FYI - crime in area

This is similiar to what happened few weeks ago in Overland Park area. These streets appear to be right behind overland park - possibly carisbrooke ?

11/29/04 2:17 PM
Loudoun County, Virginia- A Thanksgiving morning burglary has Sheriff's Investigators searching for a brazen subject who entered an Ashburn home while the residents slept inside.

Shortly before 6 AM a six-year-old child screamed from his bedroom when he saw an unknown subject in his room in their residence on Sperrin Court. The parents initially thought their son had had a bad dream until later that morning when they discovered mud on the floor in his bedroom and their phone line had been cut.

Deputies canvassed the neighborhood of Sperrin Court and discovered several of the neighborhood screens had been cut including a home along the cross street of Malin Court. Another home on Malin Court was discovered to have screen of their sliding glass door cut on November 28th.

The subject was only able to gain entry to the one home and did not take anything from the residence during the burglary. The subject was described as wearing all black and was said to have been wearing a mask.

If you have any information about the identity of this suspect you are asked to contact Investigator Weckenman of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 703-777-0475.

 

That's why we have our big dog who barks on occasion.

 

I took a criminal justice class in college, and the professor described the hot prowl burglar as the most dangerous because he is brazen enough to come in while there are people home- which often means he is willing to harm or kill someone. He is not just your run of the mill thief.

Here is an excerpt about hot prowl and safety:

"A "Hot Prowl" is a burglary when a subject enters, or attempts to enter your home while someone is home. A hot prowl burglary is dangerous because of the possible confrontation between the subject and victim.

A victim has a number of options to choose from if they feel someone is attempting to break into their home, or if they feel someone is in their home.

Call 9-1-1 immediately. If you can't speak to the dispatcher, leave the phone off the hook—don't hang up. The dispatcher will send officers out to your location. If you can speak to the dispatcher, tell him/her what you hear, where it is coming from, how many people live in the house, etc. If you see the subject, give a description to the dispatcher. This information will be relayed to officers responding to the scene.


If you feel someone is in the house, and you can leave safely, do so.


If you and other members of your family can not leave safely, try and lock yourselves in a bedroom or bathroom. Take the phone with you if possible.


Be safe. Try and avoid a confrontation with the subject if at all possible.
Remember the following home security tips when leaving your home or going to sleep.

Make sure all windows are closed and locked. For extra security, add a sliding window lock to each window, place a dowel or stick in the window track. To prevent the window from being forced out of the frame, install a flat-headed metal screw into the top of the window frame, two inches from each window frame edge.


Be sure all doors are closed and secured. All exterior doors should have deadbolts installed, including the door that leads from the house into the garage and from the garage to the outside.


All patio doors should be closed and secured. For extra security, install patio door pins or patio door locks, and to prevent the door from being lifted out of its frame, install a flat-headed metal screw into the top of the patio door frame, two inches from each edge and one in the middle.


Install motion sensor lights to areas around your home that are dark. For extra security, install motion sensor lights near the front door, the back door and above the garage.


Form a Neighborhood Watch group in your neighborhood or community. Get to know your neighbors. Communicate with each other and the police department about suspicious activity or if you are a victim of a crime."

 

Also, Alarm system does help .... Last thing burglar wants is attention ... Our old home also had alarm system and there was a break in attempt on New Years eve couple of years ago ...

Once the alarm went off, burglar fled and police arrived little later
to confirm there was indeed a break in attempt....

Few dollars a month sure seems like a sound investment for the well being of your loved ones ...

 

I had a scare today in the Southern Walk area of Broadlands... I'm in a townhome and saw our back yard gate slam shut. I grabbed my daughter and was ready to get out of the house, but when I got downstairs realized that there wasn't anybody in the back yard. I looked for someone and couldn't find anybody near by. I went to the lock on the gate and has been broken. I am considering reporting this incident to police as a non-emergency, in case they are experiencing other problems. I'm a little spooked after reading the below story...

 

I just emailed Wes about a stretch of path right behind my house that has non-working lights. Hopefully they can be fixed soon cause it's super dark back there.

This is all very creepy!

 

We had something weird happen at the beginning of the year when snow was on the ground. There were footprints in the snow that started at the fence line between us & our nbr, but none going to/from the gate. We figured out that it was one of the meter readers that couldn't get into our gate but still, it was a bit disconcerting. I think motion sensor lights sound good right about now

 

A 9mm works very well,just make sure you drag them into the house before you call the police.

 

Maybe that would work in Texas but Virginia is going to the Carebears.

 

Lisa (or anyone else),

What happened in Overland Park a few weeks ago?

 

This is the blurb from the Loudoun County Sheriff's report dated 11-12-04 in the Observer.

"Unknown subjects slashed five window screens of a residence in the 43300 block of Markham Place in Ashburn between 9 a.m. Oct. 23 and 8 a.m. Nov. 6. No entry was made into the home and nothing was taken."

http://observernews.com/stories/current/news/111204/lc_sheriff111204.shtml

 

Given it is right before the holidays, this is a good time to review what Sunny and Snoopy have written. No need to get paranoid but at the same time practice good common sense measures. It's great that residents keep us informed via these forums about any unusual incidents.

 

I'm pretty sure it's a supreme court decision that makes shooting a home invader "self-defense" and not state law

"Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6"

 

You can never be too careful when it comes to a jury trial. They let a murderer go free and sent a woman to jail b/c she was a Uber Bi... not so nice person .

 

Kat-
Did you have a padlock on your gate? I live in the same area- let us know if anything else fishy occurs!

 

haha...Ice Cube!

 

Sunny,

We installed a pad lock last night! It is definitely creepy. I talked with the Sheriff Dept. and they kept talking about all of the construction in the area,etc. So, who knows? We now have the pad lock and I feel a little better. We also put up some curtains in parts of the house that we didn't feel needed them before. It is too bad, we have to live with a constant awareness of these types of things. Let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary... Bests
ps- thanks for the pointers from your class. Anybody hear anything else about the Thanksgiving incident? The sheriff said he didn't know about it?!

 

how is the meter reader going to check your meter? or is it one of the wireless ones where they just drive by?

I do think that washington gas tells you what day they are scheduled to check your meter... I remember seeing footprints in my back yard (and neighbors yard, around his back window) last winter and kinda freaked out, but then did some research and found that it was just the meter reader...

 

I saw the meter reader last year in the snow hopping over our neighbors fence into our yard (they have a padlock too)- which was perfectly fine with me since we do have the padlock. But no one has contacted me about getting in to read it. Not sure how they handle that.

 

I think Wash Gas Meter readers carry binoculars a lot of times just for this purpuse. I have lived in many townhouses and had the gates padlocked (more to keep the dogs in versus the bad guys out) and have never had a problem.
B