Doggie Doors
 

Not to add to anyone's paranoia, but if you have a doggie door, you are an easier target.

This video [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGWtArohCx4]Crawling thru the doggy door - YouTube[/ame] shows a teen ager crawling through a doggie door.

I once apprehended a team of professional burglars where the adults used young (6 to 8 year old) children to squeeze into buildings through small openings and then open the doors from the inside for the adults.

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Quoted to show link to video.

Z

The villages online news had this report of the burglary.

A Village of Bridgeport at Miona Shores home was burglarized early Friday morning as a husband and wife were sleeping in their bedroom.
The wife attempted to wake the husband at 3:37 a.m. thinking she heard a noise, but they went back to sleep. The woman then got up at 4:15 a.m.
She immediately noticed that their dogs, usually secured behind a doggie gate, were roaming about the house, located in the 1100 block of Miona Shores Drive, according to Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
She and her husband soon discovered that a screen on the lanai had been cut. Entry was gained through a sliding glass door.
Items taken in the break-in included a 50-inch flat screen television, a digital camera and a Macintosh computer, Caruthers said.

Daily Sun
 

Today's Daily Sun, in the Local section, reports the rash of break-in's and the damage to the Riley Grove golf course.

I do not think that the response time of the police is at question when a 110db siren goes off inside and outside the house at 3:30am. The intruder would take off running because of the blaring alarm.

I am still wondering how a burglar would take a 50 inch television with no one waking up and why two little dogs would not make a sound while 2 people (presuming that) root around the house looking for a camera, computer, and unhooking a television - and carry it out with no noise. They certainly would have had flashlights that cast light.

Very strange, to say the least.

News from this morning. Two were from above 466.
 

Bridgeport at Miona Shores home burglarized while couple sleeps

January 3, 2014 By Meta Minton 20 Comments
A Village of Bridgeport at Miona Shores home was burglarized early Friday morning as a husband and wife were sleeping in their bedroom.
The wife attempted to wake the husband at 3:37 a.m. thinking she heard a noise, but they went back to sleep. The woman then got up at 4:15 a.m.
She immediately noticed that their dogs, usually secured behind a doggie gate, were roaming about the house, located in the 1100 block of Miona Shores Drive, according to Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
She and her husband soon discovered that a screen on the lanai had been cut. Entry was gained through a sliding glass door.
Items taken in the break-in included a 50-inch flat screen television, a digital camera and a Macintosh computer, Caruthers said.
This makes eight burglaries which have taken place in the past 60 days in The Villages.
Of the seven burglaries, four included forced entry by kicking in the front door, two gained entry through forcing open a sliding glass door and the final burglary was to an automobile, according to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
The burglaries have occurred on the following dates:
• Nov. 3 in the Village of Pinellas at Cedar Grove.
• Nov. 20 in the Village of Sanibel.
• Nov. 21 in the Village of Fernandina.
• Dec. 18 in the Village of Glenbrook.
• Dec. 19, again in the Village of Sanibel.
• Dec. 24 in the Village of Polo Ridge.
• Dec. 26, again in the Village of Fernandina.
Villages Homeowners Association Director-at-Large Irv Markely, a resident of the Village of Bridgeport at Miona Shores, has been trying to keep his neighbors aware of such incidents and sent out an email blast to his neighborhood encouraging vigilance.
Lt. Nehemiah Wolfe urges Villagers to take advantage of the sheriff’s free home inspection program. Through it, a member of the sheriff’s office will visit a home and provide tips on securing the home. You can schedule an appointment by calling 689-4600.
He added that neighbors looking out for neighbors is also effective.

Yes a loud alarm is a good idea...but here's what I think when I see the ads for waiting for a burglar alarm system to tell you what to do in a break-in....

Me: Hello?
ADT: This is your burglar alarm company. There's a burglar in your house. We're sending the police.
Me: Thanks for waking me up so I can talk on the phone and now they know I'm in here awake. Now what do I do?
ADT: Just wait there. Help is on the way.

Quick resppnse
 

I can tell you the response time. Just last week, my husband accidentally pushed the "panic" button on our alarm system. This button is only used when you are in immediate danger. It bypasses calling to home owner to ask if everything is alright or the people on your call list and calls the sheriff directly. The response time was about 3 minutes.....maybe less. We were pretty impressed.

Probably in the meantime, the intruder has taken off running - and you can secure yourself in your locked bathroom with whatever means of self defense you have along with your phone. Remember, that 110db siren is still blaring both inside and outside the house.

From your picture on the forum, it looks like your boxer would protect you. Good looking dog!

The answer is obvious Watson, the dogs were in on it.

Don't intend to diminish the severity of this issue, but Miona Shores is a rather affluent community, if memory serves me right, and monitored alarm systems don't cost that much.

we all aren't affluent
 

It doesn't matter where we live in TV. We can't assume anything about the people in a village. Bottom line, we need to be vigilant and look out for one another. We just got home from a gathering at the house right behind the place that was robbed. Although the hostess was up early, she really heard nothing. We just need to be aware and report anything that doesn't feel right.

It was reported by the Media that the wife thought she heard a noise. The invaders may have been armed. So perhaps it's best that the home owners didn't go to investigate.

I put in an alarm. Yes, I have to pay to have it monitored. I get a small amour off my home owners insurance, but I think it's worth it.

As has been suggested by others, the cost of a alarm system has a wide range. Any Villager could afford a system of some type if that is the direction they choose. Implying that the folks that were robbed, should have already had their alarm is in poor judgement.