Thieves Suck!

inspiredsports

Serendipity wrote: »

Not gonna happen man.

Whether to move or not is a decision only you can make, but you by your own admission are the one not sleeping well at night.

It sounds like you live in a very nice area with all of the nice vehicles around, but you must be right on the fringe without enough buffer to where the "have nots" hang out.

If you are on the "fringe", it will NEVER get better. You can completely fence and gate your place, but that makes the thieves all the more curious about what's inside, and gives them supreme cover if (and I should say when) they get in.

Alarms are not much of a deterrent either as it simply becomes a timing issue for the thieves who hit and are gone before the normal response time is reached.

I'll bet that just 4 or 5 blocks "in" from where you are they never get hit. You and your neighbors are the bait on the fringe. You need to find out where that 4 or 5 block threshold is and move there.

snow

Serendipity wrote: »

You probably remember the threads I posted about wheel locks and home security devices. Well, two houses down there was a break-in, cops came and left, didn't really do anything. The old lady that owned the house had an alarm and that scared the burglars away.

A few months ago down the road someone's Lexus LS460 had the headlights stolen. And various cars with nice wheels (BMW's, Mercedes, and Infiniti's) had been left on bricks.

Now, just last week our neighbor's G35 was vandalized. Spoke to the lady and she said this is not the first time, they took both headlights and 4 wheels before, and dropped the car on the pavement.

This comes way too close to home and I'm not sleeping well at night.

Any ideas besides a dog, video surveillance system, and house alarm? Already have a DVR with nice cameras - but doesn't help if someone is hiding in a van parked across the street, etc.

I firmly believe two things.... most criminals dont want to get caught and or injured by either you or an animal, it appears that since an alarm scared off the fellow/s that broke into the house 2 doors down but were deterred by the alarm so knowing that most crime of a certain type is usally commited by the same small percentage of criminals odds are all these thefts are being done by the same few people and if they were deterred once they will be deterred again by the same method so get an alarm and make it very obvious that you do have one, in fact I would put a big **** sign in both my front and back yards visible from the sidewalk or road for the whole world to see that you have an alarm system and cameras in addition to the lttle stickers they usally give you to put on your windows and doors, it isnt going to hurt to have a warning sign proudly stating that you also have an attack dog or four either, some criminals may not be worried about having to deal with one dog but trust me no one wants to deal with several sets of teeth

I would set up motion detectors which are cheap near your car/s and your house that will set off an alarm that will wake up the entire neigborhood none of that pansy crap :eek:, maybe even set up a recording that plays attack dogs snarling noises over a PA type horn in front and back that the motion detectors will set off.

Maybe even sprinkle a few well placed king sized turds around so that the thieves have an idea of the size of the dogs within

Trust me if the criminals can see BEFORE they get to your house or car that you are protected they will look for an easier target.

REGARDS SNOW

tonyb

Don't have alot of thieves in my neighborhood.....mostly because we beat them to a pulp when caught.....gives them some perspective.

rswroughneck

I Vote for a Gun and a big dog, that way the dog can run them down to make sure you don't have to shoot them while they are running away. You don't get much of that for very long where I live I would say that me and over 50% of my neihbors are carrying. But thats the beauty of living in Alaska where you don't even need a permit to carry concealed.

snow

rswroughneck wrote: »

I Vote for a Gun and a big dog, that way the dog can run them down to make sure you don't have to shoot them while they are running away. You don't get much of that for very long where I live I would say that me and over 50% of my neihbors are carrying. But thats the beauty of living in Alaska where you don't even need a permit to carry concealed.

True enough, Im not sure if I know anyone here that isnt armed to the teeth, there may be less than 700.000 people in the state but im willing to wager that there is well over 2 million weapons. Where in AK are you? Fairbanks here.



REGARDS SNOW

kawizx9r

The dog thing works too!

Should rephrase my vote for both dog+weapon. My pit might be friendly, but if you're uninvited and unwelcome...she'll let you know!

Face

Keiko wrote: »

Curious, with all these incidents in the neighborhood, I'd petition the City and County for Police to patrol the area more frequently.

I said the same thing to him via PM.

ESavinon

Follow common sense. Secure your vehicle/house, don't leave valuables in plain sight, report any suspicious behavior, go to your community meetings and talk to the police representatives there. Let them know what's going on and request more patrols.
Talk to your neighbors and participate in a patrol watch.

HB27

Rent the "attack cat".
IF you put up signs in my 'hood you'll need them in 4 languages and info signs with intl symbols for the pukes that can't read ANY language.
I don't recommend the "gun" either for the car issues but come in my home door or window and that's a different story. IT's "Open Season" then.
I highly recommend burying the bodies in your arsehole neighbors or "EX Wife's" yard.
Too bad ya cain't shoot one of them and tie 'em to a tree in your front yard with afforementioned sign attached

HB27

OR.....IF you're a bad arse.....Insert bullets manually. I personally don't like sharing oxygen with thieves. So the fewer thieves the better IMHO.
Sorry to offend the "faint of heart". (not)

HB27

Keiko wrote: »

I wanna read more from THE CAT DIARY, Harry.

I'll see what I can do. I have a friend on the Klipsch forum that's gifted with the pen and of dimented mind. I'll throw it in his lap and see what happens.

inspiredsports

kawizx9r wrote: »

The dog thing works too!

Should rephrase my vote for both dog+weapon. My pit might be friendly, but if you're uninvited and unwelcome...she'll let you know!

Dogs are wonderful pets and become family members for their owners, but most criminals don't think twice about hurting them. When you are away and expecting your pet to protect your home from known attempts, realize you are putting that pet in the line of fire.

