Getting over burglary

HHarry

S,

We were burgaled last September, and I am still strugglng, so you are not on your own.
I have no issue when I'm in the house, but I do still get a certain sense of dread as I return home in case it's happened again.

We have got an alarm, and we both feel safer for it. If you can't afford one at the moment, you can get individual alarms that attach to the doors that are set off with motion. That would give a burglar a surprise, and give you some warning.

As above have a chat with your local PCSO. We had some great advice from the Police.

bagpussbear

Sorry to hear about the burglary. You aren't being pathetic, sounds like a bit of post traumatic stress to be honest, which you can suffer from any event that we find unpleasant. At the end of the day, burglary is a violation.

Agree with others suggestions about getting the PCSO around for good advice re. locks etc.

We've got a fake cctv camera outside now, its very lifelike (we have it really to help stop anti social behaviour, as I live in a horrible neighbourhood!) the PCSO recommended that for us, apparently it does help deter.

Think of all practical things that would make you feel safer.

juliethemuse

You are not been silly at all, we were burgled last year and it took me ages to be able to sleep properly at night again. I just kept thinking about them in the house downstairs when we were upstairs.
Afterwards I kept going downstairs and checking the doors at 3 am. (as I'm sure that's when it happened) Also, I'd stand for ages staring out the back window seeing if I could see anyone coming up the garden path.
It will take time but you will get over it. I wish these thieving scumbags could see the damage they do to people's peace of mind when they decide to just waltz in as if they own the place :mad:

PlymouthMaid

I stayed in for two days after my burglary until I got an alarm fitted as I didn't want to leave the house empty. When I lived alone I always put the alarm on at night too and that made me feel a lot safer. Having a dog helps too,

Sethisis

Wow, thank you for all of the responses!

I won't quote everything as that would be quite long, but all advice and reassurance is appreciated.

Re: PCSO - that's a fantastic idea, I had didn't know they did that!
An internal cat flap is another thing that never occurred to me, I'll run that by my partner, see if he's up for it.

Does anyone know if burglars really send children in through external door cat flaps? My dad told me that recently when we mentioned getting one, and now I'm even scared of that.

Also, thank you for pointing out that security and safety should be balanced out. I need to find a way to make it difficult for people to get in, but easy for us to get out...

HHarry Sorry to hear that you're worried as well. It is quite daunting opening the front door and worrying what you'll find isn't it?

Unfortunately I know having a motion light would make me worse. I'd be up everytime it went off.

We were in last time it happened. I saw what looked like a torch shining on the wall and wondered what the hell was happening, so got up and moved towards it. :eek: The intruder must have heard me get up and they'd gone when I got there, leaving our back door wide open. (proving that they don't want to attack me I suppose)

It happened because I'd stupidly shut a window, but not locked it. That will Not happen again.

Right - Plan of action.
Make a list of these suggestions, go shopping tomorrow to pick up what we can. Contact a PCSO for advice, secure the house nicely. We know someone in the CCTV business, he might have a the shell of a camera or something we could use.
Then if even with all these precautions I'm still scared to sleep, time to see the GP (and hope she won't think I'm wasting her time)

It already feels better to have a plan!

moneyistooshorttomention

What sort of window do you have to your bedroom? Is it one you could climb out of easily? Also, assuming it is a suitable style for that, then could you possibly buy one of those collapsible fire escape style ladders to ensure you could put down from this window if need be?

Do you keep a mobile phone by your bed (in order to be able to make phonecalls if need be)?

Personally, when a neighbour had a break-in at one point, my response was to accept the offer of a firm stick to hit any intruder with and being told whereabouts to hit him to cause maximum pain. But that was me and my take on anyone getting into my home without my permission is "all bets are off as to what I am entitled to do to them" and I would have been quite prepared to use that stick to hit someone hard, even if they had been clambering through a first floor window into my house (knowing that it would probably result in them hurtling towards the ground). But again, that's my take on things personally.

Sethisis

Unfortunately the windows aren't good escapes, although in a real emergency we could probably break them...

We have our mobiles by the bed, but that's because I didn't want the burglars to take them if they got in. It's a good job you pointed out that it's convenient for calling the police, otherwise I might have panicked and not used them!

Also, the all bets are off attitude is fantastic! I hope if anyone is silly enough to try and break into your house you teach them a lesson.

Juliethemuse Yep. I really wish I could get hold of them and really frelling show them what they've done. It's awful.

peachyprice

Sethisis wrote: »

s up for it.

Does anyone know if burglars really send children in through external door cat flaps? My dad told me that recently when we mentioned getting one, and now I'm even scared of that.

Dog flaps perhaps, but you'd barely fit a baby through a standard cat flap.

CKhalvashi

Sethisis wrote: »

Also, the all bets are off attitude is fantastic! I hope if anyone is silly enough to try and break into your house you teach them a lesson.

You need to be careful you're using 'reasonable force' in this case.

In a previous property I've owned, I lovingly pushed a burglar down the stairs as I'd been woken up by them. The same property was last year burgled (2 days after I'd parked a £70k rental car on the drive, as the house is owned by a friend) and torched, presumably as they weren't that 'professional' with fingerprints and were just looking for a set of car keys.

Luckily, even though it was at 3am, noone was at home at the time!

CK

ifstar

Sethisis wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to get over the fear of being burgled?

We were burgled in October, and to be honest I haven't had one calm night since. It seems silly writing about it now in the daytime, because the fear only comes back when it's getting late.

I keep trying to tell myself that we have ample locks, and that it would be nigh on impossible for someone to get in without us hearing, but that doesn't mean I'm not jumping at every single noise the house makes all night!

I even got my partner up last night, as I was convinced it was really happening again, which in turn got him all nervous, and we had to sit up with a cup of tea (at 2 in the blooming morning) because we were both shaky. I'm aware I'm being pathetic, but I cannot get rid of this fear.

How do people get past this? I'm exhausted, and scared, and can't see how to stop freaking out.

Which way did they break in previously? As suggested, get a PCSO out to walk round the house and point anything out to you. Also make sure you don't leave things (garden tools etc) sitting about outside that could be used (put them in a locked shed), don't have valuables sitting in plain sight if someone looked in the windows, don't have car keys etc sitting anywhere obvious or near the front door (many break ins are specifically to get car keys and fishing rods have been used to get them), don't have door/window keys sitting in plain sight either.


You can also do as suggested and have alarms, lights, CCTV or fake CCTV/alarm boxes. Putting chips, gravel, pebbles round the perimeter would cause noise.