Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Burglaries


judybrick

Recommended Posts

We just had our home broken into while we were gone for 30 minutes. He or they smashed the security lock on our secondary bedroom door and took a computer, a tablet, and my jewelry. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good and reliable security company in Ajijic?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think there is a good and reliable security company here. It is sort of do it yourself. Make your place burglar proof with high walls, razor or electric wire, bars, dogs, motion detector lights, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just had our home broken into while we were gone for 30 minutes. He or they smashed the security lock on our secondary bedroom door and took a computer, a tablet, and my jewelry. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good and reliable security company in Ajijic?

I'm sorry you've joined the club - you might check this recent thread on the subject of alarms and you might also consider posting on Lake Chapala Crime:

http://www.chapala.com/webboard/index.php?showtopic=41213

http://lakechapalacrime.com/index.php

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A security company is only a small part of what you need to make yourself safer. The most important thing is to make your property very, very difficult to access. High walls, razor or electric wire, dogs, motion activated lights, bars on windows, metal doors with dead bolts, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, I have most of that and maybe more, but wow, I lived 64 years NOB and never ever had any concern or any of these things. My last house had two front windows that didn't lock for 22 years until I finally fixed them and more than once I left the garage door open with two cars, keys in them, and an unlocked door to the house. This is a bit disconcerting, at least to me, that to enjoy this wonderful place we have to live inside barricaded fortress's in a state of paranoia? And, it's not like we're the "rich and famous" and knocking over our place is going to net you hundreds of thousands or millions, only a few paltry dollars and maybe someone's priceless memory family heirloom jewelry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dang, sorry this has happened. Ajijic has been hit pretty hard lately. I imagine a person can tour the village wallking around on roofs.

I'm amazed At the level of security folks have. I have no dogs but they may get a rise out of my cat if they mess with her dish. If it comes to barricading my home I reckon' it is time to move on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So sorry judya, we were robbed 3 years ago in the village ourselves and made changes to better secure our current home, then last year we added more. The hardware store next to Sunrise sells an Intec intercom system with an electronic security lock. You may be interested in this because of the security lock itself.

Add to cedros list good security cameras & thorny vines(bugambilia).

You know, I have most of that and maybe more, but wow, I lived 64 years NOB and never ever had any concern or any of these things. My last house had two front windows that didn't lock for 22 years until I finally fixed them and more than once I left the garage door open with two cars, keys in them, and an unlocked door to the house. This is a bit disconcerting, at least to me, that to enjoy this wonderful place we have to live inside barricaded fortress's in a state of paranoia? And, it's not like we're the "rich and famous" and knocking over our place is going to net you hundreds of thousands or millions, only a few paltry dollars and maybe someone's priceless memory family heirloom jewelry.

glitner, I can totally relate, as I've finally got a grip on all of this around me. Be assured, it's a global problem. Mexico was considered risky when we crossed the border 9 years ago. But yesterday's headlines in our hometown looked like our local headlines last year. "Townhall Meeting with Chief of Police," because the crime has gotten so bad over the past 2 years. The news up there isn't any better than here. :( I'm glad to be here where my home is secure.

When I was little, my sister and I were excited when our little town, with no really good shopping, made it on a map. Anyway, just have to think about it differently because we all live here and have to keep on keepin on. We're here because we want to be here. We've taken all the security measures that make us feel comfortable and fortunate not to notice the walls and razor wire because of the beautiful thorny vines. But think about it this way. Cars. They come standard with door locks, car alarms, anti theft stereos and tire locks. We even add a steering wheel bar and think nothing of it. Some vehicles have a back up camera. You just get used to it. My take is get ahead of the game, do the best you can and hope for the best. The goal is to keep intruders out, have warning to call for help or do something if something were to happen while we're home and if we're away, well, we did the best we could but can check the security cameras while out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this is typical for mexico. mexicans do all they can to prevent this. even the poor get robbed. nothing has changed here in 35yrs, except now they enter WHEN your HOME. it was unheard of being robbed on the street except for a purse snatch. i am concerned as i have a large sliding window in the back street level. anyone can jump over the back wall & pry those doors open, or break the glass. i am renting & the landlords did not put bars. owners who live in the identical until next door never put bars on that window either. i am going to ask one more owner & find out why. there are no bars on the balcony, or patio sliding doors. its the back one that worries me. all the cameras in the world wont stop that. i lived in 2 major cities. never even had a conversation about breakins. one of those cities had a rule, if someone breaks in & you are home, (even if they are UNarmed), they get life in prison. so maybe they are released in 10 yrs for good behavior. that deters people in that state for breaking in. the police lived in the area, had families there & didnt hesitate questioning someone suspicious. this wasnt even a rich area. imagine that here. wont happen. glitner, if crime is rising in the US, ask "where" this happeneds. & who in general is doing these crimes. there is a trend now for muggings in NYC (the elevator mugger), but they caught the person. they care, its not accepted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this is typical for mexico. mexicans do all they can to prevent this. even the poor get robbed. nothing has changed here in 35yrs, except now they enter WHEN your HOME. it was unheard of being robbed on the street except for a purse snatch. i am concerned as i have a large sliding window in the back street level. anyone can jump over the back wall & pry those doors open, or break the glass. i am renting & the landlords did not put bars. owners who live in the identical until next door never put bars on that window either. i am going to ask one more owner & find out why. there are no bars on the balcony, or patio slding doors. its the back one that worries me. all the cameras in the world wont stop that.

