Wow, I didn’t imagine TX being like that. Here in CA yes, but Texas too? That bums me out.

Also, in CA we have “special” catalytic converters or cats. So no you can’t bypass it with a pipe or even put in anything other than the more expensive CA-approved one. You would get away with it for up to two years depending on the timing of your last smog check. But it will immediately get noticed on your next one, so no smog check pass, and no registration. Just ask O-din.

If you have one stolen, just go back with pipe until the next smog check.

Then after passing the smog check, remove it and store it for the next smog check.

Pennsylvania is not one of the states that have stand your ground laws, but the state does follow the castle doctrine, which shares similar traits. This law allows you to use force without first having to retreat from imminent danger if you're at home, in your car, or at your workplace.

I bought a nice car after having my previous one for 20 years. First day driving to work - $8000 damage in a smash and grab. The car had paper plates. The only thing inside was a piece of plastic and a costco bag. That was the day I committed to finding a new job, away from downtown.

The police were not interested in taking a report. The person on the phone said I could report it online; but it would be for statistical purposes only. Oh, and the web site rejected my report because I didn't have a license plate number.

For some reason I pictured Bruce Willis when I read the above. Maybe "Jack" will help make sure they don't walk away from under the vehicle?

I just added this to my favorites.

I have been lucky for a long time, but long ago I had a trailer stolen that I had just paid 1850.00 for, a generator, 900.00, a chainsaw 800.00, and several other items of less value.

Forever now I have insured anything of any value.

Luckily games are already covered in my homeowners policy, I did check on that.

(the items I listed above were at my Dad's business under lock and key long ago).

Years later some thieves thought they were going to steal a trailer at my home, and neighbors asked what are you doing, they said they bought the trailer, and neighbors said "well, you are not taking the trailer unless Johnny is here".

It is a real shame how some people work so hard to steal from others, instead of just doing some productive work to make a living.

Even though my trailers are insured I still use locks that bolt cutters can not cut.

My deceased friend/neighbor used to keep wheel boots on his trailers. I have not seen many of those.

The worst thing about thieves is that they know, even if they have been caught before, they will not do any real jail time in most cases. People like that should at least be required to wear a ankle monitor for at least 10 years, and have someone watching those ankle monitors looking for anything suspicious.

Thieves just walk free all the time with a minor slap on the wrist. I really think a ankle monitor on the first offence would stop any more crime from most of them.

And yeah booby traps and all that is very tempting, but you can not do it, the laws favor the thieves.

I am pretty sure most prisons are mostly a for profit thing for the companies running them.

And we have overcrowding and all that so if someone is just a thief and has not hurt anyone they let them go right back to it.

To stop most of the bull crap, I think we need a new system, and on first offence a thief has to agree to wear a monitor for 10 years, and pay a company like 20 bucks a month or something to monitor them.

Now a slick scam artist, preying on the elderly, they should be (well, I can not say that here).

Sorry for such a long post. I just kept forgetting to hit the send post button, and instead of the 12 shorter posts I was going to make, well... all 12 ended up in only this one.

I've got a mate who lives across from a park and he was always getting stuff stolen from his front yard. When he gets new shoes he shits in one of his old shoes, puts the shitty shoes in the new box and leaves that on one of the park benches in the evening...

That is funny. Kind of like people getting tired of packages stolen, so they put trash or whatever in Amazon boxes and leave them on the porch.

(it would be my luck that if I tried any kind of prank like that the thief would get a good lawyer, and sue me for everything I have, for what my prank caused them mentally).

In case anyone hasn't seen these... be sure to watch versions 2.0 and 3.0 too!

Always remember, the fuckers would take the eyes out of your head if they weren’t screwed in.....A mans home is his castle...

Yeah, it sucks when your stuff gets taken. I have had a car stolen, a couple of car break-ins over the years, other things taken and it is a real empty feeling, and infuriating as well. Haven't ever caught anyone in the act, and not sure what I would do if I did these days, probably something stupid. Prevention is probably your best bet as catching them in the act, or trying to get recompense from the offender later just isn't going to happen.

