If you think someone is trying to break into your home right now, call 911, get to the most secure room you can reach, lock the door behind you, and stay there until police tell you the house is clear. Knowing what to do if someone is trying to break in comes down to a few decisions made quickly: call for help, put a locked door between you and the intruder, and don’t go looking for them. Everything else — the report, the repairs, the insurance claim — comes after you’re safe.
Call 911 First, Even If You Have to Whisper
Dial 911 the moment you suspect someone is forcing entry. An active break-in is exactly the kind of emergency the system exists for.1911.gov. Calling 911 Give your address first, then describe what you’re hearing or seeing. Whisper if the intruder is close. Dispatchers are trained for that. Stay on the line until they tell you to hang up.
If speaking at all would put you in danger, text 911 instead. Text-to-911 is expanding but isn’t available everywhere; if your area doesn’t support it, your carrier sends an automatic bounce-back message letting you know the text didn’t go through.2911.gov. Frequently Asked Questions Type your full address, use complete words rather than abbreviations, and keep the messages short. The official rule is simple: call if you can, text if you can’t.
Get Behind a Locked Door
While you’re on the phone, move to the most secure room you can reach. A bedroom or bathroom with a solid-core door and a working lock is good. An interior room with no windows is better, because it removes another possible entry point. Once you’re inside, lock the door and push whatever heavy furniture you can move against it. A dresser or bookshelf won’t hold forever, but it buys minutes, and minutes are what police need to reach you.
Take your phone, the people in the house, and your pets with you if you can do it fast. Don’t go back for anything once the door is locked. If a child is on the other side of the house and you can safely reach them first, do it. If reaching them means crossing the intruder’s path, stay where you are and tell the dispatcher exactly where in the house the child is.
Noise Before Entry, Silence After
Most burglars don’t want a confrontation. Before an intruder is inside, noise works in your favor — yelling, an alarm, banging on walls — because it signals someone is home and alert. Department of Justice research on home invasion finds that intruders weigh signs of occupancy heavily when picking a target, and indicators that multiple people are home make a house far less attractive.3U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office. Home Invasion Robbery
If the intruder is already inside and you’re hidden, flip the strategy. Stay quiet. Don’t go looking for them, don’t arm yourself with a kitchen knife and stand in the hallway, and don’t crack the safe-room door to see what’s happening. Officers are on the way; your job is to stay out of sight until they get there.
When the Noise Stops, Stay Put
If the sounds of attempted entry stop, don’t open your door. The intruder may still be inside, may be nearby, or may be waiting for you to come out. Stay in your safe room until law enforcement officers physically arrive and tell you the house is clear. It will feel like forever. Wait anyway.
If you were outside when the break-in attempt started, don’t go back in. Move to a neighbor’s home or a safe distance and call 911 from there. You don’t know whether the intruder is armed, whether they’re alone, or whether they’re still inside. Let police do the clearing.
When the Officers Arrive
Follow the officers’ instructions exactly when they reach you. Identify yourself clearly, tell them what you’re wearing, and keep your hands visible. They’re responding to an active break-in call with heightened caution and need to tell you apart from a suspect fast.
Once you’re face to face, give them every detail you can: physical description of the intruder, clothing, any vehicle, direction of travel, whether you saw or heard a weapon. Partial details still help. Note the time you first heard anything and what the sounds were, since those details line up with neighborhood cameras and other reports in the area.
Don’t Clean Up Before Police Process the Scene
Don’t touch, move, or clean anything until officers tell you it’s okay. Damaged doors, broken glass, tool marks, fingerprints, shoe impressions, and DNA traces are fragile, and even minor contamination can compromise evidence that matters later.4National Institute of Standards and Technology. Standard for On-Scene Collection and Preservation of Physical Evidence Sweeping up the glass or straightening a kicked-in frame erases the record.
Before officers leave, make sure a formal police report is filed and get the report number and the responding officer’s name. You’ll need that number for your insurance claim, and it creates the official record linking any damage or theft to a crime. Without a report, an insurance company has very little to work with.
Secure the House That Same Day
Once police clear the scene, close up any compromised entry points before nightfall. A door that no longer latches or a window with broken glass is an open invitation to a return visit or a different opportunist.
