Best way to protect your home/assets/life from looters?

I know some will frown upon this, but my wife and I were talking about what to do in the event that our home is looted / under attack.

Her initial thoughts were that if you just give them what they want, they'll go away and at least you're alive.

My initial thoughts were more along the lines of 'self defence' and defending my legally acquired bargains. Use tools such as baseball bat, crowbar, home-made crossbow, etc. She says I'd end up in jail if I did that.

Regardless of which response (of giving them what they want or detering them), there's nothing stopping them from coming back with greater force.

Thoughts?

Comments

  • +104

    It's not going to happen. Stop overthinking things and panicking. Life your lives.

      • +10

        These are abandoned properties. Same happens anytime there are evacuations, lowlifes go in.

        As for home invasions, the vast majority are targeted. They are either revenge attacks in criminal circles, or they have been tipped off there is significant cash/drugs etc inside.

      • +1

        You are right.
        We need the guy who used to post firearm specials - remember that?

        https://www.cleaverfirearms.com/Products.aspx?Category=Rifle…

        These are what you want.

        • +1

          You can thank leftBargain for the lack of those posts now.

    • This is the same ideology as those states in America, people are lining up at the gun shop just in case some try to break in there homes.

      • Costco had a list of things they were out of, and that included ammo.

    • +1

      There’s a fine line between optimistic and realistic pragmatic.

      A good example is how governments are responding to covid 19. A bit too optimistic and bit less pragmatism than what’s required.

      This sounds like a reasonable thought processes to go thru, I see no panick in OPs post.

      • +7

        Suggesting the need for a home-made crossbow to protect your home from imminent looters is not a reasonable thought process, for me, without wider context of any heightened risk profile.

        • +1

          Musing like this generally start with some out there ideas, and quickly reined in by common sense. Seems to have occurred in OPs household. But I Understand your take on this as well.

    • Burn down the house now, so they cant loot it later.
      Or just join the rampaging mobs and loot other peoples houses.

  • +17

    They'll raid shops/petrol stations first. No point randomly going to houses, hoping they have something they want.

      • +42

        Why would anyone go to the trouble of looting a house for a couple of big rolls?

        You’ve been watching to much American TV

      • +3

        ffs why? if we are at the stage where a couple of toilet rolls are worth risking your life over then we are at end of days time anyway. Unless you are one of the lowlife hoarders why would they bother?

    • +1

      will they raid car dealers?

      • +3

        I'll be first in line, I know the key safe combination lol

        • what're u gonna l00t?

        • +4

          But aren't they all Toyota keys?

          • +1

            @stumo: The new Yaris is a beast! I'd "borrow" one of those…

        • +3

          Save me a Supra please, if you're taking requests.

  • +16

    You can't afford proper insurance? Nothing in my place is worth taking except the 1 ply toilet paper I stole from work.

    • -1

      Thanks I forgot about the insurance. In that case, anything can be taken apart from any hard drives with data that hasn’t been taken to offsite backup. Just protect our lives.

      • -4

        I saw my neighbours a few houses down have installed video cameras, and I told my daughter:
        The first thing police is going to ask in case of robbery, if they have insurance, and if they have, the police is not even wanting to look at the video footage.
        Any policeman here, PLEASE prove me wrong.

        • +2

          My sharehouse was robbed a while back. Nothing of mine was taken but of the many complaints my housemate had - he seemed quite happy with the police response. The police found who they thought were the guy and girl and complained about the courts letting them off. They dusted for fingerprints (none left - the pair wore gloves) and everything.

        • +2

          Totally wrong, insurance is unimportant, evidence is and cctv is very good evidence, usually able to tie burglars to multiple incidents insured or not.. So if you heard that totally wrong, n yes am policeman of 35yrs. Only reason your even asked if insured so as insurance companies can verify it was reported to police or extreme cases if its insurance fraud. Otherwise zip never spoken to insurance company about any theft in all my career.

          • +2

            @Wayne7497: CCTV is the way most criminals seem to be caught these days - we caught and police arrested an international crime gang stealing new Mercedes and Porsche for shipping overseas in containers in our first week after installing one for our strata garage.

            but for home invasions I believe in the US they tend to want something that transmits live to someone's smartphone (e.g. if husband is away) - like Amazon delivery camera - don't think we have in Oz - and is also stored offsite so invaders can't just find and take the hard disk recorder from inside the home.

            • @Hangryuman: Home invasions are much different, anything thats happening or just happened would rate a priority 2 lights sirens as many cars as possible as fast as possible safely.. taken very very seriously, if your brave enough to break in when someone is home, your stupid enough to do anything…

              • @Wayne7497: My advice is simple the law is same Australia Wide based on common law, you can use " as much force as is reasonably necessary " So only do what you know will stop the threat, if your not confident back off..

                Me I only enforce the law I don't necessary agree with it, I'll do whatever is necessary to protect my family.

