So I need your advice on if calling police at this point will help. We’re in Chiba and live in a detached 3 bedroom with two floors.
So last night I was at work and my wife was at home in our house. Between 7:30-8 my wife heard the front door rattling like someone was trying to open it more than a few times. She then heard scuffling like someone was outside the house going to windows and our backdoor around the house. All the lights were off excluding the bedroom which was on. So it looked empty.
I broke our backdoor glass pane a month ago because my bike fell into it from the wind. So there’s a hole in the sliding backdoor. I covered it with cardboard and put a very large cat cage in front of it to keep it closed. She heard the kitchen door (which is directly under our bedroom) slide open multiple times. This went on for about an hour of noises? She wasn’t sure about how long but she was talking to our family friend on Line as it was happening. After awhile of waiting, she turns on the light to the bedroom and she hears a loud slam. Then nothing more. She didn’t want to go check anything out. Because she was too scared to eat or call the police.
Now, I get home that night and she tells me all this. She didn’t call the police at that time. I said she should have done so during. I checked all the doors, windows, and all locks. They were all secure and in the same place. I didn’t see anything out of place or shifted like they crawled through the hole in the door, or anywhere else.
THIS IS WHERE I HAVE ISSUES. Since we have a hole in the door. We just came back an hour ago from grabbing supplies to replace the missing portion of the door. I look around the house and turn on lights to make it look like the downstairs is inhabited. As I do so I see one of the windows was FULLY UNLOCKED. I asked my wife if she did so, and of course she didn’t. Still, nothing is out of place or missing. There is a lot stuff and a sliding screen in front of the window so you’d know if someone just came through and moved stuff out of the way. It’s too much of a coincidence for this to happen the day after. Do you think this warrants calling the police even if it’s after the fact?? Any advice or opinion is helpful.
TL:DR advice on calling the police after the fact
Edit: I think I should’ve explained further. My wife was with our cat in the bedroom when it happened and when I come home, I usually jiggle the door to let her know I’m home and my cat would immediately run downstairs to greet me. I get home around 11pm every night. When the front door started jiggling yesterday, our cat was about to run downstairs to greet me and my wife thought it was me but realized it was way too early so she was kind of skeptical. She closed the door and stayed in the bedroom with our cat and talked to our friend and asked her help to call the police in case something happened. She realized it was not me and panicked. Our usually chill cat became anxious as the rustling happened but my wife stayed calm. She was also sick and stayed home at that time.
16 comments
Are you really asking us if you should call the police after you suspect your house was burgled? lol
Are there any security cameras around your place or neighbors that would have seen or heard something?
Police are nearly always called after the fact. But you could just go to the police department or Koban and talk directly.
Yes you should contact the police. They need to know someone is doing this in the area. They may even have information about other neighbors with similar experiences.
Also, you are correct to admonish your wife for doing nothing at the time. She should have called police or a neighbor.
But now I admonish YOU for not making that hole in the window more secure.
Also, a lot of those window locks are so fiddly they can be opened by just shifting the window from outside some. Check to make sure your window locks are tight, and need some sort of double action to open. AND there are friction locks you can get for cheap. They are just a device that locks into the frame to prevent windows from opening.　　They are widely available in “home center” stores.[https://yahoo.jp/sf7GSw](https://yahoo.jp/sf7GSw)
Mate, invest in a camera or at least Amazon ring and you will thank me later
Contact the police because they may send a notice to your neighbors so that they can protect themselves. A police report may be helpful if the perp comes back.
Also, get your house checked for gas leaks because imaginary weird burglaries are a symptom of natural gas poisoning.
Mate go to the police.
I have family in chiba and the houses are tested by would be burglars regularly. People posing as Internet providers, painters or repair men often knock on the doors. locals are aware and warn each other. I’ve witnessed people offering their trade, being from a country with more crime suspected they where dodgy.
Windows have been opened, fly screens removed while I’ve stayed in one if the houses!
Go to the police and talk to neighbours!!!
This is real simple, and people are trying to give you the correct advice.
1. Doorbell camera/motion detection lights. A trip to Costco and you can pick all that up and get a hotdog and soda to go with it. Can’t beat it. Doesn’t matter the experience you had in the states with it. If (God forbid) something goes really bad, you’ll wish you had them.
2. Lock doors and windows when not in use. Make sure the wife knows this and knows to check before going to bed. If somebody DID come in and out, now they know you don’t lock your doors and windows.
3. In the event something like this happens again, your wife needs to know what to do. Either get off the phone and call police or tell whoever she is talking to to call the police. That’s how you survive break ins.
Never too late to go to the koban, despite sooner being better for obvious reasons. They might well step up patrols etc.
I had a drunk pick my apartment by accident and after about 15 minutes of failing to turn the lock, heavy drunk breathing, and ramming the door, he gave up. Next day I told the koban chap all that occurred and although they couldn’t really do anything about the immediate incident, (expected because what could they do?) I got a patrol slip through the letterbox every day for the next week.
Call the cops and buy a camera
Yes, because they will have a look for dropped items and shoes prints etc, which may well help build a case against someone who is active and burglarizing other properties in the area. I can’t say I’m a fan of the police, and I know often they do go give the image of being rather incompetent, but a friend of mine had her house broken into, and the shoe print they found helped to connect the perp to the crime.
Hmm if someone got into the house when you were out, they might have left the window unlocked so they can enter or exit easier during the night. Lock the windows and put something that stops them from sliding open. I have one of those genkan broom sticks at our living room window. Oh and check your front door for any suspicious markings. Sometimes the thieves mark houses before they make a move.
If you find marking take a photo and remove it.
Between this and the post yesterday about the girl that went to a strangers house and got assaulted afterwards, I’m convinced the people here have absolutely no survival skills.
I don’t want to sound like an asshole but dude. What the hell is wrong with your wife? Someone is rattling the door for 35 seconds, everyone in my family is calling the police. This shit was going on for an hour and your wife just… sat there? Call the cops, that’s literally why they exist in the first place.
And then it happened again? My brother in Christ, what advice were you expecting here? Call the cops!
Pretty sure someone’s living in your beddings closet now
Definitely call the police. It’s not like they will yell at you for calling them and making a report.
This is Japan, and things go pretty different here than other places.
One of the explanations is… just the mere fact that the would-be burglar (but obvious trespasser) broke into your safe space is enough to stimulate their endorphins, and satiate their criminal intent because it’s a big sign of disrespect. In a society that values respect & honor, being contrarian would be a faux-pas. However, there are some psychos out there that have to act upon their id, and they moonlight as their true selves. This is more credible as they were messing around in your house for about an hour.
Another explanation is they are casing the home, timing their would-be burglary, and moving things around in preparation.
The third possibility is a stalker progression type scenario as with each breaking-in, they get more courage, until finally they confront you, sometimes violently. The person could be after you, or your wife. Just being in the same dwelling as you is enough to send a tingling surge of excitement down their spine.
Have you pissed off anyone at work? Try to remember. One of the biggest disrespects a coworker can do to you is break into your home, eat your food, use your utilities, and then finally tie up all the loose ends.
Plot twist : Your wife is unfocusing you, dropping you a red herring to get you off her trail, or at the least, too distracted to even realize something is wrong.