Wayne Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 The night before last I had been over to visit the in-laws, when I returned home later in the night I wandered down the yard to check things were ok only to find that my shop and the wife's carpentry shop had both been broken into. :( Not a pleasant thing to find, the upside if you can call it that was that there was more damage and mess than things taken, possibly scrappies or similar low life looking for things to flog. Spent that night and the following day making things good, fixing the doors replacing locks etc. Thieves - can't shoot them, can't bury them in the back yard..... Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Remember any "traps" should be mearly jumbles of stuff accidentally arranged to immure an intruder and never never admit to doing it on purpose *anywhere*. You never saw this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcornell Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 "Honest, Officer, I put that anvil up on the saw horse because I wanted to put rustproofing paint on the bottom. I never knew that it would fall over and pin someone to the ground. I was away at Quad State for several days and I didn't find that poor man until I came back..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Thieves - can't shoot them, can't bury them in the back yard..... WayneWe can here as long as we can reasonably claim that we felt our family or selves were endangered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Why use a back yard when there are hundreds of sq miles of desert crying out for shallow graves and the coyote feedings! Here we can shoot if they are in the house, yard not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 Thomas, Here in England they are not considered criminals, they are poor misunderstood little darlings with lawyers who would defend pontious pilot <_< Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Sadly if a person, even an intruder is hurt on your property, you can be sued for negligence. I've heard many stories of criminals hurt climbing through windows or falling off roofs and still winning a case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Thieves - can't shoot them, can't bury them in the back yard..... Not technically correct. Just an FYI..... ;) Hate to hear you got busted like that. I can't abide thieves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grymm Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 You can always get a wireless security camera or do what I do and have an alarm on the door that is so loud it wakes up half the block! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foundryman Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Sadly in the UK we cant shoot anyone, full stop. Hand guns totally illegal for civilians and rifles/shotguns are strictly licensed. However i would recommend that you start restoring bear traps just inside the door of your workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Archery perhaps? Crossbows can be loaded and ready almost instantly if kept cocked. I read an article one time mentioning a greater percentage of robbers were actually hit by guys using archery gear than those using guns. Reason being that most archers actually practice quite frequently compared to many gun owners who simply buy one for self defense but never actually learn to use it well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beammeupscotty Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Same thing happened to me three or four years ago except I lost a LOT of stuff. Lawnmower, side grinders, chop saw, irreplaceable hammers, MIG welder… One of the biggest problems with this sort of thing is that in my disorganized blacksmith shop I lost things that I didn't realize were missing when I filed a claim with my insurance company. After that, it was too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 We used to live in the inner city but had very little stolen until we got ready to move and then someone stole: my bicycle---the one I bought for US$15 at the fleamarket to ride around the campus when I was getting my second degree and my lawnmower that actually was a frankenstein monster and often took longer to start than it did to mow the tiny 100 year old neighborhood lawn. I would have cheerfully given them away if they had asked. Wait I did once buy a drawknife twice; but both times it was very cheap so I didn't make a fuss the second time when it showed up at the fleamarket with my tool marking on it...still way below the going rate even paying for it twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 I hate thieves. Too bad most places seem to think shooting thieves should be discouraged. Happily most of Alaska isn't one of those places so we don't even have to go to the bother of burying them. Call 911, they send cops and coroner and they'll charge the estate or survivors. I'm not joking, in the last few years there have been some notable examples, notable in I can remember them. A few years ago a couple of local bad boys, known thieves and worse, were caught breaking into a local church for the second or third time by the pastor. He was in the basement, heard them kick in the unlocked front door and came up the steps. The thieves ran and he shot one dead in his tracks and wounded the second as he was getting in the car. That xxxx was arrested at the hospital a couple hours later. The only charges filed were against the burglar. The pastor swore out a statement and pressed charges. A year or so ago there was a rash of strong arm burglaries in Anchorage by 3-4 men. They'd ring the bell and as soon as someone opened the door they'd force their way in and beat the crap out of whoever was there and rob them. They forced their way into a second floor apartment where they started having a good time beating a 78 year old man till his 74 year old wife came out of the bedroom shooting. One dead in the living room, one in the front doorway, one at the bottom of the stairs and the last one bled out down the block. She was shooting a 0.40 auto and only reloaded once. Her husband suffered several broken ribs but recovered fully. No charges filed, two statements filed. A very similar incident occurred but I don't recall if it was before or after, no fatalities but three seriously wounded. Charges pressed and doing time. The real downside is how prevalent alcohol abuse is and mixing alcohol and firearms results in a far too many firearm related injuries and deaths. While I may agree with shooting the bad guys in the act we get along just fine with our four dogs. Nice dogs, love most everybody, wouldn't hurt a flee. (well, if we had flees here that might not be quite accurate) People just don't seem to want to mess with several dogs. As out of the way, just off a semi-main road we haven't lost a thing is years, worst is the occasional XXX who dumps trash here rather than drive 7 miles to the dump. Been thinking about setting up a couple motion sensor game cameras but it doesn't happen but once every couple years so . . . I think the dogs have something to do with that too. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Sorry to hear this. Hate thieves. Suggest you get a dog. Preferably, a bad dog. :angry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Doesn't have to be a bad dog. In fact "bad" is a bad word to use for dogs. One or more dogs will discourage casual theft. Even small ones that bark will. There are exceptions. You can also poison proof train your dog. Depending on where you go with that, that can get complicated. Dogs do help, usually. Have had friends off and on borrow the rottweilers and mixed breed descendants from me in the past. Have also had one of my dogs break loose and get people that were casing the place. Secure premises that look secure with motion lights can also help. Well lit area inside a fence with dogs even better. Not full proof though. Sorry to hear of your stuff getting stolen and being broken into. Make the place visibly more secure if you can. Try to be pro-active and deter future crime, rather then being re-active. Things can still happen but can lessen the incidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozenforge Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Bad guys hate dogs because they know the dog doesn't worry about being arrested, sued ect. All it sees is a threat to its territory or pack and deals with it aggressively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Something that is legal here are the blank 12 gauge trip wires. Know a few farmers around here that use them. You can tie the trip wire to a door or something that a thief might move. Makes one hell of a bang and alerts anyone near by plus scare the poop out of the intruder! Just make you remember they are set before you go running to get that item from the workshop :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
territorialmillworks Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 My solution is a Pit Bull and a Great Dane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Mine is a dozen husky/malamute/newfoundland mixes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNJC Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Well, professionally speaking - hang on while I get on my high horse... - you can't do much to a thief in most US states, whereas you can have a good go at robbers and burglars in most of them. Here in the UK, well in England and Wales anyway, you can use reasonable force in all circumstances, the problem is that what is 'reasonable' has not yet been definitively codified; fortunately, juries generally have common sense and sympathy for someone in a difficult situation. That written, and this goes for both sides of the Atlantic, it is often a mistake to confuse the law with justice. Curly, the blank 12g firers are currently legal but, as with so many things, extreme discretion should be used in their placement. If any harm were to come to anyone due to their discharge, the responsible person would be facing a definite civil action and a probable criminal one. This would be most irritating if the injured person were a genuine burglar, but would be soul-destroying if it were a small child exploring or a police officer following up on a suspicious action. I have learnt a bit from some of the scum I've had the displeasure of defending, and the things they hate most are loud alarms, dogs and evidence catchers i.e. barbed wire and cameras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 GNJC makes a good point. "loud alarms, dogs and evidence catchers i.e. barbed wire and cameras." Well lit areas, movement on the premise, good security. Motion lights are another useful thing that someone earlier commented I think. With cameras obvious and hidden ones are good. Fake ones only scare off the "honest people". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 I have just spent the last three days fitting steel plate over the gaps between door and door jamb, steel boxes around bolts and padlocks so that you can only get your hand in and not croppers and I have been fitting new motion flood lights. Just the windows to sort out but they have bars across allready. If they want to get in they will, it just depends how much noise they want to make.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Furrer Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Wayne, I know it is painful and offensive on many levels, but you are responding well. As I was told in the Army years ago..."you can not avoid an ambush, but you can present a less appetizing target"...and you are doing just that. If they are available I suggest an infrared motion activated wild game camera. They are set to record movement (in video or still photos) for a few seconds when triggered. Be sure to have it hidden and get one with no visible light..some have a flash. If it does have to be visible make them work at removing it...maybe one visible and one hidden so you get good film of them destroying the visible one. I have them in my place. Ric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Greetings Wayne, I had a break in only once ... They made off with my log splitter and a few other tools and gas cans... I got so mad that I went about designing an alarm system.. I used a motion sensor to trigger a recorder with a outside speaker warning any one that they were being watched and the sheriff had been called... That was 32 years ago.. Pretty innovative at the time... My wife got sick of hearing the recording after a while and I disabled it.... Since than I have installed several systems and found a simple 80d siren triggered by a motion sensor is the best... A crook may break in but he won't be there long if he thinks others have been warned about his presence ... Besides trying to steal something while that siren is blasting makes them want to get out quick. I hate a crook Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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