If you are worried about them getting in the house thru your slider you can cut a closet dowel or broom handle the correct length and wedge that in the door so that it won't open. If you are worried about them breaking the glass to get in this won't help. I also think lights and radios on timers may help. Who would enter a house with a loud radio on??
I wish you luck, I know its scary.
Maybe you can call the prosecutors office and talk to them if you don't get help with the police...or befriend a police officer and ask them for help, without going through the chief.
Karen L

I have had bad luck with the x-10 stuff, the video quality is poor and the stuff frequently dies after a few months. I found some better stuff at www.spytown.com. You don't really start getting quality cameras until you spend about $200 or more for the cameras themselves (not including the time lapse vcr or digital recorder), but you can get some decent stuff for less from there that is still better than the x-10 stuff.

To secure a slider you need to place the broom handle (or anything else that will lay down in the track) and you need to see if the slider will lift up when open about 2 inches. That is how they are removed for repair. The lock will not hold very well against lifting. To fix that, put 3 or 4 screws into the upper track sticking out. Put them in just far enough to let the door slide open. Now if someone triwes ti lift it the screws keep the door in the frame since it cannot go high enough. Do not use a paintball gun, it is probably still a weapon.

Also look at radical solutions like selling out and moving.

(I once had a kid shooting out my electric meter with gun of some sort. Electric company determined it was the son of a police officer so I decided to just sell out and move. Percentage wise it was the best move of my life. Just bad luck turned good.)

Thanks again to you all. Great advice and a great site. I'm following up on most of the stuff that was posted here.

Just why exactly would a paint ball gun be classified as a weapon?

It fires a projectile. This is the kind of touchy thing that varies state by state, and even count by county. If the law defines something as a firearm that fires a projectile, a pint ball gun has become a firearm. I agree it's really stupid. But it does allow someone to be charged with armed robbery if they hold up a store.

Wow, I was only kidding about sitting on the porch with a .38 LOL... how about a baseball bat?!?!?!

ALex399,
The hows and whats of armed self defense are extremly intricate and vary wildly by jurisdiction. The real skinny is not discussed in public forums because you do not know who is watching. I have Gunsite training, a carry permit, a lawyer spouse, and still avoid any trouble that I can. The first rule of self defense is LEAVE. Most of the bad guys do not know what is and is not allowed for a law abiding person. Better they remain ignorant.

Buy a cheap large kitchen knife, different than anything you own. Buy .38 S&W. Shoot perp dead, put knife in his hand, Self defense. Hey, if it works for the cops, why not you?

Here in northern York County, Pennsylvania, crime seems to be nonexistant..And there is no shortage a police..There are , if anything, too many, or closer to the truth, poorly deployed.
So, where do you live, Reese??
It seems to be a "criminal friendly" state or area. It is a very bad thing when people live in fear, when the lawmakers and or the police refuse to act.
BTW, Reese , you are wrong to ask the neighbor to trim down his tall trees, particularly when he is incapacitated.
I feel that one of the reasons why crime has increased so much is that people are not as well educated as they should be. That is to say, we must know why the felon commits a crime and what the circumstances are that lead up to it..
But I also feel strongly that with your neighbors permission, bears traps should be set to catch the perpetrators. A man must be able to do what ever to protect himself as long as no innocents are harmed - trespassers are not innocent.

Using a weapon in self-defense for a one-time situation is one thing, and I recommend asserting your right to protect yourself. However, using a weapon in this situation, where you are probably not moving out tomorrow with no forwarding address, will only lead to escalation. It will not resolve the problem. People like this will only be encouraged by your actions.

It's all or nothing - either you take them out like Charles Bronson in Death Wish III, or deal with the situation more rationally and within the law. These kids will trip up and you can catch them and have them put away.

