9 October 2010

Manuka plaza "secure parking"

| Paddy
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stolen car

A friend of mine had his car stolen last night in the heavily fortified sanctuary of Mauka plaza.

His early thoughts of a highly secure garage for his car were shattered last night when he discovered it stolen.

Through his own investigation he managed to discover that the highly advertised sanctum that is supposed to be the car park actually does not have any working security cameras.

This is borderline crazy, and a shout out to the AFP – the case officer is as feeble as my attempts for love this week.

Just for my mates sake: its a white Toyota Celica coupe, 1975, Rego: YEP 90J, if anyone knows anything give him a call on 0425869068 – ask for furgo.

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triffid, you’re still missing the point. BTW, when I said “What a lovely person you must be”, it was in direct response to this comment of yours:

So, I hope that those school children (clearly they have not much experienced life first hand) who are quick to approportion blame to Landcat arrive home tonight to find their tele gone, and their watch collection, and their dog and cat, and their car and whatever else they hold dear and own as a result of their hard graft. And then, that the exercise is repeated for them in 6 months time, or at whatever regular interval is required, until they themselves learn what it feels like.

Wishing these kinds of things on people is pretty childish.

And if it is, as you say, that we need to take precautions to reduce being a victim of crime (where you draw the line there is anyone’s guess) then it’s a sad day indeed.

Yes, it is sad, BUT – it’s a reality of life. Precautions like locking your doors at night (and when away from the house), having alarms and other anti-theft devices (for house and car) are a fact of life. Precautions such as these are common sense and are a fact of life for anyone living in a decent sized city.

parle said :

Monster of the Deep said :

It really, really sucks having your car stolen. Show some bloody sympathy.

…and it really, really, really sucks when that stolen car is involved in a further crime or deaths involving innocent people. I hope it wasn’t stolen with nothing more than 30 seconds and a flat blade screwdriver, if I had owned a vehicle in that circumstance and it killed someone I’d feel partly responsible.

Would you feel partly responsible if it had been your flat blade screwdriver (stolen within 30 seconds) that had been used to steal the car?

triffid said :

Oh . . . yeah . . . and I’m a bit weary of the ‘sheltered workshop’ set who post on the basis of limited first-hand experience or otherwise limited exposure to the world.

(Ban me from here: please, JB.)

You’ve totally missed the point and gone off on a pointless tirade m8. Everyone here feels for this poor bugger who has lost his car to scum car thieves, but when you go and blame everyone else for the theft and non-recovery – except for the filthy thief and then not take a tiny bit of responsibility himself for having nil security measures of his own, then you may receive a little criticism. If your going to blame a facility for not being ‘secure’ enough, but not bother with any security measures of his own, it’s a little hypocritical if you ask me.

Should we be able park our pride and joys without the fear of it being stolen ….? Bloody oath, but sadly these days we individually have to make an effort to prevent becoming a victim of crime. Once again I hope he gets a safe return of his car and the offenders get some bad karma go their way.

creative_canberran10:29 pm 11 Oct 10

triffid said :

Tooks, thank you. I could regale you with plenty of stories of my many years of service to the community through sports coaching (including at the elite level), or my dedication of countless hours to a number of sporting clubs, or of how it always seems to be me answering the calls of emotionally distressed friends and relatives at all hours or freely giving my time and technical advice in my areas of expertise or of how — over all of my 30-odd years of my adult life — I have been the conciliatory one; the one who found the compromise; the one who gave (or gave in) to keep the peace or to benefit someone else.

Now, however, and in the present, I could also tell you how it has rewarded me. How when I have sought some help in dire circumstances I find there is none to be had. How my home being violated and my possessions being taken is, in reality, a minor consequence to me. And yet, and yet, you seem able to defend the indefensible subtext of the ‘it’s his fault’ or ‘what did he expect’ brigade and suggest into the bargain what a ‘lovely person’ I must be.

Well, here’s the thing, tooks. Even in my pain, even in my utter frustration at circumstances, even in my bitterness, even people like you would be treated by me in a manner that would not betray to you any of that. Insensitive is insensitive. And if it is, as you say, that we need to take precautions to reduce being a victim of crime (where you draw the line there is anyone’s guess) then it’s a sad day indeed.

lol, he’s blown a gasket. Well, at least that means someone won’t be able to drive off with it I guess!

Oh . . . yeah . . . and I’m a bit weary of the ‘sheltered workshop’ set who post on the basis of limited first-hand experience or otherwise limited exposure to the world.

