Strange people come in my house

Reporting it is to generate a paper trail should things go sideways down the road.

You will get the lock your doors and all that. I would not expect anything more than that at least initially.

However it will put them on the radar of local law enforcement. If you do report it I would stress the part about having kids and there safety.

Somthing I do know is LEOs take children and there welfare very seriously. Endangerment of another adult is one thing endangerment of children puts it in a different place.

Then keep reporting any future weirdness. It is all about building a case for you and for the local authority's to look I to I further.

I just had a thought, you said the neighbors don't react when you say hi, and people who think they are going to their house walk in without knocking. Could it be that your neighbor could be deaf or almost deaf? If so they probably tell people just to come on in because the won't hear knocking/doorbell. That could explain it.

Slippery wrote: Holy cow ... where the hell do you guys live that you have to keep the doors locked all the time.

In a house?

I live in a very good neighborhood and there's still crime around. And I have kids and don't want them wandering out or someone wandering off with them without effort. Honestly I care less if someone's in the house when I'm not home. When I'm home is when I have the most to lose.

gearheadmb wrote: Am I the only one that doesn't think killing people is a reasonable reaction to most situations?

Welcome to the internet. Everyone here is a stone cold killer. Unless it's about killing cats.

gearheadmb wrote: I just had a thought, you said the neighbors don't react when you say hi, and people who think they are going to their house walk in without knocking. Could it be that your neighbor could be deaf or almost deaf? If so they probably tell people just to come on in because the won't hear knocking/doorbell. That could explain it.

No, not deaf, just weird. The dad (a minister at a large churce), the mom, and the adukt kids are the same. Weird, awkward people.

I never said I would shoot but there has been people shot for entering a house uninvited just a mile from here. I do keep guns in the house but it would take a lot for me pull one on someone.

I probably gave that impression. Our doors stay locked, and we are the only house on a dead end Street. Anybody coming in isn't by accident or at the wrong house.

I won't hesitate to notify the police about 'suspicious activity' anymore. A stranger entering my house uninvited is far above that, mistake or not the police will be notified and there will be a record of it at the station.

I have gone to the station to remain inconspicuous as well as had police respond to my address to report suspicious activity. In all cases they were very cooperative and stepped up patrols. They didn't mind it at all and said I did the correct thing and now there is a record of it if anything happened in the future.

Weird people or not, times have changed. Report suspicious activity. Maybe that will be their wake up call when an officer knocks on their door.

A couple years back, 2 of my friends were the guys that accidentally walked into the wrong house ( no drugs or alcohol were involved). No harm came from it other than some embarrassment, but it goes to show that it does happen.

A few years ago an elderly lady walked into my house, put a tray of chicken enchiladas on the counter, and just left without saying a word. I didn't say anything because I come from a big family so I wasn't sure if she was a distant relative or not. In any case the enchiladas were delicious.

Ojala wrote: A few years ago an elderly lady walked into my house, put a tray of chicken enchiladas on the counter, and just left without saying a word. I didn't say anything because I come from a big family so I wasn't sure if she was a distant relative or not. In any case the enchiladas were delicious.

Hold on. That changes everything. If someone put delicious food on my table, they're friends now haha.

Ojala wrote: A few years ago an elderly lady walked into my house, put a tray of chicken enchiladas on the counter, and just left without saying a word. I didn't say anything because I come from a big family so I wasn't sure if she was a distant relative or not. In any case the enchiladas were delicious.

And she never came back for the tray?

I question why not to lock everything all the time. Takes like 20 minutes a year, and your E36 M3 won't get stolen and strange, marginal people won't wander in your house. Every time we have a rash of thefts from vehicles around here - a quiet suburb in the highest average income/highest average house cost zip code in the DC metro area - it invariably comes to light that some PhD Brookings Institute policy person has left their new MacBook Pro in their unlocked Prius. The neighborhood listserve blows up about "We Need More Police Presence!" and I'm all "We need people to not be idiots!".

It's an unpopular view.

Lock your doors; Idiot mouthbreather drug addict walks up, tries the knob, then, maybe tries the doorbell. Giving homeowner the option to fling the door open to say "Who the berkeley are you? GO AWAY!"

It's just reflex for me - I close the door and lock it at the same time, whether I'm going in or out. Takes no extra time at all, and then I never have to worry about going somewhere and then wondering if I forgot to lock them.

In reply to motomoron:

Imagine how many empenadas you've missed out on with that attitude.

