House Clearing - For the Concerned Parent

[cooptire]

Question for whoever. As I was working through the house getting sight pictures, as some have suggested, with my .40 and my light, I got to thinking about how to best secure my house, or more importantly, my kids. Since 2 of mine are on the main floor and 2 are in the basement with the stairs in the middle of the house. I was thinking about a so called hot burglary or home invasion scenario and basically came up with........nothing! How would someone reason out a plausible way of securing a non-shooting wife and 4 kids under 11 on 2 different floors? All I came up with was secure the girls with the wife upstairs and try to clear my way to the boys and leaving the girls alone. A real "Kobayashi Maru" scenario. The more I think about it, the more my head hurts.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to start planning? Or how?

[TAB]

With out alot more detail, there is no way we can help... you know ages of kids, floor plan... etc etc.

[ericire12]

This is an incredibly tough situation.

Considering where your loved ones are in the house and where the bad guy might be, the best thing may just be to leave your family where they are and engage the threat.

If 2 kids are in the basement, they are essentially pretty safe for the time being.... If the wife and other kids are in a backroom far enough away, then they too may be fairly safe from an immediate threat (and may actually be able to escape the home). There are a lot of variables in play, but it may be that you have to take the fight to the bad guy if everyone in your family is to make it through alive.




*Any windows in the basement that the kids could slip out if there was trouble?

[cooptire]

With out alot more detail, there is no way we can help... you know ages of kids, floor plan... etc etc.

11, 8 (today  ), 5 & 3 (in 12 days  ) are the ages. Standard rectangular footprint with all bedrooms on one end. Upstairs doors face each other at end of hallway. My bedroom is located upstairs. Stairs in living room (by the front door) going down towards opposite end of house. Then all the way back towards the boy's bedroom that are directly underneath upstairs bedroom.

I was generally looking for procedures or ideas to test rather than exact step by step instructions because I realize the incredibale amount of variables and lack of knowledge about the actual layout of the house to everyone. Just thinking that there might be one or two solid things to do or prepare for. I realize that you can't give more than general suggestions. I plan on hardening the house first of all to prevent, hopefully, any break in. My mind starts to hurt a lot when I think about trying to secure 2 floors by myself or moving everyone from one floor to another.

[johncasey4]

So my first question is how many home invasions are there in Emporia Kansas?  I am guessing that it isn't the crime mecca that some place like Camden NJ is.  How often are those burglaries that do occur, occur with intent to do harm?  I don't know, so before I start poking fun, I thought it good to ask.

  Are there only 2 floors? A main floor and a basement?  Three floors: Main, Upstairs and Basement?  Does the basement have an external door (growing up we had a basement with a sliding glass door)?  Do the kids know the neighbors well?  Are you comfortable with them? 

  Typically the best thing to do is baracade yourself in one room.  Contrary to popular belief, this doesn't mean (necessarily) sliding your wife's armoir in front of the door.  What would be better is if you could get to a place that had a choke point (say the bottom of the basement stairs if they are close enough to the family).  That is thing one, thing two is that while the wife doesn't shoot, she can still be eyes on your six with say a cell phone in hand placing a call to 911.  You're going to want to do that anyway, and let whom ever is in the house understand that you have done so.  This may not scare them (which means they are really bad men) but it will record the entire interaction if shots need to be fired.  You may even want to say something like "whoever is in the house, I have called 911 and have armed myself (assuming that you have) and I will respond to any movement in my direction as a threat to my life and will respond accordingly, the police are on their way, I suggest you leave!"  Generally it is best to be baracaded by this point, and not a good idea to go roaming through the house looking for a fight.  If that is what you need to do to get to your kids however, I would recommend it.  Get the entire family in one spot, if you can't get whoever isn't with you to a safe place, if you can't probably getting one parent with each set of kids is the next (read last) best solution.  If that is the case, tell your wife that she should learn how to shoot at least once, teach her something simple like "extend, touch and press" and let her take care of the girls. 

There really isn't a clear cut answer as all situations depend on lots of factors.  Some factors that don't change are your preparation.  You should always have the cell phone charging on your night stand, a flash light next to it and your gun someplace where you can get to it quickly but is also out of childrens reach.  Next make sure you have a plan and rehearse it so the family knows it. 

