911 response time

[atsah]

A Dog is both an excellent early warning system and a deterrent.

For sure.. probably 25-30 minute response time for me so the Shepherd is here for many reasons and the most important one is in his blood.. If something/someone is around he knows it and conveys the information to me in split second time.. A 12GA always at the ready backs him up..

 

[TheMan419]

Op here

Re dog - we have one. She is an awful watch dog. We love her anyway.

Re wife actively carrying - she will not. So need best 2nd choice.

As for those who say I over reacted.... wrong. Dude comes up to my BACK DOOR. Only way to do that and not see the no trespass sign and not set off the drive way alarm is to not enter the property from the driveway.

Out come is the police did not come back to the house. They found him and he was wanted on warrants. That does not matter to my resolution of the matter in the moment because of course I did not know that. I had to call dispatch to find that out.

I cannot imagine opening the door in that situation. That is just crazy talk.

Indiana law is if the person is in the house I am justified in shooting. Outside the house it becomes much more complicated.

From a personal standpoint I would not want to have to live with having killed someone. However had things gone the other way and had he tried to break in there is no doubt in my mind I would have shot.

 

[RickB]

That’s about all that can be said.

 

[bunyip]

We have a police station but it is rarely manned and police attendance would be about an hour unless there is a vehicle in the area, nearest 24 hour police are over 30km away but they will come from the least busy at the time which could be over 70km away, on the other hand we have a back up ambulance called first responder which is manned by volunteers who administer what is needed until an ambulance arrives, they are trained level III first aiders which is the top level and they have a fitted out ambulance but they cannot do the work of a MICA staff member (Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance).
Rural fire brigade is also volunteer and are quick to respond.
Three German Shepherds keep the undesirables at bay.

 

[atsah]

Three German Shepherds keep the undesirables at bay.

Three, even better..

 

[bunyip]

Daughter breeds them, we just got two litters so it is 15 at the moment, 12 of them I can almost fit in my hands, not a threat yet

 

[4570Man]

I can’t comment on how well a scared woman would function.

Generally speaking, the “I feared for my life” defense needs to be paired with the conclusion that a reasonable person would feel the same.

In Ohio, the boundary of the house is significant. Once inside, there is an “initial presumption” that the intruder poses a grave threat. So in a situation similar to this one, if the home owner shot through the door, and the intruder had not produced a firearm or made a threat, I think there’s a decent chance that the home owner goes to jail.

If the intruder kicked in the back door after being verbally challenged by the home owner, then there is not much need to ask further questions. IMHO.

I can’t imagine very many justified shootings with you inside and the intruder outside. Once they’re inside it’s pretty safe to assume they weren’t coming to spread the gospel and I’m shooting.

 

[Jstpssng]

Op here

Re dog - we have one. She is an awful watch dog. We love her anyway.

Re wife actively carrying - she will not. So need best 2nd choice.

As for those who say I over reacted.... wrong. Dude comes up to my BACK DOOR. Only way to do that and not see the no trespass sign and not set off the drive way alarm is to not enter the property from the driveway.

Out come is the police did not come back to the house. They found him and he was wanted on warrants. That does not matter to my resolution of the matter in the moment because of course I did not know that. I had to call dispatch to find that out.

I cannot imagine opening the door in that situation. That is just crazy talk.

Indiana law is if the person is in the house I am justified in shooting. Outside the house it becomes much more complicated.

From a personal standpoint I would not want to have to live with having killed someone. However had things gone the other way and had he tried to break in there is no doubt in my mind I would have shot.

Knowing that, I will retract my previous statement.

 

[atsah]

As for those who say I over reacted.... wrong. Dude comes up to my BACK DOOR. Only way to do that and not see the no trespass sign and not set off the drive way alarm is to not enter the property from the driveway.

You didn't over react at all.. No one bangs on any part of my house after dark, I would never open the door, to many people on drugs these days to trust anyone.. It took me a month to find a new Shepherd after the last one died, I felt like I lost a valuable level of protection for a while until he reached 2 years old, I'm going to stagger another one in when he is about five for my benefit and his..

 

[Jstpssng]

I wouldn't have opened the door either, and nobody in their right mind would try to get through it when my dog's going apes; yet there are alternatives. Until his last post I was thinking of a woman I was talking to about 20 years ago who had two strange men pounding on her door at 3:00 AM. It turns out that they were hikers, and had left their campsite 5 hours previously because a fellow hiker had gotten seriously dehydrated and was having seizures. Luckily for him the woman didn't start screaming and calling for help; instead she listened to them then called in the cavalry, which carried the sick man off the mountain early the next morning.

 

[atsah]

Years ago if someone knocked on my door it was probably some kind of emergency, times have changed, most everyone has a cell phone and there are a lot more people on drugs and or up to no good..

