NFR: Car break ins


  1. TrevorH Active Member

    Posts: 428
    Bellingham, WA, US.
    Ratings: +32 / 0
    I've been pretty lucky in my van. It's a somewhat beat-up 2000 Chevy Astro cargo van. I always empty it of anything of value, leaving only hamburger wrappers and coffee cups. It's wide open inside, so they can easily walk around and see that there's nothing in it. So far, so good. I'm probably due...

    This past Sunday, though, I did have some a-hole pull up to my driveway in broad daylight, walk into my backyard, and steal my lawnmower, weed-eater & crab rings while I was home. 3 of my neighbors saw the guy as he ran into a pile of rocks I have sitting by the road, 2 of them actually watched him get out and go into my backyard. They all went on with whatever they were doing, assuming the guy knew me. I never heard him. This, in downtown Bellingham at 11am on Father's day...
  2. junebug41 Junior Dave Monti fan

    Posts: 371
    Seattle, WA
    Ratings: +0 / 0

    Well, any of a few different ways would work, but I like disconnecting the coil, then leaving the plug loosely connected so that it wouldn't jump out as the problem if some enterprising thief popped the hood.
  3. rattlesnakeflyguy Harrison

    Posts: 393
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    And now you've just give us tweakers all the info we need:eek:: Registration = "into the spare tire well under the spare." Disable engine = easy to re-engage. Ahh tweakers...the scum of the earth. Gotta live with em, and think like they do. A baby bag looks like a real purse. Sounds kinda stupid to me. I lived in Kirkland for 4 years and had not one breakin. I was right off 15th Ave & Market St. On the curb. No problems ever. Trash that baby bag...:beathead: and sip a cold one :beer1:
  4. kingpuck new to fly fishing but loving every minute of it

    Posts: 104
    Mountlake Terrace, Washington
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    Easy Solution: always carry a gun and a shovel. You do the math.
  5. papafsh Piscatorial predilection

    Posts: 2,171
    Camano Island, WA, USA.
    Ratings: +49 / 0
    Hey bhamfisher! you need better neighbors, what a bunch of self-centered, un-concerned idiots.:mad:
    I'm sure glad I don't have neighbors like those three! at least I hope I don't :hmmm:
    However, this may be the perfect time for you to get involved, and start a neighborhood watch program, so this won't happen again.
    I can't think of a neighborhood that exibits a need for it, more than yours. :beathead:

  6. Be Jofus G Banned or Parked

    Posts: 2,051
    Ratings: +52 / 0
    2 car breakins, 1 home robbery(possibly 2 but I think my German Shepherd got a chunk of the guy before he took anything.), and 1 attempt to steal my harley. All in Kirkland. One of them while a cop was sitting across the street trolling for Drunk Drivers. No money for the city in busting theivs I guess. :beathead: No where near as profitable as DUI fines.
  7. Mr.E He called me an Elitist ?? LOL ..what a moron

    Posts: 688
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    Rattlesnakeflyguy, cudos for coming out of the closet.:rolleyes:
  8. Dan Cuomo Active Member

    Posts: 267
    Tacoma, WA
    Ratings: +47 / 0
    After my Bud "Fly Punk" told me about his Utah friend's experience, and noticing 2 or 3 piles of broken window-glass at the little pull-off at the Little D, I 1) removed EVERYTHING from my rig, 2) leave open my glove-box and any other stow away spots in the vehicle, 3) leave the windows open enough to peer into the car and see there isn't anything worth stealing, 4) leave the doors unlocked, 5) leave 5 or 6 357. Mag casings scattered around the console, w/ one placed prominently in the middle of the dashboard in plain sight, 6) load six live rounds into my hand-cannon and go fishing. *When it's not too hot, I'll leave my 125 lb male Chessie in the vehicle, and hope some jackass pokes his head in there.

