Car broke into.. Lost my bug bag.. Grrrrr.

[gehrheart]

Took my twins for a couple mile hike today in a fairly populated area in Bayview.

Get back to the car to find window smashed in, glass all over the place and my EDC/Bug bag gone.
Lost a kindle
a couple spare mags for the XD
a ZT301 and a Gerber multi tool
Sure fire light ect ect ect...

frecken low life thieves!!

Pouring down rain by the time we got back to the car. Took Half hour to get all the glass out of the child seats so I could get my four year olds seated. Then the drive back in the wind and rain with out a window!!

Car prowls are big up here in Skagit right now, I have known so many lately that have had there car broke into.. Think I would have taken my bag knowing that, guess Ill be paying for that slip of mind now. Time to build up a new EDC/bug out bag.

Wallet went missing last week... then my phone craps out tonight.. Thats three right? Hopefully I am done!

Oddly... We had just left the sportsmans before the hike, and they left the couple bricks of .22 I picked up there..

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[Sgt Nambu]

Sorry man, hope everything improves for you soonest!

 

[John Gault]

Sorry to hear about break in. Thanks for sharing and reinforcing why I'm working on a steel lock box that will bolt down in back of my truck. Expect my Get Home Bag will be worth several hundred dollars and too much time and energy to loose to dirtbags when complete. Figure It's worth the added effort and cost up front. I expect the configuration will be good enough to keep the beginner guys busy longer than they have patience or balls for.

 

[atypicalparkie]

Ah Gehrheart sorry to hear that. Wife & I live right on the border btween PDX & Milwaukee, and there's still an ongoing cluster of meth-heads up the block. A few weeks ago we got burgled WHILE I WAS MOWING THE FRONT LAWN! They came in through the back door & grabbed about $4K worth of computers & recording gear. Sheesh, it makes me crazy that this stuff happens at all, and even more crazy that they were brazen enough to do it while I was out front mowing. I had my EDC on me as always, if I would've seen them in the house... well, I think they would've left without taking anything... SO many car thefts, neighbors getting stuff stolen... blah.

 

[Sincere]

I'm sorry that happened to you.

Just out of curiosity, is there a thought process behind leaving the bag in the back seat and not the trunk? Truly interested, not trying to tell you what you should have done. Accessibility or something?

 

[davemata]

I'm sorry that happened to you.

Just out of curiosity, is there a thought process behind leaving the bag in the back seat and not the trunk? Truly interested, not trying to tell you what you should have done. Accessibility or something?

Or beyond that, is there a reason to leave anything of value in sight?

After living a few years in SF, I learned leave nothing of value in sight.

 

[gehrheart]

I'm sorry that happened to you.

Just out of curiosity, is there a thought process behind leaving the bag in the back seat and not the trunk? Truly interested, not trying to tell you what you should have done. Accessibility or something?

No problem.. there wasn't a thought process.
Its a shoulder bag, one that is almost always with me or on me. I got the twins out of the car, and at first we were just going to go up to use the potta potty and they both said they needed to pee. I looked at the bag and thought I should grab it, but didnt thinking Id be right back. At this time there were four other families around..

After potty break they wanted to run around and see if they can find any ducks and do some exploring...
Didn't even think about the bag still being there I was wrapped up with my twins.

I don't normally leave it in the car, even at home. Just happened to let it slip today and well.... Now its gone.

Was down in JBLC and lakewood today, so stopped at supplus ammo and supply and picked up new mags and a few other things, went down the street and got a new 5.11 shoulder bag...
Time to start re-gearing, and NOT leave it in the car.

The is never a good reason to leave anything Valuable in plain sight, even hear in farmland. Just made a mistake and got caught at it..

 

[davemata]

The is never a good reason to leave anything Valuable in plain sight, even hear in farmland. Just made a mistake and got caught at it..

That sucks, but it's a learning experience for sure.

Do you have an alarm? A pain siren might be an interesting way to approach this situation in the future.

 

[gehrheart]

2008 Jetta.. Yep has alarm. Guess it dont work with just windows broken out. Never opened the doors.

 

[gehrheart]

Oh and I have lots of interesting ideas on what approach to leave for them in the future... Ill keep those thoughts in my head though.

 

[davemata]

So you can probably upgrade the alarm with a glass monitor and tie the pain siren to it. Probably a sub $150 job if you don't do it yourself and if the factory alarm is easy to get to.

I just bought an alarm for my jeep that has glass monitoring, you hit my glass, my jeep goes ape.

 

[davemata]

Oh and I have lots of interesting ideas on what approach to leave for them in the future... Ill keep those thoughts in my head though.

Keep in mind, from what I've been told, having a secondary electrical system that will electrify the outside of the car is supposedly "illegal" and "dangerous". I call it effective, and a mild deterrent. I hate thieves.

 

[gehrheart]

The only other time I have had my car broke into was years ago with my jeep.. I don't lock it because was a soft top (now just a bikini top).

So no locks... what do they do? cut the windows out!! Only to find there was nothing to steal inside!

 

[Sgt Nambu]

When I got my new alarm last spring I had the guys add the biggest, brightest blue LED flasher money can buy! It fairly screams "I am armed and will probably castrate you too!" glass also covered, heck even the tailgate on an open PU truck is wired. Again Gehrheart, this sucks and best wishes to you and the twins!

 

[ScottyB]

Sounds like it's time to upgrade to a Trunk Monkey!

 

[davemata]

Wow. That's... amazing.

I want a trunk monkey.

 

[FarmerTed1971]

Thieves need to be shot.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

First rule is never to leave anything that looks valuable in plain sight

 

[AOTAC]

Thieves need to be shot.

That statement should be made by someone who's never stolen a thing in their life. If that's the case, I truly envy that quality about you, Ted or anyone else that can say the same.

I wish I could take back what I've done in the past and what I've witnessed friends doing, but I can't. Karma has had no difficulty reminding me of my poor decisions.

Have you replaced everything in your bag yet?

 

[Burt Gummer]

When I lived on a Houseboat on the Multnomah channel car thieves wrecked my life. I mean literally. Their relentless break ins and vandalism turned me into a basket case.

No place is worse to defend. You are down a ramp and 100 yards away from the parking lot and they post a look out and have at it. I had to sell the houseboat and move.

Once I took a heavy duty tool box and bolted down in my '71 Blazer and rounded out the lower nuts so that puppy wasn't going anywhere. Those thieves used a torch to steal it and then took my fire extinguisher and sprayed the entire inside of my truck as an FU note.

I was poor and needed to get to work everyday. If I was late I'd get fired. My boss didn't care that someone slashed my tires or put sugar in my gas tank.

I waited many nights in the brush with a baseball bat and a 12 gauge but they never came on the nights I was on guard.

Most assuredly, if I would have caught them I would still be in prison to this day (this was 20 years ago). I wouldn't have just killed them I would have brutally tortured them.

When I see or hear about car thieves I wish I could relate to them what they are risking - even more than their lives. Not now of course, I've mellowed and material things don't mean that much to me - but back then it would have been pliers and a blowtorch.

I know it is wrong to use deadly force to defend property, but when I hear of someone doing that .... I understand.