Interview ?

[Running Arrow Bill]

The young man begins to tell me about this large tarantula in my front yard, "the largest I have ever seen, larger than my hand, you need to see this" he said.

"Ya man that's "Fluffy". He cruised out the doggy door a few minutes ago. His mother will likely pop out in a few minutes to look after him. Unless you want to join hands with the other two doorbell ringers they've got cocooned up under the back deck you might want to be moving along."

Loved it! Great response...big "fluffy" is waiting for "bigger" mama...lol.

[Running Arrow Bill]

Since we live in the country away from town...don't have to worry about the "JW's" pamphlet dispensing bunch, Girl Scout Cookie girls, Halloween T&T's, and others. We also have 2 alarm systems, video surveillance, photo sensor lighting, 2 dogs, deadbolt locks on all doors...and of course our "backup hardware..." LOL!

If anyone comes here after dark...well, they're up to no good...

[RPB]

Last night, I think I was interviewed. I live in a nice quiet neighborhood. About 9:30 my door bell rings. I look though the peep hole and see a clean cut, early 20ish male standing well back from the door. I blade away, place my hand on my pistol, unlock and open the door part way with my weak hand. The young man begins to tell me about this large tarantula in my front yard, "the largest I have ever seen, larger than my hand, you need to see this" he said. I instantly went from condition orange to condition red. While closing the door I told him if it was that large he should call animal control. The whole thing could not have lasted more than 10 seconds. This was so off the wall, I think he was trying to draw me out from inside. I thought about calling the police, but he had really done nothing wrong. Other than not opening the door, what would others have done?

There is absolutely no doubt the subject was attempting to either lure you out of your house, or get you to open the door wider so he could barge in. Neither would have anything to do with a spider (which would be pretty difficult to spot by chance at 9:30 PM on the lawn), and if you had provided the opportunity your visitor would have taken full advantage of it.

Your instincts were spot on, and you dealt with the situation successfully in that you didn't suffer injury or loss or have to engage in a physical confrontation.

Some after action points you might want to consider:

1. Once you've unlocked a door and opened it even a crack, it's extremely easy for someone outside to charge the door, knock you off balance, and be on top of you in the blink of an eye. If you don't know the party on the other side, the door should not be unlocked at all. Seamus' suggestions about intercoms and cameras makes finding out what the party wants easier (I use an intercom myself), but speaking through the closed and locked door works well enough to get the job done.

2. Since the subject was unsuccessful at your door, there is an extremely high likelihood he would have gone on to try something similar at a nearby residence. Making the call immediately might either prevent a crime if he could be intercepted before another attempt, or might facilitate the response to a home invasion which might have started a minute or two after you closed your door. At the very least, the time, description, and approach details would be extremely valuable in furthering the investigation of similar incidents that you're not aware of but have been reported, and may well have progressed much further than yours.

Forget trying to rationalize how come you shouldn't call the police after something causes you to go into condition red. Here's the rule of thumb from the police side:

Better one call too many than one call too few.

I got to "unlocked and opened the door" to an unknown person ...and moaned
So, next time you recognize the guy, remember that nothing really bad happened; unlock and open it a crack and he kicks it open and his 3 buddies join him from different angles with their guns out ... Perhaps they are making the rounds keeping a list of who opens doors a crack and who just hollars through the door.

[donniet]

I got to "unlocked and opened the door" to an unknown person ...and moaned
So, next time you recognize the guy, remember that nothing really bad happened; unlo[quote][/quote]ck and open it a crack and he kicks it open and his 3 buddies join him from different angles with their guns out ... Perhaps they are making the rounds keeping a list of who opens doors a crack and who just hollars through the door.

Perhaps you are correct, then again, maybe he and his buddies will rush me when I leave for work in the morning. Nothing is for sure in this life, except death. I made a calculation based on what I saw before I opened the door. We all make calculations and take risks every day. We drive 70 mph instead of 50 mph. Why? Because we have considered the conditions to which we are exposed and are confident we can cope. For some, it works out, and we arrive safely at our destination. For others it proves to be a costly, or perhaps deadly mis-calculation.

I cannot live in fear of opening my door, or what MIGHT happen. Do I consider myself reckless? Not at all! I process what information I have at the time and act accordingly. Is there risk? Yes. Some use cameras and intercoms, others don't answer the door, that's great if that provides what they need to feel secure. Bottom line, I know some will disagree, and I respect their decision. However we can all learn from each other and take away what we feel works for us.

[Dragonfighter]

<snip>
I cannot live in fear of opening my door, or what MIGHT happen. Do I consider myself reckless? Not at all! I process what information I have at the time and act accordingly. Is there risk? Yes. Some use cameras and intercoms, others don't answer the door, that's great if that provides what they need to feel secure. Bottom line, I know some will disagree, and I respect their decision. However we can all learn from each other and take away what we feel works for us.

