Thief of metal items. Seems to be a big issue!!!

It seems like someone is writing on here each week that they have had some things stolen. One guy had several sheds broken into and a bunch of old Ford engines taken. Another had a silage chopper taken. Just today a guy was posting about a hitch for a Oliver 99 that was stolen.

I don't want to seem harsh but how the heck are they stealing this much stuff without anyone see it done???? I have had my shop broken into but it was at night and I found it out the very next morning. Since then I have installed better locks and made the windows and doors harder to get into. I have not left things setting out close to roads or on farms not lived on for years. It seems that many are thieves but it also seems that many are making it easy for the thieves too. That may not came across like I am thinking but what I am trying to get at is that you can't leave things out in the open or they will get taken. I don't even leave wagons out in the fields over night any more. It would be real easy to just pull in and take one. You have to take some precautions.

One thing I did learn was to pad lock the door lock rods on overhead doors. They can just break a window and reach in and raise the door to get in. I put a pad lock on the out side of the door track so the locking rod/bar can't be pulled back through the track.

So I would like to hear what you have done to make it harder to have things taken. Plus things that you have seen or heard of taken that just make you scratch your head.

Example: A friend had a cheap plastic tool box setting in the bed of his pickup. While he was in town some one dumped out the tools and stole the plastic tool box. The box was worth maybe ten bucks but the tools where all name brand and would have been worth a few hundred buck at the least. So why take the box and leave the tools???? The tools where not marked either.

You got to think like a thief I guess. There have been numerous breakins around here and its because these idiots drive around and scout out places that look promising.

You can take all the precautions you want, but if they want to steel something, the idiots are going to take it. My neighbor kept there four wheeler locked in there garage. They left for church Sunday morning and when they came home, the back door to the garage was kicked in and the four wheeler was gone. The idiots were nice enough to shut the garage door when they left.

Everyone needs to start doing the same as the young lady in Ok. Maybe thieves would think twice or our so called justice system put some of these criminals away and execute the ones on death row. We may not have these problems.

until this country returns to a short rope and a tall tree it's not going to stop

I Agree...!!!

Ron..

My brother always said, " Locks don't keep the thieves away, they just keep honest people honest".
Not all thieves are stupid either. A neighbor went out to his car in the morning to go to work and the car wouldn't start. He checks under the hood and someone took his battery. He gets a new battery and puts it in the car. The next morning his old battery is on his porch with a note. The note was an apology and the writer stated their car's battery died and they borrowed his to get to an auto parts store to get a new one. For the inconvenience they left two tickets to the Bronco's game. He and his wife went to the game. When they got back home the b--tards had nearly cleaned them out.

I put stuff out of sight for the most part, but only the house is locked.

ALL of my neighbors and most of the miscreants know that I have a short temper, no tolerance at all for thieves, and a concealed carry license that gets used every day.

The combination has worked so far.

My entry door into my garage has a 4x4 wolmanized post preventing a gorilla from kicking the door in. I also have 2 of the windows covered.
My doorwall is wedged shut with a wood post and several of my windows are wedged shut with a wooden dowel rod.
Give any loser enough time and they will break in.
I do need to do a better job of securing the deadbolt on my front door, those wooden jambs wont hold up to a big guy with work boots.

big dog.

Sounds like You feel pretty safe. They will get to Your place yet.
Ron

At 300 bucks a ton cut up on the scale in SE Iowa I can see why the thiefs are moving on. In the city don't leave any bikes reach able from the alley. The half ton pick ups are full every day. The better ones show up at flea markets. Friend has to cable lock his bikes for sale at flea markets. Just walk up and push away when owner working with some one.

I bought land and buildings in one of the highest income towns in one of the highest income counties in the country 35 years ago before all the yuppies came in and drove the values up. None of them would want my junk. And the lowlifes that come into town to burglarize the mcmansions are bright enough to drive right by my place. I still lock the door to the house when I leave just to keep peace in the family, but the out buildings are not locked.

(quoted from post at 02:17:51 01/06/12)...................
So I would like to hear what you have done to make it harder to have things taken. .......

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On my vacant property I've got a backhoe, Ford 3600 tractor and a wood chipper. I back the chipper up to a tree, put the backhoe and tractor in front of its tongue. Bought a super hardened chain online and chain all 3 together. I put the padlock as far down and make it as inaccessible to cut as I can. I also have a padlock and cable on the gate to the property.

If they want my stuff, they'll get it. I just don't want to make it easy for them. I've taken pictures of it and on the whole, that's why I have insurance.

