This video, “Man Beats Woman in Home Invasion,” was released by the victims 4-5 days ago on the news and on YouTube. I have watched the video and wanted to make a few observations and comments. As painful and horrible as videos like this are they can inspire improvements in one”s life and help motivate us to make positive changes.

The video is VERY disturbing. Do not watch if you are easily upset.

Clearly the video was edited, so we don”t know exactly the order of events so they really are not up for debate. Basically a Mother of 2 was beaten ferociously by an intruder intent on robbery. Seemingly, the intruder uses the robbery as an excuse to beat this woman excessively. She is lucky to be alive, and very lucky to have ultimately. unharmed children. In many situations like this since it is a very upsetting circumstance, we (caring people but angry people) have emotional responses; heated and passionate ones. That is not my goal here. This is a situation were the victim wants the criminal caught to stand justice and also to prevent this from happening to further victims.

My careers have led me down the path of “security and self-defense expert”. In an emotionally detached way my mind analyzes situations like this in order to prevent them. Please don”t misinterpret my opinions; I do care and I don”t blame the victims. However I don”t want things like this to happen to anyone.

“Man Beats Woman in Home Invasion” Video – An Analysis

Firstly, the nanny camera. Cameras in general are retroactive.

They are useful after an incident to identify the perpetrator(s). Some cameras are monitored live by security personnel but in this case from what I understand it was not. If it was… then clearly that was not enough to stop the crime. So cameras are not preventative; they are helpful after a crime has been committed.

In the video, ADT alarm monitoring company is mentioned although it is still unclear what role they play in this particular incident. News Reports although researched and edited and made as accurate as possible sometimes lack all the pertinent facts. From what I gather possibly the nanny camera and an alarm were installed in the residence of the victim just prior to the crime.

Alarm systems in situations like this perform two functions; 1. ideally if used correctly they alert the homeowner of an intruder, both at the location and by telephone and 2. the alarm notifies the alarm monitoring company who in turn notifies police and/or other family contacts. The simple fact of having an alarm with a siren in no way guarantees that an incident like this one will be stopped or even prevented. In turn if police are contacted it is up to them to interpret the severity of the call, prioritize it with other active calls and finally dispatch OR do not dispatch. Because police receive an alarm call does not guarantee that police will be dispatched; in addition it does not guarantee that if the police do decide to dispatch that if will be in a “timely” manner.

This is not meant to sound as though the Police do not care; indeed they do! However, these are the logistics of running a police force… there are high priority calls and low priority calls. Police are receiving a call from an alarm monitoring company employee who communicates with a dispatcher. Then, the dispatcher communicates with a police officer who makes decisions based on what they hear from the dispatcher, and also based on what they know of the neighborhood. Has this officer responded to this residence before for a false alarm? On a criminal charge? On baseless complaints against neighbors”? Is it a high crime area? Are calls backed up because of a bank robbery or riot? In many cases police do the right thing and fast! But realize that miscommunications are possible; mix ups, bad info, logistical errors, events beyond their control etc are always possible even in the best of circumstances. If the alarm employee, the dispatcher or the officer makes a “telephone game” type of miscommunication there could at minimum be a delay.

So cameras help after the incident by ideally providing details about the crime and criminal. Alarm systems alert the homeowner or business owner of an intrusion, and if working properly the alarm co. who in turn contact police. Neither of these technologies are guaranteed to prevent, stop or even alert us in an incident like the video shows.

Well then you might ask “what”s the point of having this stuff?” The point is that the camera will help identify details of a crime and ideally the criminal. The alarm will ideally notify us and the monitoring company of an intrusion. That”s it.

Stopping, preventing, deterring crime is up to the home or business owner. Reliance on technology and OTHER people allows us to put the responsibility and sometimes blame… I’m not saying I blame the homeowners in this crime; who’s to know if there was ANY way to stop or prevent this crime. I also don’t blame the alarm company or the Police. My point is that this victim was lucky… and luck is a pretty sketchy thing to rely on. The victims are lucky no one was killed and lucky that the bad guy didn’t just first thing yank the camera off the wall and smash it. They are also very lucky the children were not physically harmed.

In contrast to this crime, another Mother and her children recently were victimized by a home invasion. This mother took her and her children to the attic, called the husband and police… and she ultimately was forced to defend herself with her handgun that she recently had been trained with by her husband:

Comparing two completely different people and situations is unfair; however my point is made clear in the second case. Police couldn”t get there fast enough. The woman in the 2^nd case had to defend herself and her children….other people did not, could not.

