I just hate thieves...

[Preacher]

I can't recall hearing/seeing any news stories locally about converters being stolen off cars.. not to say it doesn't happen.

I'm sure they are saved from crashed cars, etc...

maybe they just take the whole car?....

One of the guys on the Tundra forum had his stolen, he got it fixed and was ordering a skid plate (lead time then was like four weeks) and before his security plate arrived the thieves had hit his cats again. He installed the plates and felt safe till he came out one morning and his truck was gone.
The thieves had it towed, the cops found it four miles away in an abandoned parking lot, missing all four cats, the stereo, the seats, the tires and wheels and the tailgate.

 

[tap4154]

That story was one I came across as well.

It happened in Southern California and the car was a Toyota Prius (BTW the number one car for Cat theft as they bring the most $$ if you decide to get in the game ) parked in a guys driveway.
The owner came out to go to work in the morning and there were a pair of legs sticking out from underneath his car. Apparently you have to jack the Prius up to get underneath and the jack slipped falling on the thief. The thief could not breath with the car sitting on his chest and passed during the night.

Much better than the other story I read where a guy was sitting in an overnight truck lot sleeping in the cab when he heard a saw running under his truck. He opened the door and saw a pair of legs sticking out and the owner fired off a couple of shots into the thief. The thief crawled out from under the truck after being shot. The owner of the truck then tied a rope to the legs of the thief, tied the other end of the rope to the ball hitch on the truck and in full view of the other people in the parking lot drug the injured thief across the lot and dumped him in a field next to the parking lot. Someone called it in and the thief died on his way to the hospital. The owner of the truck was charged with a felony as dragging the thief across the parking lot was taking it too far.

I've read people on the nextdoor app that are so fed up they think about rigging up something that will almost kill the thief. You've got to remember, this is property theft, you can't kill or maim someone for stealing a catalytic converter.

 

[pippoman]

Yeah, that’s pretty brutal. As bad as thievery is, I just couldn’t bring myself to respond like that. I actually sorta felt sorry for the guy who suffocated, but the owner of the car had nothing to do with that.

 

[Toto'sDad]

That story was one I came across as well.

It happened in Southern California and the car was a Toyota Prius (BTW the number one car for Cat theft as they bring the most $$ if you decide to get in the game ) parked in a guys driveway.
The owner came out to go to work in the morning and there were a pair of legs sticking out from underneath his car. Apparently you have to jack the Prius up to get underneath and the jack slipped falling on the thief. The thief could not breath with the car sitting on his chest and passed during the night.

Much better than the other story I read where a guy was sitting in an overnight truck lot sleeping in the cab when he heard a saw running under his truck. He opened the door and saw a pair of legs sticking out and the owner fired off a couple of shots into the thief. The thief crawled out from under the truck after being shot. The owner of the truck then tied a rope to the legs of the thief, tied the other end of the rope to the ball hitch on the truck and in full view of the other people in the parking lot drug the injured thief across the lot and dumped him in a field next to the parking lot. Someone called it in and the thief died on his way to the hospital. The owner of the truck was charged with a felony as dragging the thief across the parking lot was taking it too far.

Yeah, that’s pretty brutal. As bad as thievery is, I just couldn’t bring myself to respond like that. I actually sorta felt sorry for the guy who suffocated, but the owner of the car had nothing to do with that.

Dyin' ain't much of a livin' boy.

Josey Wales.

 

[Mouth]

set an electric fence type device on the car... anyone who touches metal and grounds out will get zapped.... that'd surprise a few thieves...

Booby trapping is against the law. They'd probably bump their head and sue for medical bills.

I guess having a car with hydraulics to lower it to the ground is the only answer. Not that this one has cats to steal.

If only the courts would start enforcing the laws and punishing those that steal by removing only one hand; get caught and convicted a second time? Remove the other hand.

I'm more in favor of having criminals work off their debt to their victims(and pay for their stay in jail while they're doing it). Can't put a hand back on if someone is somehow exonerated later.

And I don't want to have to pay for the saw or taking care of them when they can't eat or wipe their butts.