No they won't Bennie but it'll help to see what's going on, see who's outside, especially if many homeowners have them. We can't see our street from inside and it's very rural. If one of your neighbors had a camera that could see down your street it would help.

I hope that your landlord will consider securing your home better Bennie. You need to express your concern and insist something be done about it as a prevention. Security bars are an initial expense but well worth the peace of mind to have the basis covered. You may want to have them installed yourself if you really love it there and have no intention of moving anytime soon. If it's a problem with the owners, maybe the two of you could meet half way or something. Wish it were possible to give you a personal protection guard dog. It's like a service dog but it also knows how to protect you & your home if there's an intruder. We have two of them and they are very loving pets but also trained to bite an armed person. Hopefully I'll never need him to do that, but I was walking at dusk the other night and knew there was a suspicious person in the area. Even though I was walking quickly to return home, I gave my dog the command and he was looking out for me. It was an amazing feeling to know he was obeying the command to protect me, watching all around us to see if there was a problem. Because of training, I know that if anyone jumped out to bother me, even from a vehicle, he knows what to do. :)

The good news is that there are options to protect ourselves. I wish more people would do prevention rather than waiting until something happens to them before making a change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the camera only records the front gate, not the street. its the back of these houses i am concerned about, i will ask the other condo owners if they have back cameras. so far, there have been NO breakins in the 6 months. as the neigbor i spoke moved here 6 mths ago. i will also talk to someone who bought here prior to last june. yes i will talk w/landlord.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

glitner, I can totally relate, as I've finally got a grip on all of this around me. Be assured, it's a global problem. Mexico was considered risky when we crossed the border 9 years ago. But yesterday's headlines in our hometown looked like our local headlines last year. "Townhall Meeting with Chief of Police," because the crime has gotten so bad over the past 2 years. The news up there isn't any better than here. :( I'm glad to be here where my home is secure.

How about a reality check? If you are living NOB in a neighborhood where high walls, electric wire, broken glass and razor wire are standard, you've made some bad life choices along the way.

I am here till the bitter end as I am too old to move anywhere, but I don't kid myself that the criminal environment here is better than NOB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of days ago there was another robbery in the area in upper Ajijic that is being hit hard. Same modus operandi. He bent the barsof the gate and went in. He walked past to dobies. In some cases he has sprayed the dogs but this time not.time. The owner was only gone a short time.

The belief is that he is sitting up on the mountain with binoculars and strikes as soon as he sees the occupant or occupants leave.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about a reality check? If you are living NOB in a neighborhood where high walls, electric wire, broken glass and razor wire are standard, you've made some bad life choices along the way.

I am here till the bitter end as I am too old to move anywhere, but I don't kid myself that the criminal environment here is better than NOB.

Yes, this is a reality check, my friends up north have guns and use them to ward off intruders. These are good people, working class that live out in the country. While on Facebook my nieces and nephews today, good kids, debate whether they want a gun or a german shepherd and a gated community isn't good enough to protect their families. It's my friends & family up north that have guns, they all don't need a high wall yet but if there's no other way to protect yourself, by golly, put one up. It doesn't sound any different from the debates here about how to protect yourself. Our home is already secure, dogs are trained. It's mind boggling to me. I'm having more of a difficult time believing it's gone to pot up north than here. It's the wild wild west with power machines up there. It's not just gangs but individual nuts.

