Intruder at 4am

[txinvestigator]

Or so I thought. The alarm was set to instant, the German shepherd was in the backyard, and we were all peacefully asleep when suddenly, the burglar alarm began to squeal. We have a plan for this, we have practiced the plan.

I grabbed the Kimber .45 and Surefire flashlight. My wife jumped up and went to the alarm keypad. As I put on my glasses, I told her to disarm the alarm.

I began down the hall to clear a path to my daughter’s bedroom upstairs. I noticed my wife following me down the hall and said to her; “no, like we practiced” She replied, “got it, ok, ok” then went into the bedroom and locked the door.

We have windows only on the front and rear of the house, so I quickly made a visual scan of the front windows, no apparent Point of Entry (POE). I made my way to the stairway, where I could see the den windows and the back door, but not the garage door. Again no apparent POE, and the dog was not barking. I moved to observe the garage; all clear.

Stairways are a tactical challenge, but I made my way to the top. I scanned across the playroom. There are 2 windows upstairs that are accessible from the roof without using a big ladder. One of those is my daughter's, and that window is alarmed.

I could see her bed from the top of the stairs. It was empty….She has been instructed in the case of an alarm to get into the closet and wait for Daddy or the police. I made a beeline for her room while covering the non-cleared areas of the upstairs. Once in her room I called for her and gave our pre-arranged password. She came out of the closet rubbing her eyes, complaining that it was to late to practice. She then saw the gun and asked what was going on.

I told her to stay with me, and we made it back to the bedroom. The phone rang while I was clearing the house, and I assumed it was the alarm company. As I reached the closed bedroom door, I gave the password to my wife so she would not shoot me as I entered, and she let us in the bedroom. She was still on the phone with the alarm company. (not planned, but good thinking) She told the alarm company that all was well, and hung up.

We then turned on all of the lights and did a more thorough check. There was no indication or evidence of an attempted break-in. It had been raining, and there was no indication anyone had been outside near any window or door. Just a False Alarm.

So how was your night??

At the time my daughter was only 8. We have moved since then, and the new house presents additional challenges. If we did not have a daughter sleeping in a separate area of the house we would just barricade in the bedroom and wait for the police.

 

[okie556]

Sounds like you have a solid workable plan..............just glad it was a false alarm. My wife and I live alone but still have rehearsed break-ins during the night. We have had our alarm system fo 3-4 years now but just learned about 6-months ago we could set the alarm for INSTANT ALARM with no delay. Installer said had to have the delay on door we enter..............when we're away......that's great but during the night I don't want to give the BG a 30 second head start before the main siren sounds and alarm company is notified! Just glad we have that worked out now.

 

[txinvestigator]

Sounds like you have a solid workable plan..............just glad it was a false alarm. My wife and I live alone but still have rehearsed break-ins during the night. We have had our alarm system fo 3-4 years now but just learned about 6-months ago we could set the alarm for INSTANT ALARM with no delay. Installer said had to have the delay on door we enter..............when we're away......that's great but during the night I don't want to give the BG a 30 second head start before the main siren sounds and alarm company is notified! Just glad we have that worked out now.

Absolutely. DSC alarms are set to instant by pressing *9 before arming.

 

[Moss_Berg5150]

I will be sending a copy of this to my wife, unless you object, just to drive home the importance of training and making sure everyone knows what they need to do in the event something goes bump in the night! --Bravo!!!

 

[30+GSXR]

I will be sending a copy of this to my wife, unless you object, just to drive home the importance of training and making sure everyone knows what they need to do in the event something goes bump in the night! --Bravo!!!

+1

 

[txinvestigator]

I posted it publicly; ya'll have at it.