We just came home after going to buy a puppy and were in the bottom part of the house for about a minute. I decided to go upstairs and suddenly I heard somebody pulling the blinds open and open and close the sliding door on the balcony. I almost got a heart attack.

When I got upstairs the blinds were still moving and when I checked the door it wasn't locked.
We haven't found anything missing yet though, so they probably came in shortly before we did. I couldn't see anybody running though.Worst thing is, taking fingerprints is out of the question, the cops won't pay for it if nothings gone and there isn't any other evidence so it's case closed. This is Africa.

This is the last damn straw! As soon as I finish University I'm going to Europe! As I sit here I am still afraid that they might try to come back.

Time for a big dog, a big mean dog!. Its a scary thing,when your home is invaded. You have my sympathies.

That sounds pretty scary. Glad I live on the 8th floor.. there's no way anyone could get in unless they were to tear down the apartment door but I've got great neighbours who'd probably raise an alarm Also got a Berneese Mountain Dog, not exactly mean but he's certainly big enough to scare away most people anyway

woah thats creepy. you needa get a bb gun! best anti-thef weapon not agaist the law (i think

i had problems with an theif who keeped on braking into my house, he did it twice in a row. i waited for him one night and scared him off with it (later i realsed that it was actually empty at the time so it was a good thing he didnt try to attack me =P

That is a bummer, Halor.... Dont, however, think you will be immune from either burglars, or cop indifference if you come to Europe. Best to get a fell hound like mine. He humps them to death. Messy, but effective.

I once lived in a coldwater flat (bottom left on a two-up-two-down in South St. Louis), and while the neighborhood in the immediate vicinity was decent, three blocks away, on the other side of the highway, it was slums. My apartment was broken into twice, and both times I was able to avoid having anything taken by virtue of not having anything worth taking... my computer at the time was an AST piece-of-crapp, and my guitars were in storage at a friend's house.

The fear factor of having someone invade your living-space is the thought of "What if I'd come home and interrupted the burglar in-progress?" Yes, I was trained as an infantryman; that doesn't mean I relish the idea of facing an armed attacker while dressed in my work-suit, armed solely with an umbrella and a handy table-lamp.

Here's hoping that you don't experience any further problems with criminals.

"The fear factor of having someone invade your living-space is the thought of `What if I'd come home and interrupted the burglar in-progress?'"


I think the recommended procedure in that case is to give the intruder a clear and obvious exit (unless you're feeling tough), as an attack on the occupier generally only results if a burgling intruder gets cornered and panics.

Of course there's no predicting crazies..

I don't wish to swear and have the risk of breaking the rules so I will say this politely.

You must of been scared when seeing this, where I live there is near enough always a story going round of someone being burgaled and then I don't wish to go out at all in case we get burgaled but to actually have someone in your house when you got back must of been hell.

Hope nothing has gone missing,
Gamerbird

We got a dog yesterday night. It's a golden retriever, which isn't aggressive, but will hopefully scare anybody away in future if they can't see what type of dog it is. Strange thing is, whenever we get home I always greet the parrot loudly in order to give anybody who is in the house time to escape and not harm us and the guy(s) who were there didn't run until I got halfway up the stairs.

As for moving to Europe, I guess it can't be worse than here, we have at least a few burglaries every night throughout the town. It's just scary if it actually happens to you instead of other people, then you realise just how bad the it's getting here. Then our president still says there isn't a crime problem in South Africa...

You mentioned Africa, and my guess was South Africa. Another member of the forums mentioned someone going through his backyard there. I have heard the same stories from other citizens near you, which dosent suprise me. If you arent a complete pacifist and against firearms like the majority on the Nexus, I suggest purchasing a shotgun. The cock of a shotgun is one one the most frightening sounds to any criminal. It is safer compared to rifles because it dose not really go through walls and hurt any innocent people.

If you wish to come to Europe, come to Sweden. The atmosphere is generally friendly and there is low crime. However, due to the new wave of immigration, crime has gone up a small bit. It has nothing to do with race, just that the immigrants are refugees who came from a poor background and simply steal without intending to harm someone. But dont worry, it is not very common.

There are other safe countries to live in. I spent time in the US with some relatives and they say it is not bad, depending on where you decide to stay.

yeah its quite a scary shock fi that happains makes you dont want to leave the house dezi's dog idea isnt bad... unless its a big softy dog... then it could be a problem anyway i hope your ok

Carth Onasi

If someone is breaking into the house and discovers that there's a big dog inside, he'll probably be scared whether it's a golden or a rotweiler.. Dogs have that effect. You'd be surprised by how many get scared by my Berner when we're out walking, simply because he's so big, even though he's wagging his tail and looks as friendly as ever. Plus even the kindest dog can become very defensive of his "territory" and the barking might alert your neighbours.


We have burglaries where I live too..Uppsala, Sweden. But it's a big enough event that it's almost always written about in the newspaper the day after. Granted, it's a town of only ~150 000 people (185 000 including the surrounding area) - I'm sure burglaries happen alot more frequently in Stockholm, Malmo etc. because the cities are much bigger.

Our government is so twisted when it comes to fire arms and self defence, if you're you shot somebody without him shooting at you first then you're the one who goes to jail. They don't even care if the gun was held against your head, if he didn't shoot and you did, BAM!, your guilty. That's their idea of justice.

that really needs to be changed in self defence if you can prove it you cant get jailed fined possabled but not jailed

Carth Onasi

Scary. I'm glad that I live in a state where we have the "Make My Day" law. You can legally eliminate them then.

Umm, instead of the extreme of a gun can you not investigate a good alarm system and bars on the windows? The bars aren't pleasant to look at but you can't put a price on peace of mind.

Cheers.

We Americans are fairly serious about our personal weapons. Our founders even made sure the government couldn't take them away by making it a Constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms. A direct result of having been a colony in our previous history.

Aye, I know you are but at the risk of opening that can of worms even further, look where it has gotten you. Britain hasn't had nearly as much gun crime as here (until fairly recently). I'm not putting down peoples' rights but to my mind, once you bring a gun into the picture you've escalated the situation to a point where someone can die.

england is bit more lawful but i like the USAs law on guns my house ( Glasgow) has barberd wire at the end because the the pass tennent here had birds ( not lasses) and we got creepers growing around the fences to that will help

plants can be great protecters

Carth Onasi

One of the best home alarm/defense systems you can get is a flock of geese.
(Not practical for an apartment, yeah, but if you've got a decent-sized chunk of property with a water feature, they're great.)

Geese are very territorial, extremely noisy when their territory is invaded, very aggressive when they feel threatened, their bites hurt like hell... and geese are quite tasty when roasted with pecan/apple stuffing. Pure win, they are.

Sad that this advice won't help you much now, but remember it for the future.

They also crap all over the place and make noise even when their territory isn't invaded

Just one last thing about guns - They give you a false sense of security - yes, if the worst happens you can use it as a last resort. But it doesn't reduce the chance of someone breaking in, which is a scary event no matter what (especially if lax gun laws give the burglar easy access to a gun as well - in Sweden, virtually all burglars are unarmed). There are only two possibilities if you want actual security - move to a safer area, or put bars on all the windows, install a heavy duty front door and a very good alarm system.