Have you been burgled? How safe do you feel?

[kannot]

Im in Sam roi yot area but inland 16km from the sea, never had a problem.......yet, police call by quite often pay for the red box 1k a month, doors open most of the time, have two full time staff a s well, no effin dogs for us.

Small house no tv (YES, NO TV) nothing much to take but have some honda power tools such as 4 stroke hedge cutter, water pump, weed cutter etc.

maybe just been lucky.

[dennisgb45]

Never been burgled in 6 1/2 years. Only security is my dog. I live upcountry...rural. Maybe the nicest house for 10 miles around.

[gcbruk]

Last week got burgled here in CM for first time ever anywhere. I just popped out Sunday afternoon to local 7/11 twenty mins gone max. Padlocked the door on the way out. Came back, padlock intact, walked inside, and found a bit of a mess. Computer, camera, ATM card, ciggies and some cash gone. Called police. They thought I had not locked up when I left but I knew I had. Police were very kind, and although they did not speak English they had had English translations on their phones like; 'we are your friends we are here to protect you' and 'do not worry we will look after you'; repeat, they were very kind to me. They assured me they would get the thief and my things back in a couple of days but I somehow doubted that.

Later, a neighbour returned home to find the same thing, only she had lost far more than I had. Turned out she had an identical padlock to mine and these happened to be the only two of this type in the block. So the b*****d tealeaf evidently had a 'ghost' (pii) key as they call it here.

It could have been worse. They didn't take my passport which they must have seen (phew!). And I dread to think of what might have happened if I had returned while they were still in my home.

I have a good quality combination padlock now, but it strikes me that padlocks on the outside of a door are a mixed blessing . Whilst they might 'deter' they also tell a prowler there is nobody at home right now.

The above poll is indeed a bit lacking. I don't really know how many burglaries there are locally (no DON'T KNOW option) but my neighbours tell me they are quite frequent in the area but how often that is ... ?

[zaZa9]

First time in Patong , we had the fibro skillion roof of the kitchen at back of our shophouse lifted and snapped and my new laptop stolen.

Moving in to this new house we found the provided flat screen gone. The owner had left the house wide open for us to move in.

Had an attempted pickpocketing as well in Patong.

[chiang mai]

Last week got burgled here in CM for first time ever anywhere. I just popped out Sunday afternoon to local 7/11 twenty mins gone max. Padlocked the door on the way out. Came back, padlock intact, walked inside, and found a bit of a mess. Computer, camera, ATM card, ciggies and some cash gone. Called police. They thought I had not locked up when I left but I knew I had. Police were very kind, and although they did not speak English they had had English translations on their phones like; 'we are your friends we are here to protect you' and 'do not worry we will look after you'; repeat, they were very kind to me. They assured me they would get the thief and my things back in a couple of days but I somehow doubted that.

Later, a neighbour returned home to find the same thing, only she had lost far more than I had. Turned out she had an identical padlock to mine and these happened to be the only two of this type in the block. So the b*****d tealeaf evidently had a 'ghost' (pii) key as they call it here.

It could have been worse. They didn't take my passport which they must have seen (phew!). And I dread to think of what might have happened if I had returned while they were still in my home.

I have a good quality combination padlock now, but it strikes me that padlocks on the outside of a door are a mixed blessing . Whilst they might 'deter' they also tell a prowler there is nobody at home right now.

The above poll is indeed a bit lacking. I don't really know how many burglaries there are locally (no DON'T KNOW option) but my neighbours tell me they are quite frequent in the area but how often that is ... ?

Where abouts in CM, pleae

[connda]

I'd be more interested to know how the burglars broke into the premises.

[zyphodb]

Never had a problem in my little village but I'm surrounded by relatives, roosters & the local dog pack, I think that only relatives would have a chance, & I'm lucky with my relatives, never lock doors, don't need to...

[finy]

I was lying sleeping in my bed one night.

I had those windows open you wind up and down, but there was a wire meshing behind the windows.

Somehow I woke up and I could see this guy staring at me through my curtain with his hand trying to open my door from the inside.

The little sh*t had used a knife to cut away at the wire meshing and I hate to think what would have happened if I woke up 2 minutes later with someone in my room with a knife in their hand.

[Thaiready]

I have problem with scumbags stealing fuel from my School vans.

[gcbruk]

Where abouts in CM, pleae

PacTuHiYa off SriPingMuang near Saturday Night Market

And you?

[thailiketoo]

A couple of giant German Shepherds roaming around seems to keep the rif-raf away & at bay! Gentle souls that they are, their bark's enough to persuade anyone to try somewhere else that's easier!

If anybody really wants to break into your property, dogs won't stop them, they will just throw poisoned meat at them.

