Lafayette break-ins

[Early Bird]

Maybe we should organize the VFTT parking patrol in trips and events

Tim

That though crossed my mind- a designated non-hiker. It would be tough to find one on this forum.
Sorry for the trouble this has caused you skimom.

 

[Maddy]

The only person I've ever known to say they actually look up, care, or otherwise notice a car alarm, other than to think "shut that %^$@ing thing up" was, of course, an alarm salesman.

I'm guilty of said behavior. What are you to do? Call the cops, I guess. Take plate numbers, etc. Maybe we should organize the VFTT parking patrol in trips and events

Tim

I totally agree but I would still love to know if the cars that were broken into had functioning alarms, as useless as they might appear to be.
I am assuming that they do not, because no one ever mentions it.
It would seem that they would be even more upset if they paid for a useless security system.

 

[rocket21]

In the ski industry, I used to assemble spreadsheets when dealing with theft issues - maybe we ought consider developing a thread or spreadsheet or something with the day of the week, the times the vehicle was unattended, type of break in (crowbar, glass), and if there was an anti theft system...

 

[Maddy]

That is a great idea. I wonder if the police keep similar records that would help them establish patterns, etc.

 

[skimom]

My car has a very loud functioning alarm and has those little blinking red lights on the dash and all the doors that indicate it. Obviously useless.

I think that if they were prying the door open and someone came along, a simple explanation of having locked their keys in the car would not only put off any concerned party, but could actually get assistance..... hey, let me give you a hand there....

On the other hand, now that we all know that if we come upon someone prying a door open, it's a theft, and not just someone trying to get into their own car without breaking a window.

 

[rocket21]

That is a great idea. I wonder if the police keep similar records that would help them establish patterns, etc.

Police will have reports on file, but I'm unsure how closely the analyze trailhead breakins (vs. bigger things like the cop killing a few weeks back, drug busts, etc.). Might be an interesting thing to see when VFTT people are getting broken into and see how to react - if breaks continue to increase, it might be worthwhile considering to have people on shorter hikes swing by trailheads of larger organized hikes to check on things.

 

[kwc]

I wonder if the make of the vehicle has any correlation to break-ins ... are "high end" models targeted more often than "plain jane" models?

 

[Maddy]

My car has a very loud functioning alarm and has those little blinking red lights on the dash and all the doors that indicate it. Obviously useless.

.

Thanks "skimom". I was very interested in knowing if an alarm would possibly deter them but obviously not.
I am very consious of alarms ringing, possibly because as a critical care nurse, I could not turn deaf ear or look the other way. If I drove past a trail head and heard alarms in a parking area, I would slow down and look to see if I could observe what if anything might be going on. I never hesitate to report anything to the police that I consider suspicious.
I once observed someone unloading some "packages" over the guard rail on the MA Pike early on a Sat am and stopped to tell the SP at their barracks. I have even reported a possible terrorist who had been living in an apartment near Boston and his behavior was highly suspect. He took off the week of 09/11 leaving all his personal possessions and one computer. He had been observed carrying out numerous other computers. NO ONE ever notified the authorities. I call the FEDS immediately when someone related the story to me several months later and they showed up on that property with their vans and numerous agents several hours later.
I think sometimes we are our own worse enemies. We really need to be very vigilant and maybe we can be instrumental in helping the police find a few of these creeps, not just at trailheads but in lots of other places.

 

[albee]

Maybe we could take this matter into our own hands a bit... and I'm not kidding.

We could recruit 8 volunteers with 4 decent cameras between them and have a "stake-out day". Have one person hide at the end of the parking lot under bug netting at the 4 worst sites for break-ins on some upcoming Saturday. Lafayette North, Lafayette South, Appalachia, and 19 Mile Brook trailheads. So as not to totally waste their hiking day, volunteers can swap with someone else after a 3.5 or 4 hour shift. Say, maybe 9 to 12:30 and 12:30 to 4:30.

Having a good idea of when these break-ins occur would make it easier to narrow down the window of when to keep an eye out. I would guess mid-day on a Saturday or Sunday would be best because that is when the most people are parked at trailheads, and that is when people coming and going would be less suspicious. The police obviously don't have the manpower to undertake something like this, but if the hiking community came together and caught just one culprit on camera that resulted in an arrest, the publicity from that alone would be enough to make some of those punks think twice next time.

 

[Maddy]

Maybe we could take this matter into our own hands a bit... and I'm not kidding.

