My Friends Robbed At Their Home While They Slept !

[tartempion]

Thieves waited for us to have perimeter wall cemented before vistiting our property, smart guys

The could have used the road entrance, gate was not yet in place! But they preferred entering through dark end of wall.

Nothing was missing though, only fresh foot marks on the fresh cement.

We now have a dog chained at the front door at night (difficult to poison him, he barks when anything comes close to the gate)

Property is fully lit at night (oh horror) and walls have barbed wire.

Bed room locked at night and machete and gun within reach. Will shoot through the door if thieves try to force door or window.

Edited September 16, 2008 by tartempion

[NanLaew]

Will shoot through the door if thieves try to force door or window.

That's Texas-style home security! Gotta love that.

[MsFigure]

Nothing beats a dog or two as a burglar deterrent. Not once in 9 years living in LOS have we ever had a problem with burglars.

PS. Our dogs are always kept indoors at night to prevent them being poisoned.

[dogleg]

I thought 'my' dogs were taking care sleeping on the porch each night, but there's a bitch on heat down the road so we dont see much of them recently.

Damned if I'm letting the dirty dogs in the house.

[thaimate]

we have an alarm fitted,when i opened the door once (forgeting that i had the alarm on ) it went off ,it took about a minute for the guard the next door neighbour and the soi dogs to gather outside and greet me in my shorts.

moral

get an alarm

[pattaya_girl]

Nothing beats a dog or two as a burglar deterrent. Not once in 9 years living in LOS have we ever had a problem with burglars.

PS. Our dogs are always kept indoors at night to prevent them being poisoned.

I agree. I am not really a great dog lover myself, but my daughter left me with 3 small dogs a few years ago, they are so loud, they seem to bark at the mosquito's and anything that goes past my gates... so i am confident and can sleep peacefully knowing that if I have a prowler, my little dogs will let me know - better than any alarm system for me. My Partner works away sometimes, so i am on my own, but i am never scared coz i know the dogs will wake me if anyone is around.

[anothertorres]

my yellow is a lazy bitch. i paid for an alarm system...

[desi]

I'm in a condo (BKK) and got a wild hair for security six months into ownership.

(spending too much time on thaivisa, most likely)

I hired a company to install lazers with strobes and alarms all around. Later, I put in cameras that load pics online. Not done, I had super locks added to the master bedroom door.

A bit overkill, but all the blinking lights and control panels and lazers do look impressive.

And getting to see multiple shots of poses on the sofa does take the boredom out of a sleepless night.

Training the maid was the hardest part.

A friend came in for a week when I was gone. And even though I left written instructions, the maid overwrote them with 'no need to push any buttons when you leave, the alarms turn on automatically'.

[MeetJohnDoe]

I think there is allot of paranoia evidenced by many posters on this thread. While common sense precautions against home intrusion thefts are necessary where ever one resides, all this talk of electrified fences and vicious guard dogs in just silly IMO. I and many friends all own/rent houses in various low and high-end moobaans in East Pattaya and have never been robbed. The extent of our home security arrangements runs for window bars and some have electronic home intrusion/alarm systems.

The best security is just to have decent properly mounted doors and locks. Window bars or in the alternative install some double-glazed tempered glass windows. Also, have the spray-on foam insulation applied to the underside of your roof tiles to prevent entry through the roof.

[dave9988]

So if they have a knife, that is a good thing. Now you know that you having a gun will do the trick.

[Arkady]

For those living in houses, keeping gates looked with strong padlocks at all times is a first line of defence. It might put them off, if they have to haul heavy items over the gate or walls. Friends of mine were robbed by some one who came in through the small window of their en suite bathroom. The thief rifled his wife's handbag that was on the bedside table en passant and let himself out of the bedroom door to steal some electronic gear that he found downstairs before making off without waking the couple. Better make sure bathroom windows are really too small for some one to enter through or keep them locked.

Thai police visiting house break-ins routinely tell householders they don't have enough staff to respond to prevent robberies or respond to emergency calls in time and recommend that householders buy a gun to protect themselves. I am sure opinion is bitterly divided in TV on this subject but, if you do resort to following the boys in brown's advice, better be prepared to use it without hesitation, rather than give an intruder an opportunity to use his own weapon on you or grab yours and use on you. I think I read somewhere that in the US more armed victims of break-ins are shot with their own guns than robbers. The wording of the standard gun licence gives the licencee the right to protect persons and property in his house, being the address at which the weapon is registered. I think ground rules about self defence are similar to the US i.e. the intruder should be inside the house and you should believe your life or the life of others in your house are at threat. Believing that he had a weapon in his hand that you couldn't see clearly should be enough, as explained to me once by a Thai cop. If he died, you would probably be arrested for murder and shaken down by the cops for cash but, if the intruder was a complete stranger who broke into your house, you should be able to prove self defence and have the charge dropped. Anyway it would be better than waiting to see if you get shot or stabbed with a machete or your own kitchen knife, if you disturbed one. If you and your family are in safe rooms, it is probably better not to disturb them but call the cops rather than risk a confrontation, even if you are armed. Even in the best case, you don't want to have to get yourself off a murder or attempted murder rap. Better and cheaper to buy a repacement TV set. On the other hand Thais with status seem to have no trouble getting away with shooting dead intruders who are escaping or have not yet broken into the house.

