Is it just me or should i be making a complaint ...

wrighty43

So to start of, i live in a big city as you can tell, and i live in a good area.

Firstly i had my bike nicked before christmas, about October. It got robbed from inside my garage. Just before this i noticed a group of kids hanging around (kids being 16 roughly)...So i thort fair enough, probs nothing...reported to the police etc and said about the kids and they said nowt they can do, insurance paid out and i got an even better bike so i was sort of glad...

So about a month ago i came back from a long long cycle and was knackered so i put my bike in the garage for 30 mins whilst i had a shower (i now store my bike in a more secure location across town(my parents who have a VERY well secured garage) ..i noticed the same (or so i thought) group . after my shower and stuff i went out put the bike in the car and took it home (no kids around when i did this)... i came back home and was fine... i park my car right outside my garage... just as it went dark i heard a bang and their was a group of kids sat on my car going at my garage with a crowbar... so phoned the police who asked for descriptions and said they would send someone straight away..... 3 hours later, one garage door down and numerous scratches and dints on my car a plain clothes officer turns up, says their is nothing he can do and it was not serious so they wont take the descriptions properly plus i might have mis-seen them cause it was dark, even though i have a light on the top of my garage and could see and id them clearly. ... this was rather annoying....

moving on, i did roughly the same the other day with my bike, and again low and behold a the same group of youths going at my garage, again i rang the poikce who said they would send someone straight away....about an hour later someone turned up long after the kids had sodded off... BUT i took a video and pictures of them going at my garage.. VERY good quality ones of their faces and them actaully doing the damage.. But the police would have none of it saying it wasnt evidence..

Am i missing something or are the police having a joke, i am sure they should take that as some evidence and lock these little sh*ts up ... They hang around near the bus stop a couple roads all the time and i and my partner can ID them from previous encounters, yet the police do nothing. Also on one occasion they had bikes with them, and i could have sworn one of them was riding my all bike...as in it was the same model, same scratches etc and al the other bikes were a pile of shit ....

So a complaint needed ???

supersonic

Does sound very poor from them. I would certainly take it up with the relevant people.

Which part of Sheffield is it?

wrighty43

crookes, but more towards the fulwood part.

Normally the sheffield police been good, they caught the person who broke into my car in the city centre straight away and most dealings have been good

supersonic

Had a word with my brother, who has passed his exams to get into the police (just waiting for the medical then he starts!), and his advice is that if your property is been attacked, dial 999 ie an emergency. They should send an immediate response.

KnightofCydonia

goto local news. Nothing gets an anxious response from the police than being shown up like the clowns they are.

wrighty43

yeah i might say that last time... but when i phoned them up last time i said they were vandalsing my car becuase they were sat on it and kicking the wheels and stuf and the ooperator got really arsey and sait it wasnt vandalism...which also annoyed me beyond aanything ...

gbrnole

If some 16 yr old kids were sitting on my car going at my garage with a crowbar i'd be out there with a friggin bat or atleast some pepper spray.

Besides how is a video of youths comitting criminal damage not evidence? Arent we in CCTV Britain?

wrighty43

yeah but if i go out their and kick the Sh*t outta them, or more likely me and mates (as i couldnt hold my own for against anymore than 2 of them lol)we will get in trouble and they will walk away scot free..

batch78

What a joke.

Only way your gonna get old bill there quickly is to assault them, or lie, tell them they're beating up some old woman in the street.

Either way it'll be you that gets reprimanded. :evil:

ride_whenever

or you could say they're damaging your property so you're going to stop them...

that should get them round fairly quickly seeing as then there are minors in danger...

gbrnole

wrighty43 wrote:

yeah but if i go out their and kick the Sh*t outta them, or more likely me and mates (as i couldnt hold my own for against anymore than 2 of them lol)we will get in trouble and they will walk away scot free..

I probably wouldnt go out with the intention of hitting them but i would go out creating a scene to intimidate them in the hope of them not returning. Im sure shouting "Oi" at the top of your lungs would make them scarper pretty quickly. If it came to it and i had to use the baseball bat in my hands as self defence so be it, i'd win!

JxL

get a flamethrower, that will sort the kids out!

wrighty43

iwould jsut like to point out i would like to NOT go to jail, nor be taken to court in any way for violent abuse, it will not look very good when the next company i go to crb's me and it comes up with assault lol..... But if they nick my new bike i will be hunting them down.......

