Situation with delivery man

[Gun]

Apparently a few still do ?

http://www.wdrb.com/story/37028708/f...ery-conditions

"We had four people shot in the west end this late summer, and the next day I was delivering in the west end on a Saturday and I was out til 10:30 at night trying to deliver these packages," Bricca said.

"I have a spotlight, and these houses are deep, deep back, and you can't see, and there's dogs, and I'm like come on: It's the west end. We're all going to get killed out here."

And one time, she almost was. Bricca said it was dark, and she was driving an unmarked, white truck.

"I was delivering to his neighbor, but he thought I was stealing the package," she said. "And he was threatening to shoot me. He had a gun, and was threatening to shoot me."

"It's not four 10-hour days," she said. "It's 14-16 hour days."

Not to mention that lunch, bathroom breaks or even traffic delays were not factored in to their drive times, according to Bricca. That's why she decided to leave right before the holiday rush.

Well, somebody else figured out how to deploy the bathroom break to economize time.

[Tim Ault]

If you live in a rural area with a rural type driveway, get yourself a Dakota Alert driveway vehicle sensor and alarm. I installed one years ago and love it. Any car or metal object coming up the driveway will trigger a doorbell ring inside the house.

Or a few claymores stratigically placed along said driveway

[ErSwnn]

Here....very rural...they beep the horn. But before that the dogs already know, so therefore, so do I. If in circumstances that aren't clear to me the dogs will take a closer look. Three large dogs staring in vehicle window have a very deterring effect...I assume. I mean I know it would deter me. A bad guy? If the dogs don't getcha, the owner will.

That said, I'd not be creeping around the outside of my own house until the dogs yelled "Clear". But there are times late at night I go out without the dogs. No need for them to tangle with coyotes when I can just stomp my feet at them.... 'course, still have a light on the shotgun just for good form.

[Justin///M]

I live in a VERY rural setting, up a dirt driveway off a dirt road.. did I say it is rural? The only LEO response we have is PASP from a barracks a good 45 minutes away.
It is not uncommon to come home and find packages in front of the garage doors or, when bad weather on the front seat of our unlocked cars in

Yesterday evening around 18:30ish (6:30pm for civilians) it was VERY dark out with complete cloud cover and lightly snowing.
I was in the kitchen snacking (Yes of course I was snacking on stuff I can't when she is around LOL), waiting for my wife to get home from a late meeting. I had the outside floodlights on.
My dog started barking, with a stuffed toy still in her mouth. I figured my wife, or step sons, were driving up the driveway. Suddenly dog dropped her toy ran to the picture window and her bark got really deep and loud. Shit was getting real.
I jogged over and looked out the front window to see a white, unmarked van in the driveway and the dome light in my car was on.
I grabbed a pistol and went to the side door, looked out the windows and headed out then and around the house. I was observing the ground as I moved looking for footprints. I kept the pistol pointed down along my thigh with my booger hook along the frame, not on the trigger. My pistol and finger stayed in this position through the whole encounter.
When I cleared the side of the house I was maybe 10-15 feet from the drivers side of the van. I could see foot prints from the drivers door, around the front and over towards my car. I see the driver headed back towards the van and me.
He got startled when he saw me and his eyes locked on my pistol. He looked like a young skinny Stevie wonder with beads in his braided hair, yeah he was not from around these parts.
Me "Stop! What are you doing here?" I kept looking around and listening for any other movement
Guy "I am delivering an Amazon package for..(he looks at his scanner and says my wife's name) and put it in that car" points to my car with the dome light just now slowly going out
I kept my front to him and back to the wall and made my way over to my car where I could see an Amazon box on the front seat
Me "Sorry to scare you but for future reference when house lights are on around these parts, I strongly recommend you knock or ring the bell or even blow your horn, before opening car/garage doors. Also recommend you get some kind of company signage on that van."
He just gave me a nervous grin and motioned to the van..
Me "Yeah sure, be careful out there and have a Merry Christmas"

At no time did threaten or menace or point the pistol up away from the ground, and my booger hook never touched the boom boom switch.

Tactical thoughts ?

Tactically, you made the wrong decision. You had a superior position and advantage which you abandoned for an inferior position with many variables out of your control.

Tactically, since you asked.