Hearing these stories about dogs. If a trained dog is good enough for secret security, it's good enough for me.

People can't assume their dogs are going to protect them if they don't train them for it, sadly. They are the best deterrent and should give you warning if you're home at least. I don't believe my dog would have been such a good guard dog had he not had the training that awakened his natural instinct and he's eager to please. I'm seriously considering a dobie for my next personal protection guard dog...hope that won't be for about 10 years.

Just have to make sure you tuck important things away, log out of computers if you're concerned it could be taken while away. Use a password, thieves down here seem to erase information so that's a good thing. We have friends that were broken into while on vacation this last fall but nothing was taken, they really did an exceptional job of hiding things. Talk or pm people that were robbed, ask them where robbers didn't look or how or what was overlooked and get ideas how to secure things that are important to you. You don't have to have a safe to outsmart a thief ;) I'll mention an idea here that happened to me. When we were robbed 3 years ago in the village, they dumped out all of our drawers in the bedroom. Even took apart a spool of Christmas ribbon. Well, while putting everything back into order I found a sandwich bag, mixed with papers from my nightstand that I'd used to carry my silver jewelry while traveling. I'd wrap the piece up in a paper towel, then put it in the baggie as I didn't have a nice jewelry bag. It was overlooked. So neener-neener, they didn't get all of my jewelry. :) I learned from that experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

homesweethome: i have no idea where you lived in the USA. but thats a huge country. never in my life experience have i ever heard of people living w/guns. thats not my reality, as i havnt lived in the dangerous inner cities either. i was never exposed to violence. mexico for me is not normal living, no one i know can relate. they think mexico is a beach resort w/ great dining, spas, historical sites. maybe i was naive too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm talking about the northern part of California...I never lived in the inner city. Family gun debate is between California and Arizona. I'm not from the ghetto, I'm from the country. They have an early prison release program and guess where they released them to? Headlines in my hometown are terrible and it's north of Sacramento. My family hunted, so there were always guns in our home. I was taught as a child to never touch them, so I never touched them. Grandpa slept with a rifle under his bed, scared off a night intruder once.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just had our home broken into while we were gone for 30 minutes. He or they smashed the security lock on our secondary bedroom door and took a computer, a tablet, and my jewelry. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good and reliable security company in Ajijic?

Please take a look at how this OPs question has turned into bickering and NOT helping her at all. I am afraid that ths board is turning into a likeness of the other board. I wish the moderators would start to get more involved before this forum is ruined !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

twelveoaks, nobody is bickering. We're discussing how things have changed all over and what our options are. The op was answered right away with a link to a full discussion of security alarms from last week. There seems to be only 2 good companies in town. If these things bother you, you may want to skip reading them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

homesweethome, i am not familar w/rural america. i suppose it is dangerous, as inner cities are. early release happens in both of these areas. as for the original question, IS there a security comp that you reccomend, for the person who was robbed?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a siren alarm/battery back up, no service in a rental house in Guadalajara. It was intimidating to me(very loud). In a home we owned in Guadalajara my husband installed one of those little mini sirens. They had sensors that attached to doors and windows. I felt it was a piece of junk because half of the sensors would fall off. The alarm could alert the neighbors something was wrong but if I were to install an alarm today, I'd get a big one that would be deafening to an intruder. We live in a rural area and I'd make sure it had a battery back up. I know of someone that has a service but the alarm has had so many false alarms and the home, unfortunately, was burglarized with it. But don't be scared off by that because it's easy to get into the yard. The home isn't very secure. Each person can evaluate what they need by their neighborhood and how often their neighbors are home and can look out for you. Living in a condo would be ideal for a single retired woman because of the close neighbors. People seem to be the most content with the systems from SOSE and ADT. I'd probably just get a system for the siren and battery back up and not worry about the service, but each person can decide for themselves what works best for them.

If I didn't have other responsibilities, I'd just like to hang out in the neighborhood getting hit right now with my dog, a camera, and a cell phone ready to dial. When we had a suspicious person in the area the other night, one of my neighbors told me to go look for him because I had my dog with me. Unfortunately, I'm not one looking for trouble; I took off the opposite direction. Although I did spot the guy and phoned the police; they did come. Young man, white sweater, blue/grey horizontal stripe, long pants and looked dazed. Was hanging out in the trees like he didn't have anything to do. I went home so have no idea if they found him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...