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To Catch a Mail Thief - Update #2 Trap is Set
Wootloops
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, it seems recently I've been told by my aunt that her mail has been missing and she suspects someone in the apartment building of stealing it. I assumed it was just her usual paranoia; hell the woman thinks people are spying on her through her cell phone camera, until the past week or two when some packages and letters of mine have started to go missing. Namely, video games from either Amazon or Gamefly. How do I know they've been stolen? Well, aside from them missing - I found a torn open Gamefly envelope the other afternoon on my stoop.
I've taken all the obvious steps in informing Gamefly, Amazon and the USPS about the mail theft but am left feeling pretty pissed off and vindictive. It's likely all of the above will be replaced without charge, but it isn't about the money - it's that I shouldn't have to worry about my fucking mail being stolen.
My question is this: Are there any other steps I can take to ensure the safe delivery of my packages short of staking out my mailbox?
For context, I live in a house with about 4 or 5 different families. I'm on the 2nd floor. The third floor has some extended family (aunt/cousins) that I doubt would steal from me simply because I can easily go upstairs and go through their crap. Which I might do right now.
The first floor is the issue. From my understanding, theres 3 or 4 families living in separate 1 BR / Studio apartments. One of them I know well and she has on many an occasion informed me of packages that I may have missed. The others are the ones I suspect - they have both a visual of where the mail is dropped off (outside their door in the foyer) and easy accessibility without anyone noticing.
I'm pretty fed up with this bullshit already - what can I do short of glitter bombing these fucks?
I've taken all the obvious steps in informing Gamefly, Amazon and the USPS about the mail theft but am left feeling pretty pissed off and vindictive. It's likely all of the above will be replaced without charge, but it isn't about the money - it's that I shouldn't have to worry about my fucking mail being stolen.
My question is this: Are there any other steps I can take to ensure the safe delivery of my packages short of staking out my mailbox?
For context, I live in a house with about 4 or 5 different families. I'm on the 2nd floor. The third floor has some extended family (aunt/cousins) that I doubt would steal from me simply because I can easily go upstairs and go through their crap. Which I might do right now.
The first floor is the issue. From my understanding, theres 3 or 4 families living in separate 1 BR / Studio apartments. One of them I know well and she has on many an occasion informed me of packages that I may have missed. The others are the ones I suspect - they have both a visual of where the mail is dropped off (outside their door in the foyer) and easy accessibility without anyone noticing.
I'm pretty fed up with this bullshit already - what can I do short of glitter bombing these fucks?
Wootloops on
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JUST KIDDING!
I'd definitely not suggest going through your extended families stuff, since I can't imagine they'd be appreciative of you doing that if they caught you.
Do you know when your mail gets delievered? You could always hang around to see if anyone comes and knicks it after it's been delievered. Like a stakeout, or a sting.
Edit:
On that right now. Fucker is hard to contact unless he wants money. We'll see what he suggests.
Edit: Opening someone else's mail.
Unless you have power of attorney. Or a warrant.
Otherwise yeah.
see if you can get a dye pack from a bank!
Those are quite dangerous if they get in your eyes/face area. I'd avoid the dye packs.
I do like the Sonic Grendade idea. There's also some pretty sweet/cheap webcam powered monitoring systems out there.
putting up cameras can create "an expectation of safety" or some other such legal nonsense and you can get nailed for not having specific video records if something goes down.
pretty that's from an episode of law and order though, so, take it with a grain of salt.
That's actually true but it really only applies to dummy cameras. There are exceptions for mechanical and software failures.
He might care when he gets sued.
If you have all this and someone is still stealing your mail, as in breaking into your locked mail box, call the post office to report it and they might ask you to file a police report about it. As others have said, it is a Federal offense to steal mail.
The OP will, when he gets sued for assaulting someone with a dye pack.
So you may not want to go that route.
XBL
Christ, you Americans suck all the fun out of everything with your lawsuits and everything.
Contact the landlord first. Second, do the holding thing for now. Finally, see if you can make it so your mailbox can be locked. Does the mailman have to come inside?
It has happened before. It shall happen again.
The police didnt care. At all. The guy was like... well i dont think we can catch them. And im like... can you at least pretend you care?
Honestly, best advice you can get on trying to catch someone in the act is to invest in a monitoring system of sorts. Camera focused on the area you want watched.
God. I hate people sometimes.
I really am sorry someone is stealing your mail. I wish you the best of luck.
At any rate, I couldn't get in touch with the landlord but I did catch my postal carrier. She was pretty pissed off to hear that someone's been fucking with my mail and actually called the cops FOR me. Bless the woman, she cracked me up. Unfortunately, now any package that comes through USPS has to be picked up at the postal office. Bummer. Atleast it's close to work.
We'll see how the police thing turns out as I have an idea of who it may have been now. One of the families downstairs have recently taken in a brother. He's been here about a month - pretty much when my mail started disappearing. I think we'll start there, with the landlords permission of course.
Thanks for all the ideas and good wishes though guys! I'll update as the situation progresses.
2nd'ing this. I work with them on a daily basis and had one accidentally detonate inside a bank branch as well.
Suffice to say, those things, in addition to spitting pink dye powder that literally stains your skin bright pink for over a week, have a fairly potent explosive detonating charge to spread the die and destroy the money nearby (it's basically assuming the money will be carried in a pouch/bag by the robber) and some varieties will have tear gas/pepper spray/powder loaded into the detonating chamber as well.
Put it this way, one, just ONE dyepack that detonated cleared out a 10,000 square foot office building the bank was in because the gas/dye/powder got into the air vents and started spreading through the building.
So yeah, handle with care heh...
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
while the police officer might have presented a more pleasant demeanor to you, smaller stolen goods like laptops and such are nigh impossible to locate once stolen. it's somewhat scary to think about, and it's a good reason to never store valuables in your car if it's parked outside.
the same goes for stolen mail. it really sucks.
hey OP, have you already spoken with local law enforcement? i would also talk with the local postmaster (to report the thefts) and your mail delivery person(s) to see if they might be able to hold packages for you at the post office or some other reasonable way to secure your stuff.
either that, or just have things delivered to your mom's place of work.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
That is a misrepresented tale.
While he may have been a burglar the courts decided (and his story was) that he was playing basketball and he was attempting to realign the spotlight so they could see what they were doing when he fell though. Also he did not win, he settled.
http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/the-burglar-and-the-skylight-another-debunking-that-isnt/ here is a clarifying link on it.
If you break the law you waive all rights to sue someone as they cannot be held accountable against someone breaking the law.
Satans..... hints.....
"I don't know, I'm not that popular at work, it could've been any of my coworkers or former friends playing a terrible prank on me...no, of course I didn't know my neighbor was stealing my mail! This is shocking and appalling."
Do a stakeout and take pictures, put up a webcam, or rig yourself up a box of something loud.
If it is an office or a basket, get the landlord involved and ask permission to install it somewhere you can observe the face of the thief
You still need to power a camera. And placement in a hallway or small room requires something a bit more robust then a cheap webcam screwed into drywall. Any installation like that can expect to have the cameras ripped off by vandals in a few days.
If you are sligtly technically inclined you can grab a cheap Point and Shoot Cannon camera and install a version of CHDK on it (http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK). It is relatively straight forward to get CHDK installed
One of the scripts available on CHDK is a "picture on motion detection". I fully expect the camera could hold a charge long enough during the day to grab the pics around mail time, and some of these cameras are small enough to hide. Just make sure to turn the flash off.
Also, I can count to "boat".