Kind of like saying don't use soldiers in the war; someone will just shoot them. Dogs are a line of defense that will stop many spur of the moment thieves. A crook walks down the street, he'll pick the house without the dog to rob first. If a squad from delta force comes driving a tank I guess the dog won't be much good.

Edited March 27, 2014 by thailiketoo

[simon43]

Never been burgled or mugged in 12 years

Never have any security, no alarm system, no high walls, no dogs, no guards, no bars on windows

Usually sleep with doors/windows unlocked/open

I live in Phuket........

(and IMHO, the reason why my property is as safe as Fort Knox is because any would-be thiefs assume that there is nothing worth stealing from a house that leaves the doors unlocked/open at night......)

Simon

[Nautilus05]

Not exactly, except for when I ended a toxic relationship. Then I got wiped clean. By the time I got around to picking up my stuff from the old house, all that was left was one towel and the dog's food dishes. Oh, and a wireless router. Everything else was gone -- even the mirrors from the bathrooms.

But no, never actually burgled. And yep, feel perfectly safe. In order to get to me / my house, you first have to get through my dogs. I'm quite confident most people decide its not worth their energy, and best to just rob another house.

Unfortunately don't have any recent pics, and these are probably almost 2 years ago, but:

The white guy is a little bigger now, and the brown guy is fully grown and larger than the white guy. They'll definitely make your heart jump and get your adrenelin pumping if you walk too close to my gate, and don't know to expect them.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Nautilus05

[maxtwo]

Had the dog stolen and killed.The dogs brother lived over road and same done to him.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[Neeranam]

A couple of giant German Shepherds roaming around seems to keep the rif-raf away & at bay! Gentle souls that they are, their bark's enough to persuade anyone to try somewhere else that's easier!

If anybody really wants to break into your property, dogs won't stop them, they will just throw poisoned meat at them.

The are a good deterrent for the opportunist thief. If someone really wants to get into the house they will regardless of dogs, steel bars, CCTV etc.

[wym]

Taking obvious extraordinary precautions IMO just shows you've got lots of stuff worth stealing.

Using any that involve violence just increases the odds that real harm may come to you and yours.

Remember it's just STUFF, not really important in the grand scheme of things.

[kbelyeu]

The only protection against burglaries is insurance so you can at least get some of your money back.

Kurt

[Water Buffalo]

Taking obvious extraordinary precautions IMO just shows you've got lots of stuff worth stealing.

Using any that involve violence just increases the odds that real harm may come to you and yours.

Remember it's just STUFF, not really important in the grand scheme of things.

I agree. The more you seem to be protecting the more likely you are to attract the professional burglars. Although some people who choose to live in obviously expensive mansions have no choice.

Around our area, it is mostly opportunistic thefts from the local 10 year old in the village. Last month someone had their laptop stolen in the middle of the day.

[aglae4]

The first time they entered through the roof while I was not there in the evening. Only stole a phone from a brand that did not even exist in Thailand in that time and they left the charger (the phone was on the charger in the livingroom).

The second time I was gone for one night (visarun to Ranong), they broke the steel that protect a window. They took a laptop (very expensive one). Very strong people. I noticed that the two workers on the other side of the road that always came to work on one bicycle, had both a new bike the following week.

The third time they emptied my car but as nothing was interesting they throw everything in the garden.

And a few days later, I was attacked in my livingroom by a masked man with a knife. I told him immediately where the money was (there was not much any way). He kept me under threat during 3 hours and raped me. I think I am alive because I remained calm (almost) and I spoke with him all the time, saying that I could be his mother (I was 55 years old) or even his grandmother and that he would not like that this happened to his mother. I believe he understood it because I kept repeating that....At the end I felt that he did not know how to get away without me seeing him. So, I proposed that he left me in the bedroom with the door closed and that I would wait there that he was gone. I promised not to go to the police (I went immediately after that of course).

Three weeks later there was a man in my kitchen, hiding behind the door (a sunday morning). I kept calm again and walked very slow out of the house through the backdoor and came back through the frontdoor to take the keys of my car (my house is about 100 m. from the road) and I drove to the road where I asked for help. One neighbor ran to the house with a stick and his wife and me saw 4 men running away from the house. Half of the village started to chase them. They found one (he burried himself in the ground) and this man was saved from the angry villagers by the police that arrived. I thought they were going to kill him. I suppose that they were so angry because they knew about what happened to me 3 weeks before.

After that I got the visit of all the police heads of Phuket, Patong and Kamala. They all told me they were going to find my rapist and they asked me to keep this story quiet. And I got special control from the police at my house during 6 months.

They never found the man of course and I know personally two women that have been attacked around that time : one on the land next to my house while she was walking the dogs and one a little further in her house on the same road. There has also been a tourist young girl that was attacked on the land near to her house (she saved the girl).

But the police never found who it was . Even some thai women told me that they know who it was but they did not go to the police because in their culture they cannot go and tell the police something like that....(?).

