Many of you have heard me talk about self defense and some strategies you can use. But what would you do if armed robbers broke in while you were taking a shower? Well one Bronx boy reasoned he could not fight them and dove out the window to go for help here!

Often times when bad stuff happens, you don’t really have a chance to think things out so doing whatever it takes to have the best result is important! In this case there were armed men doing a home invasion robbery (where the crooks take over a family to get whatever they want). If you have multiple family members around, you generally cannot fight armed men easily without someone (maybe your family) getting hurt. In a situation like this – going for help is the smarter thing to do!

I am going to discuss what to do when robbers attempt to invade your home and give a couple of real life stories that happened to my wife! Here is a Las Vegas police force video on some precautionary measures you can take to minimize your risk.

Click here to Watch the Las Vegas Police Home Invasion Video (sorry they are not allowing embedding videos for some reason).

First of all, as always, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! I agree with the cop that simply not opening your door for people that you do not know is a wise move. Too many people think it is impolite not to answer your door or are too easily duped into opening up for a clever ruse! If you don’t help out the robber – many times they will find an easier mark. I saw this commercial for Brinks Home Security and was yelling at my TV! Watch and see if you think Brinks did anything to help this family.

I don’t know about you but I feel warm a fuzzy about Brinks helping that family. Lets review what happened. A robber in full daylight cased the house. He waited until the husband left for work and then in the quiet neighborhood, ran toward the house and kicked the door in! For some reason that I cannot understand, the robber heard an alarm and ran away? Ok, I am digressing but keep my point in mind. Cops are anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes away if you get a chance to call 911.  A brazen robber that does not care about making noise, would have not issue with a smash and grab (or whatever his intentions were).

I think having a house alarm and a nice voice on a telephone is nice but that probably should not be your only defense. I think you should do everything to deter a robber and if that is not successful, try to fight or get away if it is reasonable. 

My wife had to use her wits two times in the last three years to avoid a home invasion (I believe). The first time we were living in a nice area that was close to Santee Lakes. The only downside of that area is it attracts some transients. My wife was at home with the dogs one morning happened to see the front door knob trying to turn (it was locked). The dogs barked (Shepard crosses) and my wife yelled, “who’s there?” She saw more forceful shove and thump against the door so she yelled (as the dogs were going crazy, “Get the bleep out of here, I have a gun and I am going to shoot your bleep!” That did the trick and I put in a peephole and security lights the next weekend. That was kind of scary for my wife but I am confident the dogs would have taken the guy out.

Another incident happened at a more recent house. My wife heard a knock at the door in the daytime when she had the dogs inside. She peered thought the peephole and side window and saw a couple of guys with a clipboard and kind of unkempt look. They said they were with the power company and needed to check our wiring. My wife yelled though the door she had not heard anything about it and she was not letting them in. They tried to insist but she yelled back (as the dogs started to go crazy), “I’m going to call the cops if you don’t get the bleep out of here!” Later in the week on the news we saw stories of robbers trying the utility company ruse.

Ok – here is the think. You need to take all reasonable steps to take care of yourself! Cops or Brinks cannot help you except to take a report after the incident. Try to avoid the situation first by not helping the robbers (don’t make it easy for them). I keep baseball bats near each door as well as have pepper spray and big dogs. My wife is suspicious of strangers and I can fight! I’ll call the cops if anything ever happens at my house (hopefully to clean up the fresh road pizza!) but the cops are not going to be my first line of defense! Take the precautions the Vegas police suggest in the video and teach your family members how to be cautious. I know teaching your kids can be a challange but it is ultimatly your responsibility to protect your familly as this boy had to protect his family in the Bronix!