To catch a thief..........opinions needed.

[coctailer]

There are some kids (12-15yrs old) breaking into cars and stealing stuff on Friday/saturday nights in my hood.

The break-ins aren't frequent, and usually happen on holiday weekends. Maybe 4 times a year.

I caught them in the act once, and they fled on bicycles. It was dark, so I couldn't ID them. (Not like I would know them even if they stood right in front of me anyway)

They even snagged the Army jacket I wear to PR from the Mercedes one night. The night I spotted them I came outside to find the Mercedes door open.(we never lock the cars. I know.......dumb........but we forget, and this is a super-safe neighborhood)

I have an old laptop computer, and would like to put a tracking device inside it and give it to the neighbor to put in his car to be stolen. ( I would wipe the memory first using the recovery CD)
I would like to then track it to the house of the punks.

Does this device exist for a reasonable price?

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[MrNiceGuy]

In short, no.


You could have someone whip up a custom setup for you, but I doubt it would be cheap.

It'd be easier to do it with a cell phone that already has gps installed and a tracking program.

 

[Member 5605]

They do have lo-jack for laptops.

The one I am typing on has it. Don't know how it does it's thing but it has it.

 

[darkminstrel]

They do have lo-jack for laptops.

The one I am typing on has it. Don't know how it does it's thing but it has it.

^^^

This.

Plus you can buy cheap, wireless, motion sensing, cameras with night vision. If you want to get more evidence against them you could conceal the lens and power cord. I had similar car-prowling issues untill I placed a camera with a high contrast sign around the lens that read 'THIS IS A SECURITY CAMERA'. Slowed the prowling down about 90%.


The well-used human silhouette target in the window might help a bit too.

Bored suburban youth will do anything if there is no threat of consequence, I know first hand. If you want punishment go with the lowjack and crappy laptop. If you want a deterrent, cam.

 

[glockguy]

Rig a the car to explode when the door is opened.. cept dont forget disable it when you get it

 

[BillM]

I wonder if those exploding dye packs the banks use are available?
Pretty hard to deny involvement if they are bright purple for a week.

 

[soberups]

Find a way to download a nasty virus onto a CD/ROM. Put it in a jewel case with a label that says "XXX P0RN, hot downloads" or something like that, and leave the case in plain sight for them to see and steal.

 

[Member 5605]

Bored suburban youth will do anything if there is no threat of consequence,

That's the issue right there....

 

[elsullo]

This makes a cheapo door alarm. It's also good for leaving open screen doors with flimsy locks in the hot Summer. I have used it many times to great effect.

You have seen those pull-string poppers? Take two, double them together as one and tie their ends together. Interlace them through the heads of a book of paper matches. When they pop the have enough fire to set off the match heads all at once--foom!

Take a string of chinese firecrackers and free up the fuses to one point, then place those fuses over the match heads, and fold the paper matchbook closed over the firecrackers, with the strings on either side; wrap tightly closed with a rubber band.

Add more string to length and tie the ends to the car door and the brake pedal or car seat. Maybe use shower curtain hooks to hook onto the car handles and seat knobs. When the car door opens it pulls the strings and sets off the alarm, probably scaring off the rodents.

Don't use this device if you are a heavy sleeper---you need to quickly check that the flaming matchbook has not set things on fire!.....................elsullo

 

[the4thshake]

Are you telling us that that little bug can't run down a bicycle?

How about a wireless doorbell? They are pretty cheap. You can put the ringer by your bed and the button taped to a door jam. A few minutes of fiddling and some duct tape should get it to work.

I had tweekers coming up my driveway to look for stuff to steal. One night I rigged the wireless doorbell button to the bottom of a recycle bin full of cans. When the doorbell rang they got a suprise....I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Sun195]

We had the same problem here recently - lost my GPS, iPod and some change. I probably left the car door unlocked, but I don't normally (ever) do that, so who knows. I suppose you could set up a camera, but not sure how effective that'd be - kids riding around on bikes probably all look the same. There's a <broken link removed> for iPhones - but, then you'd have to risk losing your iPhone. Giving the police the serial numbers for stolen electronics at least gives you a track-back if they decide to pawn them, but I'm guessing many thieves sell via Craigslist or eBay these days.

 

[PBinWA]

You could try this:

http://www.gadgettrak.com/products/usbtrak/

Leave it on a cheap USB drive or MP3 player and hope the kids steal it.

