Dealing with theft
 

I'm starting this thread as a result of some of the answers I got on another post about what to do after you have bought some land. We will not be living on it for a number of years and will not build on it for a while either. It is amazing to me how many people have had to deal with lowlife thieves out in the country. Enough people brought it up that I thought it deserved its own post. Besides, when it comes to problem solving, I am convinced that there is no more fertile soil than the mind of country folks on a mission. Some of the answers I got on my other posting were...

Fence around property/lock gate
Don't leave equipment at your land, take it with you
Get neighbors to keep an eye out for you
Use an intermodal trailier with a "welded lock box" for storage

So... any other suggestions? Have any of you ever fallen victim to such theft before?

I deal with alot of violent crime (shootings, stabbings, rape, etc.) so I'll gladly trade that in for a little theft, but it would be nice to avoid crime altogether if possible. Thanks for your help.

Jim

Many times....and 99.9% of the time...when it's gone.....it's gone....and thief goes scot-free.

The difficult part (other than the replacement) is TRYING to keep the thievery from UPSETTING YOUR OWN FEELINGS and ATTITUDE. (I do not feel that I should also allow the thief to steal my "Peace of Mind". ) That is hard to avoid!

Thievery, I believe, is an inevitable and timeless part of human existance, unfortunately.

If you must leave equipment and tools be sure to take your serial numbers down, take photos and document what you have. Save your receipts. I would engrave my name and phone# on the pricier items. See if you can get insurance on the cabin and equipment + stuff you have, once you got it build.

I don't know how far away you live from the area you bought land and how often you plan to go to check and visit - but I would not put a lot of valuable things/tools/equipment out there if I wouldn't be able to do a drive by every other day or so.

If you are looking to stockpile things for the time when you are getting closer to move out there and build your own home or cabin, you are probably better off stockpiling at the place you live in now and then haul it out there when you are actually ready to do something with it.

Also - I read your previous post - but didn't have time to answer this morning - if you are looking to clear out part of the place now - and are only out there a very few times a year - the underbrush has a tendency to come back in fiercely if you don't keep it down regularly - you'll simply pay for clearing/bush hogging/scraping it again in a couple of years if you do not keep up with it.

I'd definitely do good fencing - if I were not living on it, this would probably be the first thing I'd do...

Lmnde

Improving property in a new area can be scary when you don't know your neighbors. It is important to meet the people around you and someone will give you the scoop of the goings on in the area. And drug use, can't get away from it no matter how desolate you think your location is, drug use is everywhere so theft is everywhere.
If you have an old car or truck you are not using, leave it parked there so anyone that doesn't live in the area but cruising thru up to no good will pass it thinking someone is there. We've always had an extra car, we can all be gone but there is always a car parked by the house. But.... your best bet is having neighbors that look out for each others' places.
Don't leave expensive tools on the property, it is too inviting, could make a thief out of what had been an honest man!

Having been a victim of burglary in 2004, where I caught the thief in the act : He was inside a building trying to get the electronics of of my 4X4 at the old place. I caught him at gunpoint, had the county sheriff's deputy arrest him, and tried to proscute him. Then the County D.A. would not proscute due to the burglar being declared 5150 (looney tunes). But that person has not shown his face around again, after looking at the muzzle end of a firearm with a bayonet attached!!

It is amazing when folks will wander onto posted "no trespassing" property and try to help themselves to anothers belongings - with a sense of self justification. Look at the thread "when snitching is not stealing" on this site concerning trespassing to get plants from an absentee land owners property.

If I catch another person trespassing/ stealing here on my posted property, they will be greeted by an armed Marine Corps Veteran with an association with my local County Sheriff's Department. They will be put under "citizens arrest" until the law enforcement officers arrive to take them to jail. That is unless they do something really stupid when ordered to "Halt" in a loud authorative voice...

It might be a good idea to invest in a wildlife camera and aim it at whatever you think a thief could not resist. ps make sure you've got the camera hid from view or it will be on their list of things taken. :flame:

we had thousands of dollors of tools in our shed when doing our house for 1 and 1/2 years not so much as a nail missing and we were about 1200 miles away

When my house was starting to be built, there was thousands of dollars in lumber, windows, doors and other misc items out in the woods, most was created. It was standing there for a month on it's own. When the rough framing was done there the house was wide open free for the taking. Nobody ever took anything but I was quite apprehensive as the house was remote. I would leave a car there to make it look as someone is there. Other than that the only sure way to keep them away is to be there 24/7. Chris

Being there 24/7 doesn't always work either. My cousin lives in a high tool theft location. Many neighbors have got up in the morning to find outbuildings broken into and tools and other things missing. Crack heads and drug addicts will take anything they can sell quick for drug money. Good strong locks on secure buildings are a deterrent but IMO, best thing would be to leave nothing to take. Another thing is to keep very quiet about valuables and tools left on the property. You never know who will spread the word about your valuables being unguarded.

