Mini Crimewave on Wednesday night - Broken into

Saruman

So on Wednesday night Im working late and my wife calls me just after 8. she got home and someone had broken in. I told her to call the police and i left work and went home (dublin to Rochfortbridge,WH).

Anyway it was not so bad, the idiots i can only assume were kids only took some rings and other jewlery... some presents bought the day before... swatch watch and baby clothes (left €150 Blanch vouchers in the bag :rolleyes: .
The did NOT take anything large like oh.. PSP, PS3 (or the games) Laptop, flatscreen etc... Hell they even left the wireless controller sitting beside my remotes.

Feckers jimmied the window open, breaking it (will not close now). That pisses me off. Now i need an alarm.

anyway same day (between 6 and 8) they broke in across the road and took playstation 2 and games.. and sweets... oh and womens boots!

Down the road some woman boldly walked through the front door of someones house, but knocked over and umbrella and legged it. The back of her was seen.. I believe getting in to a car and driving off...

sounds like a family of the feckers. A shoe print on my windowsill looks very small. and they needed a chair to see what was on top of the fridge.

monkeyfudge

Well they can stick a kid in through the window who can then come around and open the front door.

This is why I always lock the door with the key when leaving the house and don't just pull the latch shut.

seamus

Yeah, definitely sounds like a family of scum coming out of Dublin or one of the other cities, relying on the fact that in smaller towns, people may not be as inclined to install alarms and the Gardai may not be as quick or wise.

From what they took, I'd say they were looking for easy stuff. Laptops and PS3s and stuff are easy to carry, but very suspect if you get stopped and probably worth very little in resale unless you manage to get all of the cables and bits with it. Jewellery and boxes of new things are much simpler and easier to hide - "This is my ring, Garda. Ah yeah, we've just been doing a bit of shopping, got this new camera for me younger brother and vouchers for me ma".

Rob_l

should this not be in the westmeath forum

doubledown

Saruman wrote: »

That pisses me off. Now i need an alarm.

You don't have a house alarm? In this day and age?

Sorry, no sympathy.

Rob_l

doubledown wrote: »

You don't have a house alarm? In this day and age?

Sorry, no sympathy.

Us folk in Dublin wouldn't make a mistake like that eh?

cornbb

doubledown wrote: »

You don't have a house alarm? In this day and age?

Sorry, no sympathy.

House alarms are loud annoying pieces of cr*p and should be banned. I see no point in having one, unless its monitored.

arybvtcw0eolkf

cornbb wrote: »

House alarms are loud annoying pieces of cr*p and should be banned. I see no point in having one, unless its monitored.

Ok, what are you trying to sell?...

doubledown

cornbb wrote: »

House alarms are loud annoying pieces of cr*p and should be banned. I see no point in having one, unless its monitored.

It's a deterrent. Even if they break in and it goes off, they may not hang around quite as long as they would have if there wasn't an alarm. And hopefully they may not break in at all if they see that an alarm is fitted.

Smoke alarms are also "loud annoying pieces of cr*p" but they do an important job too, no?

Pigman II

There's a intriguing psychology to it all it must be said.

Imagine the Garda thinking "Hey wait a minute! Your family looks affluent enough to have a PS2 , but not a PS3!"

Saruman

doubledown wrote: »

You don't have a house alarm? In this day and age?

Sorry, no sympathy.

I live in a small town in Westmeath that people feel fine (until this week) leaving bikes and stuff in their front yard, leaving windows and even doors open or unlocked all day. Those that do have alarms do not even bother setting them...

In a City with a high crime rate, yes i would have little sympathy as its absolutely needed... Not in a small town in Westmeath though...

They could not lock my front door as it only locks if i lock it, and i did and took the key (no other locks or bolt chain). They did lock the neighbours across the street out though.

As others have said, they are useless... Alarms only piss off neighbours.
Im going to get one, but with an internal siren (dummy on outside) and one that dials keyholders. Would not bother with monitored like phonewatch as that is not needed. why pay them to call the police when i can do it myself after getting the alert.

No this should not be in the westmeath forum, its a general rant about thieving scum... not about anything that's special to westmeath.

