The reviews of the movie “Panic Room” talk about such a room as good in case of “home invasion.” What the heck is that? Is it just a euphemism for “burglary”? The term “invasion” conjures images of WWII. Is it when the neighbors annex your living room? (“Sorry, pal, this is OUR couch now, and we ain’t movin.’”)
I believe it is basically a breaking & entering while the homeowners are home. The bad guys actually target the house when people are likely to be home, as opposed to burglars who try to make sure you’re not home when they hit. I think it commonly involves more than one burglar too, though it doesn;t have to.
The advantage is that the homeowner can then be forced to open safes, show hiding places of valuables, provide car keys, or even ATM cards and PINs. Of course, the potential for violence is way higher than in a normal burglary, especially as some invaders target women for the purpose of robbing then assaulting them. I would imagine some are also sociopaths who get off on controlling and frightening people as much as anything.
In burglaries the culprits tend to avoid the occupants of the house. A good example of a home invasion happened in Arizona a few years ago when thugs masquerading as bounty hunters serving a warrant broke into a home to get drugs and drug money and killed the occupants.
Home invasion burglary refers to burglaries where the criminals break into an occupied home. E.g., Home Invasion Burglary in Bethesda and HOME INVASION ROBBERY
We had kinda a rash of these a few years back, gangs would literally surround a house, then have someone go up and knock on the front door. Occupant answers, they charge the door and force their way in. Group follows, restrains family if needed, then ransacks the place for any valubles. This system is pretty much circumvented by heavy duty security screens because you can see very well while still having a solid locked door.
thats not it’s only use of course. I’ve seen folks charged w/ and convicted of ‘home invasion’ when it was more like tresspassing - ie daughter’s boyfriend refuses to leave the living room until ‘she’s told me herself she’s breaking up with me’.
Not that staying someplace after you’ve been told to leave is an okey dokey thing to do, but it’s no where near the same thing as armed thugs breaking down your door.
I’d have to do some research, but if memory serves, it also can be charged if the homeowner isn’t home ( ie B & E of a residence vs. a business). But don’t quote me on it til I’ve looked it up.
ok, you can quote me now.
according to Michigan State Legislature
some one is guilty of the crime ‘home invasion’ in the first degree if they enter a dwelling
if either some one is there lawfully at any point, or they’re in possession of a ‘dangerous weapon’
Doing a breakin of a dwelling even if no one’s at home, is home invasion in the second degree (so, apparently we’ve done away with the concept of B& E when it comes to houses, garages or trailers or whatever).
In San Diego this was a big thing a few years back. I used to not understand it because it seemed to happen exclusively in to Filipino and Vietnamese families, usually done by Vietnamese gangs.
Then I was told by a Vietnamese friend that many families who are former boat people would actually keep large quantities of cash around the house because they ‘didn’t trust banks’. I guess that explains it because the money is apparently always well hidden and/or in a safe, making it necessary to get information from the family. And of course, the risk is a lot lower than armed robbery at a convenience store, bank, etc.
Sometimes the bad guys dress up like a swat team (you can buy the uniforms etc. online) and bust in yelling “COPS!”. Most people aren’t going to resist cops, are they?
Then again, sometimes the bad guys ARE cops…
You are absolutely right.
Officer Antoinette Frank: At 1:00 a.m. on March 4, 1995, New Orleans police officer Antoinette Frank and an accomplice entered a Vietnamese restaurant in east New Orleans, shot the off-duty police officer moonlighting as a security guard, and then executed a brother and sister who worked at their family’s restaurant as they knelt on the floor praying and begging for mercy. The victims’ brother and sister hid in a cooler and witnessed much of what transpired. Frank, who did not disguise herself, knew the family and had moonlighted as a security guard at the restaurant before, and even responded to their call for help after the incident, as though she knew nothing about what had transpired. She was quickly convicted and sentenced to death in September 1995.