Recreation Vandalism

I was wondering if I should post this or put it in my journal, but in the end... well it's obvious. I wanted to get some notice to this.

Well, I don't know if it should be called vandalism or outright attacks at us...

Anyway, a number of times over the past... I forget how long, we've had incidents of various objects being thrown into the side of our house. These include pop cans, eggs, enough harder-skinned vegetables to make a stew, and of course, rocks.

At this point, we have a total of 5 broken windows. Each one has been broken on a different incident (except they broke two tonight). Once of the windows has been hit more than once.

Every time, we've talked to the park manager (in the case of the vegetables and eggs), or the police (in the case of the rocks). Recently, the police said it likely won't stop. Apparently they also can't prosecute these a-holes, because vandalism isn't a criminal offence, simply "mischief." (I say apparently because my grandma relayed this to me, and she has a tendency to twist people's words somewhat)

This makes me sick. These kids throw things at my house, again and again, for what reason? Because it's "fun"? Because they want to "get back at me" for reasons unknown?

Unfortunately, we've never been able to catch a glimpse at these people, because they do it late at night, and they always do their bit at the opposite side of the house from where I am, so I'm usually unaware until I'm told about it, well after the fact.

An interesting fact- every time they've thrown a rock at a window, there's been someone sitting near the place it hits. The first time, my grandma was crocheting, and it hit right behind her head. Lucky thing the window had two panes of glass, anyway, and the second one was chipped pretty deeply.

Another time, my 9 year old cousin was sitting in the couch near the window. It hit the window not a foot below her head.

The other two times are anomalies to me, but tonight's was the worst. A rock flew through both windows, through the blinds, and into the bathroom door across the room. It flew overtop the bed my grandma was sleeping in at the time.

Bloody feels like I'm in New York or something, not my own city. :anger2:

As soon as I can, I'll take pictures of the windows and post them here.

And, just so this is not completely about me, what are your guy's thoughts? On situations like this, on vandalism in general, on any similar situations you've been through? Although I'd like to think the ideas I've had for dealing with this would do the job, I'd be a fool to really think it. Does anyone have any suggestions about it? We're already talking about getting a security camera, and better lighting is another thought we've had.

Cheers.

 

Vandalism is only mischief in Canada? Cool. So if I put a cinder block through your car window... that's only Mischief? What happens when I get drunk, take a tractor and plow up your highschool's football field the night before the homecoming game? Mischief?

Yeah, that doesn't sound right at all... I'd get that one from the horse's mouth myself.


~W

 

Back in my old house, we used to get some pretty bad vandalism... my mom thinks it was because we had a corner house that was the first house on the street which meant easy access. Anyway, one time someone drove their truck THROUGH our fence REPEATEDLY and took off. Now how does one accidentally drive their truck through a fence multiple times? Another time, 'someone else' put a whole bunch of clothes, toys, and other accessories at the base of our fence and lit it on fire and our fence caught on fire. Anyway, we called the cops and they came over and took a look at the stuff that wasn't completely burnt and tracked it back to the guy who did it and he was arrested....after that, there was no more vandalism.

I think the security camera would work best on your part. Then once you catch them on tape, show it to the cops ^_^

 

Actually just in Alberta, and yeah, you're right about that. I was pretty skeptical of it myslef.

Well, I'll have to ask about it the next time I see a cop.

 

paintbal gun
coffee
couple nights off of work

 

Wow, this sucks big time. Well, your best bet would probably be a stake-out with some sort of weapon. Paintball guns work wonders, I know. I actually caught some drunkees peeing on the side of my house. We yelled so hard I think they forgot to pull up their pants when they were running away.

I would see if the cops could take a look at the damage they casued. Heck, suggest that the cops set up a stakeout at your house. They'll catch those guys if they come a-knockin'. Question before I wrap this up; did you do something to those guys you aren't including in your story? Maybe you did something jokingly and they took it seriously or something.

In conclusion, I would try my suggestions. If the cops let you down, there's always that handy paintball gun and 1,000 some odd rounds.

 

I agree with the paintball.

Just make sure you don't hit their eyes or they could sue you for permanent damages, etc.

Also, you can try filming them or something. Face it, you live in a bad neighborhood. You need to put some fences or something.

 

Paintballing is a really funny idea, however it may just inflame the problem. It could make it worse by making them angry. You'll go from having 'fun loving' vandalists to angry, vengeful vandalists. A word of caution.

~W

 

Replace the paintball gun with a shotgun and you'd have what most people around here do in that case.

After trying to get the police's help, I would set up a fence to try to prevent more. And if it keeps happening after that, then take down the fence, but motion sensing sprinklers in its place, and replace the glass with plexiglass and see how they like that.

 

Oh he'll be careful, it's not like they're vandalizing his house or anything. Seriously though, just shoot 'em up, they won't come back for a while, for fear that they will see you in your plastic lawnchair again. Then tell the cops, "Okay I scared 'em, you guys finish 'em off!"

