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Wobble

Criminal offence? or what?

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Ok for a while now my neighborhood has had a "prowler" either that or several random thefts close together..

My GF was a victim last night.. but I am wondering.. IF this guy/gal is caught.. what is the worst that will happen to them? as far as I know 100% of the incidents involve sombody opening an UNLOCKED car in a driveway and just taking any loose cash.. no breaking, no entering the house/garage.. etc.. so when this clown IS caught (if) will he/she even really get into trouble? or just a stupid fine or community service? also.. unless they are caught IN THE ACT wont it be impossable to get them.. the cops can just assume anyone walking along the road is the guy and blame all the crimes on them.. obviousley... and if somebody sees them.. then what.. unless they know who they are even if they get a good look it will be impossable to ever catch them..

grrr.. sucks.. some jagoff rummaging MY neighborhood and the worst case scenario for them is probably a "dont do that anymore" if even that.. mad.gif

maby I can get them on voep or something..

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in scotland that would still be classed as breaking and entering, i pressume trespassing in ur country too, (we dont have trespassing laws in scotland).

and depending on it being a first offence or not will also depend on his charge and the outcome

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Um, a quick tip, don't leave your car unlocked?

I'm from Australia, so I'm not sure about US law, but yes, in Australia, they would only get a "slap on the wrist".

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It surely must be categorized as theft, right? Like stealing something out of your backyard. That is still a crime, even if its not locked down.

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yes i would have thought that charges of

1 breaking and entering

2 theft

3 possibly breach of the peace (if breaking and entering wont stick)

4 Tresspassing ( US have those laws confused.gif)

would all be legitimate charges,

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yea.. but burden of proof.. even if somebody SAW this guy taking money.. and then later picked them out.. it would still be a 1 vs 1 word vs word..  confused.gif  and if nobody sees them whats to keep them from saying "i couldetn sleep, went for a walk thats why I was out".. ?  bwa!

1 breaking and entering

2 theft

3 possibly breach of the peace (if breaking and entering wont stick)

4 Tresspassing ( US have those laws

1: well apparently he never breaks anything.. just checks of the door is open he snoops.. so breaking> no.. entering.. yes

2: theft.. yes definatley.. but how to prove unless caught red handed?

3: breach of peace?

4: tresspassing.. well in the US a drive way is not privat property.. only when you enter the garage or enclosed porch..

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well i pressume that if he is seen going into a vehicle to get cash and the witness also picks him out of a line up, perhaps fingerprinting on the car (although im sure no matter what country ur in  i doubt that would happen) would drop him in the shit, also if he has the bottle to enter parked cars, i tend to think hes done it before and therefore might have a previous record.

a breach of the peace is basically a crime that the police in scotland hit u with if nothing else sticks   a breach of the peace can be for anything from fighting in the street, to hurling abuse in the street,  to breaking and entering.

wether or not the car was locked  i would have thought that breaking and entering can still stick     i know if i leave my front door open and someone robs me     breaking and entering is the first charge made   no matter if everything is locked up or not     as it is still ur property.

And that is thru experience, about 7 years ago my wife and kids were at the mother in laws i nipped down for a pint, and accidently left the door unlocked, i got a phone call from the wife about 15 minutes into my pint saying that the television, video, camcorder, child payment books, wifes purse, and my sega master system was stolen. It turned out that in that month 25 houses were broken into and the charge sheet for the boy was a mile long, ( as was his nose when he was released from prison cos about 8 of us leathered him.

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It's not really Breaking & Entering because things are stolen. If you steal something it's theft, if you break in to steal something it's burglary. In the UK anyway.

And yer, lock your car.

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</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Flight Sergeant @ April 21 2002,12:40)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It's not really Breaking & Entering because things are stolen. If you steal something it's theft, if you break in to steal something it's burglary. In the UK anyway.

And yer, lock your car.<span id='postcolor'>

well many years ago i broke into somewhere and stole a wad of food (with a group of people) it was a college.

I was charged with breaking and entering and fined 75 pound

and also charged with theft and fined 75 pound

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As for proving who did it...

- Set up cameras. It has been done before.

- Car alarms that go off when the door opens. That way you have a chance of spotting him.

- Capturing him red handed, ofcourse.