My discussion of these two events leads me to my main point “How do we prevent ourselves from being a victim in a horrible crime like this?”

1. Have a security plan that includes Home Invasion. Like the second video demonstrates, the family had a communally known and accessible safe room. The Mom and the kids ran there with a telephone and a handgun and locked all the doors leading there. Note that even their perfect execution of the “go to the safe room” plan did not succeed in stopping the attack… the capable use of a handgun did.
2. Get a firearm or other defensive tool for home defense. There are levels of force and training required for every defensive tool out there. In both cases my opinion is that pepper spray would not have sufficed. Tasers or stun guns also may have only delayed the attack. Handguns seem to be the easiest to implement in a small structure; in addition they can be employed one-handed if necessary.
3. Use a high capacity firearm. Five shots did not incapacitate the attacker in the second video; it did cause him to flee. Worst case scenario the bad guy will run and get a gun or another weapon and arm himself or…get his partner waiting in the car. If you are using some other defensive tool same concept applies, either train so that you can fight prolonged and against multiple attackers or have the defensive capability of reloading and using multiple attacks to stop the attack against you.
4. Train with your Firearm or defensive tool. The second video is unclear in this regard but did she reload her pistol in case he came running back with his gun? Did she even have spare ammunition with her? Learn how to shoot, reload, and keep your handgun in your hands. Gun retention is the art of not allowing your gun to be taken away in an attack. Again same thing applies to other defensive tools.
5. Mental Preparedness. Prepare yourself mentally as best you can so that if an event like this were to happen you would be prepared to defend your family i.e. Prepared to run or evacuate, prepared with a plan B if plan A fails, and be prepared as a good person to be able to hurt a bad person to protect yourself and your family. Mental preparedness takes discipline and training.
6. Get an Alarm System. Layers of security are better than a single layer. One layer may be overrun or bypassed, one layer may be unusable, another layer may be defective etc. Most importantly burglar alarms notify us when we are asleep or distracted that an intrusion has occurred.
7. Get some type of camera system. Cameras assist in the knowledge that a crime was committed in the first place. Sometimes if it were not for the camera, we wouldn”t even know a crime happened. In the first case of the beating victim clearly the camera was being used to watch the kids and babysitter. It did not prevent a crime; but it will assist in capture and prosecution hopefully.
8. Review the physical security of the business or home. Did the door, frame or locks fail in the first incident or did the bad guy just bust casually through like in the second incident. Either way the physical locks and security in both cases was ineffective. (Note that in the 2^nd case the bad guy had a crow bar tool/weapon?)
9. Stay in good shape. Be able to run, punch, kick, shove, duck, jump, and elude. If you are physically unable to do this you must work harder on other suggestions listed here to compensate. Staying in healthy shape helps with mindset as well.
10. Stay alert and aware. You can”t stop an attack you don”t see coming. Also you can”t stop an attack that you are unaware even exists. You do not have to live in fear and paranoia; but also you don”t have to live in denial or live in a house made of hay and sticks. Be aware of who is around you, question their intentions and create effective physical barriers so that they cannot hurt you. You can make efforts to limit access to your home and you can stay alert so that if danger does make it in, you have time to react to it.

Do the best you can in implementing these suggestions. Avoid hazardous attitudes that might insulate you from a truly critical analysis of your security measures. Use situations like the two discussed to educate, motivate and compel you to make changes in your own life so that you and your family are safer and protected as best as is possible.

I feel horrible about the victim of the home invasion. I could not stop thinking about it once I watched it, and could not sleep until I sorted out my thoughts with this article. Hopefully it helps someone out there and they in turn learn from these incidents. I think it is brave and well executed to release the video so the public can learn from it and assist in the capture of the bad guy. The victim is doing the right thing with the release of the video and I hope she makes a full recovery from the injuries.

Please note that I own an alarm company and have years of experience installing both cameras and alarms. In addition, I have worked with clients and police after various incidents in evaluation of the series of events, etc. that occurred. Also, I am able to walk the home/business after a crime to evaluate the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the security measures in place utilized by the home or business owner. Sadly, I am called to install these devices in most cases AFTER some sort of break-in or incident. Lastly, I have taught self-defense firearms classes for nearly 8 years, and martial arts for over twenty years. Many of my students have had incidents that either compelled them to train, or in training they have overcome or prevented incidents like the two discussed above.

Moderator, SAS Forum