(Ban me from here: please, JB.)

Tooks, thank you. I could regale you with plenty of stories of my many years of service to the community through sports coaching (including at the elite level), or my dedication of countless hours to a number of sporting clubs, or of how it always seems to be me answering the calls of emotionally distressed friends and relatives at all hours or freely giving my time and technical advice in my areas of expertise or of how — over all of my 30-odd years of my adult life — I have been the conciliatory one; the one who found the compromise; the one who gave (or gave in) to keep the peace or to benefit someone else.

Now, however, and in the present, I could also tell you how it has rewarded me. How when I have sought some help in dire circumstances I find there is none to be had. How my home being violated and my possessions being taken is, in reality, a minor consequence to me. And yet, and yet, you seem able to defend the indefensible subtext of the ‘it’s his fault’ or ‘what did he expect’ brigade and suggest into the bargain what a ‘lovely person’ I must be.

Well, here’s the thing, tooks. Even in my pain, even in my utter frustration at circumstances, even in my bitterness, even people like you would be treated by me in a manner that would not betray to you any of that. Insensitive is insensitive. And if it is, as you say, that we need to take precautions to reduce being a victim of crime (where you draw the line there is anyone’s guess) then it’s a sad day indeed.

triffid said :

Shee-it there’s some insensitive, cretinous a**eclowns on here. Getting the baseball bat out and applying it to the bloke who has had his property stolen as if it’s all his fault mixed in with an undercurrent of waddayaexpect! Pharque! What’s that about?

I think the reason he got a couple of ‘insensitive’ comments is because he blamed the car park for not being secure enough and the police for not doing enough. Fact is, the only person to blame is the toe rag who stole it. Looking back, I can’t see any comments I would call nasty – in fact plenty of people (including myself) said they hope he gets his car back. Just because people suggest he should’ve had anti-theft devices, doesn’t mean they are blaming him, ffs.

then I think I ought to be able to enjoy a reasonable expectation that my rights in that property are not violated.

True. We should all be able to leave our cars anywhere we want without them being stolen; we should be able to leave our doors and windows unlocked; we should be able to walk any part of the street at night without getting rolled. Fact is, we all need to take precautions to reduce the risk of being a victim of crime.

So, I hope that those school children (clearly they have not much experienced life first hand) who are quick to approportion blame to Landcat arrive home tonight to find their tele gone, and their watch collection, and their dog and cat, and their car and whatever else they hold dear and own as a result of their hard graft. And then, that the exercise is repeated for them in 6 months time, or at whatever regular interval is required, until they themselves learn what it feels like.

What a lovely person you must be.

Monster of the Deep5:42 pm 11 Oct 10

triffid said :

When I park my somewhat rare classic vehicle anywhere … then I think I ought to be able to enjoy a reasonable expectation that my rights in that property are not violated.

Hear hear, Triffid! I wanted to post something to this effect but I didn’t want to feed the trolls.

Nice car – what a shame. 🙁

Hope it turns up ok.

creative_canberran3:36 pm 11 Oct 10

Davo111 said :

Dickson Carpark at ANU is also one of these “secure parking” spots that is regularly broken into. Actually statistically you’re less likely to be broken into by parking in the free spots outside the lockup building

Dickson is not a secure carpark, nor is Baldessin. The ANU makes no such claims and you’re naive if you think a boom gate makes a place secure.
The only secure parking at ANU is the Kingsley St station. All doors and vehicle entries are automatically kept closed using heavy doors which may only be opened with a swipe card issued to permit holders. Swipe card is also required to exit the parking station, there’s no way otherwise to gain entry or egress.

Or answering the phone to say you’ll be there in 5 minutes. I misread.

Example: I answer a call in my car and say ‘Mate, in the car be there in 5? – end of call. If a traffic officer sees that i WILL get a fine, no question.

And so you should. Ringing someone while your driving to tell them you’ll be there in 5 minutes is idiotic.

However if my car gets stolen or my house gets broken into, then god help me if i want a result between the hour it takes me to get a patrol car there and the x days to x weeks to get a report.

To get a report, you have to go through FOI. If you get your car stolen, police will take a report and return it when they find it. What do you expect – a special taskforce just for your stolen car? If your house gets broken into, a patrol will turn up as soon as they can, providing there aren’t more urgent jobs going.