Cameras are a waste of time, unless you like to watch your shit get stolen. Cops don’t give a fuck about you or your stuff no matter how much video you have.

My buddy had an old mustang with a steel driveshaft. There was an aluminum replacement in another vehicle that would fit.

I wonder if your driveshafts fit in another vehicle, and that’s the reason they’ve been stolen

When my home was under construction, a bunch of personal items along with an uninstalled bathtub and our John Deere Gator were stolen. The suspected thief was one of the dry wall installers as he was fencing some of this stuff a few months later to a friend who was unaware of the robbery story.The police didn’t pursue but the thief ended up dying in a tree cutting incident soon thereafter. Karma got him, I guess.

The police are pretty worthless in my area. Last time I called them, the officers exact works were "what do you want me to do about it". But they have lots of time to post photos of adulterated US flags and requests for donations for their Humvee restoration on their facebook page.

A few years ago, I was out at a night club in town on NYE and a fight broke out on the other side of the place. After a moment, gunfire breaks out, and everyone scatters. I was standing near the emergency exit and was shoved out the door by a mob of people. This place was a shithole and there was a cop actually parked on the sidewalk already since it was NYE and this place has a reputation for shenanigans. Two officers were in the SUV with the windows up. I tried to get their attention and the driver just looked at me and wouldn't even roll his window down when I made the "crank your window down" motion to him. I had to scream "someone is shooting a gun in there" until they finally got the hint as to why there were a couple hundred people running out of the place, and the officers finally jumped out. This crap of the police treating every citizen like they are a scumbag until proven otherwise needs to stop. Turns out, the owner of the club thought it would be a great idea to fire a couple rounds into the ceiling (there were apartments upstairs!) to try and calm the fight down. Regular genius, he was.

In Edmonton last year. Thieves took the converter off of an Cube van, 3 different times. The Econoline Cube van is owned by the local Food Bank. The 3rd theft was done after a chain link fence and gate were donated to the Food Bank. The van has Food Bank signs on it.

I had a box truck that I used to park outside my old shop.... Ford e350 van body. Probably drove it once every couple weeks. Anyway, I go to drive it one day, turn the key, and it sounded like someone put a flowmaster on it.

Crawled under the truck.... someone had started to cut out the cat, and probably got spooked and stopped cutting.

Late 80s, early 90s I worked for Cincinnati Microwave (Escort and Passport Radar Detectors $$$), if owners had theirs stolen and sent in a copy of the police report we filed that. If that unit ever came in for service (we had the S/N in more than one spot so even if they filed it off the back we could find it) we'd hold it and notify the police in the jurisdiction it was reported and give them the information of who sent / brought (we had counter service) it in for service. I doubt this lead to many arrests but I know we returned a good number of them to rightful owners, including one of my good friends who had his stolen by one of his other "friends". When one of the last hack-job "turn-around" CEOs came in (not long before I left) one of the first things he did was stop this practice as he figured it just meant more sales for us if the victims bought a replacement unit. God, I despised that asshole!

Come to LA, here you can call 911 and they won't even answer sometimes. First accident I got into in LA - a person was hurt and I tried calling 911, the line was literally busy. Tried again minutes later, still busy, called back 20 minutes later, still busy. Never did get through, this was back around 2002.

More on topic, never heard of driveshafts being stolen. Catalytic converters on the other hand are stolen all the time here. It's even happened to co-workers at my work's parking lot, which has cameras and 3rd party security patrolling the lot. They can get under a car/truck and remove it in like 30 seconds - then they're gone like the wind. Obviously, cops in LA have better things to spend their time on here and won't do anything unless they catch someone in the act of stealing it. You only call them if you want a police report for insurance purposes.

