Attempted Summer Break-in

Today we had a scare, and by we, I mean me.  I was at home in the back bedroom.  The lights in the kitchen/living room were off and the blinds were closed.  It basically looked like nobody was home.  As I was sitting in the bedroom, I heard the doorknob turn as someone tried the door.  I froze, thinking maybe Tyler came home early to surprise me.  No such luck, the person walked away and I continued work on the computer.  A minute later, I heard the same sound, only it sounded like someone was trying to break down the door.  The doorknob was turning and the door was jiggling back and forth.  Then, it stopped.

I was scared, had someone just tried to break into my apartment?!  I got in touch with Tyler to make sure it wasn't him--it wasn't.  Then I called our apartment manager to see if she had sent maintenance--it wasn't anybody there.  It then sunk in, someone had tried to break into my apartment.  I peeked out the window, but of course, no one was there.  It was a full 10 minutes after the attempt had happened.  What do I do now?  Well, I decided that I needed to tell the police.

When I called the police dispatch, they weren't happy.  They told me my safety had been in jeopardy and that I should have called 911 immediately.  If I had called 911 right away, they might have been able to do something.  I hadn't called 911 because it had taken me a while to figure out what was going on.  I felt ashamed too, I had put my safety and the safety of my napping baby in jeopardy.  They told me they would increase patrols in our area and that if anything like this happened again to call 911 immediately.  So, I learned a valuable lesson:  911 is not just for situations where you are dying (as I previously thought), it is for any emergency situation (even an attempted break-in).

So, during this summer season (which is also called "break-in season") be safe and keep your doors locked.