 

[jrblue]

The risk/return odds have become favorable for thieves. I honestly don't know if crime is up on a per-capita basis, but I do know that more of us are vulnerable to it when a thief crosses our paths. Though I maintain the assumption that people are largely honest, I have to maintain the parallel asumption, equally true, that thieves are everywhere. I've also had to become used to being lied to, from ads on TV to public and civic life. It's depressing to feel that you have to be on high alert all the time. I'm sorry for the OPs experience because in addition to the considerable financial hit, there's also the really negative psychological impact.

 

[Preacher]

Melanie Safka

She stole a lot of hearts!!

 

[buster poser]

If only the courts would start enforcing the laws and punishing those that steal by removing only one hand; get caught and convicted a second time? Remove the other hand.

This system exists in many places if you would like to go experience all that comes with it. Very few takers I've noticed.

 

[Preacher]

The risk/return odds have become favorable for thieves. I honestly don't know if crime is up on a per-capita basis, but I do know that more of us are vulnerable to it when a thief crosses our paths. Though I maintain the assumption that people are largely honest, I have to maintain the parallel asumption, equally true, that thieves are everywhere. I've also had to become used to being lied to, from ads on TV to public and civic life. It's depressing to feel that you have to be on high alert all the time. I'm sorry for the OPs experience because in addition to the considerable financial hit, there's also the really negative psychological impact.

Well said sir!

I think as the social economic gap increases we will see more of things like this happen. I remember talking with a friend when I lived in Odessa TX back in the 80's after the oil crash. Him and his brother were guys who I thought the world of and kind of idolized as I was three of four years younger than them. They always seemed to make money and be successful even though both of them did not go to college. I found out later that the older brother was shot over a bad drug deal and the younger brother resorted to stealing cars to get by. I remember asking why and the guy told me it was easy money. He said the insurance always paid to replace the car so no one got hurt by his theft. The justification that he had in his voice still bothers me to this day.

As far as the psychological effects are still with me. Every time I start my truck now I expect to hear the roar of the exhaust, even with the anti theft skid plate there. I wonder how long that will take to subside.
Truck by the way is insured to the max so I will only be out $500 next time.

 

[ReverendRevolver]

My neighbor git his cut off his work van a month ago. Ridiculous.

I actually had a shoplifter we picked up for a $90 Petty theft who was after a plea deal for ratting out a local ring of converter thieves. It's getting out of hand.

 

[schmee]

Strange, how is drug crime still in the stats when they are no longer arresting for it? Also, MJ is now legal , it wasn't in the 80's. How is that in the stats being compared?
In Seattle any day of the week, you can see IV drugs or Fentenyl used on a bus, in public. No one stops them, they dont even get kicked off the bus because drivers are not allowed to interfere. "Welcome to Seattle"

According to the news 60-70% of inhabitants of the "homeless" camps are felons or multiple arrested people. Law enforcement could literally sweep those places and get them out of the public, but DA's and courts wont do anything if they were arrested.
The reality is you can literally see the crime now. In the 80's you could only rarely.

 

[buster poser]

yeah the nation that locks up more people than any other is too soft on crime, that's the problem

 

[getbent]

Strange, how is drug crime still in the stats when they are no longer arresting for it? Also, MJ is now legal , it wasn't in the 80's. How is that in the stats being compared?
In Seattle any day of the week, you can see IV drugs or Fentenyl used on a bus, in public. No one stops them, they dont even get kicked off the bus because drivers are not allowed to interfere. "Welcome to Seattle"

According to the news 60-70% of inhabitants of the "homeless" camps are felons or multiple arrested people. Law enforcement could literally sweep those places and get them out of the public, but DA's and courts wont do anything if they were arrested.
The reality is you can literally see the crime now. In the 80's you could only rarely.

dude, every night on the news here someone is arrested for drug crime. of course they are being arrested for it.

no offense, but I'll bet if you really went and checked all those conclusions, you'd have a different answer.

 

[Mouth]

‘They want to hide in plain sight:’ Mexican drug cartels operating in metro Atlanta neighborhoods

Special Agent in Charge Robert Murphy said there are five Mexican drug cartels operating in metro Atlanta right now.

www.wsbtv.com

"The head of Atlanta’s DEA told Huddleston in the 25 years he’s been fighting drugs, this is the worst he’s ever seen it."