I hope you (or your friend) gets the car back, but you need to have more realistic expectations of what police can do for you in this situation. Have a look at the stats page on the AFP website to see how many cars are stolen in each area every month.

Shee-it there’s some insensitive, cretinous a**eclowns on here. Getting the baseball bat out and applying it to the bloke who has had his property stolen as if it’s all his fault mixed in with an undercurrent of waddayaexpect! Pharque! What’s that about?

When I park my somewhat rare classic vehicle anywhere — oh yeah . . . that has no immobiliser or other trickery on it ‘cos that would render it un-original — then I think I ought to be able to enjoy a reasonable expectation that my rights in that property are not violated. Didn’t stop my rallycar being stolen (it had the battery swicth key removed and the fuel pumps turned off). Nor did my precautions to secure my house prevent it from having its content load lightened twice in the last 12 months (last time, a few weeks ago, it was also tossed like a salad — or as you might find in a 50s private dick movie — for every cupboard, drawer, shelf in every room).

There is no kharma, of that I am convinced. So, I hope that those school children (clearly they have not much experienced life first hand) who are quick to approportion blame to Landcat arrive home tonight to find their tele gone, and their watch collection, and their dog and cat, and their car and whatever else they hold dear and own as a result of their hard graft. And then, that the exercise is repeated for them in 6 months time, or at whatever regular interval is required, until they themselves learn what it feels like.

Lancat . . . it’s gone. Sorry mate. I’ll even bet it’s in a container on the high seas. Either that, or it’s been stripped for trim and other parts and the shell is about to be used in a rebirth.

landcat said :

Spideydog said :

vg said :

What is ‘feeble’? Police don’t actively go out and look for the car. They take a report and when its found (if it is) they contact the owner. That’s all

I thought a strike force would be set up to retrieve said vehicle ….. My, they have got pretty feeble these days !!! I wonder what sort of anti-theft devices this vehicle had fitted, none I presume. But it’s always the fault of police.

Hope your m8 gets his car back in one piece and then installs a proper immobilser. If everyone fitted one of these there would be almost be no car theft, and less calls of feeble police attempts to get thier car back. Sigh !!

Is it just me that feels that too much police time is spent on revenue raising crimes and not enough actually looking out for the community?

Example: I answer a call in my car and say ‘Mate, in the car be there in 5’ – end of call. If a traffic officer sees that i WILL get a fine, no question.

However if my car gets stolen or my house gets broken into, then god help me if i want a result between the hour it takes me to get a patrol car there and the x days to x weeks to get a report.

I think that the ‘nanny-state’ mentality has moved the scales of justice to be heavily sided to ‘take’ and light on the ‘give’

EXACTLY, what was it that expected after you report your car stolen? I am curious…..

Solidarity said :

The guys asking if anybody has seen his pride and joy, and youl ot are ripping into him, blaming him.

You’re all pathetic, next time someone damages your property, i’ll sit here and laugh.

It’s an RA23 Celica, if it had an immobolisier (nothing here to say there wasn’t by the way), they would have used a flatbed.

Will keep an eye out mate.

Yeah, I’m sure they would have …… NOT !!!

I hope he gets his car back too.

Solidarity said :

The guys asking if anybody has seen his pride and joy, and youl ot are ripping into him, blaming him.

You’re all pathetic, next time someone damages your property, i’ll sit here and laugh.

It’s an RA23 Celica, if it had an immobolisier (nothing here to say there wasn’t by the way), they would have used a flatbed.

Will keep an eye out mate.

Cheers buddy, appreciate that!

Spideydog said :

vg said :

What is ‘feeble’? Police don’t actively go out and look for the car. They take a report and when its found (if it is) they contact the owner. That’s all

I thought a strike force would be set up to retrieve said vehicle ….. My, they have got pretty feeble these days !!! I wonder what sort of anti-theft devices this vehicle had fitted, none I presume. But it’s always the fault of police.

Hope your m8 gets his car back in one piece and then installs a proper immobilser. If everyone fitted one of these there would be almost be no car theft, and less calls of feeble police attempts to get thier car back. Sigh !!

Is it just me that feels that too much police time is spent on revenue raising crimes and not enough actually looking out for the community?

Example: I answer a call in my car and say ‘Mate, in the car be there in 5’ – end of call. If a traffic officer sees that i WILL get a fine, no question.

However if my car gets stolen or my house gets broken into, then god help me if i want a result between the hour it takes me to get a patrol car there and the x days to x weeks to get a report.

