Rash of break-ins at my apartment complex

You're dumb.

Now about what you should do... I think you shouldn't get involved in beating up crooks. You may end up dead. Keep your valuables out of your car. Don't leave anything that looks valuable in it.

... and then pray you don't get a bunch of vandals doing something to your car just for kicks.

 

Is your apartment complex gated?

 

I would be tempted to do the same thing, but realistically, it wouldn't be a smart thing to do. First, these punks may never even show up again. Second, they may be carrying guns. No material possesion is worth losing your life over. Just consider yourself lucky that your car wasn't one of the ones broken into, and keep your valuables out-of-sight.

 

Ah, I know those places - "Gated" is a joke. My sister lives in a gated apartment complex in Arlington, and at first I was skeptical that it would mean anything - until I met the owner of the complex.

What you need to get is a paranoid, old woman to run the place. There's a gate - but only the police, fire department and ems know the code. Everybody else gets a key card - and only one key card. If you lose the key-card, you're SOL. There's only one entrance, and it's tough to turn into from the street.

 

My girlfriend lives in a gated community. They have those remote control openers they give to residents and everyone else is supposed to call up the resident you're visiting and have them buzz you in.

Problem is, there is a code to open the gate and someone has helpfully written it right above the keypad, defeating the entire purpose of the gates.

 

On one property that I managed a guy reported that his dented driver-side door had been stolen. We all rolled our eyes and filed a report so he could use his insurance to get a new door. A day or so after he got his new door, they stole his car.

 

Do you live in Austin?

My gated complex in Austin had a gate that hung open most of the time. Not that it bothered me; it seemed safe enough up there for the most part. Someone did break into my truck once and started working on the steering column, though. I was inside my apartment only a few feet away from it. They appeared to have abandoned the job and left; the complex was large and there are people coming and going at all hours. I suspect they saw someone else and got scared. I was just relieved that the truck was still there.

 

Isn't it legal to get sniping guns? Cuz they made a big deal about gun control with the whole DC sniper thing.

Just thought something you can look into if you really want to go the vigilante route, though I wouldn't recommend it.

 

I doubt the thieves will return any time soon. Now, people will be watching. No point coming back now. In a month or even a week or two, perhaps, but not just yet. I had someone bust in my window and steal my palm pilot about 5 months ago. It wasn't a huge thing, as I was feeling guilty for buying this $150 Sony Clie (basically the same as a Palm Pilot) and not using it very much. But the thing is that I still had to pay about $150 to get the window replaced (through insurance). And cleaning up all the glass was a pain . . .

I'm with the people who say gated = no real security. It's not hard to just follow a car through the gate, or just find another way in. I never know anyone's gate codes or anything, I just wait until someone goes through and just follow that car in my truck, or walk right on through then . . . Sometimes though, if someone's got a guard at the gate, it's a REAL PAIN to get past him . . .

 

Do what I do.

Drive a crappy car

 

I like your bat suggestion although I doubt they'd come back to the same complex twice. Thieves are afraid of everything, even your bat for instance.

 

Or you could do what this guy did here in College Station:

http://www.theeagle.com/region/localregional/083104thief.php

Updated August 30, 2004 11:51 PM

Trial begins for College Station man accused of motorcycle theft

By CRAIG KAPITAN
Eagle Staff Writer

A College Station man accused of stealing a Suzuki motorcycle went to trial on theft charges Monday, a year and a half after being hit over the head with the butt of a gun owned by the vehicle’s owner.

Matthew Lyle Addison, 23, was detained by motorcycle owner Matthew Coons in March 2003 after the A&M student returned to his apartment to find his motorcycle missing.

Driving around with his cell phone and a 20-gauge shotgun , Coons eventually came upon a street where Addison was sitting on the ground working on the bike, prosecutors Jarvis Parsons and Brian Baker told the jury during opening statements.

“He caught a thief red-handed,” Parsons said, explaining that Coons then used the butt of the shotgun after Addison looked as if he was about to run.

While the motorcycle owner waited for an ambulance and police to arrive, the suspected motorcycle thief began to stir again, attempting to flee as he regained consciousness, Parsons said. At one point, Addison bit Coons as the motorcycle owner struggled to keep him in place.

“Finally, the victim warns him, ‘I’m going to punch you in the face if you try to run again,’” Parsons said. “He warns him again and finally ends up hitting him.”

Addison also is accused of struggling with College Station police officers, who eventually accompanied him to the hospital for injuries sustained by Coons.

Defense attorney Kenneth McGuire declined to give an opening statement. The defense has not yet had an opportunity to present its case.

The motorcycle owner, who now lives in San Antonio, was one of three people called to the witness stand by prosecutors Monday.

If convicted of the theft between $1,500 and $20,000 charge, Addison could face up to two years in a state jail facility.

 

That's been my experience with Riverside and Oltorf too. My first year off campus, I lived in a gated complex just behind the Clicks that's on Oltorf. Everyone, and I literally mean everyone who came to visit me in their own car eventually got broken into. My friends who lived just down the street never had their car touched until they came to visit me.

The really messed up thing is that not only was there an entrance gate, but you had to know a code to get out of the damn place too.

Then I moved to an ungated complex for a couple years, and there was only one car that got broken into: DT's prelude. They stole his CD player and the MP3 player he had in there.

But now I'm sick of riverside. I live off of Far West.

 

The Victim is the person who had his motorcycle stolen. How is this confusing?

 

Could be worse...could be a breakout of rashes at your apartment.

 

It was a joke.