Stay put in a home invasion

by James on Feb.01, 2010, under Personal

James Rummel over at Hell and a Handbasket wrote a very good post on the benefits/risks of staying put in the case of a home invasion or going out into the darkness to search for the invader(s). It’s a great post and I recommend that you read it.

Another reader of the post asked several questions and I answered them at length, in such great length that I figured I’d just put it up here too.

How long will it takes the cops to get there?
Irrelevant, the longer it takes the police to arrive is just the longer you will stay your safe room (i.e. bedroom).

How many bad guys in the house?
Well, if they are a hit team coming after you. You are likely screwed. Otherwise they are looking to burgle and not to confront. In any case, your safe room comes purpose built with, what we called in the Army, the Fatal Funnel. Only one person can effectively cross the threshold, giving you the advantage over multiple hostiles.

What if the bad guys are really drugged up and don’t worry about the cops coming?
Either the police will deal with them when they do arrive or they will still have to cross your Fatal Funnel.

What if your kids rooms are in another part of the house?
Either quickly retrieve them or designate their room (or one of their rooms) as the safe room and rally there.

If nothing else the ability (with much practice) to clear your house would be handy if needed.
Without another’s life being at risk, I would never attempt to clear a building solo. You leave yourself dangerously exposed as it would be difficult/impossible to cover all possible angles of fire as you cleared each room. Hell, just to clear a half wall properly requires two and staircases are a nightmare.
Think of it this way, as opposed to the ambush analogy (which is quite apt), think of it as assault/defense. A successful frontal assault generally require 3:1 odds, therefore, staying put is the best bet.