Don't be stupid, don't play cop! Midnight car thieves.

[HCM]

I'm not saying it's morally right to run down thieves or shoot them in the back, but I totally understand why someone would.

Not everything illegal is immoral.

[Navin Johnson]

Stolen car or gun will get a visit within 2-3 days. Otherwise a form will be mailed to you. Includes residential burglary also.

[paherne]

Homeowner in a city near me went out to confront two subjects who were in the process of helping themselves to his vehicle. For his trouble, he got shot at and not hit, thankfully. No good plate or video, so they got away for now. There is risk inherent in these types of deals.

[JohnO]

Happening on the Jersey Shore, too...

Even the cops are saying this is an issue now...

And when a Captain gets up and says it...I'm pretty sure he's painting the city into a corner here, and that a whole lot of private words were said first before he decided to go public..

This 'phenomenon' has been going on for a few years now. About 2 years ago I went to a meeting in my townhall. The police chief & deputy chief were addressing the public and the town council. The police had video from high quality home security systems and said there was nothing they could do with it but show us what was happening.

Basic MO is car with multiple occupants picks target road. Youts hit cars in driveways as they make there way down the road. Driver moves down the road as the thieves go. If the car is open they are in & out is seconds. If the car is locked they move along. If the car has keys in it, jackpot it's gone. All cars on these outings are stolen and untraceable back to perps if the plate is seen. The police said there is no pattern to the crimes. You just don't know where and when they will come to town.

It was very interesting listening to the chief & deputy chief's apologetic tone and way of presenting the info. They both kept reiterating how important it was to lock your car and not leave the keys in your car. They kept saying "we are not blaming you". Apparently they were afraid of backlash from the liberal Karens who don't like it when their own policies bight them in the ass.

The officers explained how even if they catch the perps in the act they can't arrest them. The police kept stressing this is a state wide problem not just here in town. They went on to say if you want change contact your legislators!

[Oldherkpilot]

No, My main lessons were:

1. Don't assume you can run up on some dudes in your car and administer an educational beatdown and/or detain them for the cops. If I'd been able to catch them in my car, as I planned, I probably would have been shot at close range.

2. Don't stand in a well-lit doorway and cuss out the dudes as they start to scatter down the street. I must have presented a lovely silhouette. I should have known better after 4 years as an infantryman, but I guess some lessons need additional reinforcement.

As it happened, I had a S&W Model 19 on me, and my roommate had a 12 gauge. But the guy who shot at us was probably 25 yards away, running down a dark residential street when he paused briefly, cranked off 2-3 shots at us, then turned and resume his flight. I recall looking through my sights down a dark street at some swiftly receeding shapes, and being very aware that my neighbors' houses were my backstop. Even in my twenties, I realized that was not a good time to shoot.

"Surviving Armed Assaults" by Lawrence Kane has a section on trying to stop criminals from stealing stuff from your driveway. He describes watching men die in their driveways because they tried to stop someone from stealing their boat, bike, car, etc. That still resonates with me. From Dr. William April and others, we know that property crime can become violent crime quite quickly, and I'm fortunate that the loss of an insured car or truck won't seriously impact my standard of living. Thus, I'm inclined to be very careful and circumspect about trying to stop property crime.

As always, YMMV.

ETA: despite the dude firing quickly and at distance, he was fairly accurate. We found where the rounds had impacted the house, just beside the doorway I'd been standing in. It was a small caliber automatic if memory servers, a .32 or similar.

So you're thinking booby traps are the way ahead? You know what they say: Dogs are fine, but you don't have to feed a Claymore mine.

[Coyotesfan97]

This 'phenomenon' has been going on for a few years now. About 2 years ago I went to a meeting in my townhall. The police chief & deputy chief were addressing the public and the town council. The police had video from high quality home security systems and said there was nothing they could do with it but show us what was happening.

Basic MO is car with multiple occupants picks target road. Youts hit cars in driveways as they make there way down the road. Driver moves down the road as the thieves go. If the car is open they are in & out is seconds. If the car is locked they move along. If the car has keys in it, jackpot it's gone. All cars on these outings are stolen and untraceable back to perps if the plate is seen. The police said there is no pattern to the crimes. You just don't know where and when they will come to town.

It was very interesting listening to the chief & deputy chief's apologetic tone and way of presenting the info. They both kept reiterating how important it was to lock your car and not leave the keys in your car. They kept saying "we are not blaming you". Apparently they were afraid of backlash from the liberal Karens who don't like it when their own policies bight them in the ass.

The officers explained how even if they catch the perps in the act they can't arrest them. The police kept stressing this is a state wide problem not just here in town. They went on to say if you want change contact your legislators!

That MO is a classic vehicle burglary crew in Metro Phoenix. It’s complicated because crews move from city to city. They’ll hit an outlying neighborhood and you get 50-60 reports. Typically the sedan they’re driving is stolen. They’re usually armed. If they aren’t guess what they find guns in unlocked cars.

Catching them is difficult because they’ll jump in the car as units arrive and flee the scene. They fail to yield and there isn’t any pursuit. Best case scenario is setting a perimeter around the neighborhood before units roll in and hopefully make them run on foot. Then it’s a K9 search. I did lots of searches for car burglars.

[Duelist]

That MO is a classic vehicle burglary crew in Metro Phoenix. It’s complicated because crews move from city to city. They’ll hit an outlying neighborhood and you get 50-60 reports. Typically the sedan they’re driving is stolen. They’re usually armed. If they aren’t guess what they find guns in unlocked cars.

Catching them is difficult because they’ll jump in the car as units arrive and flee the scene. They fail to yield and there isn’t any pursuit. Best case scenario is setting a perimeter around the neighborhood before units roll in and hopefully make them run on foot. Then it’s a K9 search. I did lots of searches for car burglars.

Sometimes, the crews come out here in the comparative middle of nowhere to dump stolen cars in washes/ravines. Totals the cars. I found one that they had run through the desert scrub to pitch over the edge. Stereo was still blaring, and as I drove in to the area (before I found the car), I passed a little truck with a *bunch* of “not from around here” -looking young guys in the cab driving out.

After I checked that there wasn’t an injured person in the car, I called the sheriff’s office. They came out and ran the VIN (it was scratched out in the obvious place, but still present in all the others) and it came back as reported stolen from Tucson - quite a drive to dump a car.

Ever since, I figured that if a crew could & would drive out here to dump a car, they could do the same drive out here to burgle or steal one, too.