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#66198 05/25/06 07:26 PM
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
Member
Last week I got one rear door of my van mashed due to a carpenter ramming my van 5' on to the side walk last week, I'll get back to that. But since then, the van has been foder for thieves thinking the door is un-secure. Everynight my alarm goes off, with $%^&38's trying my doors! I run out 1/2 naked looking to kill and only get a glimps of a car taking off....

Yesturday morning instead of my wife waking me with the usual cup of coffee, she says she looked out the window, and saw broken glass behind my truck. Go figure it one of the nights I go to bed early and sleep like the dead - a rare occassion. Normally the slightest noise will send me out the door primed to kill. So I get out there, and both rear windows are busted on the van. (Glass I did not want when I bought it!) One grate is tweeked where the moron jambed his arm in to try and open the door, and drops of blood here and there. GOOD!!! I assume he did this after trying to jamb a screw-driver in the lock and work it open. He obviously did not speak or read english, because it said in 1" label tape, "Door can not be opened from inside." On the glass he busted. And the cyclinder for the lock is not connected to jack.... I disabled them long ago for just this purpose.

So I call the cops. They say, "Well you can come file a police report later. But nothing we can do..." (I'm 'bout sick of them...)

So I go to work, after cleanin up all the glass, and see and old apprentice from years back. Haven't seen him in about 5 years.... About seven years ago, I was picking him up from his house and his wacky room-mate attempted to shoot him with a BB gun, missed and blew out the window of a van I had before this one. Funny thing was, I saw him in his old neighbor hood, right down the street from where that happened year ago.

So, what does glass cost?
$450 installed each side!
So the door that got mashed $650 + $450= ~$1100+
So the body guy says he'll apply the $450 from the glass of the door that needs to be replaced from the accident to just replacing the door, so both without glass! (Not including other damage from the breakin attempt.Or the other body work from the accident.) So I get no glass doors, like I wanted, and the guy who hit me get a break in the body work! Great right?

NO! The body guy, who just happens to be an agent for the insurance company the other guy is under called to tell me that he had been doing some leg work on the claim, and is being stone walled because this guy (Carpenter) wont answer his phone!

Bottom line, I am totally tweeked from lack of proper sleep, and spent all last night bolting 3/4" ply, and welding a strut cage to what used to be my windows.

Yesturday, is one I don't want to deal with ever again. But now my wife no longer thinks I'm nuts when I suggest putting cameras up on the house. It's been a point of contention...


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,391
I
Moderator
Sorry to hear that.

I have had my van cleaned out a few times during the day while on the job, it is a punch in the stomach when you see your stuff gone. [Linked Image] However I get to leave that behind at home.

Can you move?

Cameras IMO will only make you get out of bed more and check the monitor.


Sometimes a few miles makes a big difference, I leave my garage and truck unlocked in my driveway and sleep fine. Not more than 5 miles south of my home my van would be picked clean in no time.

My wife and I picked our home town primarily based on the schools and police dept. The local PD has a reputation for being effective.

Bob


Bob Badger
Construction & Maintenance Electrician
Massachusetts
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
Member
E57:
Sorry to hear your string of bad luck.

Over a 2-1/2 year period:
Van & bucket truck attacked; Thanksgiving eve
Van cleaned out, drivers window gone, bucket utility body attacked, cab window gone.

One van, gone from shop, locked, inside OH door; found 30 days later, destroyed & empty.

Buddy in body shop shows me a van (Plumb Contractor), solid rear doors, solid side doors, ghetto locks all around; grills on cab glass, full cage. Went to drivers side; thieves used a cordless sheet metal nibbler, cut the side of the van open & cleaned it out.

Seems Bob has a good thought (move), but that may not be practical for all of us.

John


John
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 615
J
Member
I can't help but think there has to be some way to use a remote arm/disarm type setup to rig a mace bomb at all doors. It's one thing to scare them off with an alarm, but give them a little regret too.

