All in this past week.

[Rex in OTZ]

In the Land of OTZ (population 3400)seems the criminal element is on the rise, kids bike stolen from by school house and less than 1/2 day later the parts are on other kids bicycles, still dealing with getting all the parts or some of the parts back (kids lock ther bikes if they dont want them stole theive's can figure out them cheapy combo's)

Just fixed my honda ATV last evening it'd been down for a couple months due to damaged flywheel, parked in same place I have for last 7 years, this morning found it was pushed out my yard and found it down the street, wireing all pulled loose and the ignition switch damaged.
I live on a darker ave so our way seems to get drunks more that others, Last night it was raining really hard so the dogs spent the night indoors.

Went into work (post Labor Day Holiday), the power was switched off at the main service pannel (unlocked per fire chief's orders), the battery backup's ran down and crashed the computer stuff for the office workers, boilers were off from no power so building was a tad cool, chainlink fence top rail pulled loose, couple padlocked gates all kicked in they bent the flopper's so had to chain em up ($32 spent on chain).
Seems if its within 7 steps of the street its public domain or something and any your property is free to be messed with.

Cops are pretty much useless, they are spread thin and only respond to ambulance calls, and crimes of adult violence, theft and minor assult and public drunkiness, criminal mishchief are commonly not responeded to.

Whats a guy to do, I cant sit out in a rain squall all night watching my stuff.

Sitting in on City Council meetings and bringing up these matters they treat you like some sort of trouble maker instead of a concerned tax paying citizen and property owner.

[MGMorden]

If it had gotten that bad, I'd look at moving.  Easier said than done I know, but the reality is you aren't going to single handedly change the way it is. 

[no guns here]

Trail cams... catch the perps with a pic and take it to the cops.  Or, catch the perps and take the pic to their parents.  Or, catch the perps, smear in grease and fish guts.  Take them 20 miles in the bush and set them free...



NGH

[DDZ]

Yeah, the trail cam is a good idea, with the first two options. Not sure about the smearing with grease and fish guts and......
Anyway make sure you get a trail cam with infrared flash, and try to conceal it somewhere it won't be seen.

[Rex in OTZ]

I was able to cobble the $50 switch back together, solderd the nubbins on the back the big fat red and black wires to one side the switch and the small wires the green (ground) and the black with white tracer gobbed some boat hull sealant to the back to weatherize and hold the whole dog & poney show together as the thieves had busted off the riveted wire support.

Was thinking of the drunks/thieves in my town, seems the thieves are around but out numberd by opertunistic drunks (OTZ cops let them free range) Drunks will steal a loose bicycle or ATV / sno-go if oppertunity presents itself, who can pass up a free ride in the middle the night looking for bootleg booze?
An interesting observation, the bootlegers of 20 years ago are still doing it today.
I was thinking of the trail camera idea, its a good one, but when your property is getting messed with in the middle the night when your sleeping that gets my goat, no way to keep your stuff from being raped in the process.
Its kinda like going into the chicken coop finding all your chickens dead and having glossy pictures of the mangey coyotes doing it...just taunting you as you are powerless to do anything, that frosts me more than anything, so its been fuel for thought...what to do about midnight riders radeing your stuff???
why not rig a contraption to alert me that a theft is in progress....
electricty seems the answer, I have a old shop phone clanger bell somebody gave me ages ago just sitting in the shop...why not rig it to ring when they grab whatever it is there stealing, some fishing line from sno-go or ATV attached to a switch connected to the shop phone bell right next to ole Rex's bed, a loaded springpiston... no cops... plauseable deniability.
Who Me?? I dident see notin officer sir!

[MGMorden]

why not rig a contraption to alert me that a theft is in progress....
electricty seems the answer, I have a old shop phone clanger bell somebody gave me ages ago just sitting in the shop...why not rig it to ring when they grab whatever it is there stealing, some fishing line from sno-go or ATV attached to a switch connected to the shop phone bell right next to ole Rex's bed, a loaded springpiston... no cops... plauseable deniability.
Who Me?? I dident see notin officer sir!

Just be careful thinking along the "I'll get em!" lines.  I wouldn't setup any "booby traps" - just surveillance or alert type stuff.  You never know what'll happen with the "traps".  About 4 or 5 years ago a local guy around here got aggravated that some people were riding ATV's on his land. Never saw them - but he'd hear them and see the tracks.  He figured he'd get back at them and across one of the paths he setup a thin line (don't know the specifics if it was string or rope or what - just know it was a line).  Idea was to knock one off the bike.  He ended up killing a 13 year old boy when the line caught him by the neck. 

Now the boy WAS trespassing, and WAS wrong, but it certainly wasn't a crime worthy of death.  I can't recall whether or not the land owner was in any legal trouble or not.  To be honest I don't think he was, but that's still gotta be a terrible burden to carry.

Not trying to get into tear-jerking - I'm very, very, very (VERY) supportive of people defending their homes - I just think it's wise to make sure there's a human behind the trigger with a mind to judge the exceptions and specifics of the situation, so that the trigger is pulled when need be, and isn't when there's a special case.