I've never tried it so I don't know if it works. Local company though.

 

[nextbest]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11314

You could throw something like this into the laptop bag. You put a cell phone sim card in it and it sends gps updates back via sms. Kinda spendy tho.

 

[elsullo]

If anyone in a similar situation has to take direct action against punks in the night, I have to offer some crucial advice from personal experience. I can't get too specific, for obvious reasons, but these are true events.

It's a long story of a guy that lived across the street from a drug house, but one time "somebody" shot the radiator of a crackhead's truck with a thunder-stereo going so loud that he fell out of bed. He just stood there in the street like it was Dodge City. Neighbors saw it all and police were called; arrest and booking was made, and "somebody" got off easy by buying the crackhead a new radiator. He should have gone to jail, but the police officers were very sympathetic. He was lucky!

Another time "somebody" was driven to take action by repeated loud parties at 3AM in a neighbor's yard. He dressed in a camoflage pullover and ski mask to conceal his shape and face, and went over and knocked the astonished people around their yard until they promised to be quiet. Police were called, but the neighbors could not positively identify anyone, so THEY were cited for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, while "somebody" chuckled in the darkness half a block away. He was SMART this time.

The moral of my true tale: if you have to take direct action, disguise your shape and face! And get away with it without some punk getting you arrested........................elsullo

 

[ZachS]

Another time "somebody" was driven to take action by repeated loud parties at 3AM in a neighbor's yard. He dressed in a camoflage pullover and ski mask to conceal his shape and face, and went over and knocked the astonished people around their yard until they promised to be quiet. Police were called, but the neighbors could not positively identify anyone, so THEY were cited for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, while "somebody" chuckled in the darkness half a block away. He was SMART this time.

Hopefully somebody will let me know where they live before I move back to Portland....

 

[pdxjohann]

I seem to recall Freeware spybot you can put in your own laptop which you could signal from afar once you noticed it missing. That is you could turn it on by signaling it some how. Like a personal lo-jack sorta kinda. The spybot would shoot you back a "whois" ip signal regularly when it was on the internet. IP address in the cops hands can be traced. Seems I found it on CNETdotCom or TuCows dot com. My memory is not clear on this...just sayin.

 

[Gunner3456]

There are some kids (12-15yrs old) breaking into cars and stealing stuff on Friday/saturday nights in my hood.

The break-ins aren't frequent, and usually happen on holiday weekends. Maybe 4 times a year.

I caught them in the act once, and they fled on bicycles. It was dark, so I couldn't ID them. (Not like I would know them even if they stood right in front of me anyway)

They even snagged the Army jacket I wear to PR from the Mercedes one night. The night I spotted them I came outside to find the Mercedes door open.(we never lock the cars. I know.......dumb........but we forget, and this is a super-safe neighborhood)

I have an old laptop computer, and would like to put a tracking device inside it and give it to the neighbor to put in his car to be stolen. ( I would wipe the memory first using the recovery CD)
I would like to then track it to the house of the punks.

Does this device exist for a reasonable price?

I don't know about tracking a computer, but using your recovery CD doesn't delete the data on your HD. It just removes the file index reference to it, and a simple free recovery program can retrieve most of the "deleted" data. Believe me, kids know how to do that.

To securely wipe a disk, you need something like DBan Link which is free. Then you can use your recovery CD.

 

[DERGLOCKINMEISTER]

I like the cs gas "Burglar Bombs " . I have them in my gun room , safe room and quad trailer . Rig one of these to go off in your vehicle and the bg will have his day ruined. (and isn't that what you really want anyway ?) You'll want to air out the car before driving , but what a great way to tell the punk in question to buzz off .

 

[pdxjohann]

For barn rats, I provide mashed potatoe flakes without water nearby. The buggers fill up, go on their way, and wait until they have a glass of water....I think it makes ' em blow up. Try freeze dried pizza for the punks.

 

[Will]

Several years ago I bought a used car that came with an aftermarket alarm. The alarm could be set to silent and would activate a pager instead that came with the car. I always had it set to silent hoping to find some punk working under the dash to steal the stero and beat him into the emergency room with a 9 iron (keeping my pistol holstered and enjoying the expereince). I don't recall who made the alarm but it might do the trick if you want to catch them red handed