I think that the ‘nanny-state’ mentality has moved the scales of justice to be heavily sided to ‘take’ and light on the ‘give’

JC said :

WillowJim said :

“The case officer is as feeble as my attempts for love this week.”

I think this deserves further discussion.

Think it means he got knocked back from Fyshwick.

Wow,

A Fyshwick call out in Canberra. In my 10 years here its wearing pretty thin.

Are you new money or something? (something being home schooled) Limestone Lizzy all the way!

WillowJim said :

“The case officer is as feeble as my attempts for love this week.”

I think this deserves further discussion.

look out for my YouTube videos coming soon discussing said events!

The guys asking if anybody has seen his pride and joy, and youl ot are ripping into him, blaming him.

You’re all pathetic, next time someone damages your property, i’ll sit here and laugh.

It’s an RA23 Celica, if it had an immobolisier (nothing here to say there wasn’t by the way), they would have used a flatbed.

Will keep an eye out mate.

Dickson Carpark at ANU is also one of these “secure parking” spots that is regularly broken into. Actually statistically you’re less likely to be broken into by parking in the free spots outside the lockup building

Mully Award?

vg said :

farq said :

A car stereo guy can fit a hidden fuel cut off switch for about $50.

Not as good as a immobiliser, but having one saved my old car a couple of times.

I am crying as I type this………but…………+1!

lol – I could have said the same thing

creative_canberran1:53 am 10 Oct 10

Monster of the Deep said :

It’s ridiculous how people on this site constantly condemn the ACT courts for not being strict enough with criminals… “They should be hung, drawn and quartered!!1”
Yet when someone posts about being a victim of said criminals, it’s all, “Harden the f*ck up! It’s your fault!”

A ridiculous double standard. It really, really sucks having your car stolen. Show some bloody sympathy.

How is it a double standard? A double standard is a fact scenario where two different people undertake the same act but receive different punishments.
The fact is the owner could have taken easy steps to avoid the loss but didn’t and that fact is being highlighted. It goes without saying that the thief is at fault and should be punished accordingly.

Monster of the Deep said :

It really, really sucks having your car stolen. Show some bloody sympathy.

…and it really, really, really sucks when that stolen car is involved in a further crime or deaths involving innocent people. I hope it wasn’t stolen with nothing more than 30 seconds and a flat blade screwdriver, if I had owned a vehicle in that circumstance and it killed someone I’d feel partly responsible.

Monster of the Deep11:18 pm 09 Oct 10

It’s ridiculous how people on this site constantly condemn the ACT courts for not being strict enough with criminals… “They should be hung, drawn and quartered!!1”
Yet when someone posts about being a victim of said criminals, it’s all, “Harden the f*ck up! It’s your fault!”

A ridiculous double standard. It really, really sucks having your car stolen. Show some bloody sympathy.

Who’d have thought 20k readers a day would not be in complete agreement,.

Funky Claude11:05 pm 09 Oct 10

wanna buy it back?

georgesgenitals9:56 pm 09 Oct 10

Captain RAAF said :

Early Celica, it’s in Sydney as we speak being reborn as a written off one. They are getting pretty thin on the ground and the rice boys would not have hesitated with this one as it looks nice.

Troll-sniffer is correct, Rotor buttons are the way to go, me being a real man and driving old school V8’s saw me yank the rotor button out of my GT every time I left it anywhere but be warned, thieves, the professional ones (yeah, there are people who just steal cars) will stake out your car, make sure they have what they need, watch you park it, see you raising the bonnet and tinkering with something, they’ll put 2 and 2 together and come up with rotor button.
It pays to have a back-up, loosen the coil lead so it looks attached but isn’t, have an immobiliser switch in the engine bay as well as in the drivers compartment but best thing you can do, if you have to leave the car in a place it could get stolen from is be quick when shopping, pay attention to people eyeing your car off as you pull in…or be 6′ tall, 95 kg and built like Gladiator….what can I say, Mum likes my car.

Your mum is a gladiator? Cool!

On a more serious note, a car like this would hold considerable street cred for the ricer crowd. I also suspect its being rebirthed.

Hopefully insurance comes through, and another can be found.

grunge_hippy8:28 pm 09 Oct 10

stuff working, with all these tips, I’m off to start a successful life of crime.

Pretty much every carpark has a disclaimer that they aren’t responsible for any theft.

The police also aren’t going to search every household in Canberra just to find ‘another stolen item’.

