15 July 2009

Canberra's rampant window smashers?

| kellie_au
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Car windows being smashed ..our peaceful Saturday night was ruined when a car drove up and someone lent out the back window and smashed the rear window of our car, we assume with a golf club or bat…..why …. who knows!!!!

We are out of pocket for this and when talking to the guy that replaced our window he said he replaces at least 6 a week for the same reason.

Talking at work about it I was amazed at how many others this has happened to.

Any ideas on how to stop or catch the culprits?

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farnarkler said :

Gen 3 night vision and a crossbow. Cover the bolts with concentrated oleander or rhubarb stalk juice.

I thought dipping the bolts in your own poo was the style, for that personal touch as bacteria invade the vandal’s body cavities in an orgy of multiplication.

Piratemonkey11:04 pm 15 Jul 09

This is easy to solve. First follow the pricks. If this results in them speeding off, with anyluck they crash and die, bingo and the community wins.

The next likely outcome is after a brief chase they stop and run from the car. Now you call the police to pick up the car. Odds are it is stolen and you just helped get someones car back in one peice. Additionally you now have a real crime scene the police will be interested in and hopefully there will be some finger prints. Just remeber when talking to the police that all the adrenalin of the situation caused you to have no idea how fast things got going. 😉

Finally if you let them speed off a bit while keeping close enough to see them. They will likely slow down and head off home or somewhere. Follow them (not too close) and with anyluck you will get to follow them home. (Lets face it someone dumb enough to get their kicks out of such things will be that dumb) It is at this point you move to a safe distance and call a friend who can put together a molotov cocktail quick smart. Then simply do the world a favour.

Well, if nothing happens to kids when they get caught, perhaps we should leave the defence of the home and property to our young a la the Home Alone series ….

*evil laughter*

Gen 3 night vision and a crossbow. Cover the bolts with concentrated oleander or rhubarb stalk juice.

Spideydog said :

My advice to people, park near street lights and were ever POSSIBLE park close to your house, ie not on the road or nature strip. They far less inclined to go up a driveway or close to a house to cause damage.

Unfortunately that is the best advice. It seems that the morons of the world think it’s funny these days and go driving down random streets smashing car windows in whichever way they can.

Even with that advice above, if you leave valuables in your car the scum don’t worry too much about where it is parked.

Timberwolf6511:48 am 15 Jul 09

Harsh Laws are needed, they need to be taught a lesson they will never forget.

Holden Caulfield said :

timgee2007 said :

Yes – Franchi SPAS-12. Holds 8 rounds (plus one in chamber) with four rounds per second in semi-automatic mode. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchi_SPAS-12

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

Seems like a good solution. If people feared punishment, maybe we’d have less crime.

Yes. The lack of crime in the United States seems to support this theory.

I thought that exact thing.

Holden Caulfield said :

Yes. The lack of crime in the United States seems to support this theory.

ZING!

Holden Caulfield10:06 am 15 Jul 09

timgee2007 said :

Yes – Franchi SPAS-12. Holds 8 rounds (plus one in chamber) with four rounds per second in semi-automatic mode. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchi_SPAS-12

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

Seems like a good solution. If people feared punishment, maybe we’d have less crime.

Yes. The lack of crime in the United States seems to support this theory.

Discipline has gone from society these days (and I’m relatively young). Problem is that there is now no repercussions for one’s actions. Todays youth 1. Are certain they can’t get caught. 2. If they do get caught, there is nothing, that can be done do to them.

No repercussions for actions = more inclination to take risks.

It is funny though that if we were to smash this kids xbox or playstation for no reason other than a laugh, they would be the first ones to cry foul and that their rights have been breached.

My advice to people, park near street lights and were ever POSSIBLE park close to your house, ie not on the road or nature strip. They far less inclined to go up a driveway or close to a house to cause damage.

dark lady, you ruined my run :/

and just because i’ve never done the 3 post nutjob thing – one saturday morning my partner and i went out to our car only to find it slumped at an odd angle. one of the rear wheel & tyres had been stolen. wtf with that. the thief had kindly left the nuts and hubcap on the ground beside the car though.

DarkLadyWolfMother9:53 am 15 Jul 09

I had the same issue in Weston about six months ago: came back from a day trip (using someone else’s car, obviously) to find a smashed windscreen. I got the same story from the windscreen repair guy (O’Brians, if anyone cares). He says he’s doing more and more of these lately.

I used to park on the nature strip for years. These days I only do it if Housemate and I need to park cars in the driveway in a specific order. Even then i try to leave it there for as little time as possible.

although having said that how would said dodgo repairer know you were going to come to them rather than providing more profit to the competition. maybe all the repairers take it in turns to smash windows and have a mate’s agreement to refer business on a similarly rostered basis to share the ill-gotten profits equally.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

the guy that replaced our window he said he replaces at least 6 a week

Open windscreen repair business.
Smash windscreens at night.
Profit.

WMC you have saved the cynic in me from saying the same.

Woody Mann-Caruso9:45 am 15 Jul 09

the guy that replaced our window he said he replaces at least 6 a week

Open windscreen repair business.
Smash windscreens at night.
Profit.

Deterrence is a funny thing, whilst it would be great if we all had Spas 12’s we would not be able to use them (unless approaching an intersection to announce your thoroughfare (old Canberra law)).

The problem is that when you catch someone in the act you cannot just go up and belt them senseless. I recall a case of an elderly pensioner who caught someone breaking into his house and he flogged them with a golf club. The burglar got off scott free and the pensioner was charged with assault.

Aside from having masked vigilantes roaming the street at night protecting our livelyhood, there is not much we can do. We can just hope that parents do a good job of raising their children to become responsble adults.

Maybe have a camera set up outside?

An explosive detonation on a “glass breakage sensing hair trigger” a’la James Bond

Something similar happened at my place in Jerrabomberra, where they ripped the side mirror off a car and dropped it on the road. Pointless, pointless, pointless vandalism. Hang on, I just realised, that previous sentence contains redundancies. All vandalism is pointless! Makes my blood boil.

It seems to be the crime where an eye for an eye could apply perfectly. You break something of mine that I value, I break something of yours that you value – maybe your legs? Oh, too early in the day for this – calming tea break required.

A baseball bat is cheaper

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:13 am 15 Jul 09

Seems like a good solution. If people feared punishment, maybe we’d have less crime.

Yes – Franchi SPAS-12. Holds 8 rounds (plus one in chamber) with four rounds per second in semi-automatic mode. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchi_SPAS-12

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