I had an entire delivery truck full of beer stolen from our warehouse 30 years ago. The police alerted me to it early one Sunday morning as it was backed into an area of scrub bushes and trees near a remote and bad section of town next to railroad tracks. The police wouldn't walk back and investigate/ get fingerprints etc because " there are bees back there!'. Right then, a carload of young punks came driving around the corner obviously coming back to claim their bounty. Upon seeing the cops they turned and sped off....when I frantically asked if he was going after them he said, " no way!". he must have been late for his doughnut run.

Did the car and truck look like this?

pasted_image (resized).png

20 Years ago when I bought this house, we had to store our stuff & the mover said they had a place. I went there later & the lock was gone off the door. The owner said he had to look to see how he could load the truck. Turns out, among other things, my Panasonic GAOO & picnic table were gone.
The cops said that since the lock was gone, anyone could have stolen the stuff. Could have harassed the moving company at least.
We didn't think of the picnic table till later & when we called, the worker said "Oh, it's in my backyard. I didn't think you wanted it."

I was playing cards in a friend's apartment (one suburb over) one evening. I had parked my Daytona yellow '69 SS396 Chevelle and took the wire from the coil to the distributor off and put it in my pocket and set the alarm before I went inside. Came out and the car was gone. Called the Police and made out a theft report. Two years later I got a phone call from that Police department asking if I was the person whose Chevelle had been stolen. My hope soared that they had recovered the car, and I replied that I sure was! Then the person told me they were trying to clean up their books, and asked me if my car had ever been recovered. What a let down.

Exactly like that! Guy said something about “Bandit” “east bound and down”.... and I think, “ load it up and truck it”

Just read this article today locally. How fitting...

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/charges-man-in-clown-mask-caught-stealing-catalytic-converters-from-blaine-dealership

I had an original Gen I Escort stolen in 1982. I reported it to Cincinnati Microwave. I bought a replacement. When the Passport came out I disassembled my replacement unit and noticed the serial number inside the unit as well.

I like Mike Valentine and have an upgraded V1. Also bought my son a Gen 2 Valentine.

That can't be true. According to half the people posting in this thread, the police don't do anything. Someone must have caught him, tied him up, and made a path of donuts leading to him.

It’s not up to the cops to prosecute. That’s the state or city/county attorney. So, it’s them. They don’t give a fuck.

Your a regular detective. Dustin’ for finger prints and all. Even if he used reasonable suspicion to go after them and pull them over. He has no probable cause to arrest just to tie them to the crime based on a hunch. Bench or jury it’s beyond a reasonable doubt to convict. It’s not more likely than not. That shit only works in civil prosecutions.

Here’s an idea, stay out of shitholes, especially if you know it has a bad reputation. Stay out of bad areas, especially if you know it is bad.

Yeah, somehow this thread went from "I hate thieves" to "Fuck the police". There are some awfully broad brushes being used to paint in this thread. There are bad apples in every profession, but 98% of cops do the job because they DO care. Limited resources and tied hands have a lot to do with some of the "what's the point" attitudes now-days. There is only so much they can do sometimes, and prosecution is not up to the police anyway. That is a DA decision.

No Monte,I’m not a detective, so I should have “pulled a Gomer Pyle” and yelled, “citizens arrest!” THAT would have stopped them for sure.

I have lots of police as customers. They do their best in this climate. When the defunding narrative is picked up and pushed by politicians and media it doesnt make the job any easier for them to do.

Ok, go ahead and believe that. I own an automotive shop and what you said is very untrue.

Here in Ca we have the wonderful 0 bail for most crimes. This is from the idiot government in this state(no i didn't vote for any of them) as they don't want criminals to get Covid. So they can get caught committing a crime and get out and come back to finish the job

Man sounds like you guys live in the wild wild west!

23 years in New York City I've never had a single thing stolen. You guys should move here where it's nice and safe!

I did have a bike stolen when I was a kid and it sucked. Amazingly enough it was found by the cops and we picked it up at the station. It was, as the Lebowski cops said, "A joyride situation."

