Vandals strike yet again

[Norton]

^&^&%$@#@ ......we got hit again this week.

If you recall from:

http://armedpolitesociety.com/viewtopic.php?id=550

and

http://armedpolitesociety.com/viewtopic.php?id=246

we've been pretty unfortunate in our stay here in the new neighborhood.

This week it was my Jeep Liberty, along with around 50 other vehicles, that had its back window destroyed.

I'm off to BassPro tomorrow for one of those wildlife cameras and then to Lowes for those wireless driveway alarms and some additional motion sensor lights.

Why couldn't they have attacked the Accord with 345,000 miles on it instead of my brand new lovely Jeep.

[Northwoods]

Well, since moving into my neighborhood not quite a year and a half ago, my 1992 Civic has been sideswiped, vandalized (with a lemon no less), stolen (recovered later that day sans stereo, child seat, and few other items), and broken into (drivers window smashed and stereo stolen).

And my 2001 Ranger hasn't been touched.

I feel for you.

[Azrael256]

I am of the opinion that wanton destruction of private property should be dealt with swiftly, publicly, and painfully.  Prompt restitution should be paid.  I don't mean the cash value of your back window, I mean full restitution for both the item and the time spent replacing it.  Were it up to me, I would make the offender go so far as to pay for the minutes on your cellphone you had to spend calling the auto glass people to have it fixed.

Then, I would line up all the offended parties, and each would get a good swat at the offender's backside with a hefty strap.  Do this on the lawn of the courthouse.  Maybe some good whacks would convince these idiots that vandalism is a bad idea.

Just my opinion.

[K Frame]

We've been having problems the past few months in my community with one house, a rental. There was a huge party there some months ago. The next morning we woke up to nearly $1,000 of damage to the trees in the community, beer cups, cans, and bottles everywhere, and a car that had been backed into to the tune of nearly $3,000.

We came down hard on the owner, and she came down hard on the residents, who protested that their friends certainly couldn't have done it, because they're responsible 20-somthing-adults.

No, I suppose it's a goddamned coincidence that your garbage and recycling contains the EXACT same mix of cups, cans, and bottles, and that many of them were recovered from under the damaged trees?

Since then there have been several more instances of vandalism, all happing, oddly enough, on days when they have friends over. Last time I watched 6 guys go into the house, each with a case of beer. The next morning the one corner mirror had been ripped off the post (the second time) and at least one car keyed.

They're getting the message, though. The police have been paying regular visits to the house, courtesy of the neighbors who have had enough of the noise and trash. I predict it won't be long before I start signing No Trespassing notifications to their friends.

What really ticks me off, though?

After the first incident, several residents came up to me to complain about hearing very loud noise and apparently people fighting in the parking lot around 2:30 a.m.

"Did you call the police?"

"No, I didn't want to get involved."

THEN WHAT IN THE FLYING FICKLE FINGER OF *)$&()*^&)(*&$# FATE DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO ABOUT IT??? PICK UP YOUR GODDAMNED PHONE AND CALL THE POLICE!"

[Perd Hapley]

Oh, I thought Rome had been sacked again.

[Strings]

Mike... maybe you should borrow Abby for a bit?

 And fistful, that was SOOO wrong...

[Norton]

I'm just pissed because it's the one decent vehicle I own.  Insurance is going to pay full for the replacement and my neighbor is an auto glass man.....so fromt hat standpoint my outlay is as minimal as could be.

I could understand breaking the glass to steal something.....theft makes sense to me.  But this was just criminal masturbation, a purely self-gratuitous act.

On a lighter note on the incident:  The officer (who was great, BTW) took me out out to the Jeep and we were looking at the window and he suddenly got very serious and said, "Is there anything missing from the vehicle?".  I checked out the radio, looked for the wheel lock and my "get home bag" under the seat and said, "No."  I don't keep anthing of value in the vehicle so I was sure that was it.

He was very insistent that I check the cargo area and said, "Are you SURE nothing is missing?"

I checked to see why he would be so concerned and saw why.  I had left my duffel bag full of targets back there and there were Shoot N See targets strewn all over the place.

