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Someone keeps vandalizing by brother's car!
Kyougu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Okay, I'm seriously at the end of my rope, and I have no idea what to do.
For the past months now, somoene has been vandalizing my brother's car. Not just petty key scratching, but poking holes into his tire, and worse bashing his windows. Today someone threw a huge rock, which I'm guessing they where hopping would bash the back window, though luckily they missed and it bounced off the roof.
This been happening for a couple of months now. What's worse, is that the harrasment will stop for a couple of months, and then one night the window will be shattered. This makes it almost impossible to plan on staying up to keep an eye on the car.
So what should I do? I seriously been thinking of getting cameras to record outside, but the problem is that things at home aren't the greatest economically wise and I'm sure something that could record at night, with some clarity, would be expensive. So far all we been able to do is get my brother's car an alarm, but by the time I rush out once I hear it, whoever did it is long gone.
I just really want to catch whoever is doing this, press charges (We filed police reports every time it's happened.) and sue the crap out of them for all the money we spent on repairs. So any advice would be apreciated.
For the past months now, somoene has been vandalizing my brother's car. Not just petty key scratching, but poking holes into his tire, and worse bashing his windows. Today someone threw a huge rock, which I'm guessing they where hopping would bash the back window, though luckily they missed and it bounced off the roof.
This been happening for a couple of months now. What's worse, is that the harrasment will stop for a couple of months, and then one night the window will be shattered. This makes it almost impossible to plan on staying up to keep an eye on the car.
So what should I do? I seriously been thinking of getting cameras to record outside, but the problem is that things at home aren't the greatest economically wise and I'm sure something that could record at night, with some clarity, would be expensive. So far all we been able to do is get my brother's car an alarm, but by the time I rush out once I hear it, whoever did it is long gone.
I just really want to catch whoever is doing this, press charges (We filed police reports every time it's happened.) and sue the crap out of them for all the money we spent on repairs. So any advice would be apreciated.
Kyougu on
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You've got a couple options.
1) stay up all night for an indefinent period of time hoping to catch the vandals and hoping that you'll be awake enough to remember enough to identify them or confront them. (Note, the second also requires hoping they aren't pissed off enough to be armed)
2) cough up the money for a closed circuit camera system or a webcam hooked to your PC and hope you catch the vandals that way. Possibly a neighbor or a friend may have one they'll let you borrow considering the circumstances.
3) Set up a neighborhood watch. I assume you live within sight of a neighbor, you may ask them to keep an eye on the car when noone is home.
Forgoing that, you can follow everyone else's advice and set up a camera which, combined with the first option, is surprisingly effective.
There's also more risky options, which I don't quite condone, because it may cause more problems than it solves, such as waiting IN the car. Don't do it. Really, it can end horribly and do everything you can without confronting it directly.
Kurn had a good idea. I'd say calll the cops, tell them what's been happening, give them the rock, maybe they can get something off of it. Have your brother think about WHY it might be happening. Has he pissed someone off lately?
Another Edit: Apologies for the second reply. I miffed and typed in the wrong box -_-
Well, it would be hard deciding when to put it out but...and I'm just throwing it out there...but depending on WHY they're doing it, knowing that someones waiting to catch them might discourage the vandalse (or however you spell it, my spelling has gone down the drain latley). However, I still stick by my 'don't confront them directly' because that may be horrible.
If he knew when to throw out the paint, he would know when to be waiting with a camera or even call the cops. If you do actually do this though, do not use paint. Some idiot in my neighborhood dumped an entire bucket of paint in the middle of the street one night and my friend didn't see it till after it was too late. The tires splashed up paint all over the sides of his car. I doubt your going to want to have to pay when your angry neighbors accidentally get it on their cars.
Or park it say round the block at a friends place it's a bit of a walk but there isn't much chance these people will be bright enough to find it.
Or sell it and buy a new one and park it on the street again. However it sounds like they know you brother and would eventually re-find his car.
Satans..... hints.....
My brother had a slight problem like this. They wouldn't vandalize his car, but they would constantly (like everday) take the cover off and throw it on the ground. We assumed they were checking the mileage to see if someone was driving the car so they could plan a way to jack it. My brother just simply moved his car to another apartment complex.
Oh, can you park the car in the backyard or change your fence so you can park in the backyard?
Parking the car in a garage isn't an option, since we converted our garage into a room a long time a go, so now the cars just sit in the driveway.
I don't have the option to stay out watching the car, since this only happens every couple of months at random..but when it happens, it's usually them breaking a window.
And we have no idea why people are doing this. My brothers are good kids (Or so I figure), and they said themselves they can't imagine why someone would do it.
I think I'm going to call the cops today, and just tell them about how it's been happening so often, and see what they have to say.
I figure a taser would be better since they wouldn't kill the kids.
be realistic, it's not like they can do much else besides patrol whenever they can
Its still a good idea to call the cops though. If nothing else, just get this shit on record so if you do actually catch them, you'll have more evidence to use against them.
this is obvious and has been mentioned:
but sit down and get some info on who it could be and why. are you more concerned about it than he is? maybe he owes some cash somewhere. ask him if he thinks he knows but isn't comfortable sharing that piece of his life.
if there is literally no one he can place that would do it, no one he knows that he has wronged in this way, no one with a vendetta...look around you.
the people who are doing it may just be doing it because they hate his car. hate the way he takes too long to pick up the paper. people are creepy as shit and i wouldn't put it past neighbors (and their kids) to just fuck shit up for no reason other than they don't think they can get caught and they are looking for a fight. i realize its paranoid but i hung out with some righteous assholes when i was a kid. it may not be something personal - just blacked-out assholes.
are there a lot of other exposed cars in the area? is his car particularly nice for the block? are there drunks two houses down?
other people have also brought up parking a bit out of the way if it's possible. try it and see.
edit: another idea about the floodlight concept brought up earlier. why not just put a fake but legit-looking camera pointed at the car. it may work, it may not. but it is a lot cheaper than the real deal.
eh, it sounded to me like he hadn't yet. Maybe i missed something in a older post.
I know, that's why I said they won't do much. I know what cops do and don't do because my brother is one.
i thought he wrote that he had filed a report each time it happened.
however, i still agree that he should keep it up when appropriate.
it's not like he is simply calling because some kids are on the lawn. someone is seriously fucking up some property. regularly. so...while it might be slightly annoying to whoever is taking his calls, it certainly seems worth the investment.
anyway, the other dude is probably right. unless you catch them doing it and they have pictures of themselves doing it each time, i doubt you can get anything substantial out of it.