Bobby,

That's actually very common. And yes, that's exactly what they do. They know you'l get a new one, so they wait, come back and get that one. The unusual part is going to the trouble of brining the old one back.

A Police Crime unit in Houston is trying to get a bunch of "people" that are doing that very thing. They know where they live, where they go and what they do and can't get them. It's sad they can't catch them. They know they leave the bars at 2AM and on the way home "go shopping". They even have it pin pointed to a specific ethnic group from the bars they are leaving and where they live.

The number one hit, stereo equipment. People generally get their insurance pay out and get better stuff. They just come back and take that once it's installed! Heck, they already know how to get in and are familiar with the car.

 

Ruune,

What the heck is a purple belt? Never heard of it....

Call me wacko, but I take the exact opposite approach and had my side windows tinted very lightly. I have the Ford CD player, and never leave anything in my truck, it's spic-n-span (my goal is to make interior look less of a jackpot than the vehicle next to it). I also keep $40 in the glove box 1) for spare change sometimes I need when I'm not near an ATM and 2) my hope is that if anyone was stupid enough to get in and find out I have nothing but a POS Ford CD player, they will look in the glove box, say well at least I got $40, and get the hell out of there...The last thing I want in my vehicle is a criminal that was stupid enough to break into my sparsely decorated interior, and now is PISSED he didn't get anything...Does that psychology sound flawed?

 

cpadpl...
Purple belt= 2 before probationary black belt in UTA/ITA rules.
Now... as far as your psychology. sounds good, but I myself refuse to go through life not doing what I want because I'm afraid that someone is going to take it. Now what I DO do is take precautions to where its harder for someone to break in or break in and get away with it. Trust me, my dad works for an insurance company and I've gotten the speech all my life. What I've come to do is build what I call a "sleeper." You look inside my truck, and if you're lucky all you'll see is a missing radio (looks like theres none when the face is off), and possibly my tweeters -everything else is hidden. as far as my rims... thats what wheel locks are for!
Now... if I could just figure out how they setup that 50,000 volt security system in robocop... you know the one on the fake commercials for the SUX 2000! remember???

 

Ruune

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But I wouldn't do anything different even if there weren't criminals in the world. I'm really not into accessorizing things, which is why I don't have a sig, and would still have the Ford CD player and nothing else. I also had to go lighter on the windows on the side for tint due to law, even though the would have put on what I wanted. So I really haven't modified my behavior in any way. The only thing I did purposefully do is but the cash in the glove box, just because I know the modern day dirtbag is a little more of an stupid a$$hole and will screw your stuff up just 'cuz they wanna...

Also, where do you get those wheel locks? All I've got are the rims that came with the ORP package. I guess those are easy enough to put on, but where do I find them and how exactly do they work? I probably should have one for the spare?

 

wheel locks are about 20-30 bucks at pep boys. basically, its a keyed lugnut. the key is included, and basically works like a socket wrench extension.

 

I'd take the $1200, get a kit and shave the handles, then sell the undamaged door handle. I bet you'll come out with a profit. Well, it was an idea? My neighbor had both of his Chevy trucks' door handles pried off, and one of them stolen. (two trucks) I woke up early one previous morning to find some low life checking out my truck! No doubt my alarm was the only thing between him and my truck being stolen. My neighbor actually got the truck back with minimal damage(lucky!) It had a freshly rebuilt engine, and they left it untouched.,,,,98

 

To make a really long night short- I caught the bastard with my brother ( actually 4 of them) 2 got away and well 2 didnt... We beat the ever living s%#t out of them. We were arrested by the local authorites- released and no charges were brought on by the local police. BUT We were sued by the low life DINKS and even though they did not win we had to pay a lawyer 8,500 dollars to represent us. I was 18 at the time now 26 and let me teel you that it was not at all worth it to beat them... My poor mother had a nervous break down and had to go to councling cuz she thought she was going to loose everything My parents worked very hard for. Thankfully She didn't. Moral of the story- carry a gun and kill the SOB dead!

 

AMEN Brotha! If you live somewhere other than the people's republic of kalifornia or the north east, you should be able to carry a gun. I live in Arizona, and have a permit to carry concealed, which I do daily. You're absolutely right about shooting to kill. If you don't kill them they will sue you, and possibly win. In my case, if they're already in the truck I should suspect they are armed with one of mine.

As far as the shocking alarms and such, boobytraps are not legal, and the criminal will win when you get sued.

Mitch

 

BroncoAZ & tlapan93

My boys, I couldn't be anymore on your side. I believe every American should be REQUIRED to own a firearm (you may ask what about all the dumbasses we have and we can't trust them with a gun, but that's the self-perpetuating circular argument the liberals use to take away guns and other rights - you take away enough rights and then you can't give them back to the people because they wouldn't know what to do with them..)

Anyway, you do need to watch it. In most states, the use of deadly force is only justificable if you reasonably believe such force is necessary to prevent:

1) Imminent death to yourself or another person
2) Great bodily harm to yourself or another person
3) The imminent commission of a forcible felony.

Forcible felony includes things such as murder, manslaughter, sexual battery, carjacking, home invasion, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, etc. The use of deadly force to protect property is generally restricted to property crimes that also include an element of potential harm to a person. Therefore, property crimes such as theft (larceny) are NOT included. Also remember, that although not in the state statutes, many courts institute a DUTY to retreat (you have to do everything to not shoot, run away while being beaten etc etc), unless the castle doctrine applies (you are in your home).

Therefore, you catch some guys breaking into your truck and you kill them, at a minimum you will probably see voluntary manslaughter charges, and quite possibly involuntary manslaughter charges.