The (WILD) west had to be very peaceful. Everyone carried a gun on the hip and a rope on the saddle. There probably wasn't a crooked lawyer no where to be found.

Or the Shoot,Shovel and Shut up law.

I have a saying:
Steal from me 1,000 times and get away with it.
I catch you one time and the undertaker is going to be stuffing cotton up your azz!

Very Very true. Every court house should have a yard arm with two ropes on. One for the convicted person and the other for the first person that complains about the use of it.

Bob

At one point when I was in the Marine Corps, a buddy of mine and I lived in a house trailer on a beach near the base.

We were both gone in different directions one weekend and came home Sunday evening to find our trailer had been broken into. The absolute only thing we found missing was two cans of beer out of the refrigerator. (There were no loose cans, only a couple of unopened six packs when we left).

We didn't know whether to be thankful nothing was stolen or insulted because whoever broke in didn't think we had anything worth stealing.

I think that a lot of this is done by folks who are "situationally honest". In other words, they do whatever they can get away with. And a LOT of folks are that way. When I was a kid, I had a paper route. The papers were dropped off in front of the local hardware. Anything dropped off I had to pay for. I learned that I had to be there for the drop off. If I was there, a couple of old guys - 70+ would buy a paper from me, sometimes I would sell a half dozen before I started my route. If I wasn't there the esteemed senior citizens, grandfathers all, VFW types, pillar of the community, would freakin steal the papers!!!! I caught a couple of them at different times - they were walking away as I pedaled up, and they didn't leave any money. Sometimes somebody would leave money, usually less than what a paper sold for. I caught one guy taking a bunch of papers, he said he needed them to change the oil in his car. He put the extras back, and bought only one. Sometimes I'd see a couple of these guys out for their morning walk. If I was there, they wouldn't buy a paper, if I wasn't, they'd steal one. Crime of opportunity. Actually, pretty similar to the folks who tresspass during hunting season.

Andover ?

I have always said you can take anything you want from me - but you might find that taking something from me can get pretty rough.

We've got guys stealing man hole covers off roads and copper gutters off churches here in Rochester NY. If you have metal on your teeth you better watch who you smile at.

You ever had the battery stolen from your truck, you replace it and move on, a week or so later you check your oil and notice the 1st battery that was stolen is back and your NEW one is gone? I had to admire the ingenuity but still wanted to shoot the jerk. What is a thief? By definition someone who breaks the law. So why do we continue to pass MORE LAWS to attempt to control people who IGNORE THE LAW? Isn't that in itself a form of insanity, we do the same thing and expect different results?

We keep loaded firearms sprinkled all over the house like Easter eggs.

If they get in while we're not home, Ernie will be waiting for them.

He can't shoot, but he's otherwise pretty intimidating.

These days with a cordless grinder and some cutting wheels, not much is secure.

When my Dad was still alive an old friend of his stopped for a visit. When showing him around the farm the guy said, I didn't know you collected antiques. Pa told him, them aren't antiques, that's what I farm with.

The thing with "Mongo" non ferrous metals like copper has been rampant for years, I remember 20 years back in NYC, people doing all kinds of things to get their hands on it, any unoccupied residence or one being worked on, in the outer boroughs would be broken into and stolen. People in empty lots with burn barrels, burning insulation off stolen wire. At the end of a day, I had to change a heater core in my '84 ranger, tossed the old on in a garbage barrel next to the site entrance, homeless guy had that in his shopping cart before I left.

I used to be away from home during the week, never really had much trouble, though there was a rhodesian ridgeback with a dog door, self feeder/waterer, he was always on duty, would lay behind the shrubs next to the house, even on the coldest nights, though he could go into a heated basement anytime. He'd wait til you got close them come out, he knows you good, don't know you have fun, if you have no gun !

We had some clown running the farm land adjacent and trespassing on ours, with a 6x6/gator type vehicle stealing everyone's deer stands and or game cameras, like every single one, he's still out there, he's made quite a few enemies, I did spot him twice, chased him in a snow storm once, then put out angle iron tire spikes, ain't no board with nails that flatten down, this will tear your tires. Have not seen him since.

