Interview ?

[Excaliber]

This week I got a young man clean cut with 3 rings binder. His story, he is an employee from platinum co subdivision of GE who would to offer security system upgrade for FREE including cell phone module, morion detectors, etc. As long as we post their sign in the front yard and we are vocal about their system. I asked him to see his litratue docs and it seemed legit. However, he asked for entry in my house to explain the offer. I rufused to let him and he was insisting for letting him in. I got spooked and told him I am not interested.

Was my home being cased or just an honest young guy he wants to make a buck?

Companies don't give away free security systems. If they don't charge for the install, the monthly fees will make up for it.

Here are a couple of things that can help you sort something like this out really quick:

1. Ask for his Texas Private Security Bureau photo ID pocket card that every alarm salesman is required to carry. If he can't produce it on the spot, he's not legit - call police.

2. Go to the GE web site and see if they have such a subdivision and if they are making any such offers. I went to their website and did a search for "platinum". I didn't come up with anything vaguely akin to the information you were given.

3. An alarm system is not a vacuum cleaner. If someone purporting to be an alarm salesman comes to you, refuse to deal with him. For something this sensitive, you should deal only with companies you have checked out ahead of time and invited to your home.

[seamusTX]

I should add, with any of these visitors who seem suspicious, you'd feel terrible if you read in the paper the next day that they had robbed or assaulted an elderly or disabled victim a block away.

You should just shoot them.

No, seriously, you should report them to the police.

I've had a few over the years ask to use my phone because their car broke down or something like that. I always tell them to give me the phone number they want to call, and I will relay a message. Not one has ever done that. They either argue with me, or give me a dirty look and leave.

The people who do this are not necessarily the criminal who is going to rob you, especially if they are women. More likely they are performing surveillance to see how many people are in the house, whether they have dogs, are feeble or gullible, etc.

Also many of them are running scams rather than violent crimes.

- Jim

[gigag04]

I'd go check it out. I hate spiders almost as much as burglars.

[donniet]

Sorry for the late replies, I have not had the opportunity to get on the board today. As someone mentioned, I would feel badly to learn someone else was harmed due to my lack of action.

I also realize, as Excaliber said, I can be rushed once the door is open. I try to be prepared for that possibility and noted the person was backed away from the door before opening it. To the point I took my actions, I felt capable of handling the situation.

To answer another question. I had no intention of going out the back door and possibly encountering someone coming around to check out the back. As long as I was inside, I felt I had better odds of countering any attempt to enter my home.

I do not have an intercom or camera at my door. I do have an alarm system which I always use. I do not want to seem reckless or come across with bravdo. However, if after viewing through my door viewer, things look reasonable I will answer the door. I do not live in fear of everyone who approachs my door, anymore than, I step outside each day in a state of fear. I do however, approach each day and each encounter with caution and preperation. God willing, that will be enough to keep me safe.

One final thought. In the future, I will not be as hesitant to contact the police. Thanks to all who helped with advise.

[seamusTX]

To answer another question. I had no intention of going out the back door and possibly encountering someone coming around to check out the back. As long as I was inside, I felt I had better odds of countering any attempt to enter my home.

I endorse this position.

It's always a judgment call based on circumstances, but I think you are better off with the cover and opportunities for defending a narrow entrance that a house provides.

What would someone do walking out the back door alone and finding four guys with shotguns? Wyatt Earp would be hard-pressed to get out of that situation unscathed.

It's better to harden the approaches to your house so that someone entering the yard has to climb a fence or break a lock. As for climbing the fence, that can be made difficult and noisy.

- Jim

[speedsix]

...lighting is the second most effective thing you can do to deter crime on your property, right after speaking respectfully to your wife...with good bright lighting in front back and sides where windows are, you've reduced your chances of being burgled or robbed by a lot...a bright, motion-operated porch light at entry doors increases the "You're on candid camera" feeling for them...pulling up to the house and being able to see that noone's lurking increases your safety zone...the most dangerous time when you come home is between the time your garage door goes up and when it comes back down with hopefully just you and your car inside...your back's to anyone who wants to slip in...I'll recommend a deadbolt on the door leading into the house...that you can open AFTER you're sure you're the only one in the garage...inconvenient, but if used, it will provide another layer of protection for those in the house...the door between garage and house should be heavy solid core wood or steel with no window and a peephole...

...haven't heard "interview" meaning the LEO way in awhile...I taught the "interview position" for flashlight...resting on my shoulder as I looked at suspects, read IDs, etc...until I was comfortable with them...any bad happenings, you're already cocked and ready...yet it looks harmless...

[Excaliber]

...lighting is the second most effective thing you can do to deter crime on your property, right after speaking respectfully to your wife...with good bright lighting in front back and sides where windows are, you've reduced your chances of being burgled or robbed by a lot...a bright, motion-operated porch light at entry doors increases the "You're on candid camera" feeling for them...pulling up to the house and being able to see that noone's lurking increases your safety zone...the most dangerous time when you come home is between the time your garage door goes up and when it comes back down with hopefully just you and your car inside...your back's to anyone who wants to slip in...I'll recommend a deadbolt on the door leading into the house...that you can open AFTER you're sure you're the only one in the garage...inconvenient, but if used, it will provide another layer of protection for those in the house...the door between garage and house should be heavy solid core wood or steel with no window and a peephole...

...haven't heard "interview" meaning the LEO way in awhile...I taught the "interview position" for flashlight...resting on my shoulder as I looked at suspects, read IDs, etc...until I was comfortable with them...any bad happenings, you're already cocked and ready...yet it looks harmless...

+1 on lighting, the garage door deadbolt, and the peak vulnerability of being in your vehicle inside your garage as the door is closing. There's no better time for a BG to slip into a position from which you can be very effectively confronted with no fear of observation by anyone else.

A note on lighting: 500 watts of motion activated quartz halogen flood lighting in the rear has persuaded many a creepy crawler to prowl elsewhere.

[knotquiteawake]

I'd go check it out. I hate spiders almost as much as burglars.

Ditto, but only If I had a 12-gauge handy... those spiders can jump I hear!

[speedsix]

...I've seen the 12 gauge help 'em jump many a fence!!!

[Adraper]

All this guy could come up with was a big spider? I would hope an aspiring criminal youth of today could do better. I would suspect a reduced mental capacity or over medicated individual.

[esxmarkc]

The young man begins to tell me about this large tarantula in my front yard, "the largest I have ever seen, larger than my hand, you need to see this" he said.

"Ya man that's "Fluffy". He cruised out the doggy door a few minutes ago. His mother will likely pop out in a few minutes to look after him. Unless you want to join hands with the other two doorbell ringers they've got cocooned up under the back deck you might want to be moving along."

[speedsix]

...needed that 'un on a Monday!!! thanks!!!

[schufflerbot]

man, you are far more forgiving than i am. if a stranger approaches my house after the sun has set, i treat them as a hostile threat until they prove otherwise.

answering my door with my weapon out of its holster is common place for me at night.


call me paranoid, but i assume the worst from anyone these days.

[fickman]

I used to be a Citizens On Patrol member in Fort Worth. . . the training sergeant informed us that the non-emergency number and 911 come in to the same dispatchers on the same line. The only want they even know the difference is that there's an indicator on the screen to tell them which number we used.

The only things I would have done differently:
1. I don't open my door if I'm not expecting somebody or if I don't recognize them through the peep hole.
2. I'd have called in a suspicious person going door-to-door late at night.

Overall, you're not injured, dead, in jail, or hiring an attorney, so I'd say it passes the "successful encounter" test.