Incident: Home invasion
My Baby Sister's fiance was a victim of a home invasion while visiting a friends house. They were hanging out when there was a knock at the door.They saw a mutual friend through the window, but when they opened the door, gun wielding gangbangers burst in and held everyone at gunpoint while everyone gave up their valuables and watched as everything of value was stripped from the home. Ultimately, one person was shot and everyone else was pistol slapped.
What happened?
The friend that was at the door was taken hostage at gunpoint as he approached the door. The thugs forced him to knock at the door, thus preying on the lack of OPSEC in your average household.
What can people do to prevent this?
My family has a special knock we require friends to know if they are going to show up unexpected. If someone knocks at the door, and it isn't that knock, we answer the door with weapon in hand.
If someone is going to be showing up after dark, we make them call first or we don't come to the door. If the knocking continues, we come to the door with a weapon and make everyone back up off the porch before the door opens. One of us will be at the door, the other will have a defensive position with a clear shot.
People say we are too security minded, but read the news. Home invasions are at an all time high. Rape, burglary, murder... people are getting crazy and I have a family I love and will protect.
Communications
A family needs to establish at least a few code words that can be used to quickly convey information in times of duress. For matters of OPSEC, I wont share our words but I will give some good examples.
- False pet names - Mom and Dad always have names for each other. "Honey butt", "Pumpkin", "Muffin", whatever! But if you establish One Specific Term of Endearment, as a signal of danger. If you want to expand on it further, certain names can mean certain things.
"Pumpkin" Might mean Get in the truck and bail. Like Cinderella's fabled pumpkin ride.
"Doll Face" May be something as innocent as Something is up, be on alert. - One Word Instructions - You can establish single word trigger commands where everyone knows to do a certain thing when they hear that word. The word should be outside common use but also be something that can be used with total clarity because you may need to either whisper it or yell it at the top of your lungs.
"Hollyhock" May mean "We are being attacked/invaded, children get to your safe place and everyone man your defensive posts."
"Alabaster" May mean that there is an active shooter and to immediately get low and follow a pre-made escape plan. - "Duderino" May easily mean "Don't trust this guy." Example: Check out El Duderino over there.
Very simply, come up with easy to use terms and make sure everyone knows them.
