BEHIND THE MIKE

All of us hate the uninvited pitch from the door-to-door salespeople, be they innocent little Girl Scouts or people just wanting to size you up as their next victim.

I do not answer the door without knowing who is on the other side. I do not answer the phone from people I did not reach out to. I have a phone for my convenience, not for those who want to sell me something.

Recently, my wife and I met up with my beautiful daughter-in-law Dr. Jessica Aun and my one-year old granddaughter, Adelaide Olivia. Jessica had put in an all-night-er at her hospital and decided that a visit to the Cheesecake Factory would be a nice opportunity for lunch with gramma and Jiddy (grandfather).

After lunch, Jess departed to get Adelaide home for her nap. Earlier that morning, she left home but failed to set the alarm on her door. Afterall, it was broad daylight and she lives in a gated community. Safe enough, you would think.

While at lunch, her husband Jason, who was working a case for the FDA in Miami, received a notice that there was movement at their front door. The person standing there looked like he was holding business cards, but he never officially rang the bell. He just headed out.

Jason, responding to the Nest doorbell alert, realized that Jessica had failed to set the alarm, so he activated it remotely. Moments later, Jason received notification from the alarm company that they were going to call emergency services. The silent alarm had activated.

Meanwhile, Jessica was heading home with Adelaide snoozing in the back seat after a nice visit with the grandparents at the Mall. She had silenced her phone and did not get the frantic phone calls from Jason alerting her to the possibility of an ambush.

She pulled into her garage and prepared to carry Adelaide in to continue her nap.

“When I opened the door,” explained Jessica, “I could barely hear the security alarm going off. I was a little confused and thought I had accidentally set the alarm, so I turned it off, which also turned off the notification to the police.”

“I knew something was wrong immediately,” continued Jessica. “I realized that the rear sliding door had been destroyed and something was off. My first instinct was to protect Adelaide so I ran as fast as I could out to the car because someone could still be in the house and she was still sleeping.”

As she raced through the house, she called 911 and the Apopka, Fla., Police Department immediately responded, securing the house and searching for the intruder. The motion-sensitive doorbell camera had captured the perpetrator’s face and clothing even though he never rang the bell.

The police showed up with sniffer dogs and even a helicopter hovered over the scene. Over the next few hours, family and friends had gathered to help piece everything back together… literally.

Neighbor’s security cameras and their own cameras caught most of the perp’s movements on video. However, there was no camera on the rear of the property. It was obvious that the guy breaking in had been frightened off by the alarm and nothing was stolen.

The suspect was obviously aware that Jessica had returned home so he split. “I wondered what would have happened if Jason had not set the alarm as he did, says Jessica. I would like to think that the intruder would have left when he heard the garage door open.” Maybe… maybe not.

Set your alarm system and give it a chance to do its job. It might save you time, money and maybe your life. Make sure you do not get too comfortable wherever you live. You can never be too cautious.