Ladrones in the house

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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I am fairly new to the DR. I do not live in a residencial. I have two dogs. The other night a thief removed 5 jealousie glasses from the kitchen window and was close to being in the house when the dogs began barking. After the terrible murder in Sosua I am a bit nervous. Does anyone here have a plan/ What do you do when you hear noises in the house at night? I have a wife and kids and am interested in having a planned response to armed or unarmed thieves in the house. My wife (Dominican) is in the process of acquiring a pistol permit so that will be a small help. Anyone have plans for their security? Thanks
 

GringoCArlos

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Jan 9, 2002
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Before you go to the expense of an alarm system, a gun, etc, Why doesn't your house have steel bars over the windows? What do you expect with jalousy windows, flowers?

Get a welder to put steel bars over all windows, and your entry doors, on all floors, FIRST. That will deter most would-be thieves. The dogs will take care of 95% of the rest. Alarms and a gun may work against the most determined thieves, but with jalousy windows, and no bars, my limpia bota kid would probably pop in during daylight to see if he could grab something easy.

Outside spotlights with motion detectors, mounted up high, would be a good second step. Not much expense, and a good deterrent too.
 
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canadian bob

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Jan 16, 2002
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zoomzx11! Glue all the glass slats in the jalousies in the slots, using a little Epoxy glue. Add the bars on the INSIDE. That makes them impossible to jack/pry out from outside. Any good iron man can do this. The bars are attached to the inside walls using lead inserts in drilled holes and hex-head lag-screws through "ears" pre-welded to the corners. They never rust that way & are 100% secure, with the glued jalousies outside. Ensure that the padlocks on outside door "cages" are protected by substantial plates so that the padlocks are only accessible from underneath by the key. If the locks are accessible. they ALL can be cut /pried/broken. Hope this helps. Glad you have dogs! Canadian Bob.
 

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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The Sosua thing freaked me out too, but not as much as seeing jalousy panes removed in my baby's bedroom. Looks like the thief got one jammed diagonally and chickened out trying to pull it out. This is on the second floor, the bastard climbed up on the roof and was trying tio get in from there.

Gotta get those bars on the window, man.

Got mine put on a week or so ago and I feel much better. Still sleep with a machete in one hand though and I'm glad they don't sell anything bigger than a 9mm in the DR.

Pretty sure I can put a Brazilian machete blade through a Dominican skull in the time it takes a 9mm to take me down.

As soon as me and the (Dominican) wife are getting along better I'll probably buy a shotgun in her name.

My Dominican father in law recently told me, "this country was discovered by (Spanish) ladrones, founded by ladrones, populated by ladrones and is run by ladrones, every one you meet is a ladron just waiting for their chance, don't ever turn your back on anyone."

"El que tiene tienda lo tiende o lo vende"
 

Santiagohombre1

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Jun 1, 2006
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i mean, dont be paranoid or anythig, just take the proper precautions.
dogs will do it, motion sensors, the point is that once they are in the house you can have knives, mace, a gun, a machete. But chances are you are fine, dont worry. the thing is, just keep everything locked up. i am a karate sensei and i went through training, once they get in the house, you have many many options to take them out but the thing is you dont want them to get in. but this was no hard core bueglar, he would have broken in and shot the dogs and all. could have been just some litle punk guy with no food or a punk delincuent kid. just keep everything locked up, you are fine.
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
zoomzx11! Glue all the glass slats in the jalousies in the slots, using a little Epoxy glue. Add the bars on the INSIDE. That makes them impossible to jack/pry out from outside. Any good iron man can do this. The bars are attached to the inside walls using lead inserts in drilled holes and hex-head lag-screws through "ears" pre-welded to the corners. They never rust that way & are 100% secure, with the glued jalousies outside. Ensure that the padlocks on outside door "cages" are protected by substantial plates so that the padlocks are only accessible from underneath by the key. If the locks are accessible. they ALL can be cut /pried/broken. Hope this helps. Glad you have dogs! Canadian Bob.
how about picture of the finished product?

while i'm sure i'm visualising this properly....who knows?
i've been wrong before:bunny:
 

Fiesta Mama

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Jan 28, 2004
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Thank you Mr. Mike. Of course I know what these are but never knew their name. Also, I have not seen many of glass... most I have seen are of wood (very old I know) or plastic. I'm sure the glass ones must be more expensive.

I like the suggestion of putting bars on the inside of the house. I will have to remember that. I always thought the bars take away from outside look but of course they are necessary. I don't know if I would like the look of having them on the inside... safer or not.
 