[Leatherneck]

I wonder why we're seeing an expansion of low-life criminal activity outside the traditional high-risk neighborhoods recently. After my breakin/burglary two weeks ago, I compared notes with several long-time neighbors. In our neighborhood (thirty-some homes, mostly two-decade plus residents, no through streets, etc.). Collectively, we could only remember one break-in--a hot one--by "friends" of the resident teenaged son. We now experience speeding, littering, and vandalism frequently--all signs of lowered respect for law and good order.

I know I'm sounding curmudgeonly here, but I think there's a general deterioration of civil mores of late, at least around here.

TC

[brimic]

A few months ago, a guy in southern Wisconsin had enough of his car being broken into and shot someone who was trying to steal his car stereo. He wasn't the only one who felt this way as most of his neighborhood turned out in a public meeting to support him. Too bad the man will spend the most productive years of his life in prison. Many people will say that its not worth shooting someone over a car stereo, but when the stereo is just the icing on the cake in a long string of vandalism, muggings, and burglaries, someone's got to start throwing chlorine in the gene pool.

[grislyatoms]

Hey Mike Irwin,

Next time they spool up the party go out there and video tape them. I have done this before with excellent results. (I gave a copy of the tape to the cops and the landlord)

They were evicted within 2 weeks.

[Mabs2]

Don't know if Jeep covers vandalism, but as far as I can tell they have great warranty stuff...
They'll get you straight.

[zahc]

I am of the opinion that wanton destruction of private property should be dealt with swiftly, publicly, and painfully.  Prompt restitution should be paid.  I don't mean the cash value of your back window, I mean full restitution for both the item and the time spent replacing it.  Were it up to me, I would make the offender go so far as to pay for the minutes on your cellphone you had to spend calling the auto glass people to have it fixed.

Then, I would line up all the offended parties, and each would get a good swat at the offender's backside with a hefty strap.  Do this on the lawn of the courthouse.  Maybe some good whacks would convince these idiots that vandalism is a bad idea.

What vandals really deserve is the three S's.

[Norton]

My neighbor, who owns a glass company, is putting in the glass today.  I'm getting the windshield replaced too since it had a stone crack in it.  Now I have to go and get my new DoD stickers......

[hoji]

Singapore really does have the right idea about property crime. They have VERY little of it.

[Guest]

I wonder why we're seeing an expansion of low-life criminal activity outside the traditional high-risk neighborhoods recently. After my breakin/burglary two weeks ago, I compared notes with several long-time neighbors. In our neighborhood (thirty-some homes, mostly two-decade plus residents, no through streets, etc.). Collectively, we could only remember one break-in--a hot one--by "friends" of the resident teenaged son. We now experience speeding, littering, and vandalism frequently--all signs of lowered respect for law and good order.

I know I'm sounding curmudgeonly here, but I think there's a general deterioration of civil mores of late, at least around here.

Ive noticed this too. I dont really think that it is a change in "the people" so much as a change in the demographics of suburbia. I moved from the city of Seattle out to a suburb about five years ago. In those five years I have seen petty crime slowly climbing up to, and even surpassing, what used to be normal in the city. Based on speaking with friends and family still in the city it would seem that such crime there has remained fairly constant and even declined a little.

There is a certain theory about this. As a city starts off, everyone lives within the city limits so as to be close to work. The wealthier people with cars eventually move out to the suburbs and establish "nice" neighborhoods that are devoid of the cities problems. As a city grows more prosperous and the economy of that place moves more towards commercail white-collar work rather than indusctial work and traffic becomes more difficult to manage, all those rich people want to move back into town. This drives up the housing prices and effectively pushes all the poorer people out to the suburbarn areas that were previously occupied by the wealthier people; bad neighborhoods turn good, and good neighbohoods turn turn bad.

[Oleg Volk]

Poor people aren't, by definition, criminal. However, people who don't play well with others will stay poor. They are the kind who will vandalize anything they can't steal. It is my impression that the mental condition is pretty well fixed and won't be cured by much short of a reincarnation.

We can harden our homes the way South Africans do. It would be a real pity if that becomes necessary. I wonder if the popular culture will bear out the idea that conservatives are recently mugged/burgled liberals.