I have to give credit to the detective that came out when our house got robbed 5 years ago. He dusted for finger prints and was unable to get anything except for one partial print from the frame of the window screen the thug tore away to get to the sliding window that he jimmyed open. 3 months went by and nothing and then I got a call from the detective asking me to look at some pictures to see if I recognized a suspect they busted doing another break in. Didn't know him or recognize him but his print matched up to the print that he left on the screen frame.

We didn't get anything back, our insurance covered the losses. DA added our break in to the charges. Was glad to see some justice being served.

Maybe before Computers

I ripped the cat(S!) off my 2002 and it threw a code alright.

As a PA resident, I'd be hesitant to use force on someone on my property unless they entered my home. On Monday, I had a rabid fox on my property, I live in a very rural area. Called the PA Game Commission and asked if I could shoot it. NO, we'll call you back. 2 hours later, nothing. We got 6" of snow and I needed to snow blow my 175' driveway. Called PA State Police. They called game commission and advised me that they couldn't come out till the next day. Can I shoot it? Yes, if you feel threatened. 5 minutes later I put it out of it's misery. Game commission called the next day, they were coming out to deal with it. I shot it, come get the carcass. Gave me hell for killing it. Come and get it I said.

I guess if you aren't here, you would not believe it. The scale of it is absolutely absurd. I will agree that it isn't really the fault of the police themselves. Beyond that, you are into a political discussion.

One person took a video of a guy who was in the middle of cutting off a bike lock, and yelled at him I'm calling the cops. He just laughed at her and said go ahead, they won't do anything.

There is a completely out in the open "swap meet" in a public park where they gather to share and swap all their stolen stuff. Nothing is done. A few brave people go right up to them if they see their stolen bikes and take them back. Big dudes I presume.

It is common for people to walk into stores, take an armful of merchandise, and walk out. Even if this is called in, nothing is done. Nothing.

Basically, if you leave a bicycle out anywhere for more than 30 seconds, locked or not, it will be stolen. Here is a pic on one of the homeless encampments they cleaned out. More than 1000 bikes stashed away. The police said "some of them -might- be stolen". Might be. MmHmm, I am sure they bought and paid for most of them.

bikes (resized).jpg

As I am sitting working and typing this and the news is on in the background, there is a story about catalyst converter thefts. They stole one off a Meals On Wheels van. The LA sheriff's help: Etch your license plate number and spray paint their logo on your cat. Haha as if that will do anything.

This is how we live. Its sunny here though, every day.

It's called "California Values" coming to a town near you.

I live in the crap hole that is Modesto CA. I'm stuck here taking care of elderly folks so I can't just move away. I'm stuck until they're gone.

A year ago my sons car was stolen. It was stolen while he was fishing at night. The car was flipped into an almond orchard and completely destroyed. It had been rolled and slammed into a tree. NO panel on the car was straight. The cops recovered the car around 2:30 AM, just a few hours later. There were three people in the car when the CA CHP showed up. NOTHING was done as far as prosecution. The CHP claimed that there were 3 people in the car when they rolled up but none of the three would ID the driver who fled the scene. The CHP said since nobody would rat out the driver there was nothing they could do. Last I checked recieving stolen property should have covered that.

Fast forward to a month ago. My other son was driving home from work when a drug addict motorist jump out with a 6 inch buck knife telling my kid he was going to stab him. My kid pepper sprayed him and got away. My kid called the cops and reported it. Since then the same guy threw a hammer at my kids car. Kid called Modesto PD again. Their response was, "what do expect us to do"?

I'm at a loss. The cops won't do anything and if I go over there with my son,(19) and his two older brothers,(22 & 23) then I'm in the wrong if we F*CK this guy up. My son provided vehicle description, License plate # and the guys address MPD won't even come out.

California is so screwed up.

Geez, you make this thread now all I see is this. First off the article today and now this just popped up in a local Facebook group...

cat (resized).JPG