[Bolster]

I've been hearing rumblings (from local Neighborhood Watch captain) about increased incidence of gang- or team- break-ins, where a small group of perps coordinate to break into a private residence, and/or use a car to breach the front door, then overwhelm the occupants. Some are supposedly quite good at it, and I hear it's very difficult to defend against. Are these mere rumors, or is this happening with more frequency? If it's a trend, how does this actually go down?

[G30Mike]

If someone drives a car through my front door, its RPG time.

[lawman800]

Haven't heard anything in our local bulletins. Maybe we'll get something from our national networks. I'll let you know.

[Bolster]

I was told it all happens so fast, that the bathrobe-clad occupant doesn't really have time to do anything but run and duck for cover before four guns are trained on him.

I have been thinking this one through and it does seem a lot harder to defend against than other types of break-ins, due to the violent surprise and overwhelming numbers.

But this was word-of-mouth, have not seen newspaper reports of it, which is why I'm suspicious it's just a rumor.

[UneasyRider]

Originally Posted by Bolster

I was told it all happens so fast, that the bathrobe-clad occupant doesn't really have time to do anything but run and duck for cover before four guns are trained on him.

I have been thinking this one through and it does seem a lot harder to defend against than other types of break-ins, due to the violent surprise and overwhelming numbers.

But this was word-of-mouth, have not seen newspaper reports of it, which is why I'm suspicious it's just a rumor.

The only way to defend this one is to defend the exterior access to the house. My door, lock and strike plate will keep it from being kicked in but I would need a piece of phone pole in the ground to stop a thing like this.

[inzone]

I have dogs, a very good and all comprehensive alarm system, armored deadbolts on all doors, heavy duty door braces, and motion detector lights.....etc, hopefully just enough to slow them down so we have time to grab our family weapons and hole up in our safe room and fight it out until the cops eventually show up.....

[Syclone538]

Originally Posted by UneasyRider

The only way to defend this one is to defend the exterior access to the house. My door, lock and strike plate will keep it from being kicked in but I would need a piece of phone pole in the ground to stop a thing like this.

That's what I was thinking. You have to prevent it because depending on the layout of your house, you almost can't defend it.

Say your front door opens to a room and not a hallway. You are in that room watching tv, or on the computer. 3 guys standing beside your house, car crashes in and immediately backs out and those 3 guys run in. You'd be lucky to get out of that room.

[Bolster]

...and with a car, they don't need to use the front door. Just come in through the stucco/drywall into any room of the house. 2x4 studs won't stop a car.

[Carry16]

Our best preparations may not always be enough, but it should be adequate in the majority of cases. If 5 thugs break in my home at 3am I'm sure to die, but as they say there will be a pile of brass at my feet and they will not escape unscathed.

[JK-linux]

There is a house in my area we viewed in one of those local "Home Tour" events. The previous owner was described as "a bit eccentric" and they made up some romanticized story about the previous owner being involved in "government work" during the Cold War. Anyhow, one thing that was interesting about the home was some of it's custom security countermeasures. Of note, and relevant to this thread, were the door frames of the home. They were essentially 66" tall, 12" diameter steel mesh reinforced ballards with some sort of structural angle iron running down the center core. The owner was concerned someone would crash the doors or front walls to gain entrance. It worked in this home as the overall theme of the home was rough-hewn log cabin style. I didn't notice that the door frames and vertical wall supports were poured concrete cylinders painted cedar brown until the host pointed it out. There were other features, but this thread reminded me of that.

[michael e]

Havent heard any of these, for them to drive threw my front door they would have to drive threw half my house.

[lawman800]

That's one good thing about my house and a few other houses here. The layout makes it impossible to get a car to the front door due to the various impediments in the way. However, if they ram an exposed wall, there is really nothing you can do about it.

[Deployment Solu]

My house is Brick. Real Brick. My porch is two steps up (about 20") so unless the perps are driving jacked up 4 wheel drives, I hear them well before they get to the front door. Yes, they could drive through the garage door. Oh, wait, garage was added after the original brick home was built, meaning the interior wall to the garage is brick also.

4 lg GS dogs and a 225lb bald guy with an AR10 would definitely make a dent in their lives. Yes, there is ALWAYS a rifle of shotgun within reach. A hand gun is always on me or within a foot 24/7.

Oh, and the alarm system and video cameras would make me some money on Americas Funniest Home Video (or Stupidest Criminals!!)) LOL

[lawman800]

I like the way you think!

[Deployment Solu]

It's also the way I live!! LOL!!!

[Lone Kimono]

Originally Posted by G30Mike

If someone drives a car through my front door, its RPG time.

This made me laugh

[Lone Kimono]

Originally Posted by Bolster

I was told it all happens so fast, that the bathrobe-clad occupant doesn't really have time to do anything but run and duck for cover before four guns are trained on him.

I have been thinking this one through and it does seem a lot harder to defend against than other types of break-ins, due to the violent surprise and overwhelming numbers.

But this was word-of-mouth, have not seen newspaper reports of it, which is why I'm suspicious it's just a rumor.

This actually doesn't surprise me, especially since there have been news reports about gangs are going into the military for training.

You would think that would draw a lot of attention from the neighbors though. It's not like a bank where the money is in one place and they can get out fast. Unless they know what they are looking for how could they get in and out fast enough before the cops arrived? Most people don't keep a lot of cash on hand anymore either. Seems like a lot of work for an XBOX or plasma.