Around my home I've got some implements, any lighter ones I keep away from the road. One thing you can do with your smart phone, digital camera is take photos of them, data plates, serial numbers, document what you have real easy, I did it and made a list at out horse farm, problem there is myself or my father being away as his wife depend on the help, and you get dirtbag help that steal and or set you up to steal, you have to make it known you are there, armed. He lives there now, but people have stolen lots of things over the years, so I removed any valuable tools and or items, and rarely leave anything I bring when I work there. So now there is a list, and things are marked in in places a thief would miss to grind off or what have you. I was always lead to believe that welding a name or serial number on something changes the molecular structure of the base metal so if ground off, you can use acid to find it again. At home I use a metal letter/number punch set and mark things where they bolt together, where a thief won't see. That list at the farm is detailed with serial numbers, model numbers, year of MFR and the Ins. Co. is copied on it at their request. Most times you won't stop a thief, but myself and my father many years back used to have a lot of trouble with it at our ford tractor dealership in the 70's. I won't be stereotypical, but concentrated within the folks in the close by rural areas here, especially in those days (our town was rural not long ago) are those that would steal, commit arson and what have you, without hesitation. We used to have a alarm system on the shop, but the lot was full of tractors, some implements, old power company bucket trucks that we sold too, + other goods we sold. We used to sit inside til all hours of the night and catch them, one kid crapped his drawers after running smack into my father. Was great in those days as I lived right next to NYSP barracks, knew every trooper there and they were very helpful when these clowns took things. They would steal implements, bug zappers, try and break in.

Recently, we had a rash of robberies, has the trade mark of NYC people, took safes, broke into vaults, most of the local business's were hit, we have been on high alert since, my home is surrounded by woods and cover so I make a presence known. Best you can do is make it harder for them.

Some of the thieves are brazen, farmer I used to help, still left equipment in the field at times, they never bother with that, though most times everything goes back to the yard, pole barns, people would steal bales of hay from him, right at his barn, place is within sight of his home and his sons, unreal.... they use care with their newer hay implements, those are easily hooked onto and driven away.

As I live on the end of a long dirt road next to Nat'l Forest not much traffic.

Good and Bad - good when I am home I can hear rig coming long off before it arrives so I am on alert.

Bad - when me and my neighbors go to work at our day jobs no one around but the the dogs. Some folks are afraid of dogs and others are not.

As for the things stolen around my place - it was down by the barn and not always used. Right now I am looking for Farmall 140 cultivator bars for my elderly neighbor. They robbed them off the tractor while he was in LA visiting his son.

Long story short - theives are theives and if I choose to not put every dang thing under lock and key that is my perogative. It is not an open invitation to thieves.

Preventative measures
Concealed cameras
driveway alarm
new bulldog
moved everything to the barn
Have local Game Warden and deputy do drive by
Castle domain or 3s's

You can't blame anyone for stealing for a living.It is the only thing you will ever get 100% profit on!!!! For some reason Milking machine motors and pumps are the 'in' thing to steal at the minute, and guess what, the next new one that you fit will be away tomorrow morning!. Our milking parlours are like Fort Knox!.
Sam

If you don't lock your doors you will have stuff stolen. If you do lock your doors you will have stuff stolen and a smashed door to replace.

hang a game camera on the side of a building or a tree that overlooks your place.
RICK

A couple of weeks ago just before the end of deer shotgun season, a couple of young fellas came walking up to me in one of the barns I was in. They were asking permission to go into one of the woods after a doe they said they had belly shot two days before. This was Tuesday I remember because they said they done it Sunday. Belly shot a doe two days before and then decide to go clean her up? First, we don't allow hunters on any of the property unless we know them, and is only two of them. Second, I figure that they were either sizing up the place for a break in, or they were looking for permission to clean the deer out of their bedding area, to the direction out of the woods where they probably had someone waiting to shoot. Poachers, or break in guys I figure. And no, they didn't get my permission. All they got from me was "Nope". Then a few days later someone called the house complaining that some guy called his house, cussing and giving his wife a rough time from my number. That didn't happen, no one had used our phone that day, and I'm the only guy in the house anyway. I got handed the phone and clued in before I answered "Who are you, what do you want, and whats this stuff about someone calling frommy number?". He hung up. Rumors are that guys been doing those calls, getting women that live alone, and after they say that no man lives there, they have been getting burglarized in the near future. Time to get an unlisted number I guess, no address in the phone book before someone comes over and gets shot.

By the way, some coppers at PD showed me this video yesterday of Gunny Sargeant R. Lee Ermey doing a Glock commercial. Got burglars and thieves? Here you go...

Mark
Somebody picked the wrong diner

Had dealings with quite a few. Can't say I've really met an honest one yet--

Mark, that actually happened at a little bar near Columbia Mo. Several deputies attending a school at Jefferson City had gone to a bar for a few drinks after class and a dummy came in to rob it. A friend of mine was our chief deputy, and he said the sound of leather breaking (straps released on holsters) was almost deafening.