    It all just sucks. I too, upon moving the this beautiful part of the world three years ago, was struck by the number of break-ins here in WA. I've fished WY, ID, and MT for years w/o any problem. I lived, and fly fished and hunted birds and waterfowl all over upstate NY and never had a problem w/ break-ins, nor did any of my extended family or friends. I believe the meth problem to be a major factor, as Upstate NY and New England seem to have dodged that bullet to a great extent.
  9. Kinger Headed East

    Posts: 30
    Issaquah, Wa
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    Getting robbed is really frustrating. I got hit in Bellingham a couple times while living there...Been in the Seattle area for 10 years and so far so good, but I know its just a matter of time.
    When I have to leave my car in remote places to fish I usually carry my .45 with me, just in case I come back and find some tweeker with his arm through my window.
    Im a firm believer in putting an NRA sticker on your back window, just to let the riff raff know that if I catch them it will be a very bad day.
  10. Salmo_g Active Member

    Posts: 7,182
    Your City ,State
    Ratings: +1,266 / 0
    Hmmm, maybe just the shell casings and NRA window sticker would be good insurance. I've heard that houses with security decals in the windows are less likely to be broken into, even if there really is no security system.
  11. TrevorH Active Member

    Posts: 428
    Bellingham, WA, US.
    Ratings: +32 / 0
    Papafsh- I was pretty frustrated with my neighbors, but kept that to myself. In their defense, they assumed everything was fine because we haven't had a theft of any kind in years. I tend to err on the side of being suspicious of people I don't recognize, and they appearantly err on the side of thinking that everything is ok. I should look into the neighborhood watch program.

    On another note... I've been debating checking out pawn shops for my stuff. I go between thinking that it could possibly yeild dirtbag's name, and thinking that pawn shop owners must want to shoot themselves everytime a victim of petty theft shows up.

    Thieves suck.
  12. Be Jofus G Banned or Parked

    Posts: 2,051
    Ratings: +52 / 0
    If you do that, I'd advise simply browsing around the shop and not mentioning anything to the people working there. One pawn shop owner was pretty damn close to ripping my head off when I came in and asked him if he had recently recieved a les paul, Fender Strat and $20K of flawless diamonds from a shitbag. Apparently they pride themselvs in weeding out the stolen goods. :rolleyes:
  13. Ethan G. I do science.. on fish..

    Posts: 987
    Ellensburg, WA
    Ratings: +1 / 0
    No big deal. The tweakers are too busy running around in the woods looking for salt licks and mumbling about how thier teeth itch to be looking on the internet! :rofl:
  14. Bruce Gibson What's that?...umm tastes good.

    Posts: 33
    Renton, WA
    Ratings: +1 / 0
    I just had my car broken into about 2 weeks ago at the Renton McLendons. Right in front of the entrance at 4:00 pm. You'd think that would be a fairly safe palce to park.... They stole my stereo and 2 rods out of my trunk. I'm a really mellow guy but, if I happen to see someone breaking into my car (or someone else’s for that matter) I’d go ape sh--!..and have….

    Here a funny...
    Several years ago, I had just gotten out the Army and had only been home for a week. One night I caught someone breaking into my jeep in front of my house. I just happen to be awake and decided to put my refined cav scout skills to use. I went out the back door and snuck up on him. Mind you, I was barefoot and wearing nothing but my boxers. The guy didn’t see me until I was about 20’ away and he tried to make a break for it. He had a buddy waiting in a running truck about a 100’ down the road and he was going to jump in the bed of the truck and try to get away. As he got ready to jump in the bed I shoved him as hard as I could. This caused him fall short catching the bridge of his nose on the edge of the tailgate. Needless to say, he had gusher; blood all over the place. I then proceeded to inflict a little more damage to various part of his body. While this was happening, the guy in the truck drove a little further down the road to get away from it all. When I was satisfied with damage I inflicted, I let him go. He finally made it to the truck and jumped in.

    As the truck attempted to leave the neighborhood, I noticed he turned down a dead end road. Being an opportunist, I ran down to the corner and picked up about a 4lb rock and stood on the side of road. As the truck made its way back past me, I proceeded to throw the rock through the radiator. Then casually walked home being completely satisfied. I was living at my dads at the time and came back to find him laughing hysterically in the drive way. Since we needed to file a police report, he drove me down to the station (still in just my boxers). As I walked through the door an officer was just getting ready to leave. We he saw me, he started laughing. Apparently, a neighbor called in a guy running down the street in his underwear. My version of the story was explained with a big sh*# eating grin on my face…i.e. he tripped while getting in the truck and the truck swerved to hit me so I had to drop the rock. Although the officer knew what really happened, he liked it and put my version in the report. By the time we left the police station, other officers already had the two guys under arrest. They said the truck was pretty easy to spot because of all the blood on the side.