Very good advice!!!!!

I have a cargo container that is 8X40 and built like a bank vault. I had 4 of the very best locks I could buy all keyed the same for it. All the really valuable equipment goes in there. That makes it difficult to break in, but not impossible.

I also have trail cameras there. One Judas camera that they can see and get to and several hidden cameras.

Last and most important, I have a reputation of being bad tempered and dangerous. My biggest problem is with hunt clubs. I take several pairs of handcuffs during hunting season and trespassers go to jail. Zero tolerance!

It's a shame but unfortunately that's all some people understand. They will bypass my place and go somewhere easier.

You know the make travel trailers with a shed built in?everything could come and go with you.
Except for the trees and rocks....yep they even steal those.
A really good fence and a garage and a car park it in the garge when you are there out when you are not!

While I can't make my shop theft proof......I can (And have) made my shop far more dificult to get into than my neighbors. Meth heads & the like can be inconvenienced enough to go elsewhere. Semi-professional thieves cannot. I'm comfortable that I've done all that can reasonably be done to prevent loss, if I'm cleaned out now at least I won't be saying I wish I'd done more.

In your area the only thing is the meth users. They are around everywhere and things disapeer. If you have a sheed to lock things up in it will be secure most of the time. Out of sight out of mind. But if it is left outside it will disapeer more quickly.

Taking serial numbers is a good thing but I doubt that the Sherif Department would do anything about it but make a report of it so that you can claim it on an insurance form. The Van Buren Sheriff is a joke. I have had severial dealings with him and they were not on a profesunal behaver.

If you need a place to store things that you can not cary back and forth PM me and we will make a deal to store things that you can not bring back and forth.

As my DH husband has told me many times "Locks keep an Honest man Honest"

If they want to get into something bad enough they will. That said, the less they can see the less of a temptation it is and the harder it is to break into the more of a deterent it will be. I think the old intermodal trailier/shipping container is a really good idea. I would place it as out of sight as reasonably possible while still being easy for you to get to and use the things inside. Also, I would buy the best lock I could afford.

But the cost of getting that old box trucked to the location in addition to the cost of the trailer itself is not that cheap. Depending on the value of the things you are going to leave inside, a small wooden shed may be more feasible. It would take a lot of stolen shovels, axes, etc to make the old shipping container worth it.

Maybe start with a shed and move to a shipping container later when more valuable things will be left.

AngelaW

Around here, if folks know when you aren't home you'll get broken into. Doesn't matter if you are dirt poor or better off - some of the welfare neighbors (we've got good ones and but also a bunch of thieving ones), meth heads, and adolescent kids will shop your home like it's their own private store. Two big dogs and being home most of the time tends to discourage them.

The folks that work off their land and who have their car in sight get robbed like clockwork near the end of the month. Anyone who doesn't park their car in a locked garage will have gasoline stolen no matter how close they are parked to their front door.


The only way to avoid having stuff stolen is to make it to hard to be worth bothering about. Electric fence. Big dogs. Good visibility so you can see who's on your land but some cliffs and cover so a dog can surprise anyone who comes up to a fence. Leave home as little as possible, on an irregular schedule, and in a way that doesn't call attention to the fact that nobody's home but the dogs. Put one dog in the house and one to patrol the land.

We're actually looking at break proof window film so that it slows attempted entry and prevents a snatch and grab - and gives the dog an early warning to get over to the window. We already arrange household goods so they can't be reached through a broken window without entering the house.

When there's a theft surge in the area we switch over to always leaving one of us at home. And if anyone pulls in the driveway to turn around, about half the time one of us goes to the window so folks can see we're watching.

It's not like we're in a horrible area or anything, but we have a number of local opportunist families and we expect to have them around this area for good. Even if they aren't hitting a particular house very often or taking much, a broken window or two a year and an armful of pawnables taken each time - and the incidental property damage of various sorts - cuts into a family's budget. And once they have a successful break-in they'll hit you each month. We know folks that get hit every other month or so.

I couldn't even imagine leaving a home or homestead vacant around here. Anything metal would be stolen and sold for scrap.