I have night owl neighbors who periodically knock on the door fairly late, but then we are usually up as well. My house is such I can look to see who is on the porch and for what it's worth, huge tarantulas is a real possibility at my house as are snakes, rabbits and according to tracks in the snow...panthers.

Stereotypes being what they are I too, will size up a stranger at the door but I am always armed.

[donniet]

Stereotypes being what they are I too, will size up a stranger at the door but I am always armed.

Always armed, my family understands and I carry 24/7/365 unless required by law to disarm.

[67N20]

This week I got a young man clean cut with 3 rings binder. His story, he is an employee from platinum co subdivision of GE who would to offer security system upgrade for FREE including cell phone module, morion detectors, etc. As long as we post their sign in the front yard and we are vocal about their system. I asked him to see his litratue docs and it seemed legit. However, he asked for entry in my house to explain the offer. I rufused to let him and he was insisting for letting him in. I got spooked and told him I am not interested.

Was my home being cased or just an honest young guy he wants to make a buck?

I had a couple of guys from the same company at my residence a couple of months ago. I told them repeatedly that I would listen to their spiel as along as their product wouldn't cost more per month for monitoring than I currently pay. Their main point of sale is that the monitoring was done by cell phone towers, not a land line so any bad guys couldn't cut the phone line to disable the alarm. They promised to upgrade what I had and then told me the monthly fee was going to run about $15 more per month for monitoring. I sent them on their way, mostly because I had asked them several times what I was going have to pay and they kept implying that it was going to be "about the same" as what I was currently paying.

[40khammer]

You don't have to call 911 for situations like that. You can just call police dispatch and give them the information. They'll send a car over to cruise through at the very least. At least that's what they do in my town.

[knotquiteawake]

You don't have to call 911 for situations like that. You can just call police dispatch and give them the information. They'll send a car over to cruise through at the very least. At least that's what they do in my town.

This is an important point I hadn't seen brought up before here. Have the non-emergency number for your local police station/substation in your phone. When I lived in southern California (LA County Sheriff was the local law in my city) I found this to be the most effective way to report suspicious behavior. Usually the Public Safety Officer they had manning the desk/dispatch at the substation was already in direct contact with the officers (as opposed to the 911 operator feeding information to the main dispatchers feeding information to an officer, or simply putting information into a call and feeding the info to a MDU in the officer's car). I think they appreciated me not using the emergency line because they could put me on hold as long as they needed to. The desk officer was also more available to stay on the line with me to update the officer on the suspicious person's location movement ect, the 911 dispatchers would usually just take the info and let me go if it was just a suspicious person kind of thing.

[speedsix]

...call centers vary...ours handles 3 towns (poorly) and a call to the non-emergency number gets shunted right back to 911 operators...

[ELB]

...

I cannot live in fear of opening my door, or what MIGHT happen. Do I consider myself reckless? Not at all! I process what information I have at the time and act accordingly. Is there risk? Yes. ...etc..

Yes, this.

[knotquiteawake]

...call centers vary...ours handles 3 towns (poorly) and a call to the non-emergency number gets shunted right back to 911 operators...

good point. In California, twice over the course of a couple years I had called 911 because of a drunk driver on the freeway (VERY drunk, could not stay in the lane at all), both times I was put on hold for several minutes, by that time the diver had already exited or I had already exited. That was why unless I needed an ambulance I pretty much stayed away from 911. That hasn't been the case here in Dallas (I have bad luck with them transferring me to the wrong department though so it can take a while to actually get the right dispatcher).

[hpcatx]

You don't have to call 911 for situations like that. You can just call police dispatch and give them the information. They'll send a car over to cruise through at the very least. At least that's what they do in my town.

Have the non-emergency number for your local police station/substation in your phone.

I assume that this is different than calling 311, but wanted to verify. I'll need to research this info for our home.

[knotquiteawake]

You don't have to call 911 for situations like that. You can just call police dispatch and give them the information. They'll send a car over to cruise through at the very least. At least that's what they do in my town.

Have the non-emergency number for your local police station/substation in your phone.

I assume that this is different than calling 311, but wanted to verify. I'll need to research this info for our home.

It sounds like for dallas that 311 will connect you with city services. i think this would be different than contacting our local law for a non-emergency but still law enforcement related issue.

[40khammer]

You don't have to call 911 for situations like that. You can just call police dispatch and give them the information. They'll send a car over to cruise through at the very least. At least that's what they do in my town.

Have the non-emergency number for your local police station/substation in your phone.

I assume that this is different than calling 311, but wanted to verify. I'll need to research this info for our home.

It sounds like for dallas that 311 will connect you with city services. i think this would be different than contacting our local law for a non-emergency but still law enforcement related issue.

If you go to your local LE's website they should list a few contact numbers. One of them should either say "Dispatch" or just "Police Department"

Either one will work. Some agencies don't list the dispatch number, but if you call the department with a complaint they'll connect you.