For a broken window, plywood screwed into the frame from the inside is more secure than cardboard or sheeting taped over the opening. For a damaged door, a temporary deadbolt hasp or a security bar wedged under the handle will hold until a locksmith can come. Emergency board-up services generally run from around $50 to $600 depending on the damage and whether it’s after hours, and an emergency locksmith for rekeying or lock repair typically runs $75 to $200. Save every receipt, because those costs are usually reimbursable under a standard homeowners or renters policy.
After the immediate patch, the DOJ’s prevention research points to a few measures that actually deter future attempts: reinforcing entry doors against kick-ins, adding security lighting, trimming vegetation that hides someone near windows and doors, and using blinds or curtains so an intruder can’t survey the inside from the yard.3U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office. Home Invasion Robbery Reinforced strike plates with three-inch screws, a high-security deadbolt, and a frame that can absorb a kick are the single best investment for most doors.
File the Insurance Claim Quickly
Call your homeowners or renters insurer as soon as possible. Policies commonly use language like “prompt notice” or “as soon as practicable”; some require notification within 30 to 90 days, others allow up to a year. The deadline sits in the “Duties After Loss” section of your policy. Calling the same day or the next morning is the safe choice.
You’ll need the police report number, a detailed list of damaged or missing property, and photos or video of the damage.5National Association of Insurance Commissioners. What You Need to Know When Filing a Homeowners Claim Walk through the house and photograph every point of damage before making any repair beyond what’s needed to secure the property. Adjusters expect you to board up a window; they don’t expect you to have fixed everything else before they can see it.
For stolen items, work from memory and from any photos you already have of your home’s interior. Background shots in old phone pictures are often how people reconstruct what was in a room. The more specific you can be about descriptions and approximate replacement costs, the smoother the claim.5National Association of Insurance Commissioners. What You Need to Know When Filing a Homeowners Claim
Using Force Against an Intruder
Self-defense law varies by state and getting it wrong carries criminal consequences, so what applies in your home is ultimately whatever your state says. The general framework in most of the country runs through the “Castle Doctrine”: in your own home, you have no duty to retreat before using reasonable force in self-defense, including deadly force when the threat is severe enough. At least 31 states and several territories have codified some version of this through statutes or court decisions removing the duty to retreat for people in a place they have a right to be.6National Conference of State Legislatures. Self-Defense and Stand Your Ground
The right is not unlimited. Three requirements apply almost everywhere:
- Proportionality. The force used has to match the threat. A non-violent trespasser is not the same situation as someone kicking down an interior door with a weapon.
- Necessity. Deadly force is justified only when you reasonably believe it’s needed to prevent death or serious bodily harm. If the intruder is running away, that necessity is gone.
- Reasonable belief. Both your actual belief and whether a reasonable person in your position would have believed the same thing are weighed.6National Conference of State Legislatures. Self-Defense and Stand Your Ground
In practice: if an intruder breaks in and you genuinely believe your life or a family member’s life is in danger, most states let you defend yourself without retreating. Shooting someone who’s already fleeing, setting traps for potential intruders, or using a weapon against someone who poses no physical threat is a different situation and will almost certainly bring criminal charges. If you keep a firearm for home defense, reading your state’s specific self-defense statute is not optional.
After the Adrenaline Fades
An attempted break-in, even one where no one was hurt and nothing was taken, can leave you shaken for weeks. Trouble sleeping, flinching at every noise, anxiety about being home alone — these are normal reactions to a real threat, not signs anything is wrong with you.
Every state operates a crime victim compensation program, funded in part by the federal Victims of Crime Act, that can reimburse costs like medical bills, mental health counseling, and lost wages tied to a crime.7Office for Victims of Crime. Victim Compensation Eligibility and covered expenses vary, so you’ll need to apply through the program in the state where the crime happened. The Office for Victims of Crime maintains a directory of state programs.8Office for Victims of Crime. Help in Your State A few sessions with a therapist who works with trauma can make a meaningful difference if the anxiety sticks around, and because many of these programs cover counseling, the cost barrier is often lower than people expect.
Decide Your Safe Room Now, Not Later
The best time to work out your response is before you need it. Pick a safe room in your home and make sure everyone in the household knows which one. An interior room with a solid door, a lock, and no ground-floor windows is ideal. Keep a charged phone and a flashlight in or near it. If you have children, practice the plan with them so they know where to go without having to be told twice.
Document what you own while you can. Walk through your home with your phone camera, open closets and drawers, and save the footage somewhere outside the house — a cloud storage account works. Ten minutes of video now is the single most valuable thing you can hand an adjuster later if you ever can’t remember what was in the guest-room closet.