Neighborhood Theft Spree
 

A couple months ago someone rifled through my car taking spare change and a $5 pocket knife. They missed two pairs of Ray-bans and helped me find my wheel lock key so I was only a little annoyed. Last week they got into my wife's car and got two pairs of designer sunglasses and some cash. They also hit up the neighbor's car for some minor stuff and at least one or two other in the neighborhood. The cars were probably unlocked. It's a quiet neighborhood and the cars are probably locked 95% of the time.It's likely a local teenager.

I'm thinking of making up a decoy box of goodies that will mechanically activate an air-horn or even some pepper spray. Not sure I want the pepper in the car and it could leave me open to retaliation. Any ideas on catching bastard?

I like the air horn thing. thats funny. If it were me and this will sound weird...If I had to leave my car out, I just would make sure there was nothing in it and leave it unlocked so they dont try to gain access another way ie through back windown or through the convertible top. But again - that is just me. maybe they will get the hint that there is no reason to go to your car as there is never anything in it. OR go buy a cheap camera for outside and catch them on tape and give to the cops.

Game camera. Set it up with a flash. When "buddy" comes around your car, gets the flash going off, he won't be back.

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We had a crime spree like that a few years ago in my hood. I was talking with one of my neighbors that had two teenage boys. He said "yeah, what's really strange is I had x-amount of cash in my truck and it was unlocked last night and they didn't take a thing"..... I said "oh reeeeally"?? Crime solved.

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$5 garden snake in pasenger seat.

You might have to strain the remains for finger prints:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...fJFWw8ycvO8NIU

What ever happened to locking the car and turning the alarm on..........

100% kids friendly, just don't aim at the eye like your mother taught you.

http://lawfuluse.com/wp-content/uplo...Bag-Rounds.jpg

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When I moved into my neighborhood 20+ years ago, one of my neighbors came over and said "Sure hope you like kids, 'cause they all play in your yard"... I responded with "Sure hope you like Rottweilers, 'cause I have two"!! Hilarious!

I'm liking the game camera idea, though I'd like to also use my air-horn idea and scare the beejesus out of them. Even if I don't catch them, they probably would avoid my driveway after that!

I like this system. Couple it with a security cam..

12V DC Car Security Smoke Screen

The lady down the street stopped by on her way through the neighborhood to warn me to "keep an eye on that pretty car" because her convertible VW bug was stolen from her driveway. She said that the police were able to recover it, but that's got me paranoid.

My only option is to park in the driveway. We've had our cars messed with in the past by neighborhood punks. I had some automatic lights set up, which seems to be a deterrent. The funny thing is that I had less problems with people messing with our cars when I lived in the city than I do in the suburbs.

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I think it is real. Pretty awesome...

The zapper 9000 would be perfect in this application.

I think it vaporizes finger prints on your shinny paint as well so you don't have to wash the car after.

Or what you can also do is lift the prints off your car, then open a free energy drink stand with a video camera and numbered cans, and then lift the prints from the cans and match them up with the video and viola, you caught your thief and have all the neighborhood kids finger prints.

Everyone needs a fun hobby:D

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I like the payback aspect, I really do (and I am evil) the more painful/embarassing the better. But I think I would need to ID the perp to avoid retaliation.

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Gee, how about...oh let's see........Lock You Car!

This issue has been common since the economy tanked, just walk down the block looking for easy pickings.

I'm president of my neighborhood association. We found that the best thing to do is inform all the neighbors and make sure that they contact the police whenever something like this happens. Most police departments have a non-emergency number, so you don't need to tie up your 911 emergency service reporting petty crimes.

The police (at least those in our area) track crimes and target their patrols to the patterns shown by their data. In our cases, the police have caught the kids sooner or later.

Police could give a rat's ass about your poor little Porsche getting broken into. *takes out the world's smallest violin*

My previous car was broken into once while I witnessed them stealing everything inside. I called the cops while it was in progress and they came 45 mins later since it's non-emergency. I lost my car stereo and everything in the car and all they did was opened up a case and I never heard from them again.

You just watched???

You must have needed a new stereo from the insurance.

Did you at least video it?

Slingshots, bow/arrow etc can still be had in TO.

Theres not as many police in Canada as the US so of course they are a waste of time only good for writing notes for the insurance claim long after the crime has occured.

You should always tell the cops that the bandits are armed if you expect prompt and aggressive service, and then the chances are better that if the bandits are confronted they may get shot in the process of being caught.

Yep. Instead of losing some spare change and that coveted Steve Winwood cd, they'll just cut a hole in your top :rolleyes:
They best option for avoiding neighborhood thieves is to park in a garage! :D
Game camera and lights would be better than nothing.




Lock the camera box ;)

Not True. Most petty thieves of this sort are just looking for open cars.

I wish I could agree :(

I keep the boxster garaged, but my dd stays unlocked in the driveway with nothing of value inside. I've had it for over 10 years and have replaced 3 windows from 3 separate incidents in that time. Got tired of replacing them :rolleyes:

A thief would probably not cut the top to rifle through your stuff, but breaking a window takes about 0.5 seconds ;)

You need to move to a different neighborhood then!

3 different cities in 3 different states...no kidding. Also have had 2 different home break-ins in that time :rolleyes:
Maybe I just have bad luck :(

I ordered some cheap surveillance cameras from china last week(home and auto).
Thieves suck.

Game camera on the way.

Small driveway/small garage at my place so nightly garaging is not convenient and I am reluctant to change my behavior for a bored teenager.

Fortunately my thief is not destructive and seems to be just going around the neighborhood looking for unlocked cars. Only a matter of time before he ups the ante though. The faceplate around my wifes stereo did appear tampered with.

We've had lots of vandalism this summer while the kids are off school in our alley.

My neighbors all have nice "two car" garages filled with useless crap while their very expensive cars sit outside. All the while, they know our neighborhood is a target for theives... I shake my head and mumble to myself about what idiots they must be.

Now I understand some folks don't have garages and can't lock up their vehicles. But if that was me I'd probably not own a nice car. When I had nice cars and I lived in apartments, I was hit repeatedly. Now I'm older and smarter.

And here in Texas, shooting/or shooting at a theif (warning shots) will not cause one to be arrested as long as the theif is on or in his property. About once a month, I see reports on TV stating someone has shot an intruder/theif and they're always given a hall pass and a smile from the grand jury. Our prisons, while the biggest in the country, are also overpopulated.

Heck yeah! Two, please!