So there *is* crime in Switzerland! Last night my husband, who is at home (I'm currently in the UK) woke up at 1am to a rattling sound and noticed the motion-sensitive back of house lights were on.

The rattling was persistent, so he went downstairs armed with the stick we use for opening the attic. Got torch, looked around downstairs and was suddenly looking at a guy who was at the terrace door in our back garden. Shone torch in his face, ran upstairs switching on downstairs lights, and called police. He then waited in the dark on top of staircase until the armed police patrol of 3 turned up 20 minutes later. They searched garden and surroundings and found steps in the snow. He seemed to have done a full round of the house.

Honestly I'm mostly glad it wasn't me home alone. I would probably have turned on all the lights, scared him off and never known there was really an intruder, or if I had been 100% sure there was an intruder, I'd probably have managed to summon the ambulance instead of the police.

I wonder if burglars here select houses where the snow hasn't been shoveled as probably unoccupied, which is a recommendation against sloth. Or maybe they're smart enough to target foreigners? (Often rich, travel a lot, unlikely to have a gun in the basement). The funny thing is that we moved in in November and still have practically no furniture or valuables that don't travel with us, so possibly the best thing to do would have just been to let the guy look around and see there's nothing to steal.

Maybe he was hoping to see YOU!

Might not be PC to say this, but a fact of life is that there is more crime since the borders were relaxed.

Organised bands come across on a quick shopping spree, and disappear in the night to return home again.

[*waits for protestations from the bleeding heart liberals*]

Those organised bands did do so already in the 50ies, 60ies, 70ies and 80ies. What really helps them is the highways, which allow them to get deeply inland and out again very swiftly.

I'd think organised bands might be a bit more *organised* than to send a single young bloke to check someone's empty aviary and rattle their shutters a bit. Though that may be just a first step to establishing if someone's really out.

look at your security as chances are they will be back.

i use alarm mines set at various heights in my garages at home, it deters anyone thats managed to get in, and if it deafens them then thats tough.

OP,

I'm sorry for what happened to you. I hope you can keep relatively calm in the aftermath and that you have people to talk to about what happened.

Best of luck.

goodness, I am sure I would sleep right through the whole thing...

glad everything is ok, but it is unnerving!

It wasn`t me .I am not stupid enough to to leave foot prints in the snow

I believe that early spring and fall just prior to daylight savings time are very popular with home burglars, especially right now as many of the schools take ski holidays. the signs are up all over the Zürich area reminding people to pay attention - unfortunately we too have experienced the joys of home invasion.

Most likely a drug addict. But here the trouble starts. Your husband did the the right thing by taking the matter seriously and acting cautiously. What matters not only is that you already have in your house more subjects of value than you realise but that burglars usually cause a lot of damage.

Yep, well organised - send in a single guy first for reccy and to identify best point of entry, and if undisturbed, the accomplices are summoned, for a quick smash and grab, in and out.

This can be done, simultaneously with several houses in the neighbourhood. Often a few houses within a close proximity are turned over in one night ...... have you spoken with any of your neighbours?

If the worst happens and the single guy is apprehended, then he becomes an asylum-seeking drug addict.

Maybe get some of these stickers as a deterrent? Make 'em think there is a resident there that's in the Swiss Army...and armed.

http://www.green-store.ch/product_in...CH-ARMEE-.html

Good compilation. You may be right you may be wrong, I cannot tell. But perfectly right you are in advising to be cautious. YES, my guess was and is that he is a drug-addict, but you may be quite right that he was just a "delegate". Clear is that we have to be cautious. House owners in particular.

Complete rubbish. I have been in this "club" for in total some 400 days and have never seen any such thing ever ! if you are in the Swiss Army (RS WK EK) you most likely have the STGW at home, but NOT ready and not up for practical use and most likely without ammunition

Complete rubbish. I have been in this "club" for in total some 400 days and have never seen any such thing ever ! if you are in the Swiss Army (RS WK EK) you most likely have the STGW at home, but NOT ready and not up for practical use and most likely without ammunition

like

or



or

Arbeiterschiessverein Zürich


may mean a bit more

Probably is. I'm sure any decal like that is as helpful as a Protected by Smith and Wesson emblem. Best it does is provides a false sense if security and that there's a firearm to be stolen on the property.

OP, wasn't trying to make light of the encounter. Our family was robbed once in the States. Luckily we weren't at home and they didn't make off with too much stuff. We think it was kids. Totally sucks though and it took us a month to start to feel comfortable again.

My parents always lived in a real mess in London, and disturbed a burglar once. It took them 3 days to realise he hadn't managed to take anything.

You are right, it is not PC, it's correct. There was a report in (if memory serves) Arena that the police are trying to get a wage rise as due to the increase of crime they have more work to do.

Oh, please do make light of it. My take on it is that it's far better to get burgled a few times than to live in fear of being burgled.