I still say kill them, use a throw down, and then sleep well...( from a victim of hate crimes that went unsolved by an unresponsive police department)

I fear that more and more people will have to die until "they" see the statistics and finally do something about it. You can look for an increase in taxes - or a decrease in social services - resulting in still more problems ! The lawmakers seem to only interested in stuffing their own pockets and lying to the public..
Anybody for a revolution ?

If you're a member at Sam's Club, try looking there. They have a decent camera system for about $150 (I think)

They have a display set up in the store that shows a monitor with the screen split so it shows 4 different cameras at once, and it was in color.

I'd stay away from the vigilantism (sp), not because I'm opposed to these punks get theirs, but because with today's messed up legal system, they'd probably wind up suing you and winning in court for "pain and suffering" and "mental trauma". If you don't absolutely love the place (except for this crap) I'd think about moving.

I did this a few years back when my wife and I shared a duplex in NJ with guy and his family that was in the "Russian Mob". Drove a Mercedes and a Jag, but never worked. Loudest f**ing people in the world, yelling and screaming at 3 in the morning. All kinds of shady characters there at all hours. 130 lb rotweiller barking all the time, in the summer it would be on the small back patio while I was out in the backyard with my 1 year old daughter, I was always afraid he would jump off the deck and maul us. We never had a 'bad' relationship with them except for a few times I had to bang on the door at 3 in the morning to get them to stop making so much noise. The funny part of it was the straw that broke the camels back was when I had a problem with a different neigbor (a stay at home drunk who started harassing my wife), the Russian Mob neighbor asked me what waa going on with him, so I told him, and he offered (and I swear he was as serious as could be) to "gid rid of him" for us. After I gave a polite "no thanks", I told my wife we're getting the hell out of here. Best thing we ever did. Good luck.

Mike K

New Jersey, Mike??
I have heard some very bad things about that state, I do not know whether or not it is a local thing or statewide..

Reese's state or locality must be "criminal friendly"..

I would move from there so fast, but then to find something better - that is a problem.
Lets face it, the police are not going to be perfect, or anything close to it. Too many, but effective, police is better than no police, but be prepared for some harassment and higher taxes.
I do favor vigilanteness, this, however wrong it may be, must be in place, and the criminal element must know about it.. They will be the ones to leave and then things will settle down. The law itself (and the whole system) , by refusing to do its job, has created the need for the vigilante..

A little off topic, but I had to defend New Jersey! I've lived in 3 different towns in Monmouth County, and I have to say that much of New Jersey is beautiful and low in crime. If you drive away from the airport (and the surrounding oil tanks) there are gorgeous beaches, horse farms, beautiful homes,recreation, etc. Yes, there is the Mafia, but I lived in Nassau County on Long Island and there was Mafia there too. Also, last year New Jersey residents had the highest per-capita income of all 50 states, so there must be something people like about NJ. There- I got it off my chest! Now if I can just get Jay Leno to stop cracking stupid NJ jokes!

I'm still following the posts and I'd like to tell you where I live, but I'm sure it will cause me a lot of grief. I've told the world the way cops are in my area, and to post the location would bring me too many headaches. Your posts are very helpful to read, and I keep learning things here that are helpful to me. We talk about moving reguarly. We're in the process of fixing the place up for sale. We'll get out. We just have to be patient.

I just had an amusing idea for you that you might consider.

In another thread around these parts the topic came up about neighbors unleashed pets using a yard as their toilet. One idea was to get an automatic sprayer with motion detector that zeroes in on the pet and squirts them.

You just might try using the same sort of device and see if it keeps the humans at bay too. :)

http://www.smarthome.com/6120.html

And then maybe someone will notice all the wet criminals around town and do something about them!

I agree with the sprinkler idea and the moving suggestion.

If you keep adding secruity, or shooting them with paint balls they will take that as a challenge and you only up the ante. I think getting soaked with water is mundane and irritating enough to take the fun out and keep the ante from going up.

Sometimes the best solution is to move, otherwise you are always tense and in a state of combat. Better to move on.