 

You can buy a realistic-looking fake gun(or even better a riffle). Sit all day(and night) at home and wait for vandals to come. When they come and are about to throw something in your window, go out of the house, point your gun at them and scare the crap out of them. Also, you can humiliate them, like tell them to do situps or pushups at a gunpoint. Anyways, I doubt they will come back anytime soon if ever.

 

The cops have seen the damage, they've been called in for every one of the five incidents, and not one of the windows has been replaced yet. (These kinds of windows are expensive, you know?)

As far as doing something to them... I have no idea. I was targetted in Junior High for some unknown reason, and kids were always making fun of me, but this would have been about 6 years ago, now. Nothing's really happened recently (recently being since this started) that I can think of.

Yes, though, the thought that they're targetting me in this has crossed my mind. Other houses *have* been hit, but I think it's safe to say ours is the most targetted. We have fences, separating the walkway from the yard, and the deck has a fence around it too. I should be able to borrow a digital camera tomorrow and take some pictures to show you guys.

I'm thinking part of the problem is that my house is right on the edge of a dimly-lit walkway, and they're throwing these things from there, then running or riding off on a bike, because they always attack the one side, and always in the same general area. My grandma says (again, take this with a grain of salt) she saw a 17 or 18 year old kid staring at her through the bedroom window from the walkway when she lived with us before (she had her own place for a few months)

In any case, I've put some thought into it, and I've come up with several ideas:

• Spend more time on that side of the house. I can use my grandpa's computer instead of my own, and of course, me being more agile and mobile than my grandparents, have a better chance of catching them or at least seeing them, before they've run off.
• A motion-sensing floodlight that would light up the walkway when someone passes through it.
• A security camera. Of course, given the boldness of these people in the past (they've come up on the deck and stolen a bird feeder from it before) it would have to be hidden well and have a clear view of the walkway.
• The paintball gun is an interesting idea, and I'll bring it up when I discuss it with my grandpa, but I doubt it'll be followed. All it would really do (I think) is help to identify them, and there are better, less overt ways to do that.
• Plexiglass windows, why would they waste their time trying to break something they can't break?
• In addition to all of this, I think we need better locks on our doors (and we need to use them!). We can lock the front door, but the key is missing, and the backdoor needs to be worked on as it's not hanging right, and the deadbolt on it doesn't work.

Luvweaver, the actual fact is I live in a very good neighboorhood. I think it's all stemming from a few bad eggs that are ruining it for myself, my family, and others. I could live in Abbottsfield or Mill Woods, after all. (These are the supposed "worst" neighboorhoods in the city, though Londonderry seems to me to be one of the worse ones also) The trailer park I live in is a very nice place, these attacks aside.

Lastly, as I'm obviously not going to sit up every night and watch for them, (as it doesn't happen *terribly* often), I don't think I'd be able to catch them before they do anything. As things are we can only react, and if I'm going to be going after them, I need to be able to cut down every possible second of reaction time.

PS: I believe guns are so severely restricted around here that it would be far more trouble than it's worth to actually get one.

 

Why don't you try getting a dog, a big one that will rasie the roof when it barks. A lot of young people can be discouraged if theirs a dog in the yard, also the barking could serve as a bit of an early warning.

I think that the paintball gun is a bit of a bad idea, they could end up reporting that you pointed a firearm at them, even if its just to scare them they're probably going to vall the cops. Even with paint guns, if they panic all they're going to see is somebody pointing something that looks a lot like a gun.

Your best bet is to go for the security camera, and also a motion sensitive light to light up the area would be good as well. Then if they attack again you can simply hand over the tape to the cops and let them make the arrests.

 

We are getting a dog, although it was more or less forced on us. I've never been a fan of dogs myself, especially big ones. This one wouldn't be the kind of dog that'd help.

In any case you just pinpointed the main reason I was hesitant about a paintball gun. A girl in my city nearly lost an eye awhile back because some kids shot her in the face with one. If it'd hit less than an inch lower it would have burst her eyeball.

In any case I'm going to discuss it with my grandpa later, and see what we can come up with.

 

hey, you never know

I still say you should stick with the video camera idea...btw, do they atack randomly or during a certain time of the day/night??

 

I still say you should go with the motion sensing water sprinklers and the plexiglass windows. The motion sensing water sprinklers will spray them if they get close. It's a way of getting back at them without hurting them and the plexiglass windows will keep them from doing any more damage in the same way.

 

They do always attack at night, so that does make a difference.

As far as water sprinklers- well, it's winter right now so it's a bad idea. Second, they don't really get close, or they wouldn't be able to get away so quickly. They'd have to be throwing their junk from the walkway, not from the yard, or they'd never get away quickly enough.

 

damit you
just grow some balls and get a paintball gun -_-
you live in edmonton, it happens often enough, just aim low, cops couldn't catch a sodding cold, I know this for a fact, my friend's neighbour is a coke dealer ffs, he's a known coke dealer at that, so just do something

 

Flipping cops. First of all your cops are being lazy. My opinion is thus you are a victim. Wither or not you realize this it probably has effected you in some way. I say talk to a lawyer. Or install an electric fence.