Talking to my BIL over Easter he referred to it as population control and laughed. He's a doctor. : (

 

[buster poser]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/they-want-hide-plain-sight-mexican-drug-cartels-operating-metro-atlanta-neighborhoods/NWUMQBEZSBFE3KOFMTNVM4S46Q/%3FoutputType%3Damp&ved=2ahUKEwiuoZqqyez3AhXoUN8KHXbYAbIQ0PADKAB6BAgDEAE&usg=AOvVaw3gQ8AGBVS1K5oKSLp3FSj-

"The head of Atlanta’s DEA told Huddleston in the 25 years he’s been fighting drugs, this is the worst he’s ever seen it."

Oh my god, not the worst they've ever seen? Where are my pearls? Is societal collapse imminent? Sure hope not!

That agency has a financial interest in (and documented history of) inflaming perceptions re: crime as a function of increasing its budget to "combat" the issue.

 

[PennyroyalFrog]

Give it a few months...recessions bring out the worst

During the Great Recession, both property and violent crime rate declined.

What's misleading in the stats is in the 80's all the street drug crime and related gun crime dominated the statistics. Possession of MJ was even a crime. But today they ignore that stuff and leave the junkie to kill himself slowly. However, today it's real crime that effects the average Joe or Jane.

Your argument is self-defeating, and it sound like you have fallen victim to firehose of falsehood propaganda.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Crime is not rampant at all. At least not relatively speaking. Crime is nowhere close to as bad as it was in the 1980s. In fact, property crime is still declining. Violence, however, has been rising since a few years ago pre-pandemic but again, nowhere close to what it was 30-40 years ago.

Don't bring facts to a knife fight!

 

[Milspec]

During the Great Recession, both property and violent crime rate declined.

Your argument is self-defeating, and it sound like you have fallen victim to firehose of falsehood propaganda.

Nope, property and violent crime rate "STATISTICS" showed decline, the reality was different.

I used to work for a retired Sheriff in Texas who opened my eyes when it came to crime statistics. He was a Deputy when the new Sheriff was elected on a campaign that he was going to reduce crime by 50%, especially rape cases which were at a 20 year high at the time. Once elected, he instructed his Deputies to only take reports on cases that could be solved quickly and do not file reports on any rapes without knowing who the suspect was.

Guess what, crime numbers were cut in half and rape numbers declined by 75%....but there was no real decline in either.

Another story to detail how this game is played. At one point Texas changed the laws in order to reduce court back logs by only charging the suspect with the most serious crime instead of the previous practice of indicting them on multiple charges. So, if a guy robs a bank and kills the teller, he will only be charged with murder instead of armed robbery, possession of an illegal firearm, etc. The result was a massive decrease (statistically) in crime, yet the reality had not changed.

During the great recession of the '70's, crime rates were down because enforcement was down. The 2 go hand-in-hand and often paint a false picture. I remember shotgun sales were sky high by people looking to protect their homes and we all started locking our doors for the first time.

 

[Preacher]

^^^^ this is what we call "cooking the books"!!

 

[tap4154]

Nope, property and violent crime rate "STATISTICS" showed decline, the reality was different.

I used to work for a retired Sheriff in Texas who opened my eyes when it came to crime statistics. He was a Deputy when the new Sheriff was elected on a campaign that he was going to reduce crime by 50%, especially rape cases which were at a 20 year high at the time. Once elected, he instructed his Deputies to only take reports on cases that could be solved quickly and do not file reports on any rapes without knowing who the suspect was.

Guess what, crime numbers were cut in half and rape numbers declined by 75%....but there was no real decline in either.

Another story to detail how this game is played. At one point Texas changed the laws in order to reduce court back logs by only charging the suspect with the most serious crime instead of the previous practice of indicting them on multiple charges. So, if a guy robs a bank and kills the teller, he will only be charged with murder instead of armed robbery, possession of an illegal firearm, etc. The result was a massive decrease (statistically) in crime, yet the reality had not changed.

During the great recession of the '70's, crime rates were down because enforcement was down. The 2 go hand-in-hand and often paint a false picture. I remember shotgun sales were sky high by people looking to protect their homes and we all started locking our doors for the first time.

Cities are always competing to be the "safest city in America" as well. My city has been high on the list numerous years, and a big reason is when you call them out to take a report, they won't file a report. They just try to talk you out of filing a report. One time a neighbor caught a guy red-handed trying to steal his driveshaft, and held him while the cops came. The cops came and talked to the guy, and just let him go. Years ago I called them out for a couple of thefts, and they would not take fingerprints. No report filed, no crime.