TFA Member Has Attempted Break In

[Pat McGarrity]

Retired Memphis Police Department Detective, Sergeant Jim Williams, had an attempted break in at his Memphis home early yesterday. Thankfully, Jim and his wife Lesley are OK. Jim has 25 years experience as a police officer and has been a guest speaker at the Shelby County TFA and is often a call in guest on The Mike Fleming Radio Program.

This reminds us that we could have to defend ourselves and/or loved ones at any time. I'd put my money on Jim, should the would be robbers have not been scared off by the alarm.

From Jim:

"At just before 3:15am this morning, our front door
alarm (a doorknob movement detector) went off.
Lesley and I instantly awakened. As she looked
at the clock in disbelief, I rolled out of bed on the
other side, grabbing my Taurus 24/7 15-shot
.40 caliber handgun, flicking off the safety with
my thumb and running toward the door. Lesley
knew not to get between me and my line of fire
toward the front door. I expected that in the next
instant, I would hear the door being kicked open
for a home invasion entry. I wanted to make
sure that turned into a group suicide for anyone
who made the mistake of choosing my door.

As I used my left hand to turn off the alarm
(so I could hear any sounds from outside),
I looked out the super-size viewer (largest
I have ever seen for which I had to buy an
enlarged door drill bit) to see no one in view
under the porch light I had installed. After
I told Lesley, I unlocked the door and looked
around outside, seeing nobody. The alarm
itself would have covered the sound of any
persons running away in surprise at tripping
an internal alarm. Lesley had a hard time
going back to sleep, as you might expect.

This morning at 9am, Lesley decided to conduct
some reliability tests of our doorknob movement
alarm (which has NEVER falsely alarmed in the
6-7 years we have had it). In two separate tests,
she set the alarm and then went out the back door
to circle around to the front (allowing it the needed
30 seconds for the alarm to arm itself). In the
first reliability trial, she just touched the outer
front doorknob, getting no reaction, but when
she turned the knob, it alarmed immediately.
In her second test, Lesley tapped on the door
itself in several locations, even tapping the knob,
but to no avail; however, when she turned the
knob, the alarm went off again, working perfectly.
Finally, if the door is opened, the alarm will activate
also, so a direct attack on the door will alarm also.

Our front door has both a standard doorknob
set (with NO lock in it) and a double-deadbolt,
which is the only thing that secures the door;
this design does prevent locking yourself out,
but makes the door less secure to breaching.
Apparently someone seeing that there is no keyway
in the doorknob was hoping that he could find a
door mistakenly left unbolted OR that it would be
easier to kick in if only secured in one place.
The sounding of the doorknob alarm, quite loud
enough to be heard inside or outside and at a
distance away, made it clear that the occupants
would be awakend and perhaps offer resistance
(an understatement).

For what it is worth to know, it is unlawful to
attempt to open doors by trying the locks
(using criminal attempt as approved by the Court),
whether on a building or a vehicle, for the
purpose of obtaining unlawful entry to the
property of another. In a case decided by the
Tennessee Supreme Court, a man was seen
by a hotel security guard trying to open doors
of hotel rooms by turning the doorknobs,
hoping to find one unlocked. The hotel guard
arrested him and called police, who charged
him with Attempted Burglary. When he appealed
his conviction to the TN Supreme Court on the
argument that was no law against trying doorknobs,
the Court ruled that he had indeed attempted to
commit burglary of the hotel rooms (he was NOT
a registered guest of the hotel, nor a friend there,
so he had no plausible justification for his actions).

As a detective, I handled numerous cases of
such attempted burglary of both buildings and
parked cars by someone trying to open all the
doors he came to, observed by uniform police, and
arrested; the defendant was NEVER a resident
of the homes or apartments, nor the owner of
any car he had tried to open. I would charge the
suspect using the last home/apartment/hotel room
or vehicle he attempted as the "victim," and the
prior doors as further probable cause to support
the charge. With a clear TN Supreme Court case
behind me, they were all guilty pleas/convictions.

Lock your home and vehicle. Even so, no one
has the right to try to get into your home or car,
using your failure to do so as a defense, nor
do they have the right to search for that weakness.

Jim"