                Tip : Be careful with that baseball bat, been clobbered 2 times chasing burglars through ppls yards, n im the one in uniform n they still mistake me.. lol

                • @Wayne7497: Are you sure they made a mistake, or did you just assume for their sake?

                • @Wayne7497:

                  clobbered 2 times chasing burglars through ppls yards, n im the one in uniform n they still mistake me.. lol

                  Just out of curiousity, did it hurt?

        • +2

          A colleague's daughter and her flatmate who live in one of those student apartments in the CBD were recently burgled. About $250 in cash , passports and some jewelry were taken. They reported it to the police. That same apartment had been burgled the previous semester, before the 2 girls moved in. This time the cops actually decided to investigate. It turned out that the burglar was someone who used to live there and still had a copy of the keys. Police not only found the girls' personal documents at his current residence but also a dozen knickers sealed in ziplock bags under his bed.

          The colleague's daughter often had a recurring nightmare that someone was sitting on a chair across the room staring at her while she was sleeping.

          • +2

            @[Deactivated]: Its not a matter if the police decide to investigate its whether there are any leads to investigate! Most ppl get burgled whilst at work no one home, same neighbors they saw nothing they were at work most of the time. Owners get home find burglary it could have happened anytime 8am till 5pm whilst no one was home. So where do we start ? Forensics fingerprints, dna, cctv, intelligence more reports from around the area, known local burglars, reports of suspicious ppl in the area, hits on items at local pawn shops. If none of that pans out what else can the police do? You may suspect someone in the area but without evidence to support no way police will get a search warrant, go knock on the door and question them.? Kiss any stolen property gone if a search warrant is obtained later.. unfortunately real policing is nothing like tv cop shows n 90% of csi is fantasy. I wish it wasnt ive been burgled 3 times i was home everytime, you think i could figure out who they were. No didnt recognize them, smudged prints no dna, neighbors heard saw nothing.. alot of times thats just how it is.. fair ? No reality sadly yes.

            • +1

              @Wayne7497: I do realise that the vast majority of cops follow procedures. But this was an easy case to crack. It was obvious that there was no forced entry. All the officer did was find out who had keys to the apartment from reception and bingo! they had the name of a suspect. He still lived in the same building, just on a different level and had never bothered to return the keys when he moved. The only problem is that he lawyered up pretty quickly and would only admit to entering the apartment when the girls were out and stealing their underwear and passports but not to watching them sleep doing God only knows what.

        • Does having installed video cameras make you more or less of a target?

          e.g. Burglars see video cameras and think "nah, I'll go somewhere else."

          or

          Burglars see video cameras and think "They must have something worth protecting, and must be wealthy enough to install cameras. Let's just switch off their power then go in."

          • @Boba: Less, more likely to go elsewhere,albeit secure the NVR, many ppl just leave it near tv n it gets stolen with footage hideit mounts was what I use bought from Amazon they'll never get that off the wall. And i have gorgeous semi naked lady picture right near camera, next time ill get a perfect video of their faces..8-)

            Alarms slow them down but not by much ppl only ring cos sound annoys them, and as there are so many faulty alarms domestically and I mean heaps, we do not attend unless there's other evidence to suggest real burglary e.g. witnesses, hot spot etc.. you wouldn't believe how many alarms where we ring the owners (have number from previous activations) and we get a " I'm busy can u check n let me no 1st " ahhh no if your not interested nor am I.

            Monitored alarms apart from schools never beaten to alarm by security company, in wee hours lucky if they 1 or 2 mobile guards working whole metro area.

            Hideit mount for nvr/dvr I bought although was 99bux, guess dollar plummeting ?.

            https://www.amazon.com.au/HIDEit-Vertica-Adjustabe-Receiver-…

            • +1

              @Wayne7497: I had a near new car stolen with my work phone in it which I could ring for the next 3 days. The Police could not be bothered looking up the location of the car using the phone's location and told me to just put in an insurance claim. They said they would only access phone location information for serious crimes,

              • @Dr Prepper: Tracking on phone or was it non tracking as in , no track my phone software ?

    • A lot of insurances exclude riots, force majeure, etc, which may include the situations when people start looting.

  • +3

    my home insuance is like $200/yr. They cant take what they want.

    getting bars on a single window would probably cost that much

    • Are you talking House insurance or content ? Because I am just about to renew House Insurance, and it's significantly higher than yours

      • +1

        How much is yours?

      • +1

        i stand corrected, this is contents. 25k

        if you're getting robbed, they're looking for the contents, not the house. That was my point

        • Still - out of curiosity, who's that through? Happy with them?

          We're also looking at our insurances and I'm curious.

          • @Chandler: ive never claimed. I just rotate between AAMI and RACWA depending on who is cheapest.

            • @Davo1111: Thanks. Congratulations on never having to claim!

    • I had bars on my windows when I moved in and took them off, was like living in a prison. EIther way people don't steal from my front yard let alone my house. Most people in Australia worrying about this are tapped, unless you live a crappy area, or you are marked for some reason

      • +4

        I once visited a new friend's house close to high rise housing commission blocks.