I'd move too but can't you get someone to install interior bars on your windows? Or measure and go get heavy duty clear plastic panels and screw in to the windows from the inside. Just make sure you keep a charged screwdriver around in case you have to leave by one of those windows.

Hmm..

I'm surprised no one has asked this yet, but Reese, why are hoodlums targetting your house!? I'd think that if it were the entire neighborhood that had these problems your HOA wouldn't be so strict with the rules.

Do your kids go to the same school as those hoodlums?

Hmmm...

pyano

Reese -
If you are getting no help from the local cops, call the state Attorney General and complain. Police MUST ENFORCE THE LAWS of the country, state, and city. Period. And if they don't, they are breaking the law.
The local cops MUST take a report from a citizen ... if they don't come to the house, go to the station and make the report. If they refuse to take it, they are breaking the law.

Also, telling the HOA to take a hike, and installing whatever youy need to install is a good idea. HOA regulations MUST BE REASONABLE. And preventing you from installing REASONABLE security precautions, the HOA is violating the law. They are not the tin gods they think they are.

Great suggestion dswallow. Thanks

Well Reese?

Any idea why these hoodlums are targetting only your house?

Reese said in the beginning that they weren't the only target.

It sounds like these kids are running amuck throughout the whole neighborhood.

Hmmm,

I'd look into who on the HOA board has kids or grandkids in the suspected age range of the hoodlums, then move to get someone else elected into their positions. HOA opposition to property owners securing their property can only be explaind by members of the board trying to protect someone.

pyano: Be specific about what you want from me or what you have to say. You know the answers to the question that you asked.

reese, if you do get the motion detector sprinkler, I'd love to hear your experiences with it. I wish they had a version that'd take a snapshot too. :)

Just be sure to mount the sprinkler on your roof so the hoodlums can't get to it with a baseball bat!

If you cna't catch em' soalk em'

Jasonoski

I would love to see how this problem plays out. I do tend to become overly emotional about this crime problem, thus I advocate that people do fight back rather than run. This may entail up to a loss in life, but remember one thing.. The criminal is a coward, and therefore will tend to run upon being confronted.
Reese, you have recieved a lot of good practical advice.. I would communicate directly with the local police - they are not all useless.. They should have some really good advice in the area of the security camera, set up, and location, also, they must know about the paint gun. Personally, I feel that any man who uses a lethal weapon in the commission of a crime should be penalized an additional charge of attemped homocide and should serve life in my type of prison - no bars, no guards, nothing, and impossible escape.

Don't -speak- to the HOA, send registered letters. Wait awhile for the response. Take ads out in the local paper outlining your problem, listing the names of the HOA officials, their phone # and addresses. Put up your own web site and be sure you got plenty of meta tags so if people do a search on the neighborhood or city, your page will be one to certainly come up in the search. Post on the bulletin board in the local grocery the problems with the neighborhood and the lack of effective response from the HOA. Say nothing you can't back up with solid evidence. Speak to others in the neighborhood who have also been vandalized and see if a large VERY PUBLIC and VOCAL lawsuit can't be started. Get a pic or two of the offendors doing what they do take to the D.A. If still nothing, you can hire your own prosecutor and press charges. All in all, you have to raise the noise to intolerable levels for the HOA. Keep increasing the pressure until they pop.

just walk around your yard carrying a shotgun every now and then.
Most guys after once seeing a female with a shotgun would tend to get nervous anytime they even get near your property.

If you know who these kids are, maybe contact their parents. Everything they break, the parents should be responsible for fixing.... how frustrating this must be for you. It won't really matter what you do to prevent this, until they are caught and get punished for it, they will continue to be destructive and inconsiderate.

The trouble is, the parents of the kids nowadays in my neighborhood are enablers, to put it mildly. Even if you actually see the kid, and he runs off before you can catch him, the parents of our troublemakers defend them and believe the kids, and not the neighbors.

Short of getting the cops there to handcuff them in time, the parents never believe it. And in our vandalism cases, the kids are gone before the cops get there.