 

[s219]

Years ago at our old house in town, we had someone knock on the front door and ring the doorbell at about 5am. I was up already getting ready to leave for work, but by the time I got downstairs they had already sent someone around to the back door with a pry bar. I made eye contact with him when I got to the bottom of the stairs and we both got a fright. They all piled into their car and tore off just as I got to the front door and got a glimpse of their car out the window.

I feel like a rube to say that my initial reaction when we heard the knocking was that a neighbor needed help. I guess I was younger and more kindhearted then.

We have a bunch of Nest cameras around our new house (out in the sticks), and I can get a quick look at what's going on from my phone. That's the first thing I would check if I got rousted by knocking at the door at an off hour.

 

[jjp8182]

I must say I'm actually impressed with the 8 minute response time - to the point I'm guessing there must have been a squad car relatively close by when the call was made.

Having worked police dispatch during college, and also knowing the emergency services response time to my parent's place (they've had more than a few interesting events) I think it's probably safe to say that most people are very unaware of the time line and sequence of events between them dialing 911 and a response arriving, and many never seem to think about it until after it's been needed (at least once).

That applies to both rural and urban areas. Rural areas might have more wide open distances (and unknown roads), but they tend to have less traffic (though even then it's unlikely an officer will drive faster than is safe for the conditions). Where as in urban areas the distances might be shorter...... but after having been in rush hour traffic in several major cities (e.g. NYC, DC, Baltimore) it's pretty evident that sirens don't do much good when there's no where for other vehicles to go to get out of the way (and even smaller cities aren't traffic free raceways). Of course, that's assuming the closest officers aren't already involved with something else they'd need to stop/finish before starting to travel.....

Not trying to disparage police, fire or EMS (or any other emergency personnel) at all, but I think it's definitely a worthwhile activity for everyone no matter where they live to think through what might have to occur in order for help to arrive in an emergency situation before such an emergency event occurs. Doing so might just make a difference if/when an actual emergency occurs.

After all, even in the best case scenarios an emergency responder can only as fast as their vehicle can go (though in most cases I doubt they'll be able to go that fast) -- and that's after they're informed, and can start traveling .... which happens after the dispatcher has enough information to assess what's going on, where it's happening, and dispatch whoever needs to respond.

 

[drssg]

Op here

Re dog - we have one. She is an awful watch dog. We love her anyway.

Re wife actively carrying - she will not. So need best 2nd choice.

As for those who say I over reacted.... wrong. Dude comes up to my BACK DOOR. Only way to do that and not see the no trespass sign and not set off the drive way alarm is to not enter the property from the driveway.

Out come is the police did not come back to the house. They found him and he was wanted on warrants. That does not matter to my resolution of the matter in the moment because of course I did not know that. I had to call dispatch to find that out.

I cannot imagine opening the door in that situation. That is just crazy talk.

Indiana law is if the person is in the house I am justified in shooting. Outside the house it becomes much more complicated.

From a personal standpoint I would not want to have to live with having killed someone. However had things gone the other way and had he tried to break in there is no doubt in my mind I would have shot.

Thanks for the update.

He had warrants? I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you! He seemed like such a nice guy. He was probably just about getting his life on track, and you wouldn't even let him use your phone. :laughing:

 

[TheMan419]

Thanks for the update.

He had warrants? I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you! He seemed like such a nice guy. He was probably just about getting his life on track, and you wouldn't even let him use your phone. :laughing:

I know right? I cannot imagine a 30 min response time as others have stated.

 

[widefat]

Op here

Re dog - we have one. She is an awful watch dog. We love her anyway.

Well, we have two - at least they bark like crazy.
But, they only bark because they are happy to see every human; I mean after all, every human exists just to give them treats and rub their bellies.

 

[TheMan419]

Well, we have two - at least they bark like crazy.
But, they only bark because they are happy to see every human; I mean after all, every human exists just to give them treats and rub their bellies.

Yes but at least that is early warning. Molly remains silent until you are at the door. Then she wants treats and belly rubs

 

[TSO]

Devil's advocate here:

Real crime of the century: A guy walks up to your house and asking to use the phone....and.......??? :confused3:

Your wife screams bloody murder, yells "Get the gun!" and calls the cops. Why?

Do you have "No Trespassing" signs?

You ask him to leave and he does (while you're making (very thinly veiled) threats about shooting him). OK. Done. What's the crime?

So, what was her complaint to the police? What was HER suspicion based on?

What did the police do? Arrest him for existing? Excessive tattoos? Failure to drive a car? Pedestrian-ing without a cell phone?

Sounds like there was only one party (not counting the cops you brought) bringing gun play and threats of violence to the scene and creating a disturbance.

Bonehead post of the century...

 

[atsah]

Bonehead post of the century...

Yup...

 

[Jstpssng]

Bonehead post of the century...

Yup...

Not so, considering the information available when he posted.