Whytepeak

Take bike out of garage, replace with vicious dogs, leave garage unlocked - wait for the entertainment

M6TTF

Get it all down on paper, dates and times and make a formal complaint.

stumpyjon

Next time tell the operator you're going to batter them, that'll get the police moving, nothing they like more than arresting an innocent person defending themselves. Obviously don't actually do anything but at least they may bother to turn up as there may be a 'real' crime to sort (not the pretend ones the kids are committing :evil: ).

Mrs Toast

The problem is that a lot of forces don't give a toss about property damage, or theft. I don't think this is entirely their fault - I think they're so bogged down with excessive paperwork and targets, they're forced to focus on violent crimes (as they're the ones that make the papers and the statistics) and motoring offences (because it's an easy catch).

Although Leamington police did catch the guy who nicked five bikes in one day from our workplace. The kid had also nicked a couple of bikes from Sainsburys the week before. They'd got CCTV evidence...plus the kid was a known offender. They described the inside of his flat as being 'like Halfords' - loads of bikes....but none of the ones he nicked from work.

He got community service, and I know he's paying one colleague back the princely sum of £4 a month. :?

I did chuckle at [url=: http://newsbiscuit.com/2008/07/18/polic ... squad-320/]this[/url]article though.

Steve_F

It's a terrible feeling when something like this is happening. Even when they are just sitting on your car you don't know whether you should go out, call the police, shout at them or leave it.

Think I'd have to go out if they were breaking in but would be worried about how it would turn out.

Sometimes if they aren't doing something like breaking in reporting it or shouting at them can make it much worse.

I feel sorry for you, can't be fun knowing they spot you everytime you come back with your bike.

Could you get hold or a crappy bike and wire it up to a couple of car batteries? That would be amusing when they grabbed hold of it to take it! You could even leave it round the corner so no one could link it to you.

ratty2k

alex.hulme wrote:

If some 16 yr old kids were sitting on my car going at my garage with a crowbar i'd be out there with a friggin bat or atleast some pepper spray.

And we all know the results of that happening in my home town- Warrington.,Gary Newlove paid with his life.
Violence aint the answer.
I'd be on to the papers about this, sounds like it is targeted? Certainly worth as sonic says going through the channels- there must be some kind of forum where you can meet the police and explain/ complain?

BenS999

Some serious action needs to happen here before it gets to the stage where they get in again or you confront them and it gets messy. You need to make an appointment with whoever is in charge at your local police station first and consult them, with your video evidence. Then i suggest the local papers, with or without the police's consent. Finally when they are on your property again call 999, if you get attitude from the operator take their full details and suggest that this forces you to take things into your own hands - with them responsible as they refuse to act. Whatever you do though, it better to let the bast4rds get on with it as your life is worth more than a car/ bike.
This is a very sad state of affairs.

I do have another idea though...
You could get an old second bike and booby trap it somehow...
How about and electric shock? i suppose and extension lead plugged into a wall socket in the garage running up the frame with 2 exposed wires on the grip means anyone grabbing the bike would close the circuit and get a nasty little shock, in the dark no-one would see the wires...
Just a though of course...

anyone else got any ideas? there must be plenty...

Kiwi Kranker

Fire hose.

I have suggested this method for getting rid of squatting scum in houses that are about to be demolished and they wont leave. Way too much money and time spent on lawyers and police to get rid of these oxygen thieves. Nice big powerful water hose/canon would do the trick.

Hardly like the police can do you for 'cleaning your garage door' and some kids happend to run in front of the hose.

NB, I am talking about a hose that you can barely handle it has that much pressure behind it

geordiefreerider

Why dont you organise a get together round yours for users of bike radar ? we can all come round, have a few beers then go outside when they turn up and systematically beat them down with seat posts and monkey lites :roll:

Jellyyacht

Nothing seems to work any more, kids can do what they like as the plod are so worried one of the little darlings mike make an accusation of police brutality if they got involved.
Used to be a time when taking them home to their parents would have been enough, the plod would take the kid home and Dad would beat the shiny out of him when said plod had left. Crikey I'm old.

clodhoppa74

wrighty43 wrote:

yeah but if i go out their and kick the Sh*t outta them, or more likely me and mates (as i couldnt hold my own for against anymore than 2 of them lol)we will get in trouble and they will walk away scot free..