        His house looked shabby and rundown outside - inside it was fabulous luxury and full of museum treasures worth a lot of money - I was amazed at the contrast

        when I asked why he didn't fix up the front of the house, he simply told me 'this way burglars don't think to try my place'

  • +1

    What would you do if you woke up to a burglar in your house?

    • +33

      Help them carry shit out so I can buy new stuff with the insurance money.

      Except my computer HDDs, porn stash takes ages to replace.

      • +1

        Mu laptop is now 4 years old !! Still has a 5400 rpm installed.

      • we'd all be getting new stuff then

    • Perhaps arm the house alarm and wait 30 seconds for it to trigger and draw public attention. Then get the family out and call police. A bit hard with young children though.

  • +26

    …NO TOILET PAPER OR CASH KEPT ON PREMISES!

    • +5

      Cash is useless, can't even wipe your bum with it.

      • +4

        …stupid plastic notes…

        • Is this why Americans have plenty of toilet paper? Probably cheaper to wipe with the paper made dollar bills.

  • +1

    So, you're from the US?

    • -2

      No but some of those supermarket scenes are starting to look like it.

      • +11

        There aren't any actually shortages, only idiots who will have to run out of cash and credit soon.
        I guess they'll realise it was a bad idea to hoard perishable good in a few days….

  • +1

    Protection experts say flee/escape and call then call the Copper’s .

    • Thanks will keep in mind.

    • What if government is suspended, coppers haven't been paid and they are the ones doing the looting?

  • +3

    Your wife's right, you'll be in legal trouble if you defend property with deadly force. Even if you're defending your life you'll likely be charged, especially if your reaction isn't proportionate to the threat.

    • +2

      If it gets to the point of widespread looting you could probably get away with hiding a few bodies?

      • +8

        Looks like meats back on the menu boys!

        • throw them over the fence at night let some1 else worry about it

    • Put them in a chokehold.
      https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/fathers-nightmare-aft…
      Helps if the Home invader is aggressive and high on drugs.

      • it seems like being high on drugs is an alleviating circumstance in some eyes, just like the guy who one punched the surgeon a couple of years ago.

        its off topic but your article is a little infuriating, having to do so much jail time waiting for it to be processed

        • its off topic but your article is a little infuriating, having to do so much jail time waiting for it to be processed

          Yeah I found out about it/watched it couple nights ago on 60Mins, the legal people they interviewed and got statements from said it should've never gone through the courts! Obvs they always keep quiet and let it all blow over, as it does several times.

    • If it gets to that point, no one can be in legal trouble anymore. Otherwise, there won't be widespread looting in the first place.

    • Legal trouble is the least of your problems - the burglar may themselves be armed. Better to flee and call the cops.

      In any case a weapon in the house is overwhelmingly more likely to end up being used against a household member (accidents, suicide, DV, etc) than an intruder. You are much safer without one.

  • +21

    Build a moat. Fill it with ill-tempered sea bass.

    • I like the idea but it’s kinda expensive to implement.

      • +1

        Good to see OP not getting upset that we have turned their serious question into a joke thread!!

        • +5

          A good thread is always a mix of jokes and serious advice. Need to keep our ozbargainers entertained during these trying times. Keep the jokes coming.

        • +1

          Oh, it was a serious question/

    • Sea bass? Nah nah nah, like 10 cassowaries in your yard. No one will (profanity) with that house.

    • Kick his ass, sea bass!

      • <Sucks thumb on floor of toilet cubicle>

  • +5

    Perhaps look into filling your house with snakes as a deterrent.

    • Same as above. Great idea but a bit expensive unless there’s some bargain on snakes and snake supplies that I’m not aware of. (Otherwise my family becomes the snake food.)

      • +2

        You only need to start with a mummy and a daddy snake.

    • I knew all these snakes would come in handy one day!

    • Fill it with m*****f***ing snakes.

  • +12

    Tell them you're infected and you've coughed on everything.

    • +5

      I like that, will definitely consider. Perhaps also ask them whether they’ve come to help remove deceased family members.

    • +5

      Big fat BIO-HAZARD sign outside and a red cross sprayed on the door ( I saw that in a movie )

  • +1

    Snipers…

    • US maybe but difficult in Australia.

      • +6

        Will be to far to aim from the US.

  • home-made crossbow? That's so f cool. Take a pic, I'd like to see it.

    • Yeah it’s an interesting idea but even if anyone was desperate enough to create one, I wouldn’t advise taking photos of it and putting it up online.

      • But how else do we flex on insta?
        st00pid b00mer.

    • Can it be 3D printed?

    • +1

      Attack-Protection dog is a great idea but what’s the cost of acquiring and then maintaining one? We’ve had discussions about whether to get pets before but my view has been that they’re a bit expensive and with limited resources, I’d rather have an extra kid than an extra pet.

      • -2

        20-25 dollars a week in food .
        Grab a bull mastiff around 500 bucks to buy he would die to protect his family

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