Night Intruders

[Swelters]

We live in an Isan village, pretty nice on the whole, but we've had cases of night breaking and entering from recalcitrant drug people, the last of which ended in a shooting of the offender by the house holder (all Thai). My wife worries that as a fahlang our house is an obvious target and I wonder whether people have thoughts on this topic. Once seen, the story goes, the criminal may resort to extreme acts to avoid identification.

I've done a couple of things that might help, I'm wondering if others have ideas. We are not attracted to the dog option which is a good one because we are on the property only part time.

Please, no gun debate here.

Swelters

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Get a couple of good tape recorders. Find a vicious sounding dog and tape 10 minutes of so of it growling and barking.

Get a matt to put in front of each door and set up a contact switch to turn on the tape recorder when the matt is stepped on.

This will give pretty much the same deterrent as owning a dog with the obvious advantage of no feeding, no messes to clean up, will always be there when someone comes and you don't have to let it out or take for a walk. And if you are at home you will know someone is at the door.

Good luck.

[PaddyThai]

A determined thief will get in no matter what you do. Especially if you are not at home.

Having someone live in the house while you are away may help. But you would need to trust them or you could be employing a thief.

Probably best not to have too many valuables. And secure what's worth keeping away when not at home.

[Swelters]

A determined thief will get in no matter what you do. Especially if you are not at home.

Having someone live in the house while you are away may help. But you would need to trust them or you could be employing a thief.

Probably best not to have too many valuables. And secure what's worth keeping away when not at home.

Thanks, we are not worried about loss of valuables, but more break in when we (and presumed cash) are present and harm being done by say an armed intruder(s) who panics or wants to eliminate us as witnesses. I put a stout stick like a baseball bat handy to deter someone breaking through a window (second floor, they would have to make some noise getting to it) and as a second thought wrapped the business end with some barbed wire to prevent it being snatched away. The cheap plastic little alarms don't inspire confidence. A very loud car alarm powered by battery and activated by bedside switch with appurtenant floodlight would seem ideal but so far haven't seen anything like that though I can probably engineer it along with the artificial dog.

Maybe we are overly concerned about this but the incidence of this sort of thing seems fairly high in the region, and it seems likely that the fahlang household, always presumed infinitely rich, would be a temptation.

[ballbreaker]

Wife pays the police 300 baht a month to come around 3 times a day and sign little book located in metal box hanging on front gate. Haven't had any problems while some of the houses on street have been robbed.

I hope it sends a signal to would be thieves that the police are collecting tea money from our place so better stay away or you'll make the police look bad.

[coventry]

Leave your doors open at night. Let them know you have nothing to steal. Don't put a high wall around your property and don't have dogs. If you have high walls, dogs, security grills etc you are basically saying "I have something you want". You make yourself a target. That's how I would do it, if it weren't for the missus.

[Prajak]

My situation is different cause I live here all year. Very remote in Nongkhai Province. I live alone. I have lights around the house day and night. Just 5 W economy bulbs. High at the walls. Burglar irons in the windows and behind the doors. A burglar alarm I activate when I am out of the house and at night. At night I can vist the toilet if I want. My sleeping room doors are securely locked at night. I have this since one month. The six years before I never had any unwanted visitor or a drunk or a drug addict.

In day time no one can visit my house. The neighbours are checking everybody in the cul de sac I am living in. When I am gone for a night I have a tuk tuk driver sleep in my house. With a baseball stick....

My house is mostly at risk when I am not there and the cleaning lady is working. But that's early in the morning.

You never stop a "pro". But usually pro's don't come to you. They know the money is in the bank. It's the drunk idiot who wants to score something in the early night. Light is a good option. And irons. And a burglar alarm. Oh, I have a large male cat.....that's a good guard !

It's not so bad here as in "civilised" countries.

[SoiGirlHunter]

We had our house under "police protection" broken into, they actually went thru the roof, it must have taken alot of effort

Police did absolutely nothing

[longstebe]

Have to agree with PaddyThai.If they want to get in they will.Personally I would not be able to sleep at night knowing my doors were open.If they are pro's they have probably been watching your everyday movements.The problem with some Farang homes, is that they can be a bit to flashy.Make sure your locks are all in place (windows included).At the end of the day its how far you want to take it.DONT let it affect your day to day living.If the worst was to happen(hope not)then you will deal with it in your own way.