as the law stands, if they have weapons and you are in fear for your safety, then you can fight back.

my advice (i did doorstaff training a few years ago) is this:

if they are on your property then you have rights. if they're on your drive you can ask them to leave, while taking photographs and video, and make sure they see you taking the shots. it's about them knowing they've been seen.

ask them to leave, from your doorway. do not approach them first. tell them you have called the police and you want them to leave. also tell the police you're pretty sure you saw a knife in one of their hands and they threatened you.

then step out your door, but safely near, so you can dart inside if need be and keep filming them. if they make any move towards you, you can go inside and shut the door. if you're not sure of yourself you won't win a confrontation. if you are sure, then you've got a chance to get one of them, and then i'd say drag him inside, smack him, then make sure you're hurt too, so you can claim he pushed his way in.

i was told, by coppers, when we were robbed, that if i caught them, to knock them out, then put a knife in their hand and tell the cops why you hit him.

not always the nest suggestion though, and you have to live there, so i wouldn't suggest violence unless you're willing to take it all the way, at any time in the future.

the police should be doing something about it. apart from anything it's vicimtisation, not just property theft. there is a police complaints committee, and i'd ask to see someone at detective level or above, at LEAST sergeant, to make a complaint, and if they play up, then take it to the complaints committee, again, letting them know you'll do so.

say you're willing to co-operate, and would help if the decided to try and do anything.

beyond that, it's down to really hurting those kids, which is nasty, and you never know what family they have, or how far they're willing to go, especially i fyu have a wife and kids.

i'm not being funny to those who suggest battering them, but please, this is real life, often dealing with people who don't care for anything anymore, so you have to care less than they do to beat them, and that's not a nice place to be.

moggy82

Just tell the police your gonna get your shotgun out and sort them out, they will soon turn up them.

I know thats from a old joke but it sure would work. It really does annoy me, the police constanlty sit there looking for speeders, everything i have ever had nicked, 2 cars broken into, has never had anything proper done about it. Its a joke. Theft of property and vandalism should take a much higher priority.

will3

Surely:
tasty bike + tracker left somewhere obvious = theiving scum caught in pretty short order.

Trouble is all they'd get is a supervision order or summat. Now do something really bad like let your kid truant from school - that's jail.

Why the police are incapable of this I have no idea.

usedmarin

youd be better off calling the police and telling them youve been attacked and that they are trying to enter your home and garage, that you are scared for your safety and that of your property.
dont mention they are children, just say your scared for your life.

alternatively grab one and beat the life out of him. dont report it.
its an urban ledgend i suppose but the story of the man who finds a burgler in his house beats him sensless , throws him over the back fence. fixes the break in damage. when faced with the cops the next day asking about an assult reported by the burgular says, ....break in ? in my house? if that happened do you not think i would of reported it officer?


also you might want to bear in mind that you might have to record any crime at your address when it comes to selling on? that could hurt your chances of selling the property.

Finbar Saunders

+1

Describe it to the 999 operator as an armed gang trying to break into your house. Completely true. Sound panicked. Once you say the address hang-up mid-sentence with a scream.

Daz555

If you have a female around when this happens, get them to call whilst crying on the phone.

You could also perhaps install some crazy ear-bleeding klaxon and set it off when they turn up.

pilsburypie

This is a sad state of affairs.

The immediate feeling as suggested by so many here is a dose of rough justice, the only language these louts understand. Quick, severe and merciless. But that is ill advised. If by some miracle the police were to turn up immediately and manage to apprehend the offenders, they would be let free with a caution at best and be round your house the following night to finish the job. There is no way to punish these people as they probably live in houses paid by us the taxpayer, get drunk off money provided by us and do nothing for society except scrounge benefits and provide menace and misery for hard working citizens. They are above the law and know their rights.

If you were to go out and kick one of the yobs in the nuts, you would be arrested, held in a police cell, charged with assault, be up in court, loose your job, loose your house and car because of that and end up with your wife divorcing you. You would loose everything and the yobs would laugh as they rode around on your bike.

Don't know if this is a national campaign or just West Midlands Police...."The policing pledge"? They promise to listen to the community to help rid anti-social behaviour.... On second thoughts, get the bat......

jamieh5463

Get a Doberman/wolf/werewolf or a vicious mutant to savage the chavs/pikeys