That was the question that confronted a young woman in Mount Vernon, Washington on January 12, 2010. I’ll refer to her as Maria, which is not her real name.
She and her 2-year-old daughter had been watching the penguin cartoon “Happy Feet” when she heard a knock on the front window. She went to the window, pulled the blinds aside, saw a police badge being shown, and heard a man yell "POLICE! OPEN THE DOOR!"
Maria, frightened, opened the door. Two men in ski masks pushed their way in. One man grabbed the child and the other man pushed Maria onto the couch.
Did rape and murder then follow?
That such was not the case was due solely to what her ex-husband had taught Titan, the family pit bull, to do—to attack on command. Maria screamed the command. The man on top of Maria started to pull a gun but not before Titan raced out of a back bedroom and sunk his teeth into the man’s left leg. Both men then fled, with the dog close behind them.
In hindsight, Maria should never have opened the door to police impersonators, but how was she to know that they were fake police?
CONCLUSION:
In such a situation, never open the door. Instead, call 911. If the men are the real police, rather than impersonators, the 911 operator can confirm that. And if they are not the police, a patrol car can be sent out to catch them.
Not everyone keeps a pit bull in the back bedroom, trained to attack on command.
I have my house set up where I can easily see who is at the door, in the driveway or even in the street without them knowing anyone is home. And I can accomplish this day and night. You can't pull aside a curtain and not expect people to see you. You have to be able to do it undetected. You have no obligation to open the door or give away the fact that you are home even if it is the real police. If they need to talk to you bad enough, they will leave a business card with a note to call them. Also, if the police believe you are home and not answering the door it is very common for them to have the dispatcher call you. Never answer the phone in that situation otherwise you give away the fact that you are indeed home. In that case the cops may hang around for a very long time trying to get you to answer the door all the while getting madder that you haven't already.
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