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</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Longinius @ April 21 2002,13:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">- Car alarms that go off when the door opens. That way you have a chance of spotting him.<span id='postcolor'>

not sure about anyone else but i think car alarms are the biggest waste of money, when i hear one go off its usually annoying and i dont even look, as half the time its the wind thats knocked the car. Ive also seen people just stroll past a car with its alarm screaming, not even giving it another look.

is this the same for everyone these days i just fear car alarms have lost their effectivness. ( and a pet hate of mine is the car alarms that are wired to the horn, boy is that nippy honnnk honnnk honnk honnnk honnk ) give me the siren type anyday

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</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Wobble @ April 22 2002,11:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">grrr.. sucks.. some jagoff rummaging MY neighborhood and the worst case scenario for them is probably a "dont do that anymore" if even that.. mad.gif<span id='postcolor'>

I suppose you would like the electric chair for the thief, right?

Well, I mean, you are in Texas, I guess you could always assume that he is armed and dangerous and shoot him when on your property. I am surprised that you havn't come up with that idea so far.

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Its probably jsut some shabby homeless guy doing the rounds. I think i saw a film like that once, and the homeless guy was a bit retarded. And everyone was mean to him sad.gif

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put a gun on ur front seat and right when he opens the door... BAM.... then put the gun in his hand smile.gif

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The worst thing about it is (here were I live anyway...) is that taking preventative measures can often get the victim in trouble.

I read of two old women who greased their drain pipe because a thief climbed up a neighbours drain pipe and broke in.

They were apparently told that if the thief were to injure his/her self while breaking in then they (the old women) would be charged.

In my opinion a person should be entitled to do what they please to protect their property.

I heard from my dad (a fireman) that he once had to deal with an electrocution.

A burglar climbed up and tried to break into some guys house only to find that the veranda fence was electrified.

Unfortunately I think the house owner was the one punished for the thiefs injuries.

I also know that we are no longer allowed to put vandal paint on our fences in case anyone who climbs the fence (and hence damages it becuase it is wooden) might claim for the damage done to their clothing by the paint or other deterrent materials.

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Or you could leave your car unlocked, put a poisonous snake in there, and leave it for him to find. If the cops ask you, you can always say "I dunno how it got there, must have crawled in". smile.gif

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a friend of mine is a snake freak. he lets them roam free in his house.

one day he comes home and sees the front door open and the breaking tools on the floor near the front door...... biggrin.gif

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probably breaking and entering (even if it's unlocked it might stick) and petty theft (depending on the amount or cash)

if the car was in the garage trespassing might stick but if it's just sitting unlocked in the driveway it won't.

if you want to get him, go lay in the back seat with a blanket over you and then beat the shit out of him when he opens the door. you might be able to get him for trying to assault you biggrin.gif

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yes we had a case in the UK where a farmer was being continuosly harrased and robbed by the same folks, the police couldnt catch them and they kept doing it, eventually after the farmer had been robbed blind they came back once more and the farmer shot at one of them i dont think he killed him but it ended up that the farmer is now in jail for over 8 years or summit

one time an old saying counted " your home is your castle"

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I suppose many will attack me but law is hopeless really. It protects the guilty and the innocent seem to loose. The law can be very stupid and pointless at times.

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I'm from the uk too (Scotland).

The two stories I mentioned are true afaik, definately the one about the electrocution (don't know when it happened though).

The vandal paint thing....well, not so sure but I've been advised against using it.

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not sure about anyone else but i think car alarms are the biggest waste of money, when i hear one go off its usually annoying and i dont even look,

ok thiws reminds me of a story.. back when I was in HS the cars in the parking lot kept getting broken into.. car alarm or not.. didnt metter because students were not allows in the parking lot accept to go or leave school and the beginning or end of day.. this was to prevent theft.. ironically it also kept anyone from hearing the car alarms..

anywho after having his CD player stolen twice my buddy got a silent car alamr.. insted of beeping and honking it would send a text message to his pager saying "ALARM!"

sure enough 3 days later I see him hauling ass down the hallway.. and he caught the bastard too.. it was some dipshit who had ditched 4 period (the one after lunch) was was skulking around in the parking lot..

pretty cool, the incidents declined a bit then and the sell of thos alarms went apeshit.. and the school released its rule against pagers untill it could gett better security ( i think someone threatened to sue)

anywho.. ive never had my truck broken into.. its been vandalized though (dont ask)

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If the guy is routinely prowling on people's property it would be a 1st Degree Criminal Trespass which could mean prison time. A Disturbing the Peace is a much lesser charge because it is only a violation of city ordnance. If there is evidence of forced entry even on a fence gate they can hit him with 1st Degree Breaking and Entering. Of course if there are missing items he would be charged with 1st Degree Burglary which is a felony and will get him 2-4 years. I'm not sure what he would get for attempted Burglary. If they arrested him and found a weapon (knife, ice pick, whatever) they would slap on aggrivated which would mean more prison time. This guy probably already has a record so he would probably go to prison as a repeat offender.

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