In reply to secretariata:

The enchiladas were in one of those disposable aluminum trays with a foil lid. They were darn good too, double layer with lots of chicken and carmelized onions and queso fresco instead of lame cheddar cheese!

Too bad, I found out she wasn't a relative and nobody knows who she was.

Man that really sounds delicious. Perhaps I should start leaving my door unlocked.

In reply to Ojala:

I was hoping for your sake that it was a nice pan and she came back for it so you could at least get the recipe if not convince her to make regular deliveries...

Sine_Qua_Non wrote:

DrBoost wrote:

dean1484 wrote: I think you need to get down to the local police department and report all of this.

You think so? I was kinda thinkin that, but thought I might be over reacting.

I did call the police on mine. They only collected the info and nothing else. They were the ones telling me to keep door locked. YMMV, I guess depending on city or state laws. Also, I have 2 dogs but that doesn't scare them away.

You don't have the right type of dogs if the weirdos aren't scared by them. Try a highly bred AKC American Akita male at 100+ pounds. There is no other dog breed on Earth that will defend their human family as adamantly and effectively, and their warning howls and growls sound utterly demonic. They originated as both guard dog and bear hunter and quite literally fear no living thing except their own masters. And yet, they will cease a defense instantly when ordered by their masters. Uninvited strangers only get to walk in to a house with one of these once.

I thought this thread would be about Christmas with your family.

I can't help but remember the snooping drone incident you had not long ago.

Could these two incidents be related?

Had an incident where some family of mine was driving a long way to visit my uncle and had to take a dump real bad. The uncle's neighbor's house is the same model as the uncle's house. So he drove up to the house, made an emergency dash into the bathroom, and then when he came out of the bathroom realized he was in the wrong house. We don't know if the neighbor ever knew about what happened

A couple years back I was going to my uncle's place. Never been there before, but I pulled up to his house. Saw his truck along with my father's truck in the driveway. Walked right on in to a stagers very polite, "Oh, hello!".

I apologized profusely, but she demanded to call the sheriff's deputy... to ask if he could help me find my uncle's place. The deputy called the mail carrier to get directions for me.

Meh. It happens. Just figured I'd share a story from the other side of the door.

Part of it is the gravel driveway at my house, so I know you're here before you even get out of the car. That lets me silence the dog before she freaks out, until someone knocks. At least if I'm expecting you.

People that knock at my house are strangers, as such I'm less inclined to even go to the door, let alone let them in. Jehovah's witnesses have been greeted by an armed and angry Rev, because I'm paranoid and who the Hell knocks at 9am? Although that is good for keeping them away for years on end.

Maybe I'm just weird(ok I am) but when I know people are coming or I hear anyone pull in, I tend to greet them in the driveway. I've always been like that though, so it's just habit at this point. But annoying the dog annoys baby, and they both combine to annoy me, so I try to minimize that as much as possible.

If only I could put a gate at the end of my driveway....

WildScotsRacing wrote: You don't have the right type of dogs if the weirdos aren't scared by them. Try a highly bred AKC American Akita male at 100+ pounds. There is no other dog breed on Earth that will defend their human family as adamantly and effectively, and their warning howls and growls sound utterly demonic. They originated as both guard dog and bear hunter and quite literally fear no living thing except their own masters. And yet, they will cease a defense instantly when ordered by their masters. Uninvited strangers only get to walk in to a house with one of these once.

100% true. Our female, a little under 100 lbs. was the best dog ever. VERY confident (leads to less barking and erratic behavior), easy to train, and would protect her family with her life I'm sure. Here she is playing with our cat. Oh, the cat started it.

Here's a story about her. One day my wife and our infant son were home alone, middle of the day. She starts barking. For those that don't know, Akitas don't bark just because there's someone walking by, or even at the door. If someone is at the door, she'd let out one bark, then wait for us to come to the door. But in this case she was barking. My son was sleeping, and with an infant, you DO NOT want them to wake up haha. So my wife looks out the front door and there's a dude doing something weird at our mailbox (different house, 14 years ago). She opened the door and asked the guy to move on. He said "f&#k off b!%#c!". So my wife opens the door all the way, steps on to the porch and calls the dog. The dog was trained never to go through an exterior door without a specific word. She came to the open door way and stood there, looking at the guy and growling. He gathered his crap post-haste and got outta dodge.
When I worked midnights she would sleep by the front door, and every 1-2 hours make her rounds through the house, get a pat on the head from my wife, then lay back by the front door. When my wife went to bed, she'd lay by the bedroom door. None of that protective behavior was from our training, just a great breed.
Man, you're making me miss her even more now.