Friday May 10, 2013 at 11:30 pm
Someone attempted to break into our house through the lower level living room window. They removed the screen from one of the windows and neatly placed it up against the courtyard wall. Upon attempting to enter the house through the open window, the perpetrator made a loud noise which awoke my wife. My wife who was dozing while finishing up a movie, immediately turned on the interior lights, closed the windows and turned on the alarm system. This scared off the perpetrator who then ran down the south side of our home toward the alley and all ended well.
According to the police, we were negligent by leaving our lower level windows open at night. We do close them up and turn on the security system when we go to bed, but hadn’t gotten to it. I guess we’ve gotten sloppy thinking that we lived it a safe neighborhood.
The advice of the police; don’t leave lower level windows open day or night; use our air conditioner if it’s warm; leave lights on inside and outside the house at night; put locks on the windows so that they can’t be opened for entry; call the police if we see any suspicious activity. One thing that the officer noted is that many garage lights are burned out in the alleys throughout the project. This situation needs to be rectified and is the owners responsibility.
We’ve changed our exterior lights to compact florescent light bulbs and we’re installing electronic timers so that they’ll be on from dusk to dawn. Additionally, we’ve installed sticks in all downstairs windows restrict the possibility of entry.
We’re guessing, but we believe that the noise that my wife heard was that of a foot kicking a small table that was under the open window.
Hopefully, other homeowners will heed the above comments so as to prevent break ins in the community.
Gary Groomer – 11712 SW Grenoble St. (Arbor Villebois)
