Car Prowlers

-NEMO- · Nov 19, 2012

Well... The girlfriends sister comes running downstairs at 0230 In the morning barging into her room telling me to grab my gun quick there are people looking into our cars. Come to find out there were two teen aged kids dressed in all black walking by real slow staring up at the house as well as into out car windows. Well by the time I got dressed and outside they were long gone. Probably because the girlfriend sister went running out side yelling "yeah you better run, dont come back to our f****** house"!

Boy did I have a hard time falling back to sleep after that. All I could think about was those punks were going to come back and mess with things. I was going to call the sheriffs, but I didn't witness anything. Probably wouldn't of hurt just to show a presence of a deputy in the neighborhood...

Car prowls are increasing in my area, I expect to see more activity like this.

gogodawgs · Nov 19, 2012

A phone call would of been a good start. I would still make a call to the non-emergency number with a time and date of what happened.

When they get calls they can track these thugs and the direction/pattern they may be traveling. They may send through extra patrols and they generally will if you request such a patrol. This may help deter their actions in your neighborhood and move them on to the next....

Batousaii · Nov 19, 2012

- or -

"Front toward enemy" .... nuf said.

Difdi · Nov 19, 2012

Batousaii said:
"Front toward enemy" .... nuf said.

Lethal man-traps are illegal in most places.

Something like this though, loaded with 6mm paintballs containing the sort of indelible dye banks use, however...

http://www.amazon.com/Airsoft-M18A1-Claymore-Mine-paintball/dp/B0046VIJ9I

carolina guy · Nov 19, 2012

Consider this...

LINK REMOVED BY ADMINISTRATOR: "Spring-traps" are almost universally illegal (I do not claim to know the laws of every state) and thus run afoul of our rule against advocating for illegal activity

Ok...not sure about the spring traps... ??

So...a automatic paintball gun that tracks targets inside a certain distance and lobs non-lethal object would be illegal??

jbone · Nov 19, 2012

Good God!

Batousaii · Nov 19, 2012

lol...

Difdi said:
Lethal man-traps are illegal in most places.

- i presumed people would have the capability to realise i was joking... you can not legaly own an M18A1 claymore mine much less employ one in an urban area.

The paintball version is way cool, and I have seen the auto-tracking airsoft setups too - those are great and I have considered one for my shop.

Freedom1Man · Nov 19, 2012

Batousaii said:
- i presumed people would have the capability to realise i was joking... you can not legaly own an M18A1 claymore mine much less employ one in an urban area.

The paintball version is way cool, and I have seen the auto-tracking airsoft setups too - those are great and I have considered one for my shop.

Get ones with UV dyes so that the perp might be identified later.

The CS/pepper ones might get you into trouble.

BigDave · Nov 19, 2012

carolina guy said:
-----how-to/build-motion-detector-fire-paintball-gun------

Or similar.

Really! What a stupid post to suggest something illegal if someone was to do this.

BigDave · Nov 19, 2012

Be careful on issues related to car prowls and using ones firearm, remember the fellow in Seattle a couple years ago, shot and killed a car prowler from his window and I think he is still sitting in prison for it.

Batousaii · Nov 19, 2012

Freedom1Man said:
Get ones with UV dyes so that the perp might be identified later.

The CS/pepper ones might get you into trouble.

The one i seen used a airsoft plastic bb styled. It was really cool. Followed the target, spoke with a computer voice throug a little speaker and everything...
~ In all reality I'd be leary of using anything like that for liability reasons, if i ever employed one, it would be inside my locked shop and just use UV or something annoying, non harmful. I know things like that can be trouble and I dont see myself doing it. The thought however ....

.... tickles me.

aa1911 · Nov 21, 2012

For certain call the non-emergency number and report it. I report everything and anything like that, they just take my name and address and what's going on and (hopefully) it gets logged. with enough calls/activity, they will likely act on it sooner or later.

in the meantime, I would suggest video surveillance of some sort, game cameras are small and inexpensive. Make sure the car's locked and remove anything valuable. I also use the club. Sounds all too simple but most break in's are crimes of opportunity and we all get lazy sometimes, myself included. don't give them the opportunity when possible.

