot me. It was the worst day of my life.

 

[Pigeon]

No, but it was close.

About six months ago, somebody tried to get in during the day around lunch time. We weren't home, but the neighbors saw the guy peering in the window and trying the back door. They called the cops, but he was gone by then. He did break into another house in the neighborhood, where an elderly man was home and the guy ran off. He got caught a few days later.

It was a terrible feeling to know somebody tried to get in. I'm so sorry for those who have actually been broken into.

 

[Pakey]

A long time ago. Twice. Same place

1. We were hosting a large party and all of our guests were tossing their costs and handbags on the bed in the master bedroom. It was loud, we never heard anything. Someone broke out the window in the master bedroom and took all of the purses and our camera that had been on the dresser.

2. A few weeks later, my husband and I were laying in bed, still awake, and someone started coming through the bedroom window, the same window that had been used the first time. My husband got out bed, pulled out a gun and was waiting when the intruder came through the drapes. It was a high school aged kid and he was pretty scared facing that gun. I called the police and my husband had the kid standing against the window until they arrived.

 

[Disnydad]

Nope, but when I was just out of high school my parents house was broken into twice within six months. My father was a gun collector and between both break ins all of his guns where taken and a large safe was almost destroyed (not gotten into). Also taken was my record collection and all my mechanics tools. A year or so later a Hells Angel guy was arrested after using one of the handguns to hold up a donut shop in another state. With that break the police investigation discovered the break in was staged by my sister who sold the guns to the motorcycle gang. She used the money for drugs.

 

[erincon23]

More than 20 years ago, I came home from work and found a couple of things out of place -- VCR sitting on a chair, DH's little jewelry box on the floor. Went in our bedroom, found some stuff on the bed (where it didn't belong). Turns out someone came in a small window over the kitchen sink. Cops thought it was probably kids looking for easily fenceable things for drug money. They took a small diamond pendant, one sapphire stud earring, $50 cash, and not much more. DH was at his golf league and didn't believe me! Three months later, someone broke into my car in the driveway (we didn't have a garage), pulled the lock completely out, and removed the stereo. House went up for sale the next month.

I just heard that someone broke into the house behind good friends from our neighborhood -- the friends saw them break into the back door and called the cops.

 

[dngnb8]

Yes, and my guards took care of it. Nothing like 150lbs of fangs to change your mind.

 

[FireDancer]

No and I hope I never do.

The only thing really stolen from my family was when I was in 7th grade and someone stole my dad's work van. It was just an empty cargo van and was in the drive way next to a conversion van with a built in TV and VCR. It turns out that they used it in a robbery and we got it back with the only damage being the popped lock and steering column.

 

[Deb in IA]

Yes, and my guards took care of it. Nothing like 150lbs of fangs to change your mind.

We have a similar story.

We live out in the country, but we have a large house, so we have all the precautions - dead bolts, security system, etc.

One day, I forgot to alarm the house.

A crazy neighbor lady took our spare key in the garage, came into the house, walked right past TV, computer, cash on the counter, and went for our medicine cabinet. The only prescription med she could find was my husband's lansoprazole (heartburn med), so she stole that. (Told you she was crazy )

Anyway, as soon as we called it in, the sheriff's office imediately knew that is was "crazy Bridget". So they hauled her in and asked if she took our meds. At first, she denied it, but then they asked how she got the huge muddy paw prints on the front of her coat, when she did not have a dog.

Yes, she admitted, she came to our place was and promptly greeted by our 80 pound black Lab Lewie.

We changed the locks. I think Bridget is in a institution now. And poor Lewie passed away about 4 years ago, at age 11. We still miss him .

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

When I was a kid maybe 7 or 8 our house was broken into, they stole all the jewelry, my parents bank books, our tv's and a few other odds and ends. The police came out and instantly knew who did it because of the way of entry and what was taken. Seems there was a rash of burglaries all done by the same kid.

They caught him a few weeks later turned out to be the brother of a kid in my class. The whole family had issues and this brother (there were 5 brothers) was just the beginning of their issues. Sadly, he couldn't handle owning up to his actions and killed himself while in jail. 3 more of his brothers would be arrested before they were 21 years old. Sadly parental supervision, and care in the family were non existant. I felt bad for the kids growing up because they constantly had CPS visiting and were being neglected. Turning to crime sadly was going to be in their futures.

I watched my family become more cautious about locking things up and making sure things were hidden so that if it happened again it would be harder for the person to get anything of value or importance. I remember being scared of things at night and slept with the light on for quite a while after that.

Even now I worry that we will be robbed again. We have chains on our door and we make sure our door is locked even if we are home. You definitely become more vigilant in making sure things are secure but we know it could happen again, and that material things can be replaced but you hope for the best.