I am fairly new to the DR. I do not live in a residencial. I have two dogs. The other night a thief removed 5 jealousie glasses from the kitchen window and was close to being in the house when the dogs began barking. After the terrible murder in Sosua I am a bit nervous. Does anyone here have a plan/ What do you do when you hear noises in the house at night? I have a wife and kids and am interested in having a planned response to armed or unarmed thieves in the house. My wife (Dominican) is in the process of acquiring a pistol permit so that will be a small help. Anyone have plans for their security? Thanks

Make sure everyone in the neighborhood knows you will kill them if they mess with you and you will have little or no problems
 

GringoCArlos

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Jan 9, 2002
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I will still say that the deterrent of the bars on the windows is that potential thieves CAN SEE THEM, (on the outside), instead of starting their break-in and then discovering them on the inside. If you want to feel really safe, then do both the inside and the outside.

If they are attempting to break in, and the bars are on the inside, you will still lose a night's sleep after your dogs go off, and you discover the attempt, instead of the basta*ds passing your home by and looking for an easier target.

And Super Glue on both ends of every individual pane, when the glass can just be broken with one finger in the middle? Sorry canadianbob, but it sounds like someone has too much time on their hands. :)
 

carolina_llibre

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Feb 13, 2006
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hola! my name is Carolina LLibre, I was also a victim of this situation. If you are interest: a group of familys that had the same situation are involved in the following:
we make a letter to be send to the authorities in santo domingo so we are collecting signatures if you would liket to be involve in this please advise so we can meet in order for you to have a look of what we are doing.

regards,


my email is carolina_llibre@yahoo.com in case you want to get in contact
 

macocael

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Aug 3, 2004
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My Dominican father in law recently told me, "this country was discovered by (Spanish) ladrones, founded by ladrones, populated by ladrones and is run by ladrones, every one you meet is a ladron just waiting for their chance, don't ever turn your back on anyone."

"El que tiene tienda lo tiende o lo vende"

That is the best thing I have read on here in a while. Great. I'd love to meet your suegro. He is right, thievery here is endemic. when the grand patriarch of the clan I married into here died recently, my mother in law removed all valuables from the house because she knew that the grieving relatives would not be so overwhelmed as to forget to lift a "souvenir"!! I was astonished, even after all these years here.

But really OP, get some freaking hierro (bars) on the windows. That is requirement number one. Machete is two. A nine, maybe -- but let me tell you, most times a gun in the house or even on the person is of no use. A violent thief with intention to kill will use the element of surprise against you and shoot you or disarm you (or use your own gun against you -- happened just two weeks ago in our village, quiet little Sonador) way before you have time to react. And remember he has a further advantage: he is determined to get what he wants whatever the circumstances, but most people, even protecting their homes, hesitate to pull the trigger.
 

canadian bob

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Jan 16, 2002
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I will still say that the deterrent of the bars on the windows is that potential thieves CAN SEE THEM, (on the outside), instead of starting their break-in and then discovering them on the inside. If you want to feel really safe, then do both the inside and the outside.

If they are attempting to break in, and the bars are on the inside, you will still lose a night's sleep after your dogs go off, and you discover the attempt, instead of the basta*ds passing your home by and looking for an easier target.

And Super Glue on both ends of every individual pane, when the glass can just be broken with one finger in the middle? Sorry canadianbob, but it sounds like someone has too much time on their hands. :)

The bars inside are visible through the jalousies. When they look inside & see them, they will go elsewhere.
Yes, glued jalousies can be broken, but make a lot of noise, which ladrones don't like. The time spent in gluing them is worth the effort I can assure you.
Without glue they can be removed quickly & silently.
Something to remember is that after removing a couple of glass slats, ladrones can slit the screen and fish through the BARS for any valuables within a 10ft reach using a stiff wire which is easily hidden by wrapping it around the waist... A pair of pants with a wallet in a pocket, or a purse etc are easy game, & the ladrone doesn't even enter the house. This happened to two friends of mine, one a Dominican, the other an American. Following this, they both glued the jalousie slats. Also, a second story balcony is easily reached by the use of a "gancho" (hook) made of a rebar bent into a hook shape at each end. The ladrone stands on the bottom hook, then climbs the rebar which is hooked on the balcony. Takes only a few seconds. If ladrones are successful, they invariably return. They know that even if they are caught, they will only do 3 days in the pokey.
I take this stuff very seriously! Canadian Bob.
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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Thanks

I appreciate all the advice. I loved the glue advice on the jealousie glass panes and am working on it. I have my pistol and have installed throw bolts on the inside doors of each bedroom. That way at least we will have some time to respond to the noise. Sadly the house is a rental but when I build I will put the bars on the inside. Am in the process of getting an outside night dog, my other two are insided the house. One is an excellent alarm dog. My plan at this time is to call police then fire the pistol out the window a few times then wait for any more noise. And I have a machete, but its for my wife's use (Dominican farm girl). We discussed this with the family so that each one knows what we will do. In any event if professionsl thieves want to kill you its difficult to stop. Thank you again for your input.
 

canadian bob

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Be sure to have your cel phone in your bedroom, along with a list of the police & any other numbers you need in case of an emergency. Ladrones have a habit of cutting regular phone lines... Canadian Bob.