If I had to try to build around here (if I couldn't be there full time) I couldn't see doing it without a really good neighbor, a good fence, and the neighbors dogs patrolling my land. The only other deterrent would be to know who the local thieves are and beat them up in advance of a crime - and tell them there's more waiting if anything gets touched by anyone. (Not something we'd ever do, but we know folks in my husband's hometown who eventually had to go that route when a whole neighborhood was being ransacked systematically.)

I hate to be promoting hard core bunker mentality, but around here you only hold onto your stuff by being the family that's too inconvenient to rob or the family that is too scary to mess with.

Lynda

What we do to discurage scum
 

Today the wife had quilt guild meeting, all vehicles are gone, at least not in the parking area, we sometimes park them out of site in the barn or shop. Have had people thinking we were gone start roaming around but surprise surprise they sure look funny when I step out and ask can I help them. Every one here is armmed 7/24 and all the neighbors know it. Weapons are worn in sight sure makes some people really nerous some thing it is a good idea.
Snitching as described in another post is not allowed, trespassing is frowned on. In Alabama if you do not have wirtten dated permission you are trespassing, If You do something stupid, we will hold you for the sheriff, get really stupid and we do not hesitate. The neighbors all know and agree there is nothing on any farm out here that is worth your life. The neighbors all watch out for each other and will stop strangers and ask what they want. Our neighbors are not nosey just incrediably observant.

Why do we put up with this stuff?
I propose a new law if someone is caught commiting a crime and convicted they have to pay a proprtional fine into a escrow account that reimberses the victums.
Lets say a thief gets caught stealling a $20 item and convicted. Say in that jurisdiction they catch the perpatrater in 1 out of 12 cases.That criminal would then have to pay an additional $240 into the restatution account. and that would be disbersed to other victums of like crimes.
What ya think?

Depends on the theft. About 20 years ago, a good friend bought some land up in Arkansas which had lots of large hardwood trees on it. He planned to build a house there in about a year. Do to his work, he didn't get up there for about 3 months after he bought it. When he did, he cried, someone had harvested all his trees. All he had left were stumps. Of course, none of the natives ever saw who did it. Needless to say, he never built on the land and sold it at a loss several years later. He never went back to Arkansas again.

Bob

I have issues, even when I live here full time. I used to leave 4 or 5 of my AmStaffs loose, but after they ran a few trespasser off and they complained to the Sheriff I had to lock them up for their protection. One of the guys that complained shortly thereafter went to prison for 2 years for burglary! He complained because he thought I would have to pay for them jumping on his car and scratching it!
I work nights, and after that I lost a snowmobile trailer from my drive, a big rear tine tiller (boy do I miss that!) and a few saddles from a storage shed plus other misc items. The most tragic was when I had a bad section of fence so I temporarily tied up 6 16' gates to fix the bad area. Someone stole them and a VERY valuable stud horse got out and was killed on the road. My insurance is being sued for that mess.
I'm not ready to blame my issues on meth addicts. There are way too many punks around here who don't want to keep a job. The cattle gates were really nice and I'm sure they got $100 each for them. In return I lost a $30,000 horse that I loved dearly, and 25 years of selective breeding.

Not nearly the loss some of you have had, but...

The previous owners of our home told us that every year, just as the fruit trees were ripening, someone would hop the fence and steal every last peach. I'll be darned if I'm going to care for those trees, let them use up garden space, and fight the resulting wasps so someone else can come harvest at will without asking.

Anywho, an electric fence, and, more importantly, a pack of determined doggies has protected our harvest thus far. :) I did see some people trying for our plums but my ACD mix led the charge and changed their minds in a hurry. :dance:

Not to ruffle any feathers (noooooo.....not me) But I recall a recent thread asking if it was stealing to take something someone was neglecting,

I guess this thread might give some insight to the issue!

Wow, Remind us to never travel to your area. :)

a person in my neighborhood had a big steel shipping container, the theives torched all the locksand chain off and stole $60,000 worth of stuff. tons of tools, a few quads, they saw a guy riding their quad down the road and chased him in their truck and ran him off the road and made him crash, the police arrested the punk and searched the house he was living at and they got alot of their stuff back. Dadgum tweakers.

My neighbor expected the Sheriff to come out when he had a bunch of stuff stolen.But all they do here is let you tell them what was taken,over the Phone.

I know one Guy that was doing a bunch of stealing years ago.He was very open about it.Said he broke into the same place 3 times and couldn't figure out why there wasn't anything left in the place last time he went there.

One time he went to a place to see about renting it.There was a Refrigerator in there.Well his DS was needing one so he went back in a couple nights.Was loading the Refrigerator in his Pickup,noticed something wasn't right,then realized there was people in the House.

I was robbed they waited until we left for Church walked up through the woods to get to our house so no one would see them.