My wife is American, one of the most crime filled countries in the world. I believe LA has more murders in an hour than we have in a year or something crazy like that. None of her homes have ever had an alarm... look about next time you are there... almost no one has an alarm. Her family have NEVER had anyone break in and they never even lock the front door when they leave.. although they do have a big Rottie

GhostInTheRuins

The same thing happened to us this time last year. Broke the window to get in and all they took was money and a flatscren tv. They didn't bother taking camera's, psp, pcs ect. My sister had some shop vouchers too, but they didn't take them. I think maybe if they were used you could find out when they were used and perhaps even see the lads on cctv in whatever shop they were for (Probably unlikely though)

What the cheeky ****ers did aswell was get into the attic and found all the old toys we used to play with, got a load of toy guns (Some of them looked almost real ,metal cap guns etc) and put one in every room. So if one of us came home they'd pick up the toy gun and we'd probably be scared ****less and not realise it was a toy.

We eventually got an alarm after that :rolleyes:

Edit: also, to stop the dog barking they just threw out a load of biscuits and stuff from the press.

Schlemm

Tis the season for that lark unfortunately....

I was in the vets the other day and the sheer amount of stolen animals, a lot of King Charles pups taken too. It really sucks, some people are just scum.

sdanseo

I don't understand why they'd leave a PS3 and laptop sitting in OP's house, yet steal one accross the road...? Must have been the kids on their own I would have thought, no adult, even a *distinguished member of a certain community prone to stealing things* is that stupid.

TelePaul

cornbb wrote: »

House alarms are loud annoying pieces of cr*p and should be banned. I see no point in having one, unless its monitored.

What about your studio gear!!!!

griffdaddy

sdonn_1 wrote: »

I don't understand why they'd leave a PS3 and laptop sitting in OP's house, yet steal one (ps2) accross the road...? .

Clearly their tv isn't HD ready, and they realised that playing a ps3 on it would be pointless as it wouldn't give its best display, a ps2 on the other hand....:p

TheBigLebowski

seamus wrote: »

Yeah, definitely sounds like a family of scum coming out of Dublin or one of the other cities, relying on the fact that in smaller towns, people may not be as inclined to install alarms and the Gardai may not be as quick or wise.

Haha. You're listening to your mammy too much. Do you tuck your money into your sock before you go up to the big smoke too?

Kipperhell

A guy I worked with came home once to find some of his stuff in the front garden. He looked about and noticed other houses had similar. Then he noticed the van being loaded with stuff further up the road. He rang the cops who said they would be there in a bit. He watched for an hour as the guys proceeded picking up stuff.
He couldn't do anything other than bring in his own stuff. It was a new estate where most people were at work. The cops arrived the next day. The van was a stolen van which they knew because the reg was given at the time. So an alarm monitored or not would have made little difference

seamus

TheBigLebowski wrote: »

Haha. You're listening to your mammy too much. Do you tuck your money into your sock before you go up to the big smoke too?

You think I don't live in Dublin?

eirebhoy

doubledown wrote: »

You don't have a house alarm? In this day and age?

Sorry, no sympathy.

My house was broken into last week. I live in the centre of Dublin. We're going to get an alarm now but I don't know anyone in my area with an alarm on their house. This crazy woman in the flats across the road has Eircom phone watch but that's about it.

You don't have a house alarm? In this day and age and you're just like 90% of people in Dublin city centre. I'm surprised you're surprised.

pretty-in-pink

Kipperhell wrote: »

A guy I worked with came home once to find some of his stuff in the front garden. He looked about and noticed other houses had similar. Then he noticed the van being loaded with stuff further up the road. He rang the cops who said they would be there in a bit. He watched for an hour as the guys proceeded picking up stuff.
He couldn't do anything other than bring in his own stuff. It was a new estate where most people were at work. The cops arrived the next day. The van was a stolen van which they knew because the reg was given at the time. So an alarm monitored or not would have made little difference

Thats a disgrace, and the Guards should be taken to task over it. Also why didn't the guy take the thiefs picture?

Saruman

sdonn_1 wrote: »

I don't understand why they'd leave a PS3 and laptop sitting in OP's house, yet steal one accross the road...? Must have been the kids on their own I would have thought, no adult, even a *distinguished member of a certain community prone to stealing things* is that stupid.

Its funny.. my wifes pink PSP was sitting on the couch.. when i was talking to the neighbours i said they must not have wanted a pink psp Then she told me hers pink psp was taken??? The mind boggles.

Actually i have an update... once the Crimes unit was done fingerprinting (no luck, they used gloves). I could check the office where the 2 pc's and laptop were. Anyway i have a little tiny seachest type jewlery box i use for old foreign currency i used to collect. I doubt its worth anything... some coins are old but probably not rare like some 1890's Irish coins.
Anyway among the spilled contents, emptied into a bag on a chair we found two items taken from the bedroom, one of my wifes watches and a necklace. So perhaps they got spooked and left before they finished taking stuff. I do know they did our house before the one across the road as they are sure they were in the house when they got home and legged it over the back wall. No way they would come back and do our house after that. Besides we my wife got home a half hour later.

