Monday, July 10, 2006
Reminder: Lock It Up
Especially lock up any bikes, scooters, or motorcyles. Preferably where no one can see them. I have a roommate who failed to heed this advice & it resulted in me being forced to chase (barefoot) two teenagers down an alley in an effort to recover his unsecured scooter that he had parked in plain sight. While they eventually dropped the scooter (their attempts to start it had been unsuccessful) the damage they had done to it prior to walking it off was extensive & my roommate will likely have to sell it for parts. When you leave items like this easily accessible you not only put that item at risk, but you give kids like that a reason to return (hoping that you'll be similarly careless in the future) & you can bet that they'll be checking out your neighbors yards/houses as well as yours. So please don't feed the youth with criminal tendancies or the wandering crackheads. Lock up your stuff.
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Inked is absolutely right. If scooters or bikes are left unlocked, they will "magically" disappear. I saw a kid the other day with a scooter on Benning road that he had probably stolen or one of his friends had. How do I know it was stolen. Pretty simple actually...the scooter had no back tire and he was ridng on bare metal. Before I could talk to the kid, he roared off. Just something you have to watch out for.
Don't blame the victim. The only behavoir that needs modified here is that of the criminals. Preferably by absolutely draconian punishment. If you want to see a difference, you need to make it clear that certain behavoir is unacceptable. It's a shame the parents don't teach the punks right from wrong, but that's where we are. If you don't punish the bad behavoir, you won't see a change.
Don't blame the victim sure. But don't encourage the perpetrator either. M
uch crime is situational and opportunistic. Provide fewer opportunities and situations that provide a "growth medium" for crime, and you'll have less of it, whether or not parents are disciplining their children.
SPEAKING OF CRIME, Mose, YES I WAS WRONG ABOUT THE LOCATION OF THE BASEBALL GIRLFRIEND ROBBERY. I just had it in my head that the business was Money Today, on the 1000 block. I couldn't break this incorrect linkage in my head. My apologies.
It's unfortunate the parents can't or won't control their kids (and it's unfortunate that we have roving crackheads), but it is also reality. The problem is that when someone chooses to ignore that fact, that person does so not only at his peril, but at my peril & the peril of his other neighbors.
If they got something good once, you can bet they'll be back again. Every scooter these kids steal is another chance to practice & get better at it. & please, please, please lock up (or better yet, put in a basement/garage) any ladders that you happen to have lying around your yard. Also, report thefts (even when you recover the items) because it is important to get an accurate picture of where and when certain crimes are occuring.
thats why I got a heater and any mofo who steals my stuff is gonna get capped if I catch them
Don't just lock it up, lock it up right: I used a steel-braid style combo lock for my POS bicycle. The little, ahem, buggers just cut through it and rode off. The next one's coming in with me.
You've got to use a U style lock for bikes. Slate just did a good review of bike locks that should still be easy to find.
Slate's review of bike locks.
My fiance's scooter was stolen from our backyard about a year ago...we had it locked with a crappy chain and could be seen if you happened to look through our fence...we lock our back gate, so we thought we would be OK...we were wrong. Some punks climbed over the fence, broke the chain, and broke the lock on our gate. We recovered it the next day, and now we have a sturdy lock on the gate, built an enclosure for our deck (we don't have a basement or a garage), and it costs a lot less than you think to replace parts on a scooter...ours looks and runs like new.
It is a shame that you really have to go through such expensive means to protect your property because people do not learn (or do not care) about what is right.
In this case they pretty much cracked every piece of the plastic casing & ruined evrywhere you might want to stick your key. The scooter ($650 used) had a few mechanical problems already. One intresting twist is that the kids actually installed a new battery (and abandoned another at the scene) because the old one was charging inside (so they also lost money, or more likely goods they had stolen from someone else, on this attempt).
Timely topic...
Someone posted on another list, that they found an abandomed red scooter in their alley in the 600 block of 12th st.
while we're at it, let's discuss the other stuff you have to chain up/tie down - shovels, hoses, flowering tools, unopened bags of mulch, hanging plants, empty propane tanks, garbage cans, patio furniture, and a goodnight sleep. if these guys knew what the ornamental stair parts were worth we'd all have to jump down from our front doors in the morning.
I agree with you about reporting things, but the last time my wife's car got broken into (3 times in the last year in front of our house) the police just got my number and called me back two days later. By that time I didn't even want to have to deal with it, and just replaced the window.
Saturday July 1, 4am I wonder if it was the same two young men whom attempted to steal my scooters cut the locks but had problems (my showing up) they even tried to cut the bars off the house to get the scooters. Mon July 17 2am, they tried again this past week several young men came back to steal two bikes, but were meet by the neighborhood hangouts whom refused to let them take'em. for once I was glad for them to hang out at night. Yes, this time the police told me the correct kind of chain and how to lock them. The chain is about $130 but worth it. I'm sure they will try again.
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