When I was a kid, all the parents (mine included) believed neighbors over us! So we knew not to cross the line, and so did most of the other kids.

I know the type, and deep-down, chances are the parents really do believe you, and do know their kids are punks. The problem is, it's more work as a parent for them, and the kids are already that way because the parents don't want the responsibility of being a parent. So it's easiest for them to deflect the situation and take the pretense of defending their kid. Unfortunately, for the kid it validates their behavior.

One tactic that works for the neighborhood punks is a "neighborly intervention" based on the interventions used by drug addict's families.

You get as many neighbors as possible who have had problems with the punks, and call on the parents as a group, with evidence. You need at least a 10:1 ratio. The last time this neighborhood did this there were at least 30 of us.

You explain the legalities of the situation ... in this state, parents CAN be sued for damage done by their children up to $2500. That's PER incident, not a lifetime limit. And kids can go to juvenile detention centers for vandalism.

You then go arouind the group, detailing the vandalism you have seen the kids doing, and show any evidence ... seeing the video of his kid whacking up my cactus with a baseball bat cut the "my kid wouldn't do that" protests off quickly. And the kid had claimed it wasn't him ... caught on tape.

Then you tell them that any further vandalism will be reported to the police, that you will not settle for anything but jail time because it's a repeat vandal, and that the parents will be held financially responsible up to the full $2500 limit, because they have been officially notified and there are witnesses to that notification.

Our little cactus-whacker ceased to be a problem.

Have you offered to buy and replace your neighbors flood light for home?

the lazygardens has the best answer to this problem. A united community action can be a force to be reckoned with, and without any weapons - just sheer numbers- all outraged and caring. The streets and sidewalks belong to the people.All vacant buildings should either be sold or torn down after , say 90 days of non use.

Earthworm-
I live in a not-so-safe area, and the most effective thing we did was a "walk through" along the worst alley, about 50 residents with the heads of various city agencies who had to enforce the codes, a few uniformed cops, some well-known members of the vice squad, some people with cameras and a newspaper reporter.

You could see curtains twitching in the crack houses as we strolled down the alley,pointing out the code violations and listing the various times the cops had been called to the building.
Within a couple of days, most of the roaches had scuttled to new hiding holes.

Some of the neighborhood residents were absolutely furious at the publicity about our clean-up effort (the old "ruining the property values" wail of the cowardly yuppy who doesn't want to report anything that might drive up the crime stats), but I'd rather be known as a kick-butt neighborhood. They shut up fast when I said the next walkthrough would include a TV news team, so they could either get with the program and help the clean up or be part of the "tape at 11".

Sorry about your troubles. But since the police cant help, your assn. wont, and you've tried alot of things.....if it were me; I would have put my condo up for sale as soon as possible. Who needs this aggravation? Your kids are probably in a state of fear also. Good luck.

The heck with fixing up the place to sell. Sell it now! Are the lives or health of your children worth anything to you? In this world we never know when our time is up - you don't need the guilt of anything happening to your children or yourself. You said your a single mom - I was also (they'r now grown). Keeping my kids safe was number one on my list - I could always work to make more money - you can also. Move today - list the house tomorrow and be safe.

reese789, What did you ever do?

if your next door neighbor is ill... have you offered to replace that burned out bulb for him?

honestly, the one thing that worked for me when I was living in the slums was a mean trick- I left the big window open all year round, but I planted poison oak, as well. since most hoodlums aren't botanists, let me tell you, there were a passle of miserable boys in my area for about a month after that-

a year later, I LEFT that window open for the cats while I went out of town for 4 days, and came home to an untouched house.

