KF

Say you were a thief, looking at this board to find information about where to blag your next Impreza from. You happen across this thread. What are you going to think...
i) Oooh. Don't go near those Impreza's - some of those owners are going to fight me for it. (not, AFAIK, big news)
or,
ii) Blag a gun just in case one of those soft posh IT ***** with too much money decide to come at me with a baseball bat.

Not being of the criminal persuasion I don't know, but they are starting from a morally dubious standpoint and likely to go further down that path than you - you could say they are not going to want to be put to the floor and arrested. Most casual thieves won't go near an Impreza, Cat1 alarms put an end to that, so consider a theft attempt a professional's work. Unless you really are capable of going places that they won't, you will loose.
KF.

Rikki 95WRX

I originally posted this post after my parents pointed out a group of lads had been seen hanging around my and a neighbours house.

Well tonight the lads cames back. My neighbour has a Bentley Turbo R, Saab Convertible both on the drive and the 323i he bought a couple of weeks ago on the road. Lads walked up the road and wacked his bonnet with a bottle in a bag and dented it, my dad saw it happen.

Went and told him and this thread started going through my mind - obviously not an attempted theft but still damage to loved personal property.

Well, neighbour called the police then got THE DOG and me (didn't want to leave him) and went after the lads at the local park 200 yards away. Came across a bottle of vodka or something smashed on the pavement 50 yards up the road.

2 squad cars turned up in about 5 mins but we couldn't see the lads anywhere. We walked back to the houses and neighbour put his dog in and got in the car. Went with him and in about 2 mins found 2 suspiscious looking lads in the next street. Made me think about the adrenaline point made earlier - neighbour was ready to do some serious damage to these two as he approached and I could sense it. Remembering the comments from people who said about the police's reaction to this kind of act, coupled with the fact there were two squad cars roaming, I shouted out for him to calm it - the lads were petrified and either were involved or knew who did it. They ended up coughing up a name of who it "might have been".

We left it at that and returned at which point my dad was going out. We asked him for a description of the lads and it matched almost perfectly to these 2 we found. I got out the car and neighbour said he was going to find them. Upon asking if I should go with him he replied that I wouldn't want to see what was going to happen,

He returned about 20 minutes later and hadn't found them. The police arrived and took statement and looked at the car. That was the last I heard.

teknopete

Rikki,

Tell u r neighbour i`m sorry 2 hear bout that m8. Those little barstewards deserve a good sortin [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] IMHO of course. Tell u r neighbour if he gets a grip of em 2 give em a few rapid from me eh
That kinda thing P155es me off as much if not more so than the sods that chuck their doors open in car parks [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] no respect for any1s property. A few teeth less normally makes em think again.

Pete

(For the record i do not condone violence of any shape or form, I do however agree with "an eye for an eye" and "any justice is better than no justice"}

Rikki 95WRX

Cheers Pete

burnside

In the words of Marsellus Wallace
"I'd call a couple
pipe-hittin' *******, who'll go to
work on the thief here with a pair of
pliers and a blow torch.

Hear me talkin' hillbilly boy?! I
ain't through with you by a damn
sight. I'm gonna git Medieval on
your *** if you ever come near my house"

Rikki 95WRX

My thoughts exactly

Andy W

Personally the first thing I would do is hit the panic alarm in the house, the Alarm company contact the Police immediately.
Having spoken to the local cops the likely response time is 2 minutes, this means you don't need to mention car thieves and you have a bloody loud siren and flashing lights above their heads.

I would love to have a go and I am sure that I would give a reasonable account of myself, I love my car as much as any of you folk but this country is run by idiots that prefer to punish car owners over car thieves. It just isn't worth it.

just my opinion

Andy

Hunk

Something happened a week ago that made me glad guns are not allowed or widespread around here. A girlfriend send me a sms she was in the country and if we could meet up for a beer at her parents. That was at 01:00 am. So i went there but i forgot wich house it was so i strolled around a bit. After a few minutes a very angry neighbour came out of his house, in his underwear, with a piece of metal, shouting he's not gonna tolerate thiefing scum.... This guy was scared, and scared me at the same moment. Wow, what if this guy had a gun.. Luckely my gf showed up and we ended our encouter without violence -this guy was in a violent mood-
Think it's better to call the cops if you see something suspicious...

mixit

Tony Martin will soon be out of prison.....so, do as he did.
Confront the scumbags and blow thier F#CK#N kneecaps off [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
A shotgun would be handy also. Car's yours and you paid for it ! [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

[Edited by mixit - 1/5/2002 6:36:11 AM]

stevie c

i think it is easy for people to sit in thier comfy chairs reading this thread and thinking about how brave they are and how big they are and how much they love thier car,its easy to say 'i would kill them,i would do this ,i would do that.'
until it happens for real I dont think many people know how they will react,maybe you will be a hero,maybe you will try and lose,or maybe you will bottle it and panic.

Who knows,and to be truthful,who wants to find out?

steve

by the way i am no coward,i am a 15 stone bodybuilder and i box competitevly,and i have 2 german shepards.Just seen people gob off in the past and act totally different once in a situation.