Batousaii · Nov 21, 2012

Hook your alarm in to your performance stereo system, record some gawd awful horror movie scream . Then with some servos and handywork, maybe motion a detector, have some crazy rubber zombie jump up from the back seat and scream, Have it timed with strobes and some crazy evil laughing at the end so it all happens at once if someone jars the car to hard, breaks glass or opens a window. Or have it manually trigger by remote so you could watch it from the balcony.
:shocker:
- That would get em away from your car for sure.

thebigsd · Nov 21, 2012

Batousaii said:
Hook your alarm in to your performance stereo system, record some gawd awful horror movie scream . Then with some servos and handywork, maybe motion a detector, have some crazy rubber zombie jump up from the back seat and scream, Have it timed with strobes and some crazy evil laughing at the end so it all happens at once if someone jars the car to hard, breaks glass or opens a window. Or have it manually trigger by remote so you could watch it from the balcony.
:shocker:
- That would get em away from your car for sure.

Haha, this system would probably cost more than the car itself.

I agree with those who have said to call the police. You may also think about getting a CLUB for the steering wheel. If they're thinking about stealing a car they usually pick an easy target.

Trigger Dr · Nov 21, 2012

thebigsd said:
Haha, this system would probably cost more than the car itself.

I agree with those who have said to call the police. You may also think about getting a CLUB for the steering wheel. If they're thinking about stealing a car they usually pick an easy target.

I recall an enlisted man's car in the shipyard parking lot at PSNS. I believe the owner was an Electronics Tech, as he had a proximity alarm. If you got within three feet, a computerized voice would exclaim "YOU ARE TOO CLOSE, BACK AWAY" If you did not move away immediately, it ould repeat the warning. After the third warning hte voice would say "ALRIGHT, YOU HAVE PISSED ME OFF!" Then the alarm would go off, Bells, siren and horn all at once. A lot of fun was had sending unsuspecting victims over to the car...

amlevin · Nov 22, 2012

Batousaii said:
Hook your alarm in to your performance stereo system, record some gawd awful horror movie scream . Then with some servos and handywork, maybe motion a detector, have some crazy rubber zombie jump up from the back seat and scream, Have it timed with strobes and some crazy evil laughing at the end so it all happens at once if someone jars the car to hard, breaks glass or opens a window. Or have it manually trigger by remote so you could watch it from the balcony.
:shocker:
- That would get em away from your car for sure.

Either that or some might just come back with 3'long pieces of rebar and beat the crap out of the car.

davidmcbeth · Nov 22, 2012

Put a photo of rose o'donnell on the dash .. the peepers will tear their own eyes out !

sirpuma · Nov 22, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uetmdJJkpdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSQ4lyrIF3g

Nuff Said.

TechnoWeenie · Nov 24, 2012

1. Alarm with prox sensor. First time to get to close sets of pre-alert (4 chirps), if you get close enough to cup your hands over the window, it goes full stage (air horn, siren,etc).

2. Mount a 120db+ siren INSIDE the car. If they manage to break in, it'll completely F with their senses.. That ish is painful.

3. Get a legitimate siren (Federal Signal, Whelen, etc) where legal, that ONLY comes on with the alarm. People ignore a chinsy 6 tone alarm, they WILL look to see a 200W+ siren on wail/yelp/etc.

Personally, I have an airhorn on mine, in addition to a prox sensor. You can hear the horn from probably about a 1/2 mile away... Federal Signal SS2000 FTMFW.

It's also helpful in getting people OFF of your car, when they choose to sit on it.. :banana:

That being said, if I catch someone in my car, I will assume they will use force to prevent being captured. I will not hesitate in defending myself if they have a metal object in their hand and they do anything other than drop it and lay on the ground. They've already shown a propensity for violence by breaking into a vehicle, I won't give them a chance to hurt me.

boatswain · Nov 24, 2012

BigDave said:
Be careful on issues related to car prowls and using ones firearm, remember the fellow in Seattle a couple years ago, shot and killed a car prowler from his window and I think he is still sitting in prison for it.

I agree. He got nine months prison on a second degree manslaughter charge. He claimed that he thought the prowler was armed, but that didn't help because he took a plea deal rather than face a potential two year sentence.

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Man-sentenced-to-9-months-in-prison-for-shooting-884723.php

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