Cargo lock makes a sliding remote actuated hidden dead bolt. Forget locking th doors with it, how about "arming" the truck.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 625
S
Member
Sounds like we're about ready for the "What caliber is best for theives?" thread.

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
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Oh sorry gentlemen.... I for got to mention the punk did NOT get a damned thing! Just damage and hassle....

Me... Just damage and hassle....

As for the neighborhood, for the city its real nice, and normally not a problem, I used to live next to the projects and never had a problem!?!? Go figure....

Camera though would sort out me getting up and charging in my boxers out the door, especially if it is nothing but a motorcycle going by. Just hook up the monitor to this very screen, which is next to the bedroom. Something happens just check here, rather than run accross the house. That, and I'll have a picture of them.... (Or a license plate.) Not like a while back and I charge out there and found a few kids by the van, one looking in, who got his face in the gutter until the cops came, and two more who were watching out, who took off. Only to have him say "it just went off while I was walking by", and get the lecture from the cops about how he could press charges.... Not for detaining him, just the take down and nearly breaking the arm....

I know where to get an M-1 if I need to, but don't want to go there yet..... A weapon I'm sure to be able to hit a moving target with, and a still one at 1000 yards. (One benifit of the USMC) Unless they are packing, there is no need, and if they are, they'll be shooting at other types of crime. IMO The face to face green money type.


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
Member
Jps1006, As for the "arming", long ago, before they jambed a computer or a dozen in every car. While I was kid, in a rough neighborhodd at the time, C-town Mass, a guy on our block had a magneto from an old lawn mower hooked up to his car alarm, no siren, just a motor to run it.... Not exactly sure, as an electrician, and having a better understanding of theroy than I did then, how it worked. But we used to see if we could set someone (sucker) to lean agaist it, an then give the tire a swift kick. That thing gave you a jolt like you would not believe! Being an electrician now, it felt like a stinger leg, or 277, and would shoot a spark about a 1/2".

BTW whats this about a hidden bolt?


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
Member
Ooooo, I like it!
http://www.cargolock.com/prod01.htm

Simularly you cant open my doors without power doorlocks. Or a large crowbar, but that may change.... Something like that cargolock....

I should describe why they did not get anthing from my van....

Not only do I have the cylinder and inside handle mechanism removed/disabled, I also have a misized gang box laid on its side. In order to open it, you would have to open the rear doors, which would set off the alarm... A fact I think they realized a little too late, and they gave up. Although my alarm did not go off, I'm sure it gave its cursory warning chirps in the proccess of the mangling they did. Talked to alarm guy about why it didn't go off, and said that theres just too much crap to set off motion located at the front, so I need another in the back....



[This message has been edited by e57 (edited 05-26-2006).]


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
We've discussed this sort of thing all too many times. Unfortunately, all locks and alarms do is give you more time to respond, or let you know there is something happpening.

In the end, the only real deterrent is the knowledge that the theif will soon be facing an active response- one that is better armed, better trained than they, and that will follow them back to their lairs.
This is what we pay the police , and courts, for. Where this system has broken down, we are left with a "Mad Max" world where the guy with the most guns wins. And that isn't always the most saintly guy...

My neighborhood has it's share of misfits and loser. (Those who know me also know that the other half of my duplex was 'scum central' for a while). Yet, actual misbehaviour on my block has been rare- even though the riff-raff pass through all the time. The reason, I believe, is that most folks around here know each other, and look out for each other.
In "bad neighborhoods," I have noticed that everyone "minds their own business," and ignore it when their neighbor is being victimised.

Caring- what separates a good neighbor from a bad one.

Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 687
A
Member
Sorry to hear about this.

They have car alarms with 2 way keychain recievers. I thought about having one of those set-ups. Turning off the siron when I'm near. So when the alarm trips I have time to respond before the thief knows.

Also some alarms have camra hook-ups. It will save pictures when the alarm is set. Question is where do you put the cameras and how many. At least it has a camera besides at your house.


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