Its possible they did not see the PS3, its in a media centre unit thing along with the TV,sky+,DVD player and stereo. Or maybe they left after getting spooked.

BrandonBlock

Does anyone else think this recent spate of break-ins is linked to eircoms (also recent) aggressive sales pushing of their phonewatch alarms? 3 people I know have got them in the last month, and they have knocked on our door a few times trying to sell it. - Won't take no for an answer. Conspiracy ¬_¬ - ? This is eircom we're talkin about!

ejmaztec

pretty-in-pink wrote: »

Thats a disgrace, and the Guards should be taken to task over it. Also why didn't the guy take the thiefs picture?

Sorry it's a bit late, but perhaps they stole his camera!

Do the Guards ever bother themselves looking for these people? Most of the cases I hear about, they might show up, but never do anything like dusting for prints etc..., just make a few notes, then disappear like thieves in the night.

masseyno9

Now is the time of year when they steal to order. Be extra vigilant and careful. Leave nothing visible if at all possible. Lock the shed, and try get an alarm sensor wired up to it. I had a bike stolen from our shed a few years ago on night of 22nd/morning of 23rd december. pain in the jaxie so it was.

Oh, and remember the rule we used to have on the building sites: 'If you can fit a pikie child through the gap, you'd want to board it up!'

jimi_t

masseyno9 wrote: »

Lock the shed, and try get an alarm sensor wired up to it.

Golden rule - know a guy whos done quite a lot of time for breaking and entering and he said he used to always go in the backgarden and use something from the shed (pair of secateurs or hedge clippers usually) to break in - so don't make it any easier for them.

(also even a fake "guard dog" or similar sign is a great deterrent).

Kernel

Saruman wrote: »

Its possible they did not see the PS3, its in a media centre unit thing along with the TV,sky+,DVD player and stereo. Or maybe they left after getting spooked.

Bah, if it was a wii or a 360 they'd have taken it.

muletide

I have Eircom phonewatch for three years now. It is worth every penny, only once has my alarm gone off. I told the guy on the phone that it would take me half an hour to get home. By the time I got there, there were two plain clothes detectives in my back garden checking the place out.

Turned out a bird had flew into the patio window and set it off (found the little fu<ker on the ground). The Gardai were very nice about it and said that it was not a problem and that they had got there 5 minutes after getting the call.

If you want piece of mind you wont get better than that

If you are getting an alarm - get a monitored one - get eircom phonewatch

Zzippy

muletide wrote: »

I have Eircom phonewatch for three years now. It is worth every penny, only once has my alarm gone off. I told the guy on the phone that it would take me half an hour to get home. By the time I got there, there were two plain clothes detectives in my back garden checking the place out.

Turned out a bird had flew into the patio window and set it off (found the little fu<ker on the ground). The Gardai were very nice about it and said that it was not a problem and that they had got there 5 minutes after getting the call.

And you believed them when they said they were gardai??

muletide

Yea, the Garda Badges and the unmarked car outside, complete with extra lights, aerials and radio equipment helped convince me.

Still nice effort at being funny - well done

d22ontour

muletide wrote: »

If you are getting an alarm - get a monitored one - get eircom phonewatch

Yeah the fact you may have been lucky with a 5 minute response is amazing to what the normal response time is.To anyone thinking of getting this worthless eircom piece of crap , just ask the seller next time he knocks , why it takes on average 40 minutes for a response and he will tell you they have reduced it from over an hour.

:rolleyes:

muletide

d22ontour wrote: »

Yeah the fact you may have been lucky with a 5 minute response is amazing to what the normal response time is.To anyone thinking of getting this worthless eircom piece of crap , just ask the seller next time he knocks , why it takes on average 40 minutes for a response and he will tell you they have reduced it from over an hour.

:rolleyes:

Whats a better alternative ? The response time is a Garda matter not for eircom. You still get a call and can notify neighbours or family if you cant get there.

Garda response times for all calls are slow in most areas I am lucky enough to live in a town with a very proactive Garda force.

Saruman

muletide wrote: »

If you are getting an alarm - get a monitored one - get eircom phonewatch

Or get an alarm with a dialler, that lets you and anyone else you nominate that the alarm has gone off. You can then call the gardai yourself, or better.. call the neighbours and ask them to take a look.