Otherwise, you did what you gotta do.

[Bang]

Tactical: Buy a bullhorn. When possible, communicate maintaining cover, ideally not revealing your specific location.

When in doubt, photo anything/anyone germane. But make it useful. Photo of a white van lacking anything especially unique to that van is no better than a KBB picture. Catching a human face is likely more valuable should such things prove needed.

Unless and until AMAZON supplies magnetic ID for their temp employees personal vehicles, investigation of strange vehicles will continue to generate confrontations.
I am a bit surprised the employee wasn't wearing AMAZON-provided garb.

I see your handling of the situation OK-minus, just could have had more emphasis on your maintaining more advantage for your own safety.

If you have a Harbor Freight around, or can online order from them, I highly recommend their driveway alarm package. I think one set is about $11. They consist of a sender and a receiver. I have a channel 18 set guarding one area of our properties, and a channel 20 set another. If watching more than one location, having separate frequencies tells which area is breached. Range is 400 feet. Batteries last a surprising long time. I extend that by shutting both off during the day.

Receiver signals when batteries in the set need replacing. A secondary benefit is the scanner will react to heat, so they are also a fire alarm.

[frankski]

Apparently a few still do ?

Anything orange triggers the anti-Trumpers.

[Brick]

I live in a VERY rural setting, up a dirt driveway off a dirt road.. did I say it is rural? The only LEO response we have is PASP from a barracks a good 45 minutes away.
It is not uncommon to come home and find packages in front of the garage doors or, when bad weather on the front seat of our unlocked cars in
Tactical thoughts ?

HMMM -- Sounds very familiar! By chance is your PaSP support out of the Barracks at Gibson?

[Berncly]

I have a gun on me always. That way, I can handle what needs to be handled without having a firearm in my hand unless it's needed. Always keep in mind that protecting property not in your home with lethal force will get you arrested. If he was breaking into your car and you caught him...then what? If you point your gun at him and tell him to freeze, he can say "fuck you" and leave. If you shoot him, then you're doing a dance to keep yourself out of jail.

Better to yell from the house or at a distance so if he is up to no good, you're not put in a position of shoot/don't shoot. And if he's a delivery driver that is armed, he's not suddenly confronted by an armed person and draws his own gun fearing a robbery. Start low and move up the force continuum. Don't start at potential lethal force unless you've already identified a lethal threat.

I agree with UncleJ on this one.
A holstered gun is not the same as a gun in the hand.
I don't keep a gun on me all the time, but I always have one nearby with a clip-on holster.
If something unexpected happens, I slide my clip-on onto my belt on the way to the door or window.

I would strongly recommend installing floodlights on each corner of your house, and wiring them to switches that are easy to access on the way to the door/window.
If something like this happens again, you will be able to light up the entire house perimeter and see what is going on without going outside.
An inexpensive security camera/DVR set covering your house perimeter would also be a good idea.

If it happens again I would not go outside and possibly force an unnecessary confrontation.
If you don't want delivery drivers to open your car, then keep it locked and notify the shippers of an alternative area to drop deliveries.

If you had shot a petty thief, then you would be having legal problems right now.
If the delivery driver had seen your gun and shot you, then you may be dead right now.
If it had been a true home invasion by a gang of thieves, then exposing yourself outside would have given them the advantage.

I am glad it all turned out ok for you.

[Pilot321]

I never leave the cover, and concealment of my home if there is a potential threat outside. Lots of good advice in this thread.

[Mentch171]

My dogs are on a first name basis with the delivery guys. Sometimes, they deliver treats. They are barking as soon as they hear the truck. As a matter of fact, if I inadvertently mention "truck", they start barking and head to the window.

That’s funny! My last two German Shepherds, brothers from the same litter, were big boys and very menacing looking. They knew our UPS driver we used to have since they were pups. As soon as his truck would come to a stop all 260 pounds of them were almost always into the side door of his truck and in the back with him while he was trying to get our packages. He’d have to chase them out of his truck and give them treats to get rid of them.

I did however let them out the front door one time without looking when I heard someone pull in the driveway. I thought it was my buddy but it was the Verizon guy. By the time I got outside they had him scared shitless pinned to his truck. They were circling him like a pair of sharks. I felt bad for the guy.