vehicle vandalism

ocallagh

My car has been vandalised 4 times in the last 3 months. 2 Key scrapes, 1 wing mirror and the driver side windscreen wiper was snapped off last night. Other cars on the street have suffered the same. Some were covered in spray paint 2 months ago but mine luckily escaped. Anyway, this is an on-going problem which normally occurs on a Saturday night. Some mornings the entire streets wing mirrors are bent back or snapped off. I am beyond rage.. I want to catch these ****s.

What are my options? I was considering installing car surveillance equipment, or maybe even a security camera on the street. http://obsusa.com/index.html offer a system for $1600 which has 4 micro cameras and motion detection equipment etc. I suppose the best thing would be to attend a neighbourhood meeting and talk to them. Either purchase the cameras between us all ($50 each or so) and install in one of the cars (preferably a BMW!). Another option would be to wait up every Saturday night and catch them with a digital camera. Take shifts etc, but my neighbourhood are mostly old familes and I don't think many of them stay up beyond 10pm. Has anyone every encountered this before? Any suggestions? Can the gardai help?

ps:I rent with 3 others on Marlborough Road, Donnybrook btw and my best guess it's rich 16yr olds coming hom from wesley

antodeco

:eek: sorry to hear that. Why not ring the guards and report it to them (im assuming its happening the same time every week). The guards may "lie in wait". I know thats not the type of thing guards do, but Ive known a few to do that.

You could "wait in ur car"? Again, im assuming its people coming home from a night out, so theyre going to be walking past between 2 -4? Wait with a baseball bat if you can.

Other than that, the camera is a good way to go. Unfortunatley, trying to prosecute anyone with the footage is very very difficult. Is there anywhere else you can park ur car?

ballooba

Talk to your local Dail candidate about getting community CCTV. Now's as good a time as any.

JHMEG

Since you are renting it might be cheaper in the long run just to move house.

zilog_jones

ocallagh wrote:

I was considering installing car surveillance equipment, or maybe even a security camera on the street. http://obsusa.com/index.html offer a system for $1600 which has 4 micro cameras and motion detection equipment etc.

That's pretty damn expensive! A CCTV system around the street would be a lot cheaper (they have loads of stuff in Maplin with many cameras under €100, and there's a lot of second-hand stuff on ebay), though as antodeco said it may prove difficult getting anyone prosecuted...

ballooba

JHMEG wrote:

Since you are renting it might be cheaper in the long run just to move house.

I live nearby. It would be tough to give up the convenience factor of living here.

ocallagh

thanks for replies! i have calmed down somewhat since I posted (5 mins after i saw the wiper) and had a few beers:) Anyway, I think $1600 on an inbuilt car surveillance system might be a bit much. I will talk to my local TD and also the Gardai about getting some sort of CCTV installed. Even if it means the neighbourhood coughing up a few € each. Muckross school is on the road and they might contribute to a CCTV installed at their gates looking out to the road. They have recently setup new electronic security gates so there might be a handy power supply there or something. A CCTV alone might not be enough to prosecute but it would be a start, and combined with an eye witness would definitely be a huge help in prosecuting. It would also act as a deterrent. Plus if we get a few faces on camera I will keep a personal lookout for them and would have no problem confronting them myself and scaring the **** out of them/ demanding repayment/showing footage to their parents.

Moving is not an option right now. Been here for 3 years and I like it a lot, plus I actually want to catch the ****s now:D

Countryripple

Someone I know had similar problems with vandalism. Although it was worse in the fact that they had to get several winscreens and windows replaced, keyed all over, holes knocked into the car with iron bars etc. They had a camera clearly placed, looking onto the car. Gardai took the tapes with the faces on them everytime but nothing can be done with video evidence in this stupid country!! They even knew it was there and would just jeer up to it. Unless you are planning on getting their faces and doing somethin about it yourself, its probably going to help you very little.

Although, the fact that its Donnybrook may mean that the gardai will do something about it for the safety of the rich peoples cars!!

Good luck anyway.

bazz26

Countryripple wrote:

Someone I know had similar problems with vandalism. Although it was worse in the fact that they had to get several winscreens and windows replaced, keyed all over, holes knocked into the car with iron bars etc. They had a camera clearly placed, looking onto the car. Gardai took the tapes with the faces on them everytime but nothing can be done with video evidence in this stupid country!! They even knew it was there and would just jeer up to it. Unless you are planning on getting their faces and doing somethin about it yourself, its probably going to help you very little.

Although, the fact that its Donnybrook may mean that the gardai will do something about it for the safety of the rich peoples cars!!

Good luck anyway.

That is typical of this country, the victim has little or no help in these matters.

The scumbags seem to have more rights in these matters. I bet if you caught the little scumbags, gave them a good hiding (thats all they seem to understand) and it was caught on CCTV it would be used as evidence against you.

When these idots come to your door looking for your vote tell them the candidate that prosecutes the scumbags will get it.