As a home security writer, this is the last thing I was expecting to write about at 1 in the morning on a Thursday, but here we are. About half an hour ago, I was just about to lock up and go to bed, when I had this strange feeling I was being watched. I’ve learned to trust my intuition, so I looked outside my window through the blinds. I’ve done this dozens of times over the years, and of course no one is ever there. This time, however, it was different.
I saw a man outside. Well, the outline of him at least. My gate was slightly open, and I could see him peering in. I guess he couldn’t see me, because I just stared at him for what felt like 10 minutes before acting. It was clear that he wanted to either steal from the garden, break into the shed, or worse, break into the house. He can’t have spotted me, as he was in no rush whatsoever.
I rushed downstairs, swung open the door and shouted “who’s that?” to which, there was no response. They quickly shut the gate and presumably ran away immediately.
I tried to cut them off by going out the front door and running to the road to block him off, but he must have ran off down a path round the back. I got in my car and tried to chase them down and see if I could spot anyone, but it’s pretty hard to find someone dressed in all black at night.
Now I’ve had a handful of things stolen before – a random tool in the garden here, a speaker there, but never have I caught someone moments before robbing me with my own eyes. It genuinely shook me a bit. My immediate thoughts were of anger – I need to chase them down and teach them a lesson. Rationality luckily came back within a few minutes and I returned home, still seething. We’re going to take a look at the legality of chasing someone down who tried to rob you a bit later on…
This experience gave me a good fright, and there are a few lessons I have learned from it. Let’s take some positives from this situation, hey?
Get a Full View of Your Garden on Camera
This guy wasn’t being recorded. At all. I immediately felt annoyed when I realised I had no footage or alert of this incident occurring, and the only reason I caught him at all was gut feeling. Now gut feeling is okay when you’re in the property, and for the one out of 100 times you actually catch someone in the act. But my mind instantly went south. How many times has he been in my garden without me realising? How many things has he stolen from me before? Has he been watching me in my house at night? These are all truly terrifying thoughts to have, so first thing tomorrow morning, I’m getting a new camera – an outdoor one, with extended night vision and super sensitive alerts. I’ve realised I would rather get the occasional false alarm than get no alarms, especially when someone managed to get into my garden at night. The downstairs door was unlocked too…
Lock Everything You Can’t See
That’s right, you heard me. I was upstairs when I spotted him, but my downstairs door which opens onto the patio was unlocked. If they were willing to violate my security enough to open the garden gate, who’s to say they wouldn’t have tried the door too if I hadn’t noticed? From now on, we’re going to be super vigilant when it comes to making sure doors and windows are shut, even if it’s just a matter of us being in another room. It sounds like a paranoid way of living, but trust me – after that experience, the last thing I’m going to do is assume that no one is going to walk into my house if it’s unlocked.
I thought the area I lived in was fairly safe – it’s the sort of place where even mr. security conscious himself would be happy to nip to the corner shop and leave the front door unlocked. There’s absolutely no chance I’m ever doing that again. Luckily I’m moving to a nicer area shortly, but even there I’m going to remain super on top of locking doors and windows.
Seriously, especially if you have kids and live in a densely populated area – keep your doors and windows locked at night. It feels like it’s been drilled into us to the point where people almost forget why it is that you should do this!
The Law Behind Defending Yourself From a Thief
As I mentioned above, I chased the intruder off my property. Now I wasn’t actually fully aware of the legality behind whether I would be allowed to chase and tackle this person, potentially injuring them, especially once they are no longer on my land. So, I did some research.
If an intruder is on your property, you are allowed to use reasonable force to protect yourself, and that does include using objects as weapons. You are also allowed to prevent an intruder from leaving. The government states that tackling an intruder is allowed, for example.
What wouldn’t be considered reasonable force, however, is chasing them down and kicking their head in whilst they are escaping. This could lead to prosecution as it is unlikely to be considered ‘reasonable force’ or ‘defence’. You see, when you chase someone, this no longer falls under the category of self defence, meaning that you need to be careful. The government has tried to outline examples for this, and I believe this is a valid interpretation:
- Using an appropriate level of force to either restrain them (under citizen’s arrest) or get your property back is allowed. For example, tackling them or hitting them once would be most likely considered fair.
- Where the line is crossed is when it’s clear that you have sought revenge. For example, if someone stole your drill and you knocked them unconscious and continued to beat them, there’s a fair chance the law would no longer see this as an “appropriate level of force”.
In summary, when you start chasing them, you need to be careful, because although it is still in the heat of the moment, your force can’t be justified in the same way that self defence, or protecting your family might be. Let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t find the guy after having read those guidelines.
It’s important to note if you catch an intruder it isn’t a free pass to seriously injure them. Please try to refrain from doing this, as it’s likely to end up being worse for you than it is for them. It’s just not worth it.