 

Fortunately I live in Arizona, where there is no manditory retreat law on the books, nor would our elected officials ever consider such a law. Under AZ law you are allowed to use deadly force to prevent grand theft auto and 6 other felonies. I don't know if I would kill a would be car thief, but I would certainly brandish deadly force to keep them around until the police arrived. If they responded to me with a weapon I would certainly escalate the force in the situation.

Although hidden, I keep and extra piece in the truck. I think it's safe to assume that if they are in it they are armed. As the saying goes, I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6.

Mitch

 

BroncoAC

Sounds like a good state, I live in Florida, no such law for grand theft auto. Is it just grand theft auto, or is it grand larceny in general? Remember, like I said, some courts have developed a manditory retreat law, regardless of what the statute says (unless the statute explicity states NO mandatory retreat law). If you don't think courts can ignore statute and write their own law, you can just look at the Florida Supreme Court, which set an arbitrary deadline extension for hand counting ballots in the Election fiasco, which was soon overturned by the US Supreme Court. The law specifically stated that the Secretary of State had the power to extend the deadline, and the true legal question was whether she had excercised her discretion with deliberate reason and forethought, as required by the statute.

It sounds like we have the same views re/ firearms. Funny how the LOWEST crime community in the US is that city in either Texas or Tennessee where it is required that you OWN and CARRY a gun to be able to purchase a house and live in the community (they have their own schools, stores, malls, etc.).

The problem with using a gun for low level situations is this: depending on what phase of the car breaking in you find him, there may or not be sufficient evidence of that. The second you pull a gun (doing so not because you are in imminent threat of harm, but because you are trying to stop a felony), the other individual is under imminent threat of harm, and actually has legal right to kill you. It's conceivable that you could end up both shot and charged with numerous crimes, and the dirtbag walks away...all depends on who the witnesses are, who remembers what, the kind of cops you get on the scene, whether the DA is a anti-gun wussy, etc. Sad, isn't it?

 

It's a shame how this country is deteriorating...

All valid points though. But does the criminal have the right to defend himself while perpetrating a crime? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. Remember that it is illegal to wear body armor while commiting a crime.

Mitch

 

BroncoAZ

No, I wasn't saying that (that the criminal has the right to defend himself while perpetrating a crime). What I was saying is what they told me years ago when I took some firearms training. They said yes, sure you can use your firearm here in Florida to stop a felony, but you should be careful, very careful, about doing so (suggesting that you only use it when in fear for your life, not to stop a buglary). The reason being this - someone bursts in a Walgreens, shoots a clerk and demands all the cash from the other clerk, there are 15 other patrons in the store that all see this, you pull out your gun and kill the bad guy. Everybody pats you on the back, clear imminent threat to you and or others. Another scenario, man comes at you with an axe, no witnesses, you blow him away, police find dead man, axe a few yards away with his fingerprints, and the blood spray pattern all consistent with your story that he came after you and you shot him (clear imminent threat). Cops pat you on the back.

Now imagine you come up on your truck, you see the door open and someone is rummaging around inside (your passenger forgot to lock his door). Low and behold there is a young girl across the street waiting for a friend, but she doesn't notice anything yet. You confront the guy and pull your weapon, he moves out of the truck and shuts the door (you notice he has gloves on so he doesn't leave prints). Just a few seconds ago the girl across the street did start paying attention, he pulls his weapon, both of you fire, and he manages to hit you. Cops come, this guy says you tried to rob him. They ask the girl that was across the street, she can't really remember clearly, she's crying, and she says she THINKS she saw YOU draw on HIM. You say he was breaking into your car, but they find no forced entry or prints other than yours..So YOU get charged with anything from involuntary manslaughter on up, all because there is no physical evidence and one witness who thinks she saw what she didn't. That's basically the point they were making. Lots of facts and circumstances can go against you just protecting property, and it can often come down to a he-said-he-said scenario, and you may end up looking like the bad guy, may not be worth it...

But IMPORTANT point, and this too comes from the firearms instructor. He admitted even though he teaches these rules, he asked all of us to use our "6th sense" and not ignore it. He mentioned one time when he was walking out of a nighttime entertainment complex in a parking garage after midnight with his wife, when they were walking to their car he spotted an individual approaching them in a large trenchcoat appearing like he was needing directions. The instructor said EVERY sense in his body went off that this guy was bad news. He said he pulled his .45 and pointed it straight at the guy (i.e. the guy had done nothing threatening and now the instructor had pulled a gun on him violating every rule in the book, which means legally the dirtbag was in fear for his life and had every right to kill the instructor), and told him he wouldn't be breathing if he took one step further. End of story is that that same dirtbag was later caught carrying a shotgun under his trenchcoat, robbing victims, and killing some of them.

So, I guess the moral is choose your battles wisely. You sound level headed and well seasoned with firearms, so it shouldn't be an issue for you.

 

Some crack-head did this door handle trick to my buddie's Expedition last weekend!!

Once the door handle was popped out (with a kitchen knife), the crook pulled up on the door lock rod and unlocked the door. The plastic attaching mechanism was no match for this technique. The factory alarm system interpreted this as activity as an authorized entry, since the door was technically "unlocked" before it was opened.

The good news is that the owner saw this in progress, called the cops, and had the SOB apprehended.

Seems like Ford would should eliminate the ease with which this can happen.

Hope the rest of you do not have this happen.

Regards,

Mark_A
97 F150 Flareside

 

My buddy had a 69 mach I he totally restored. When he was at the mall one day someone stole his battery. Instead of leaving it there and getting a new battery, he had it towed home. When he filed a report with the police, they said people were doing that then stealing the car when the person left it there and went to get a new battery. That's quite a bit of thinking for someone who is too lazy to work for their own nice things...