.

I would drive up there to do this. I could do the whole day because I can't do a lot of "hiking"right now so my excursions are limited. I just don't want to completely alone out in some parking lot.
I will not be available until the week of June 24, so let me know. I can probably work around any day that is selected after that date.
I have a good track record for catching "criminals". There are a few stories I didn't mention on my previous post.
I have been dying to do something about this for a very long time.
We will be like that show "to catch a predator" on MSNBC!
I never had my truck broken into but I have had my mountain bike stolen which was securely chained to my jeep.
I think if the word eventually got out that random parking lots had eyes in the bushes, it might deter at least some of the little creeps, some of the time.

 

[rocket21]

Should we start a new thread with a makeshift spreadsheet to compile what we know so far in terms of breakins? I'd be willing to maintain it as long as I have the time.

 

[LarryB]

Maybe we need a few of these...

scouting camera

 

[Rob S]

The police obviously don't have the manpower to undertake something like this, but if the hiking community came together and caught just one culprit on camera that resulted in an arrest, the publicity from that alone would be enough to make some of those punks think twice next time.

Not trying to dissuade you from doing this, ..... but just please be careful. A trapped animal is a dangerous animal, and I'd hate to see any of you getting hurt. Approaching or confronting a thief can be extremely dangerous because you don't know this person's history. The thief might just be some scrawny teenager looking for a thrill, ... or ... he/she may be violent and may carry a gun and/or a knife. If you see someone breaking into a car, maybe you can safely get their license plate number and call the local police without any confrontation?

That said, best of luck!

 

[RoySwkr]

I totally agree but I would still love to know if the cars that were broken into had functioning alarms, as useless as they might appear to be.
I am assuming that they do not, because no one ever mentions it.
It would seem that they would be even more upset if they paid for a useless security system.

My used car came with an alarm, if I knew how to turn it off I would. The remote areas where I typically park there would be nobody to hear it, all it would do is run the battery down so maybe the car wouldn't start and I'd need to walk home.

That is a great idea. I wonder if the police keep similar records that would help them establish patterns, etc.

Some friends of my mother's once had a break-in at Wilderness Trail. The Lincoln Police said there was a pattern of break-ins there at lunchtime on weekdays, they thought it was maybe construction workers who went home on weekends. Never heard that they caught anybody although that sounds like ideal stakeout info.

 

[rocket21]

Not trying to dissuade you from doing this, ..... but just please be careful. A trapped animal is a dangerous animal, and I'd hate to see any of you getting hurt. Approaching or confronting a thief can be extremely dangerous because you don't know this person's history. The thief might just be some scrawny teenager looking for a thrill, ... or ... he/she may be violent and may carry a gun and/or a knife. If you see someone breaking into a car, maybe you can safely get their license plate number and call the local police without any confrontation?

That said, best of luck!

I echo this - I have seen people set up stings only to end up with a worse outcome!

 

[rocket21]

Here are the fields I would propose (NH only):

Location
Date (D-M-Y)
Hours Parked (ie 6am-2pm)
Type of car (make, 1-3 yrs, 4-8 yrs, older)
Anti Theft Device (Y/N)
Type of Break In (Smash window, crow-bar door, cut through soft top, other)
No names posted in sheet

Posted in thread or hosted on my web space?

 

[Maddy]

Sounds good! How about on a thread so all can have access to it.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

On the off-chance that people aren't members of multiple boards, I'd advertise the thread on RoT and Hike-NH and whatever other places folks know about. Non-members could send someone an e-mail with details to post. The more data you collect the more useful it is in finding a pattern. To be at all convincing to authorities, it needs to be complete and regular, and have names attached (witnesses) -- perhaps not publicly attached, but available if the police want it. A well-known character from another board or two recently reported a break-in and theft on RoT.

As for stakeouts, if you can simply take pictures from a blind, that would probably be the best thing you could do. I would not recommend confrontations of any kind.

I think you missed "what was stolen" from the data set.

Tim

 

[jjo]

This whole thing saddens me...Hiking in the mts should be a carefree, joyous and pure experience...Our society and greed rears its ugly head again...This wasn't an issue when I started hiking many years ago...

 

[rocket21]

Great suggestion re: the items stolen.

In terms of audience, I'm thinking we'll just start it here and then branch out (for purposes of getting a feel for the data, as well as data integrity).

New thread here