Brother in law and his wife. A hard working highly respected and reasonably smart folks. They don't lock their house when gone. No point he says. If you get robbed with the doors locked then you have still been robbed but also have a busted door to fix.

I don't know if they lock it at night.

Well they got robbed the other day. They were gone from home. A laptop, some guns (probably long guns, never known him to have a pistol) and a few other items taken along with some saved cash. I don't know how much cash. Would a locked door mattered? Who knows.

But here is the scary part.
The thief took the biggest butcher knife they had from the kitchen, and it was found in the master bedroom on the bed. We figure they were unarmed and picked it up in case they encountered someone as they pillaged and dropped it when not needed.

When my wife told me about it I simply replied... and thats partly why I carry at home. It happens.

I have not talked to them, no idea if his philosophy has changed. But he was right... no damage to fix! At least if the door is locked they have to make noise to enter... hopefully alerting you.

I know some people with convertible cars subscribe to the same theory.

They may have been really really lucky, or it could have just been some punk ass kids.

We had the furnace guys over the other day checking out a problem. Our German Shepherd gets really upset when strangers come over, let’s it be known.

TN has a high rate of property crime.

Sounds kinda foolish especially with guns in the house.

Some thieves don't care about locked doors and some ore looking for the easy target. I try and not be the easy target.

dumb, dumb in my mind.

Some thieves don't care if the door is locked. But then there are others, low lives paid to put fliers on doors etc. Well if one door happens to simply open while they're putting a flier on it......well whose fault is that......I lock my doors. And at least if a thief breaks the door down, someone may hear it. That's if my 100 lb Rottweiler/Doberman doesn't hear them first.

Your BIL is a fucking idiot.

When those guns are connected to a crime, I hope the prosecutor charges him too because he basically gave them to the criminals by leaving his home open like that.

Just to clarify, they weren’t “robbed”, they were “burgled”.

That aside, my experience is thieves tend to be opportunistic and lazy. No guarantee they wont break in but I bet most would prefer not having to. Unless they have a specific reason to target a particular house, the additional time and noise might be enough to have them move on for an easier target.

Same for vehicles, there are times we will get a report of 3-4 vehicle prowls on a particular street overnight where all were unlocked yet no one who locked their cars had their’s entered.

Same for residential alarms, the time delay before we are advise by alarm co and the response time in most instances means burglar likely done and gone before cops arrive, but they do have a good deterrrent effect (again, so long as there isn’t a reason to specifically target you). If yo have an alarm and the neighbor on either side presents the same opportunity without an alarm, you will probably be passed over.

Just have him trot all his shit to the lawn next time and put an ad in the Craigslist announcing his being away and complete directions to his house.

Well as long as the front door wasn't damaged....

Nuts

You need to tell him to lock his damn doors.

Currently he's probably signed up to be pillaged again, by the same people or "friends" they've told.

Not locking your doors is stupid. But leaving unsecured guns as well?

That's criminal.

Ya, I agree.
It will be interesting to see if he starts locking the doors now.
Our doors aren't always locked during the day but they dang sure are at night and when we are gone.

Lucky they weren't in bed asleep when the perps came in the bedroom with the big ass butcher knife!

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Ya, I agree.
It will be interesting to see if he starts locking the doors now.
Our doors aren't always locked during the day but they dang sure are at night and when we are gone.

Lucky they weren't in bed asleep when the perps came in the bedroom with the big ass butcher knife!

It is not over yet! They will be back it might be 3 months or a year but they will be back. They got easy cash this by itself almost always brings them back.

In cases of unauthorized entry where things were stolen or damaged the insurance agent has always asked "Were the doors locked? Where the windows locked?"
Answering no, and absent signs of forced entry, it may affect your insurance coverage. At a minimum, it goes to due diligence.

quote:

Originally posted by Rustyblade:
In cases of unauthorized entry where things were stolen or damaged the insurance agent has always asked "Were the doors locked? Where the windows locked?"
Answering no, and absent signs of forced entry, it may affect your insurance coverage. At a minimum, it goes to due diligence.

I was wondering about that

It's not burglary when he gave them permission.

Well, it IS still a burglary... but your BIL is an idiot...

The two points are not mutually exclusive.

There was a time we could do that where I live and bought my home in 1965,it is not that way now.
Things stay locked and I carry all the time.

In situations like this I always wonder of someone in the house posted on social media that they were going away...

It amazes me how many people do this...