I like electronic deterrents better because they can be more easily replaced than a dog that was poisoned, clubbed or shot in the head.

mewisemagic

get a big mean pit bull with aids

Bobsama

Are gun permits even given in NYC? I know you're not allowed to carry concealed unless you're a cop or have very good friends.

Anyways, I'm voting against the "gun" option. If you can tolerate an inside dog, that's the route to go. Go with a working dog; a guard dog would be a natural choice, but a sled dog or larger hunting dogs should be fine. A female dog should be a bit easier to control, but remember that it's your house and that you're their boss. Every so often, you'll run into a dog that refuses to submit to anyone. We had a guide dog that refused to submit to us, to the older dog, to the regional GEB trainers, et cetera. The dog lost her potential to be a guide dog because she was too dominant. We gave her up and, in all likelihood, the dog was put down.

Cpyder

Don't sell your car or move. That's ridiculous. Two random thefts should not make you change your whole lifestyle. If it does, then you can congratulate the thieves because they won as you succumbed to fear and made your own life less than ideal. There are plenty of good ways to completely avoid crime. Especially if it's untargeted crime. The trick is to make your house the least tempting on your block by displaying security signs, making it evident you have a dog (studies show dogs are WAY more effective than house security systems. Although, having both is even better), and many other methods.

I'm willing to bet your neighborhood is much safer than most. Don't get carried away. Crimes happen everywhere. If it doesn't make your neighbors mad, leaving lights on at night also helps fight against theft.

ESavinon

Cpyder wrote: »

Don't sell your car or move. That's ridiculous. Two random thefts should not make you change your whole lifestyle. If it does, then you can congratulate the thieves because they won as you succumbed to fear and made your own life less than ideal. There are plenty of good ways to completely avoid crime. Especially if it's untargeted crime. The trick is to make your house the least tempting on your block by displaying security signs, making it evident you have a dog (studies show dogs are WAY more effective than house security systems. Although, having both is even better), and many other methods.

I'm willing to bet your neighborhood is much safer than most. Don't get carried away. Crimes happen everywhere. If it doesn't make your neighbors mad, leaving lights on at night also helps fight against theft.

+1.

Install an x10 system and give your house a lived in look.
Here's a link: http://www.x10.com/promotions/cm15a_loaded_si.html

maximillian

If you are going for a simple solution to the "lived in look" then you may want to get an automated light timer such as this one:

http://www.x10minitimer.com/

The one linked by ESavinon requires a PC.

Serendipity

Cpyder wrote: »

Two random thefts should not make you change your whole lifestyle.

Two random thefts?

Let's see... the Infiniti G35 left on bricks... the Lexus without Xenon lights... the Mercedes SUV with stolen wheels... the neighbors on both sides getting their houses burglarized... the new house that was broken into RIGHT after it was built...

exalted512

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

but no state has castle laws that let you shoot people outside your house, so I think that suggestion is of limited usefulness.

I don't speak for other states, but if my truck is on the street and someone is breaking into it, I can shoot them legally in Texas. I'm sure we're not the only ones either.
-Cody

Serendipity

It seems like I'm not the only one around here that feels this way. This morning, before 5AM, the old lady that lives down the street was walking her dog around the block 3-4 times. And the kid that lives next door doesn't sleep early, so he's up until 2AM.

Whoever it is... we're watching you

Serendipity

I just got this:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=332-608

It comes with four color cameras with Night Vision and I also got the accompanying PCI card for a Windows XP machine - it allows you to stream the security cameras' video over the Web and record it on an external hard drive. Also the video can be set to save on a Networked drive (NAS Storage) which I am setting up with a Windows Home Network and storing it on another PC. Great use of old hard drives and better for the criminals because the video can be recorded over the Internet and far away...

everpress

Booby trap everything. High current running through anything that might be touched. And get a couple of Irish Wolfhounds.... yes, they are harmless for the most part, but they really thrive indoors and they are territorial... While they aren't aggressive for the most part, they are f-ing huge and scare the **** out of anyone that comes face-to-face with them.
Also, while I'm not the biggest fan of guns, I am not above trying to advertise that i will harm you much for trying to liberate or mutilate my property. I worked hard for everything that I have and I can't get back the time it took for me to save to get what i have.

Serendipity

I just installed this in my computer:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Q-See-QSDT4PCRC-4-Channel-H.264-PCI-DVR-Card/13214892?sourceid=1500000000000003142050&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=13214892

Had some difficulty getting the drivers loaded (it only supports certain motherboards), and was not compatible with my graphics card drivers. Got it to work though. However, now that I've got FOUR cameras hooked up to this thing - I can view the security footage anywhere and even record on my networked Hard Drives!

Have one problem though - the wires I ran in the walls were all RG6/QS but the capture card uses BNC connectors. Right now I have adapters but the connection is very loose.

Should I cut the RG6/QS cable and put on BNC splitters/connectors from Parts Express? The video will be going to (a) the Security DVR, on 24/7 and (b) the 4 channel PCI capture card located in the Windows PC.

Serendipity

Going to Radio Shack during lunch time:

I'm thinking about going with four of the "Standard "F" Connector to BNC Jack" adapters so the RG6/QS cable can be connected to the DVR and 4-port capture card on the Windows PC without BNC to RCA and RCA to F adapters. That basically bypasses the "F" Connector --> RCA --> RCA/BNC adapters that I am using.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104080

Will these work? Or do I need to cut the RG6 cable and attach something like this to ensure a better connection?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103246

Thanks!