After that I had a high fence built around the house and I installed a security system with cameras and everything and I never had problems afterwards. It is ten years ago now and I start to feel safe again sometimes....So, I really do not agree with the people here that say that it is better to leave everything open. That is what I did before, because I know Phuket since 1979 and in that time it was safe. I came to live here in 1998 and I still thought it was safe...But now I know it is NOT.

Sorry for the poor english....

[thailiketoo]

The only protection against burglaries is insurance so you can at least get some of your money back.

Kurt

So tell us about your household insurance in Thailand. How much, name of company, ease of collection after robbery? Remember this is a Thailand forum..... Thai stuff....Thai insurance.

[chiang mai]

The first time they entered through the roof while I was not there in the evening. Only stole a phone from a brand that did not even exist in Thailand in that time and they left the charger (the phone was on the charger in the livingroom).

The second time I was gone for one night (visarun to Ranong), they broke the steel that protect a window. They took a laptop (very expensive one). Very strong people. I noticed that the two workers on the other side of the road that always came to work on one bicycle, had both a new bike the following week.

The third time they emptied my car but as nothing was interesting they throw everything in the garden.

And a few days later, I was attacked in my livingroom by a masked man with a knife. I told him immediately where the money was (there was not much any way). He kept me under threat during 3 hours and raped me. I think I am alive because I remained calm (almost) and I spoke with him all the time, saying that I could be his mother (I was 55 years old) or even his grandmother and that he would not like that this happened to his mother. I believe he understood it because I kept repeating that....At the end I felt that he did not know how to get away without me seeing him. So, I proposed that he left me in the bedroom with the door closed and that I would wait there that he was gone. I promised not to go to the police (I went immediately after that of course).

Three weeks later there was a man in my kitchen, hiding behind the door (a sunday morning). I kept calm again and walked very slow out of the house through the backdoor and came back through the frontdoor to take the keys of my car (my house is about 100 m. from the road) and I drove to the road where I asked for help. One neighbor ran to the house with a stick and his wife and me saw 4 men running away from the house. Half of the village started to chase them. They found one (he burried himself in the ground) and this man was saved from the angry villagers by the police that arrived. I thought they were going to kill him. I suppose that they were so angry because they knew about what happened to me 3 weeks before.

After that I got the visit of all the police heads of Phuket, Patong and Kamala. They all told me they were going to find my rapist and they asked me to keep this story quiet. And I got special control from the police at my house during 6 months.

They never found the man of course and I know personally two women that have been attacked around that time : one on the land next to my house while she was walking the dogs and one a little further in her house on the same road. There has also been a tourist young girl that was attacked on the land near to her house (she saved the girl).

But the police never found who it was . Even some thai women told me that they know who it was but they did not go to the police because in their culture they cannot go and tell the police something like that....(?).

After that I had a high fence built around the house and I installed a security system with cameras and everything and I never had problems afterwards. It is ten years ago now and I start to feel safe again sometimes....So, I really do not agree with the people here that say that it is better to leave everything open. That is what I did before, because I know Phuket since 1979 and in that time it was safe. I came to live here in 1998 and I still thought it was safe...But now I know it is NOT.

Sorry for the poor english....

Wow, thanks for sharing the details and I'm truly sorry you had to go through all of that.

[JLCrab]

The problem with having dogs on your property is that some of the dogs bark so loudly, so often, and at such great length at just about anything that passes by their front gate, that the neighbors will just say to themselves "There go those silly dogs barking again" while your property is being ransacked.

[somchaismith]

The first time they entered through the roof while I was not there in the evening. Only stole a phone from a brand that did not even exist in Thailand in that time and they left the charger (the phone was on the charger in the livingroom).

The second time I was gone for one night (visarun to Ranong), they broke the steel that protect a window. They took a laptop (very expensive one). Very strong people. I noticed that the two workers on the other side of the road that always came to work on one bicycle, had both a new bike the following week.

The third time they emptied my car but as nothing was interesting they throw everything in the garden.

And a few days later, I was attacked in my livingroom by a masked man with a knife. I told him immediately where the money was (there was not much any way). He kept me under threat during 3 hours and raped me. I think I am alive because I remained calm (almost) and I spoke with him all the time, saying that I could be his mother (I was 55 years old) or even his grandmother and that he would not like that this happened to his mother. I believe he understood it because I kept repeating that....At the end I felt that he did not know how to get away without me seeing him. So, I proposed that he left me in the bedroom with the door closed and that I would wait there that he was gone. I promised not to go to the police (I went immediately after that of course).

Three weeks later there was a man in my kitchen, hiding behind the door (a sunday morning). I kept calm again and walked very slow out of the house through the backdoor and came back through the frontdoor to take the keys of my car (my house is about 100 m. from the road) and I drove to the road where I asked for help. One neighbor ran to the house with a stick and his wife and me saw 4 men running away from the house. Half of the village started to chase them. They found one (he burried himself in the ground) and this man was saved from the angry villagers by the police that arrived. I thought they were going to kill him. I suppose that they were so angry because they knew about what happened to me 3 weeks before.