Hope that helps
JB

[Sponsor]

[1776 Rebel]

With 4 youngins I would be REAL careful in any scenario. The likely hood of a breakin thru the basement is going to be high. So you might have an attack right off the bat on the kids furthest away from you and before your awareness is up. Then the kids might start moving thru the house also. So it might be the kids making their way to your room. Slow and deliberate would be the key words....

[Fatman]

Sadly JC4, home invasions are becoming more and more commonplace, kinda like carjackings were the rage for ease of theft, but I'm getting the impression the home invaders are doing it more because they are emboldened sociopaths and are getting off on the power trip.  Much more volatile and dangerous situation. Used to be nada like that where I live, now I'm hearing about forced entries posing as cops, one where the newspaper reported the 'woman was brought to a bedroom by two of the intruders while the male was held at gunpoint in the front room' (too polite or politically incorrect to say "gang raped"?), one in the wrong house (drugs), one for money by a former employee, one for the keys to a jewelry shop, about 3 seemingly random...

That was in the last year and a half, and just the ones I heard about.  Our newspaper is a bit lax on reporting these, especially since they consider a home invasion  just a burglary. Usually find these when I check the crime map section after something is reported in my immediate area.

Coop, I feel your pain. The house we rented while ours was being built was two floors, master bedroom upstairs, kids rooms downstairs. At that time, we were more concerned with a rash of child molesters who moved from other states to avoid tracking. I actually hinge pinned the downstairs windows so at least I'd hear glass breaking as opposed to someone just popping the lock and raising the sash. You can drill multiple holes in the upper sash so you can open the windows and still secure it.

In your case, I'd look into making your house as uninviting for a home invasion / burglary as you can. Motion lights outside, thorny bushes under windows, etc. Look into something like this The Reporter to give you some advanced warning of trespassers.  Set four sensors up at strategic locations. Also, if you can, get in the habit of garaging your cars. No one ever knows if I'm home or not as the auto is always out of sight. One other step - put a timer on a few lights - use one that replaces one of your kitchen or den light switches, set it for 5 or 10 minutes at various times once or twice  a night. Maybe one timer in one other room.  Look like a random insomniac... 

[Rob Pincus]

Everything that JC said, and this extra possibility:

The idea of having your wife move with you makes sense.... the two of you get the kid's on your floor, put them behind her or between the two of you (depending on the likelihood of a threat being behind your group), as you move to secure the other kids. In this case, your Safe Room should be one of the rooms with a child on the lower floor. This minimizes your movement and gets your family all together.

(tangent)
One REALLY important thing for you is the idea of Intermittent and Indirect light use. It will be covered in an upcoming episode of TBD, but here's an Article:http://www.imakenews.com/valhalla/e_article000413118.cfm?x=b11,0,w, to get you primed..... You don't want to be moving through your house like a 2nd rate TV cop pointing your gun/light at your kids. This is pretty strong tangent, please start a new thread if anyone wants to discuss.....
(/tangent)

-RJP

[Pathfinder]

My $.02 . . .

Set up a safe room downstairs, and some form of alarm. Teach the kids when that alarm goes off to hit the safe room and bar the door. Keep a walkie-talkie in there and with you so you can communicate. Teach a safe word as well, so that they know it's you to let them out. And maybe another "safe" word that says it's you but do not open the door, as in a hostage situation. Food and water and warm fuzzies for warmth and comfort completes the picture.

In a way, that allows you to worry about the threat and not them.

[m25operator]

I think pathfinders on the right track, communication, and some pre determined safe words or battle words, something that says ok we are all safe, or TSHTF, and we all now go to a predetermined position. That position should be very safe!! Do you have ground level windows that could be invaded? If so, reinforce them, have a discussion with the young boys, and let them know what the plan is and why!! I like the radio or intercom idea I don't know your house, but, could an access be put in the floor of the upper level, like a folding attic stairway that could lead upstairs from the basement?? The youngun's in the basement seem to be the the utmost concern, so concentrate there, impede access, and allow the most egress to get out.

Tough situation.