There is a knock on your door...

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Sentry18

Thrivalist
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Nov 26, 2017
Messages
19,105
Location
US of A
It's 11:30pm on a Friday night. There is a knock at your main door. Your front light is on. You don't see a vehicle outside but it appears that a young woman is standing on your porch/steps/entry. She is holding something reminiscent of how a woman would hold an infant. There have been some burglaries in your area but no home invasions or the like. How do you proceed?
 
I will talk through the door. It would have to be a neighbour to get me to open at night. I always pack and when I open the door to a stranger my hand is on the gun, day or night, and the door is partly opened so as to block this information from the stranger.
 
Talk through the intercom. If they need to call somebody I take down the number and give it to the sheriff. They can get in place and make the call. When the party arrives they can deal with it.
 
First of all...if someone is at my door at 11:30 at night , and there's is no car. Man o man we are in defensive code red mode. Because of my distance from a road.

So I'm gonna be heavily armed , and yelling out , who are you and what do you want , with door closed and locked.

In my situation...that could be very dangerous for someone to do.

Jim
 
It's 11:30pm on a Friday night. There is a knock at your main door. Your front light is on. You don't see a vehicle outside but it appears that a young woman is standing on your porch/steps/entry. She is holding something reminiscent of how a woman would hold an infant. There have been some burglaries in your area but no home invasions or the like. How do you proceed?

Call the sheriff. 25 miles from the closest town, 90 from the nearest city, 11 from the nearest paved road, someone is very lost...

About 15 yrs ago our neighbor who was a state trooper told us not to open the door if we heard a crying baby. There was a gang using a recording to get people to open their doors and beating/robing and raping the home owners.
 
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Have the wife dail 911 and get to our safe room. I would have pistol drawn and yell thru the door to find out who it is. If I don't know them for sure, tell them to leave now that cops are on their way. If I do think I know them, they will have to answer questions that only the 2 of us would know. The door ain't gonna be opened.
 
There is definitely a difference in one's alertness level of such an incident if you live in a rural location versus in a town/city.

First we have numerous very bright 'linked' motion lights, so the entire front of our home would lit up. If any motion was detected on the side or back, then those sides of the house would also be lit up. Second I would look at the video and see how they approached and if anyone else was near our home. Then I would use the two way communications built in to our video doorbell to speak with the person outside. If they needed assistance I would consider my options; open the door, dial 911, call a neighbor (current or retired LEO) to assist me, etc. If I brought them in they would find me accompanied by one Rottie and a short barrel shotgun. Other internal security measures would ensure they did not make it past the entry way, even if I was dead, without putting in some time and effort. And once into the main house, they would have another Rottie and some additional armed occupants to deal with. Occupants that would have surely hit the panic alarm and sounded several very loud sirens and strobing lights by then, while also alerting the monitoring company to send police. Police response time to my house is usually 6-10 minutes.
 
I would answer the door but I would have a pistol in my hand. I would be in a very poor mood because I would have been sleeping. No one here would like me if I was angry.
Only cell companies that use ATT towers have any kind of signal (usually poor) in my area so quite possibly the girl would have no cell service. People hit elk with their vehicles quite often near my house. When you hit an elk at speed your car will suffer a lot of damage. I would certainly help if needed. If it was a scam then they would likely find me a worthy opponent.
 
I would answer the door but I would have a pistol in my hand. I would be in a very poor mood because I would have been sleeping. No one here would like me if I was angry.
Only cell companies that use ATT towers have any kind of signal (usually poor) in my area so quite possibly the girl would have no cell service. People hit elk with their vehicles quite often near my house. When you hit an elk at speed your car will suffer a lot of damage. I would certainly help if needed. If it was a scam then they would likely find me a worthy opponent.

Elk and deer are a big road hazard here but we aren't on a main road, only 7 houses out here, and if your going faster than 10 ish on our road elk aren't the only problem.
 
