Returning Home and Encountering a Burglar or Intruder

Even if you have done a good job of securing your home with locks, strengthened doors, reinforced and locked windows, etc., it is still possible to return home to someone inside your dwelling. It may be a broken window, smashed in door, or something else that alerts you that someone may be inside. Regardless of what alerts you, most likely your initial reaction will be either fright or an impulse to protect your possessions. It may be both of these at the same time.

These feelings will often lead to a person yelling out or some other action that leads to a confrontation. This is not a good idea, even if you think you’re Charles Bronson from the Death Wish movies and capable of dealing out some vigilante justice to the criminal that just wronged you. We must remember that none of our possessions are worth getting hurt or killed over. Your first thoughts, even if you have to override the urge to go in and stop the thief or thieves and save your belongings, should be of keeping yourself and your loved ones safe. A confrontation with the intruder could mean you are between him and his only escape. That could force him into upping the ante and committing violence. You do not want to be an obstacle to the intruder’s survival and freedom. This can turn into a very dangerous situation if the intruder is armed, desperate, or violent.

A much wiser and safer course of action is to go as quickly and quietly as possible to a neighbor’s house and call the police. Then call the neighbor on the other side of your house and enlist them in helping you watch your house from a safe place while you await the police. This also illustrates why it is important to know your neighbors. Looking out for each other, and having a safe place to go in an emergency is important.

If you don’t have a neighbor’s house you can go to quickly and safely, get back in your car and go somewhere safe. If you rode your bike home or walked, do the same, leave and get somewhere safe to call the police.

Here are some general things to tell the police when reporting a crime. This is information they want to know:

• “I wish to report a crime.”
• Where – the address or the street intersection.
• What – the type of crime, injury, shots, fight, etc.
• Who – the persons involved, including how many, their descriptions.
• How escaping – if in an auto, give license number, make, and model.
• Where to – the direction headed, whether the car turned around, toward what nearby intersections, etc.

When reporting a burglar or intruder, you will want to give who you are, the address where the intruder is, where you are, information you know such as how many inside, if still inside, strange car outside, etc. If you don’t know if the intruder is still inside or not, tell the police that and you will still wait until they have cleared the house before going home and inside. Never go inside to look around and see if the intruder is still inside yourself. That goes back to the above where your possessions are not worth getting hurt or killed over and you don’t want to force a confrontation.

Hopefully you will never return home to such a situation, but if you do, remember this advice and stay safe.

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