After that I got the visit of all the police heads of Phuket, Patong and Kamala. They all told me they were going to find my rapist and they asked me to keep this story quiet. And I got special control from the police at my house during 6 months.

They never found the man of course and I know personally two women that have been attacked around that time : one on the land next to my house while she was walking the dogs and one a little further in her house on the same road. There has also been a tourist young girl that was attacked on the land near to her house (she saved the girl).

But the police never found who it was . Even some thai women told me that they know who it was but they did not go to the police because in their culture they cannot go and tell the police something like that....(?).

After that I had a high fence built around the house and I installed a security system with cameras and everything and I never had problems afterwards. It is ten years ago now and I start to feel safe again sometimes....So, I really do not agree with the people here that say that it is better to leave everything open. That is what I did before, because I know Phuket since 1979 and in that time it was safe. I came to live here in 1998 and I still thought it was safe...But now I know it is NOT.

Sorry for the poor english....

Crikeys! This deserves a thread of its own.

[thailiketoo]

The problem with having dogs on your property is that some of the dogs bark so loudly, so often, and at such great length at just about anything that passes by their front gate, that the neighbors will just say to themselves "There go those silly dogs barking again" while your property is being ransacked.

I live in what I consider a typical Thai neighborhood. 20 or 30 houses and 20 or 30 dogs. I have noticed three other houses in addition to mine keep the dogs in the confines of their gated property.

Dogs fighting and dogs barking are two completely different sounds. The neighborhood dogs take turns barking and you can tell if a stranger is walking down the street. Each set of dogs bark the length of their property.

Unobstructed, dogs can hear another bark 9 miles away (history channel). So my dog knows who and what is coming down the street. She can hear and smell 10 times better than I.

Not only does my dog warn me of trespassers but poisonous snakes and scorpions as well and she doesn't take food from strangers. She is not the end all and be all of my home security system but she is an important part of it.

[JLCrab]

While you may able to notice a dog's different barkings sounds, I wouldn't expect your neighbors to know that.

[thailiketoo]

While you may able to notice a dog's different barkings sounds, I wouldn't expect your neighbors to know that.

Why, they aren't retarded? It's not like it is top secret information. Dogs have been protecting man since the dawn of civilization. Nothing new.

Edited March 28, 2014 by thailiketoo

[JLCrab]

Someone's neighbor's in Thailand will hear a dog barking and of course say to themselves: Hark! A dog is barking -- we'd better go out and check out the situation.

Edited March 28, 2014 by JLCrab

[thailiketoo]

Someone's neighbor's in Thailand will hear a dog barking and of course say to themselves: Hark! A dog is barking -- we'd better go out and check out the situation.

Maybe you think I have a Chihuahua. I don't. If you hear my dog barking like there is a fight a person would be advised to call an ambulance. All her shots up to date though.

Soi Dogs are village dogs. Since tigers roamed freely dogs have been warning Thai villagers about danger. Nothing new.

I don't need the neighbors. It would be nice, of course. But when my dog barks in a certain way I get out a weapon and go outside to see what is wrong.

Dogs and men have had a symbiotic relationship since cave man times. It is normal. Dogs can recognize 200 different words (history channel). I figure I recognize about 20 different barks or sounds my dog makes. We communicate just fine.

Maybe I am being unclear. My dog is not an alarm dog. The dog is a guard dog. She barks to warn you. If you are not warned she exerts 400 lbs of pressure from her back teeth on your person. In other words, like I tell the kids around here. She bites and she doesn't like to be petted or get treats.

Edited March 28, 2014 by thailiketoo

[JLCrab]

Very few burglaries as reported herein occur when the owner is at home. If someone really wants to break into your house while you are away, the dog isn't going to stop-em.

[thailiketoo]

Very few burglaries as reported herein occur when the owner is at home. If someone really wants to break into your house while you are away, the dog isn't going to stop-em.

You are the second person who has said that. There are three other houses around mine. Two don't have dogs. All the houses are the same age and appearance because the same developer built them all.

Let's say for discussion purposes you are a burglar. You walk past our three houses. They all have bars on the windows and they all look about the same except one house has a dog that is trying to jump over the gate to bite you.

Which house are you going to rob? The one with the angry dog trying to bite you or one of the others?

I think most police would agree that house break ins are usually crimes of opportunity and not well thought out masterminded criminal acts the caliber of a the great train robbery.

I think you are correct in cases of Goldfinger robbing Ft. Knox but wrong with 16 year old Somchai trying to get a few baht to buy ya ba.

Edited March 28, 2014 by thailiketoo