Geese are maybe not for every one but they are noisy and unpleasant. Dogs should be kept in the house at night, not outside where they can easily be poisoned. It is much harder to deal with a dog that is inside while breaking into a house rather than just lobbing a piece of poisoned meat over the wall and waiting for poor Rover to die in agony. Realizing there is a dog inside might just persuade a jone to give up and try elsewhere.

I don't know if gun licensing laws have changed here recently. Thaksin wanted to end private ownership of guns and made things a bit harder. The last time I looked at the regulations (pre-Thaksin) there was no specific prohibition against foreigners getting gun licences to keep guns and ammo in their homes but one of the documents required to apply was a tabian baan which obviously most foreigners don't have, except PRs and condo owners. I don't know if yellow tabian baans qualify but blue ones as held by PRs certainly did. Farangs with Thai wives can probably get a gun in their wife's name. There have been many cases where Thais have used guns registered in a family member's name in self defence without problems, although I have never seen a case where a farang did this. Anyway using a firearm should be an absolute last resort in my opinion, if you can't lock yourself in and call the cops or moobaan guards. I would never consider living in a single house outside a moobaan without guards and would check carefully the qualilty security before moving into a moobaan. Most are not worth a dam_n. Where I live the guards force motorcyclists to leave helmets at the guard post and there are a number of Thai pooyai living here. Avoid smaller and newer moobaans that are not yet established and may be cutting costs on security.

[Pdavies99]

Well my friends....I live at Somboon Sook (behind Carrefours) in a 2 bedroom town house..I have lived here 2 years and last week was the 2nd break in, albeit this time unsuccesful.

The gate padlock was hardened steel, so they broke the weld on the clasp, the fromt door had a padlock which same again they broke the clasp, then they broke the anti theft Australian made fitted internal door lock..then they opened the door and my Yale House alarm went off and they scarpered!! The inner steel door was not broken into. (all windows have alarms and are screwed permanently shut.)

Anyhow I dont see what more I can do...I am going to get a Thai ridgeback dog, mainly as a pet, but I think they would just kill the dog!! To be honest I am thinking that maybe a Condo is my last option?

Any constructive advice would be welcome.

[bruceboy]

My money is on a noisy dog. They seem to work the best.

[tattoodrob]

Well my friends....I live at Somboon Sook (behind Carrefours) in a 2 bedroom town house..I have lived here 2 years and last week was the 2nd break in, albeit this time unsuccesful.

The gate padlock was hardened steel, so they broke the weld on the clasp, the fromt door had a padlock which same again they broke the clasp, then they broke the anti theft Australian made fitted internal door lock..then they opened the door and my Yale House alarm went off and they scarpered!! The inner steel door was not broken into. (all windows have alarms and are screwed permanently shut.)

Anyhow I dont see what more I can do...I am going to get a Thai ridgeback dog, mainly as a pet, but I think they would just kill the dog!! To be honest I am thinking that maybe a Condo is my last option?

Any constructive advice would be welcome.

The alarm did its job and they legged it so wheres the problem,get bigger welds now may help but there is nothing you can do to stop attempts to steal but they got nothing. moving to a condo may make you feel safer and in reality it is safer but doesnt mean a neighbour wont force your door,if the condo has a good security camera and recording system then should minimise as much as possible.

[samuibeachcomber]

Well my friends....I live at Somboon Sook (behind Carrefours) in a 2 bedroom town house..I have lived here 2 years and last week was the 2nd break in, albeit this time unsuccesful.

The gate padlock was hardened steel, so they broke the weld on the clasp, the fromt door had a padlock which same again they broke the clasp, then they broke the anti theft Australian made fitted internal door lock..then they opened the door and my Yale House alarm went off and they scarpered!! The inner steel door was not broken into. (all windows have alarms and are screwed permanently shut.)

Anyhow I dont see what more I can do...I am going to get a Thai ridgeback dog, mainly as a pet, but I think they would just kill the dog!! To be honest I am thinking that maybe a Condo is my last option?

Any constructive advice would be welcome.

maybe a condo yes,you sound like you already live in a fortress,choose your condo and area wisely,new one with internal security,reception,foyer etc.

[samuibeachcomber]

who says it does n't pay to be poor!have nothing inside worth stealing,word will soon get around your place is n't worth the trouble