[Dave the Dude]

Get a LOUD burgular Alarm with PIR sensors on exterior lights. Test the alarm regularly so everyone knows of its existance.

Whilst this or any method will not stop an expert thief, it MAY help them decide to rob elsewhere.

Dave

[neverdie]

Get a couple of good tape recorders. Find a vicious sounding dog and tape 10 minutes of so of it growling and barking.

Get a matt to put in front of each door and set up a contact switch to turn on the tape recorder when the matt is stepped on.

This will give pretty much the same deterrent as owning a dog with the obvious advantage of no feeding, no messes to clean up, will always be there when someone comes and you don't have to let it out or take for a walk. And if you are at home you will know someone is at the door.

Good luck.

Thats a funny post. I actually knew an old bloke that did exactly what you said & the recording sounded like a RECORDING. I can tell you how many tears I cried when I first heard that recording, it was a classic.

OP, you may want to consider some external lighting....sensors are a good, they leave people tripping the sensor not sure if someone has seen them or not.

[T_Dog]

Get a LOUD burgular Alarm with PIR sensors on exterior lights. Test the alarm regularly so everyone knows of its existance.

Whilst this or any method will not stop an expert thief, it MAY help them decide to rob elsewhere.

Dave

This is good advice. Back in the home country, I used an air solenoid to hook up an air horn to my motion-detecting alarm. The horn was fed from the tank of my shop compressor. Got broken into once and the thief took off without getting anything. Neighbors were over in minutes to see what the noise was about. The sound pressure levels that you can get from air horn inside a house are pretty impressive!

[torrenova]

In the UK we set up 2 alarms. The first was real but easy for them to get around, the second was not. This way, they think they have beaten you, only to find out that they have not. Of course, the usual security stuff applies as well.

[Geekfreaklover]

Get a couple of good tape recorders. Find a vicious sounding dog and tape 10 minutes of so of it growling and barking.

Get a matt to put in front of each door and set up a contact switch to turn on the tape recorder when the matt is stepped on.

This will give pretty much the same deterrent as owning a dog with the obvious advantage of no feeding, no messes to clean up, will always be there when someone comes and you don't have to let it out or take for a walk. And if you are at home you will know someone is at the door.

Good luck.

I like this idea, but it only works if the house breaker wants to come though the front door, which is not how a pro would do it. Window or the roof is usually the best way in.

I found this out the hard way as I had to break into my own house last week in Pak Chong when I had left my keys in Bangkok. Front door was difficult, the window easy. Most of the houses have the bars on the outside, so all you need is a screw driver.

The main thing is to make sure the Mrs doesn't walk around the village wearing gold and spending lots of money. If the locals know there is gold and money in the house then they are far more likely to try and get in.

As for farangs being attacked and injured/killed in their wives houses I have not heard of this happening once in almost a decade living in Thailand.

[torrenova]

It doesn't matter whether your missus flaunts wealth or not. The presumption, right or wrong, is that there will be cash, jewellery, laptops, computers, LCD TVs and all manner of other luxurious and easily fenced goods which make the average Thai house look like Woolworths the day after it closed.

That is the way they view it, just the same as when we drive, have an accident or are in any way open to be taken advantage of.

I just wish that after breaking into the garden, they would look around and see that we do not have the proverbial money tree in the back garden !

[ClaytonSeymour]

An Electric Security Fence as discussed here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Electric-Fence-t173759.html

[Screws]

Get a LOUD burgular Alarm with PIR sensors on exterior lights. Test the alarm regularly so everyone knows of its existance.

Whilst this or any method will not stop an expert thief, it MAY help them decide to rob elsewhere.

Dave

If you set up lights outside with the PIR detecting you can have a 'two stage' alarm - first is when somebody walks past or nearby, ie just lights come on automatically (will spook most 'ghost believers') - then a sound alarm if somebody breaks the perimeter while alarm is switched on.

[DeeMaiDee]

Geese noisy agressive b_ggers when disturbed.

[Dave the Dude]

Geese noisy agressive b_ggers when disturbed.

You'll learn we are targets, unfortunately

Dave