How did she get here? Why my door and not another one? You can call 911 and ask someone to come out and help.

Something similar has happened in my area. A woman will knock on people's doors and NEEDS money, but no baby. I don't remember her reason, but the consensus is that she is looking for money for drugs. That is one part, the other is that it happens in the middle of the night, such as 2:00 in the morning. It was in a group discussion and people were asking what they should do. My response was that it is not safe to answer your door in the middle of the night. If it is someone you know, they will have called. One person in particular thought I was a terrible person, what if it was an emergency? I asked her for her address and we could send them to her. No response.

Honestly, I would not answer the door in the middle of the night, between the hours or 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. I actually have a note on my front door that says if I am not expecting you, I will not be answering the door. If someone was knocking on my door in a desperate manner, I might call 911. Since I have put the note on the door, no one knocks any more, unless I know they are coming over.
 
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id go to each window of each room with no light.and check out the outside the best i can. if it looks all clear.then id go out the back door. come around the apartment and come up from behind with gun in hand.have her get down on the ground.tie her up.then and only then call the police.
 
id go to each window of each room with no light.and check out the outside the best i can. if it looks all clear.then id go out the back door. come around the apartment and come up from behind with gun in hand.have her get down on the ground.tie her up.then and only then call the police.

And be arrested for your trouble. Knocking on a door isn't a crime.
 
Wife: She would open the door and invite the woman in. They would talk for several minutes then the wife would come and wake me up to tell me there is a strange woman sitting in the living room and ask what should "we" do?

Me: I wouldn't turn on any more lights, pretend no-one is home. Call the business line for the Sheriff's Department and advise them of what's going on. Then I'd wait and observe. Tempted to slip out the back door to observe from the shadows and listen for any conversations.
 
We have a little satilite sheriff office but no police cars there.
We do have lots of hunters [ dogs are shaking in their fur] .this week their getting their aim ready for hunting season.
 
Never open the door unless you know the person.
Stand away from the door to converse with the person. Call 911.
If they are an armed intruder they might shoot through the door.
If you open the door they can push it and you suddenly out of the way. before you can use your gun they can use a bat to knock you out. Now they have YOUR gun.
If it is just a lost individual the police can help them better than you.
 
That is why I put steel security doors on our last house. That way you can always open the door and talk to whoever is outside with that steel security door to protect you.
I have them on my house. They were the first thing I did when I bought my home. The security door and my front door both have glass, so a person outside could see in. I am able to move around without being seen from the front door.

I don't answer my door even in the day time. All my neighbors have my phone number. They can call or text if they want or need something first.
 
If there was a problem in our neighborhood I would want to confront it and remove it.

That is what roof turrets are for! Remote controlled with a camera on the scope, it's just like a video game. Just get on target and push the button. ;)
 
Sooo...I probably would just answer the door? We live in a safe area and if there had been no home invasions, I would likely be worried it was a neighbor that needs help. We are not on a main thoroughfare.

I'll have to do some thinking about this. I have an aluminum bat near the front door, but not anything more effective, which means there is a good chance I could be overpowered. Wife would activate alarm (which is very loud and is monitored by a security service) if I was attacked. (The wife has considered canceling the monitored security service to save some money, but I have resisted, since we are not otherwise independently secure.)

Could I be better prepared? Yes. Should I be, given that I live in a safe area with no crime?....
 
By the time you realize that you need better protection it is too late to get it. Plan for the worst and live each day to the limit!
 
do not open the door, talk through an upstairs window, see what she wants.
at 11.30 at night I've been in bed for over 2 hours and i'm not going to be in a good mood haven been woken up.
knock on my door at your peril.
 
What upstream internet speed do you have? I’m interested in a Ring, but concerned if my DSL is cabable
On a bad day, my download runs 70mbps and my upload runs 50mbps. The doorbell links up via your 2.4 GHz wifi network. It only requires 2mbps up and down, but the feed may take a bit longer to road at those speeds.
 

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