It’s a horrible thing to have something stolen, but it happens.

farq said :

A car stereo guy can fit a hidden fuel cut off switch for about $50.

Not as good as a immobiliser, but having one saved my old car a couple of times.

I am crying as I type this………but…………+1!

WillowJim said :

“The case officer is as feeble as my attempts for love this week.”

I think this deserves further discussion.

Think it means he got knocked back from Fyshwick.

Captain RAAF5:45 pm 09 Oct 10

Early Celica, it’s in Sydney as we speak being reborn as a written off one. They are getting pretty thin on the ground and the rice boys would not have hesitated with this one as it looks nice.

Troll-sniffer is correct, Rotor buttons are the way to go, me being a real man and driving old school V8’s saw me yank the rotor button out of my GT every time I left it anywhere but be warned, thieves, the professional ones (yeah, there are people who just steal cars) will stake out your car, make sure they have what they need, watch you park it, see you raising the bonnet and tinkering with something, they’ll put 2 and 2 together and come up with rotor button.
It pays to have a back-up, loosen the coil lead so it looks attached but isn’t, have an immobiliser switch in the engine bay as well as in the drivers compartment but best thing you can do, if you have to leave the car in a place it could get stolen from is be quick when shopping, pay attention to people eyeing your car off as you pull in…or be 6′ tall, 95 kg and built like Gladiator….what can I say, Mum likes my car.

Are you attributing blame on everybody except the offender and yourself?

Others have pointed out the things you could have done to reduce the chance of having this older car stolen by some young’n with nothing more than a screwdriver and a mate as lookout. Was there a steering lock, alarm or even security stickers? Nothing?

Well that’s what you’ve now got…

A car stereo guy can fit a hidden fuel cut off switch for about $50.

Not as good as a immobiliser, but having one saved my old car a couple of times.

troll-sniffer5:15 pm 09 Oct 10

Wake up call for owners of older cars here. Get some sort of immobiliser fitted. Or, if you want to save money, just do what I did a few years ago and get adept and removing the rotor button from the distributor. The car cannot be started without a rotor button, the likelihood of a thief having one in their possession would be about 0.00000000000000000001% and it’s small enough to fit in a pocket. Takes 10 secs to remove and replace at each end of the park.

(Mostly doesn’t work for electronic ignition cars but we’re talking older cars here).

vg said :

What is ‘feeble’? Police don’t actively go out and look for the car. They take a report and when its found (if it is) they contact the owner. That’s all

I thought a strike force would be set up to retrieve said vehicle ….. My, they have got pretty feeble these days !!! I wonder what sort of anti-theft devices this vehicle had fitted, none I presume. But it’s always the fault of police.

Hope your m8 gets his car back in one piece and then installs a proper immobilser. If everyone fitted one of these there would be almost be no car theft, and less calls of feeble police attempts to get thier car back. Sigh !!

What is ‘feeble’? Police don’t actively go out and look for the car. They take a report and when its found (if it is) they contact the owner. That’s all

“The case officer is as feeble as my attempts for love this week.”

I think this deserves further discussion.

creative_canberran3:59 pm 09 Oct 10

“His early thoughts of a highly secure garage for his car were shattered last night when he discovered it stolen.”

Does it have all entrances secured with doors that can only be opened with a swipe card? If it doesn’t, not sure why anyone would think it’s secure. What makes it fortified, who claims it is?

As for the vehicle, over 85,000 cars are stolen every year, most over ten years of age and taken by casual thieves. An engine immobiliser can be added to any vehicle and only costs about $200 fitted under the “Immobilise Now” program.

The police get swamped with heaps of these reports, frankly most could have been avoided had the owner taken better care. Don’t go slagging them off.

Like most things in this world, nothing is fully theft proof. Security is always just a deterrent, if someone really wants to steal something there will always be a way to do it. The AFP is hardly able to be proactive looking for a old bomb of a car worth a few grand, they will find it when whoever nicked it has finished and dumped it.

“A highly secure garage?” Hardly. Does it advertise itself as such (serious question)? I’ve parked there many times – never seemed particularly secure to me.

An old car, easy to steal, presumably no decent anti-theft devices attached. Unfortunately, if it’s not already a burnt out shell, it’s probably copped a pretty good flogging.

If you do get it back in tact, put some kind of anti-theft devices on it. It might be just enough of a deterrent for a crook to say “bugger this” and move to the next car.

Does your mate take a picture of his car every time he leaves it in a car park?

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