Vehicle breakin?

Greetings LP peeps.

 

I encountered an odd situation yesterday. We had a beautiful central oregon day. The wife woke me up and said - "Hey take the targa top off and let's go take the 911 for a drive and get some coffee!" I agreed and we decided to go for a drive.

 

As I am walking out to my car a guy walks up to me and says - "Hey just a heads up, last night our truck was broken into. I just thought you should know. Be on the lookout and just be aware." - I don't know his name nor know him well. All I know is that he moved in with my neighbor as he was in financial trouble of some kind and needed a place to stay so my neighbor let him stay with them. He's caused minor issues, nothing serious (dog being a pain in the ass, being loud, drinking and being annoying) but nothing major. He's also had his son around too and his son's friends around.

 

Anyway.. As I opened the door on the 911 I realized the door was unlocked and I had forgot to lock it. My immediate reaction was - "OH SHIT." But I got in and nothing had been moved, nothing was taken, no items missing from my car. It was fine. I thought - "Well that makes no sense. Why would someone break into his shitty truck but leave my 911 alone which is probably 30-40ft away?"

 

I looked back over and there was no signs of forced entry on his truck. No broken glass. Nothing that screamed crazy to me. There's a lot of nice vehicles in the neighborhood, why the hell would an opportunist thief break into a shitty as ratty tatty truck of all of these vehicles? Maybe they assumed others would have alarms?

 

It raised kind of a red flag to me so I called the non emergency number and spoke to an officer. I asked if there had been ANY REPORTS of ANY burglary or break-ins in my neighborhood in the past week. He called me back and said there had been none, no one reported anything of any kind. WHAT?

 

Why would someone break into something on your own property (or let's say you're staying at someone's house) and you wouldn't report it? If nothing else for the safety of that family? That seems weird to me. So I told the officer what the guy told me, the address and what happened. The officer was nice enough to suggest that I could request increased patrol in our neighborhood (and I did). But aside from that, I'm not exactly sure what to do.

 

We live in a nice neighborhood, we've had virtually no issues in the neighborhood (there was 1 breakin a few years ago but it was a snowbird who was gone for a long time). I'm not the type who wants to just sit around and let crap accumulate in our neighborhood and I'll be damned if I spent all my time getting out of the last neighborhood just to end up putting up with bullcrap all over again.

 

Ideas? Suggestions?

Sometimes people break in shitty vehicles because they are the easiest targets. You're more likely to have an alarm on a nicer car.

 

In 2001 I lived in a questionable apartment complex but had a new convertible parked outside. It never got touched even though I routinely forgot to lock it but a few times the crap cars parked near it were broken into.

That is a fair point. But if it did get broken into wouldn't you report it? I guess I thought that was weird of him.

That is a fair point. But if it did get broken into wouldn't you report it? I guess I thought that was weird of him.

 

Depends on how much illegal stuff he might be into, or if he suspects he knows who did it and wants to vigilante, or if he's the culprit trying to collect insurance.

Watch that weird neighbor for sure.

Its an inside job, the person who broke into your neighbors car was also an acquaintance. I'm into security seen it happen a lot, maybe he had some drugs stashed in the car?

Watch that weird neighbor for sure.

 

Agreed. Seems odd to me.

 

 

Its an inside job, the person who broke into your neighbors car was also an acquaintance. I'm into security seen it happen a lot, maybe he had some drugs stashed in the car?

 

I have no idea. I'm not a security guy. That makes sense though, I guess I never thought of that.

What has the neighbour actually said on it?

 

Failing that, tonight, break into that truck to just be on the safe side.

I haven't spoke to the homeowner, the guy staying with them is the one who approached me. I guess it would be good to ask the homeowner and see if he knows anything of it.

What has the neighbour actually said on it?

 

Failing that, tonight, break into that truck to just be on the safe side.

 

 

 

I agree, and then be proactive and tell everyone you saw your neighbors drug addicted loud, obnoxious alcoholic gay roommate break into it.

CCTV with a dvr

I'm gonna go with crappy truck=easy target. However he might have said that just to get a good look in your garage or car.

I'm gonna go with crappy truck=easy target. However he might have said that just to get a good look in your garage or car.

 

 

 

 

Watch him!!

 

Watch him!!

 

My Gut tells me, your car is going to get broken into.

My Gut tells me, your car is going to get broken into.

 

Yeah see, that bothers me. I hope not. I keep NOTHING in my cars for this very reason. What I have done is talked to the neighbors and told them what's up. So if anything, at least everyone else is aware of this. I haven't had a chance to talk to the homeowner yet, will do that tomorrow. So I'm hoping in doing that, there will be some pressure on the guy (if indeed that is his motive). I'll also let them know I reported the incident for them.

 

If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears.

get a camera and dvr setup. i am looking into this as you can never be too safe.

get a camera and dvr setup. i am looking into this as you can never be too safe.

 

Actually I found this tonight after browsing some security forums and digging around on google search frantically in my panic and paranoia.

http://www.zoneminder.com/

 

It just so happens that I have an extra server machine and a few old webcams laying around. I might head out and see if I can find a good ip cam or something that is good capture in hd. But I've been reading on it now for a few minutes and even watched a youtube demonstration and it is pretty elaborate, can be accessed from my home machine or if I want, potentially from the road if needed. Good thing is that I'm good with scripting too, so I could probably even set up alerts to email my phone if it catches something on a camera.

 

Going to see what I can rig up tomorrow. One nice thing about being a geeky computer guy. Would be very easy to setup a camera for the driveway and each entryway and have them motion triggered.

get a camera and dvr setup. i am looking into this as you can never be too safe.

 

I've got this setup at the front of my house 2 on each column next to the front door, covers everything. 2infra red cameras recording to a dvr isnt an overly expensive option for security.

IR triggered cameras? Hmm, any suggestions or models you prefer?

The IR is for recording at night.

You guys know that peoples cars get broken into all the time, right?? It doesn't matter what area you live in it happens everywhere. That being said, all the guy wants is some petty electronics and cash. Doing so he didn't even break a window. You said you don't leave anything in your car anyways so just keep you doors unlocked, this way your car doesn't get damaged.

 

 

 

If you get CCTV, what will that do for you? The biggest thing it will do is have a deterrence factor. Aside from that if a stranger walks up to your car, smashes your window and you get a full face shot of the guy unless you actually know the person it will not help you much. The cops will diffidently not do anything with that video footage either. Also if you get a cheap CCTV/DVR you will only have problems I can guarantee you that, the market is absolutely flooded with POS china crap.

 

 

I would say keep your doors unlocked, get some dummy CCTV cameras and light up your property. Light has a huge deterrence factor, why do you think car dealerships have their lights on throughout the whole night?

Thanks Mike. Those are good points. I guess if someone really wants to get in, they'll get in somehow anyway, even if it means bashing my car up.