Vigilanteism? Some locals are sick of the crime

[Loctavious]

Spoke to a few locals today who say they're sick of hoping the marginal law enforcement coverage will deter/catch the recent criminals to canvass the area.  Though usually law abiding citizens ( to my knowledge ) the theme kept coming back to takign matters in their own hands.  I know we all enjoy the occasional cathartic thought of personal justice, but this talk was definitely beyond that.  No objection or reasoning i interjected seemed to corral them away from taking to roads in search for a scumbag to 'take care of'.  Glad they consider me a friendly acquanitance is all i can say after hearing some of their conversations about how they'd 'bring' the scumbags to justice.....

Lets all say a prayer for those violated......... and that frustrated citizens get some justice with the apprehension of these criminals and the return of stolen properties.

[rod anode]

pray ? you believe in god? i thought all liberals were athiests

[Rev. Elizabeth]

Perhaps, Ed, you don't know many liberals!!!!! (and oh, that's a capital G by the way)

[7F24]

You are right Ed.  We have a lot of nerve using the word God when we believe in things like feeding the hungry, health care for everyone, and avoiding wars that don't need to be fought.

[vtoutdoorguymb]

Well said!

[rod anode]

thank you,sorry beth your right

[Stand Alone Defense]

There is only so much people can take and I think it is getting to that point for some.  Times are hard enough for people without some free loader coming to steal the things you work hard for. 

Do I condone people going out hunting for individuals they see as the problem? HELL NO!! you just become part of the problem at that point. 


That being said though, if I catch someone in my home, trying to steal my property, they don't have to worry about the cops getting called.

[Loctavious]

As long as they're over the threshold of your home right?...... and without CSI - Las Vegas style folk around here, who'd know if you dragged them there right? 

seriously though - I feel the pain - what ARE folks to do when there isn't enough of a police force to actually patrol and deter?

My house, which is nearby the one that was broken into yesterday had the SAME thing done abotu 5 years ago.  Though that free-loader was looking for guns and prescription drugs (the drugs he did find surely made him sick as they were 6 years old).  Afterwards, i boobytrapped the house everytime we left it for like 3 months.  Just glad i didn't get that ice pick to the head during that time.   
I feel the pain of the folks who have been violated for sure.

[7F24]

Never booby-trap a house.  You will only end up hurting a family member, or an emergency responder trying to save your home, or some other innocent person.

[David Shea]

Vote down the Franklin County Sheriffs Contract.  Fleecing of Fairfax is job one.  Speeding tickets for hard working citizens, but ineffective against stopping criminals.
Don't fall for the "we are only contracted for 40 hours".  More hours will not solve the problem.

[Thor]

There are a number of things that one can attempt to accomplish with regards to safeguarding their homes. Probably the most functional for all of us is CPTED. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Take a good hard look at your home and see if you have things that are "assisting" the scum in making their decisions on whether or not your home is a "soft target". Lighting, trees, shrubbery close to the house, etc... Alot of us have homes set back from the main roads, which in and of itself can assist the scumbags in their decision making. With that said, perhaps establishing our own routine patrols whenever possible. Good communications with neighbors can help. We can solve this problem, in fact we have to, as the police are always minutes away when seconds count.

Loctavious, not sure you should be so concerned about the talk of some concerned and frustrated citizens, when you actually "booby-trapped" your house for 3 months after your home was invaded. Had an intruder been injured/killed, reentering your home while it was booby-trapped, you would have been standing tall in front of the man, with possible civil lawsuit from the scumbag to follow.

Josh, I think we know how to solve this problem. Gotta start developing a network, just like the bad guys have. Ops are driven through intel, and intel drives ops.

[Loctavious]

Thor, Civil lawsuits - suck!  Thus why i did stop and why i was advised electrifying the back door handle was DEFINITELY a bad idea for that reason. 
       Vigilanteism is more actively seeking justice - if you want to call 'boobytrapping' vigilanteism - i'd call it a passive form of it.

Someone commented in the other thread about how they put a sign up sayign smile you're on camera - that's the route my wife took after my old-brained ( or hot-headed ) approach proved to be inappropriate.  Who knows if it worked, but it can't hurt.

       
 

[Thor]

Totally understand.... and hot headed or old brained is a completely reasonable response to an invasion. Emotional responses tend to be that way, but then when one sits back and thinks things through, usually level-headedness (if that's a word) prevails. I tend to stay on the emotional response for alot longer than the average person. I would love to be the one who compromises these scumbags. As I mentioned in my previous post, CPTED can really assist. And one of the first things recommended is signage. This area under surveillance, security company signs, and even the old sign that reads "if you can read this, then you are in range". 

[Mummy]

Why can't neighbors just look out for each other?  In our part of town when we see a strange car and we are out site, we waive just to let them know we see them or get in the car and drive down the road to see who that person is who is walking just to get a better look at them.  One of my neighbor's did just that then asked the  person for their name and where they lived and what business did they have in our area?  You can ask, doesn't mean they will tell the truth but if they know someone is watching, they wont be back!

[Thor]

Mummy,

     I think on the whole, the community does this. They seem to try to get the information out to everyone about things when they happen, they report suspicious vehicles, persons, and actions. But these scumbags are not doing their dirty deeds during the time when folks are at home. These are daytime breakins. They have their techniques for determining whether anyone is home or not, whether it is through an actual door knock or from observation or information gathered from other sources. We just have to remain vigilant, help each other out, and hope that we catch these POS's before they do anything else.