Transitional Areas, Good info from Greg Ellifritz

[Rex G]

Don't have any shrubbery near the house then, keeping a clear open space from the walls so that people cannot lurk.

There is a police special ops surveillance unit in the UK who have been known to sneak in at night and set up OP's in the gardens of the target villain. They were trained by the SAS originally and have now, with years of experience, developed some serious expertise in very discrete close observation techniques.

I also helped out a large US city PD sniper instructor with some bits and pieces. He makes it his business to keep things interesting and assists various detective and uniform departments by deploying his guys as close observation and physical support for operations. That mainly means his guys wear their ghillie suits and lurk in the dirt and hedges very close to locations where certain exchanges of money for controlled goods may happen.

The point I am making, probably badly, is that you need as clear an open space as possible, preferably with an instant daylight facility if you are rolling up in the dark hours.

True. I like shrubs, but not near entrances to the home. Dwarf Yupon Holly is a favorite.

[Tamara]

Get an elastic-trician to mount a couple of LED security lights outside - not pointed at your car so you don't get blinded - wire them into the delayed lighting circuit that most garage door openers have. Bad things don't like light.

Our city utility company will happily charge you a few bucks a month for a mercury vapor street light. We have one installed on the utility pole just outside the garage entrance.

Roughly two years ago, there was a trio of urban yoots practicing this sort of robbery a touch east of your AO. They were targeting females as well.

Fortunately, they were also stupid and a certain detective rolled them up after their second night of shenanigans. Unfortunately, given their ages and histories it would not surprise me a bit if they were out on some sort of pretend-to-monitor release by now.

My roommate and her ex- got hit by...I want to say it was also three dudes...when unassing the car with armloads of Christmas shopping in the alley at her old place a few blocks north of where we live now. I think it was a big part of her motivation to start taking classes at Pop Guns back in the day.

[Lex Luthier]

Tam, the light policy you describe is also also practiced by St Paul, and (I believe) Minneapolis. Alley muggings and robberies are not unheard of here, as well. They are thankfully fairly uncommon.
The neighborhood bookface page is good at passing around security cam footage to both neighbors and the Saint Paul PD.

[Malamute]

Your tactical homework assignment this week is to identify all the transitional areas you commonly encounter in your daily life. Pay special attention to keeping your hands free while in transition and think about ways to keep your awareness levels high.

Hands free. In a store, I prefer to get a cart, no matter how small the planned buy. It keeps the hands free, and gives a buffer between me and anyone else if desired. Taking the stuff out, one small bag, the cart. Hands free, etc. Also helps the back stay happy.

Coming home, hands free getting out and the gate and door unlocked in the rural place, or the garage closed and house open before carrying stuff in when in town.

And yes, its nice having cameras to see whats around outside*. I take one on the road now and set it to watch the vehicle parked outside the room, with the pocket size monitor by the bed.


* About $400-ish. 4 cameras with capacity for 4 more. One wire to power. Drilling one hole through the soffit or gable and mounting the cameras over them was simple, so long as the area behind them are accessible to run the wires. The base is in a very out of the way spot, and of course can be set to notify if various events happen and play back a day or two or so.