Me and my GF had over $20,000 worth of Furs in a shed one time.He put a Padlock on about the size of a Dime.I looked at him.He says it keeps them honest :shrug:

big rockpile

big rockpile

Funny you should bring this up. Theft is a constant topic around here. They steal anything they can get their hands on. The newest thing is copper wire, it doesn't have to be disconnected or laying around either. They're breaking in houses and buildings and ripping the wires and copper pipes right out of the wall. Heard about a guy coming home tonight and they had stolen the main line from the pole to the house. Right in town there is a commercial building under construction in front of the 24 hr. Wal Mart, they ripped all of the wire out of it last week. I've had friends that were building a new house have all of their new plumbing fixtures stolen.

Beeman you oughta do some investigation into where you can go to sell copper scrap. Stake out the scrap-men and you'll find the theives who are selling to them.

Around here the Buyers are filming anyone coming in and their asking for I.D.

big rockpile

Geeez - in the "Is Snitching Really Stealing" they thought that I was militant for catching a burglar at gunpoint using my M-1 Garand with a bayonet on the end of it. It sure got that tweakers attention - I tell you!!! Even one of the folks on the thread thought that they would see me on the news for shooting a deaf mute chasing his kids puppy on my posted private property. One reason I am always armed stepping out the door - is because we have bears and mountain lions up here on the hill and my 80 acres is covered in trees...

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...ns014small.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...talsmall-1.jpg

Hey as many that have been the vicitims of robbery point out on this thread - why supply those who choose to steal a freebee. I caught my burglar at 11:30 in the morning by my guard cat hissing in the window. I tought it was racoons in the trash, nope it was a burglar in a building inside my 4X4. Hey if you are that stupid to come onto posted property and enter a building to rob someone... I hope you have a will made out in case you meet the landowner at the wrong end of a firearm. Now I have my "Indiana Jones" voodoo shrunken heads style warning sighs to let the uninvited know they are unwelcomed here... I use shot up beer kegs suspended and placed near the road inside the gate.. Plus I have my own electronic surveillance and warning system set up now. Hey those electronics degrees did come in handy for something besides for my ham radios - smile you are on candid camera!!

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...ts006small.jpg

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...rscan-127a.jpg

Now to watch all the happy people run for cover!!!!

One thing
 

The one piece of advice I'd give you is to not leave anything on your property you can't afford to have stolen. :nono: It may take years for the thieves to get around to stealing your stuff, but just when you think it's safe to leave something irreplaceable there, they'll stop by and help themselves to it. :rolleyes:

It doesn't take much investigation to find the theives. Unfortunately the law is part of the good ol' boy system. Many times it's relatives of the local "power people" or drug dealers that pay the law.

RadioFish .
Isnt that a russian carbine in the pic too? ya gotta love the way its as long as the Garand with the bayonet on. I prefer the Russian long rifile I feel like one of those cartoons where the guy with the long board knocks everybody down when I carry it but its always usefull as a tent post!

That lookes like a Springfield 03 in the picture. The SKS have a built in bayonet and the yougo have the same thing. The long beyonet on this is a long straight one that fits a WW1 03.

I wont post pictures of my guns on the internet for the very reason of the topic that you are originally posting about. :doh:

fantasymaker and OldVet - next to the M-1 Garand in .30-06 is a Mosin-Nagant M-44 bolt action Carbine with the folding Bayonet in 7.62X54 Russian caliber (A Soviet Bloc Weapon/ I have 4 of them "Russian issue" myself and gave an additional 1 to my brother "Polish" issued/ and another 1 to my dad "Russian")....I also have a M-N 91/30 long verson also in 7.62X54R. You can still get them for less than $100.00 each - just watch your sporting goods store sale papers.... Surplus ammo is available for them also online!!

When I was in The Marine Corps - the Soviet Bloc were the Enemy, so what better way to know the capabilities of your opponet then to use their weapons?? But no SKS in 7.62X39mm here, I just dont like them. Had 1 and traded it off.... I do have several semi-auto pistols in 7.62X25mm Tokarev caliber, such as Czech CZ-52's and a TT-33 Tokarev...

I do also have a 1903 Springfield, we used them for Military Funerals before we recently went to using M-1 Garand with Blank Firing Adapters....

Ford8N - hey if my friends have a hard time finding my place, then... Plus I have a humungous Gun Safe here!!!!!! And a alarm, hidden cameras, plus my nearest neighbor is a gun happy Marine Corps Vet also who hates theives too!!!

Happiness is a tight group pattern at 200+ yards!!!!!