    In the end, it all worked out. I received restitution and the satisfaction of catching them, and they spent 7 days in the King County jail. Although the jail time was nothing compared to the physical damage he suffered; broken nose, cheek bone and 2 broken ribs from being kicked. It just so happens, I went to High School with the guy and occasionally saw him around town. Word had also spread around town (North Bend) about what had happened.
    YoungGun9 likes this.
  15. Bscman New Member

    Posts: 11
    Sedro Woolley, WA
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    The big thing, in my experience, has been very simple...don't leave ANYTHING in your car.

    9 times out of 10, this is deterrent enough. Of course, you still might get the over-ly curious tweaker, or the "I already broke 3 windows, I may as well break yours" tweakers.

    Any little thing, to someone on drugs (or an idiot) looks valuable.
    I won't even leave a hat on the seat or spare change in the cupholder.

    Ya gotta realize that some of these guys have smartened up a little bit--they know we're onto them, and are starting to clean out our cars before we park. If they see something completely empty they won't waste their precious time--they know you might be coming back down that trail any moment.

    A few other little tips...
    Buy a blinking LED light and put it in your dash...then head down to you local car audio shop and buy some clifford (or similar) alarm stickers for your windows. A blinking LED won't drain your battery, even in a weeks time...and when coupled with a few stickers, most will assume you have a noise maker that'll have you runnig back down the trailhead.

    If you don't want your rig stolen, get a battery cut-off switch or set your coil up with a on/off toggle switch. That'll stop 90% of the potential thiefs out there who don't have the smarts to take a look.

    Leaving the glovebox door open, with an empty compartment, is a trick hikers have been using for years in WA. Just remember to remove the bulb(s) to help keep your battery tip-top.

    Last but not least?
    Drive an older, "beater" car to less-than-desireable locations. Pick something with common parts...but not overly desireable like a ford ranger, escort, chevy S10, or some other rig that is at least 6-8 years old. Then, when you finally do get a window busted in, it'll only cost you $25 at the junkyard for a replacement.
  16. Jason Decker Active Member

    Posts: 2,625
    Issaquah, WA
    Ratings: +1 / 0
    funny thing is, it's not always tweakers. I thought it was tweakers on the cedar, and maybe a few are culprits, but last season when Windtickler and I came up on 2 guys casing his rig, they were both middle class highschool or college aged guys in a silver honda civic, using cell phones - one was the spotter and the other was by the car. they high tailed it out when we walked up.
  17. ceviche Active Member

    Posts: 2,231
    Shoreline, Washington, U.S.A.
    Ratings: +15 / 0
    I once saw a sticker on a van that said something like: "This vehicle is insured by Smith & Wesson." The two coffee cart gals that owned it neither confirmed or denied they owned a gun. I just thought them clever.

  18. Mr.E He called me an Elitist ?? LOL ..what a moron

    Posts: 688
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    Very true. I was talking to a friend who works for the HP. This subject came around. He stated that allot of break in's are being done by kids that come from a well to do family environments. Peer pressure and boredom are the driving factors.
  19. montanaboy Pike Slayer

    Posts: 19
    Missoula, MT
    Ratings: +0 / 0
    i leave my doors and windows open so they can see for their selves (if they need) that my car contains no valuables. That way they don't have to break in and smash my windows
  20. Les Johnson Les Johnson

    Posts: 1,590
    .Redmond, WA
    Ratings: +5 / 0
    No boxes, gear bags, empty rod tubes....nothing is left in my car when I leave it parked. I can carry my rod, chest pack, a float tube and wear my waders for the distances I usually walk to a fishing hole. The back end is empty and easy to view. It has worked so far. And..I haven't carried a diaper bag in my car for forty years. As I get older though, I might carry one again one day, for myself.