[Edited by stevie c - 1/5/2002 3:07:14 PM]

KF

Phone police. Find camera. Open window. Take photo. Close window.
Switch room light on, and stand by window obviously on phone (but only if upstairs).

That'll confuse them. The police are on the way, if they want to get the photo they have to come inside and take the camera off you(big castodial).
If they come back for a return visit, you (and the police) have their picture.
You could explain this to them (from the window) but personally I wouldn't say anything - much more intimidating.

I wouldn't go out there. Crazed idiots on drugs are not known for reasoned responses - ask the bereaved family if they think chasing the thief was a good idea.
KF.
EDIT: just to say that if you switch the light on, make sure you are between it and the thief - they will see the silhouette but not your face.

[Edited by KF - 1/5/2002 5:44:12 PM]

Hoppy

LOL KF Got yer disposable camera and a bucket of flash powder at the ready, then?

I dunno. A 'good' photo could work, or might backfire. I just wouldn't want a brick through the window next day.

Regards,

Richard.

PS, KF mate, please don't wander into Non-Scooby Related...

[Edited by Hoppy - 1/6/2002 10:41:43 PM]

Jerome

Insteresting thread. I must admit, having had cars broken into/stolen-recovered in the past, I have a fair bit of animosity towards car thieving scum. I imagine I would confront anyone trying to steal my car. Having said that, any sign of a weapon and I would make a hasty retreat. I've had knives pulled on me in the past and have simply turned an run off as fast as I can. I went to school with a couple of local gypos and they are as hard as nails. They would laugh at someone wielding a baseball bat and have it off them in a heart beat. They would also be quite happy to give you the beating of your life. I also used to frequent some fairly rough pubs in Bracknell in my youth and some of the Bracknell hard nuts I have met/seen are 5 times harder than probably anyone on this BBS - regardless of size or weight training. They enjoy fighting and have had lots of practice. They too would relish the kudos for taking a baseball bat off someone and beating them to a pulp. I would also only let the dogs loose as a last resort. Unless it's a trained guard dog, they could come to serious harm. Do you value your car more than a family pet? Far better to stand with the dogs on the leash and threaten to release them. If the cars thieves do not run away, they aren't scared of dogs and you are better off keeping it/them on the leash. As for guns - of any description - even brandishing one could get you into trouble let alone firing them at someone (even a thief!). Is your car really worth doing some serious time, losing your job and the income that enabled you to afford the car in the first place. Also, the risk of the scum - or their friends/family - coming back for retribution, are you prepared to risk that?

I like the idea of saying the thieves had guns, but the police will take a pretty dim view of you doing this if they find out. And what if, while the firearms unit is at your house needlessly, there is a real gun crime occurring elsewhere? Maybe someone could die because the Police can't get to the real incident as a result of being at your house.

Food for thought I hope...

[Edited by Jerome - 1/7/2002 1:06:48 PM]

juan

I have never been scared of a dog (though I ain't a tea leaf).
Reason is because despite the geezer trying to tell you its hardly possible it is quite easy to kill them, especially with the pull the fron legs apart trick.
Either that or belt em across the nose as hard as possible with something hard like the crowbar or bat you may have (come on the crims will have something) for much the same effect.

In normal situations most dogs can sense the lack of fear and react accordingly. Obviously in an attack situation I'm sure some will go mental but I'd be more scared of a nutter than a dog.

However, like many have said its just not worth the risk as most people nicking these cars mean business. You can get a new car but not a new life.

At most I think I would switch lights on and stand in view in a window on the phone to the cops. Certainly wouldn't go out. Highly possible there's another one or two waiting by the front door for you. You're done for if so.

If I had a gun I would certainly consider shooting the fekkers though, espescially if I could get away with it. Big injustice done to Tony Martin.


[Edited by juan - 1/7/2002 7:14:08 PM]

juan

aye

but a ****** trying to nick your mobile is different than a bunch of armed thugs who ARE going to have your car regardless of what you want to do about it. They will be willing to hurt you for it.

jolly good show on the hospitalisation of said ****** nevertheless :-)

could always try to make notes of the descriptions of the thugs (subtly) for the cops in case they had the sh!tb@gs on file too.

[Edited by juan - 1/9/2002 12:37:39 PM]

juan

heh

too true!
If they were available it would be tempting to meddle with it a bit so that it 'accidently' just disabled the gearbox and windows but let the engine continue to run and redirected exhaust fumes into the cabin.

oh dear what a shame officer!

[Edited by juan - 1/9/2002 4:37:11 PM]

juan

Robertio,

do you seriously think you can walk up to them and have time to swing your club before they have time to move their forefinger half an inch?
You seem to think there will be only one and he will stand still. For these cars there will often be a gang and they will have a plan for someone coming out of the house probably too.

well everyone has rights to their own life. I rank mine as top priority and would not be risking it. If they're already inside your house, well maybe thats different who knows.
I have an aluminium bar by my bed for 'emergencies', taken from a dumbbell set. No idea whether I would do anything with it unless the missus was in danger in which case you gotta haven't you. Certainly wouldn't bother going outside though.

Teknopete,
Now thats not bad. some kind of custom flame thrower might need building. I really like that idea

[Edited by juan - 1/10/2002 9:56:26 AM]