[kirgi08]

Our house has cinder block walls filled with cement and rebar.The door is in a not like most houses and is placed ta avoid such a plan.We have 3 dogs m/lights and a few cameras set up in weird places.We also are in a rural location and keep an eye on each others places.

We had an attempted break in awhile back,both Kat and I were home.They left and were caught a few days later and are now guests of the DOC in my state.'08.

[FerFAL]

I keep getting more emails about this sort of thing happening more and more in USA. Its pretty common in Argentina.
Waht can you do?
Get a safety door that can't be kicked down. Install an alarm and get a good dog. If possible get burlgar bars too. You're house inst much in terms of safety if you can get in by breaking a window. Once your home is relatively safe, entering and leaving become the only reasonable windows of oportunites for criminals.
Be ready for those, install motion detector light, enter and exit your house quickly, pack a gun, know how to use it. onestly that's the only way you can somewhat prepare for the type of crime youm mention. If you do all that you can be pretty safe in spite of heavy crime, though nothing is 100% safe.
FerFAL

[ChuteTheMall]

I'm on the third floor.

Before a car gets up the stairs, I'll hear it coming.



Or you might consider some bollards between your house and any possible vehicles.

[Arvinator]

Our home is on a hill, and the front porch has the door off-set to avoid this. The driveway goes to the garage, and if they crash that, they would be trapped and I have access to deal as I see necessary.
If we lived where a car could drive in pretty easy, I'd consider a large planter of concrete or even one thing I saw a used tractor tire as a planter. Hitting one would slow down most vehicles.
A secure home, a good alarm system (mine being a very good dog that alerts to the cat scratching the rug outside) and easy access to firearms will go a long way to keep you safe.

[UneasyRider]

Originally Posted by FerFAL

I keep getting more emails about this sort of thing happening more and more in USA. Its pretty common in Argentina.
Waht can you do?
Get a safety door that can't be kicked down. Install an alarm and get a good dog. If possible get burlgar bars too. You're house inst much in terms of safety if you can get in by breaking a window. Once your home is relatively safe, entering and leaving become the only reasonable windows of oportunites for criminals.
Be ready for those, install motion detector light, enter and exit your house quickly, pack a gun, know how to use it. onestly that's the only way you can somewhat prepare for the type of crime youm mention. If you do all that you can be pretty safe in spite of heavy crime, though nothing is 100% safe.
FerFAL

I love your post (and not just because it is correct) but because I went through many things with my house over the last few years.

I started with new double payne laminated glass windows that are built to pass the Miami Dade County Hurricane shutter test of a 2X4 being shot out of a canon at over 100 miles per hour repeatedly and not fail. This was great! But now my doors were my weak point so I replaced them with steel doors and replaced the garage door with a German made door that 2 men could not lift without a working spring and passed the same Miami Dade Hurricane 2X4 test.

Things were looking great! Then we bought a couple of Jeeps in October that have this new "keep your key in your pocket" feature so I decided to buy a deadbolt for the house that was keyless too. Wow, every lock that I looked at seemed to have a back up key that a quick youtube search showed me could be picked or bumped in 60 seconds by a college kid! So I searched out a Sunnect AP501 that has no key backup and a nice video of people shooting at the lock and it continues to work, let alone keep the door locked.

Now while am looking at locks online I learn that people just kick in your door because everything is just screwed into the finish carpentry. This leads me to a 4 foot long strike plate that uses Tap-con screws that go right through all of the wood and an inch or more into the concrete block, and similar screws for the hinges both into the frame and into the door.

So now I sit here today thinking about people driving through my front door! You are right Fernando, it nothing is 100% safe! I just want enough time to grab my AR-15 beside the bed and take a few shots at the devils.

[Chad Rogers]

Originally Posted by Carry16

Our best preparations may not always be enough, but it should be adequate in the majority of cases. If 5 thugs break in my home at 3am I'm sure to die, but as they say there will be a pile of brass at my feet and they will not escape unscathed.

If they make noise breaking in, they have to traverse the fatal funnel of stairs and doorway to get to me. I expect my chances of having that covered with my AK are pretty damn good.

[Pardoner]

Originally Posted by Bolster

I've been hearing rumblings (from local Neighborhood Watch captain) about increased incidence of gang- or team- break-ins, where a small group of perps coordinate to break into a private residence, and/or use a car to breach the front door, then overwhelm the occupants. Some are supposedly quite good at it, and I hear it's very difficult to defend against. Are these mere rumors, or is this happening with more frequency? If it's a trend, how does this actually go down?

Let me get this straight.....

They are crashing a car through the front door of a residence to steal items from the occupants or home?!?

Why the hell would someone want to do that? All they need to do is wait for 11 AM Tuesday morning and go kick in the front door or break a window. No one is home and they are long gone before anyone knows anything. The owners most likely won't know until they get home at 5:30 PM/

Crashing a car through a door would attract way too much attention! Everyone on the block would be in my front lawn trying to figure out what was going on in about 15 seconds.

We had a false report of a home invasion on my street a couple weeks ago and we had every deputy in the county on my block along with the chopper and (2) K-9 units there almost instantly. They had a perimeter setup on all the side streets, etc. I missed the excitement, but a neighbor called me wondering what was going on near me as the area was flooded with deputies and detectives.

This has got to be more internet lore because anyone doing something like this wouldn't be doing it for long.

[Sam Spade]

If your neighborhood watch captain is telling you that this is happening with increasing frequency, you ought to be able to find the numerous homes in the neighborhood with a Monte Carlo sticking out of the woodwork. Or maybe he's blowing smoke.