I definitely agree w/ the video cameras, here's more ideas:

-plant very thorny rose bushes under windows, other places that they could break into your house, or hiding places. (remove non-thorny shrubs that could be used as hiding places)

-add _lots_ of "always on" and "motion detection" exterior lighting (both kinds)

-add some interior lighting near windows w/ random timers

-find out approx. what time of night they're stopping by and re-schedule your in-ground sprinklers for that time (or see if your sprinkler guy can hook them up to a motion detection system)

-sprinkle kitty poo (or something just as lovely) in their favorite hiding places

-find a local security company that will actually stop by your house in the event of some sort of "security violation" (being caught just once might do the trick and then you could cancel the more expensive security service)

-along the lines of the above, hire someone local who can 'catch them in the act' (or catch them on film) -- again, once might be enough

-find a very large male friend, roommate, brother, to house-sit on random occasions during the day or night (hide his car, or drop him off secretly so they have no way of knowing if he's actually around) don't hesitate to let him bring his very big, one-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth dog

-put up a fence(s)

-take their picture(s) if you ever see them outside your house (carry a small camera with you on walks)

-tell your HOA that you won't go against their rules and install the home security modifications that they denied as long as they sign an agreement that holds the HOA board members personally liable for any vandalism that could have been prevented -- maybe an attorney would write that up and send it with a nice cover letter for you?

-install more locks (do this anyway!)

-schedule your lawnmower or landscaper to mow your lawn/landscape during your highest "at risk" times during the day

-tell friends/family/co-workers where you live and ask them to drive by when every they're in the area

-start a neighborhood watch group

-put 'for sale' signs in the offending kid's yards (maybe someone will stop by and offer to buy their parents houses?) ok, this one isn't serious

If you don't care how "beautiful" it is....You could use a section of dog kennel inside your sliding glass doors.

First put down the broom stick (I'd use a 2x4). Stand the kennel section up to the wall and use metal to attach it to the walls with screws. Then hang a curtain over it. I'm sure they could cut through if they were desperate enough, but like one of the posters said, they want to get in , grab and get out. Also at night I would hang bells in front of the doors, if you are afraid of them coming in. It wouldn't stop them but it would give you a warning. If they come in...make the 911 call and then protect yourself and your children with "whatever" it takes.

Good Luck....and my best wishes for you to find a new place to live...

patti

Would love to hear an update on this!! Reese???

I love the sprinkler idea!

I was also wondering if you have a neighborhood watch. We had a great one.

We had a house of skinheads living in our neighborhood and they were real trouble. They were extremely loud, peed of the top deck into the side neighbors back yard, HUGE parties while listening to their very loud natzi movies, etc.

The police force took it serious when they had a neighborhood watch group complaining. Their hands were tied too, but one night they paid a visit to one of their parties. They were not suppose to park in the streets in the neighborhood we lived in, but they did because their were to many to fit on the parking pads.

The police went to the door and told them they needed to move their cars off the road or they would be towed. As soon as they got in the car and drove they got ticketed for drunken driving, some pushed their cars off the street, but they didn't all fit on the parking strips.

Anyway, the neighbors and the police got a real kick out of it. It was shortly after that that they moved. We made it difficult for them to live their lives the way they wanted to. It was good being part of a group too, because even though they yelled insults at us they never knew exactly who was responsible for their unpleasantness.

I would avoid face to face confrontations with kids like that. They could be violent and really hurt your family. The camera is a great idea, because you can't deny that. I drive a school bus and we have cameras on them. It is true that parents of kids like this are usually in denial. A picture is undeniable and nails them every time.

I also lived with a HOA. It was known to be the strictest one around...even though it wasn't the fanciest homes. We got letter from an attorney when we had weeds growing or such. I would think contacting an attorney and sending yours a letter with intent to sue over the issue if permission isn't granted may change their minds.

If it is in your backyard perhaps you could add a fence/hedge so that it isn't visible from the street. It is unfortunate that a HOA that can be a good thing int he right hands, can be so ridiculously stringent. Best of luck to you.

Why don't you get together with the home association and if you know the kids who are doing this, take the families to court. Small claims court should be enough. Sue the parents for allowing their kids to harass you. As an American citizen you have a constitutional right to privacy which they are invading. As far as why a criminal does what he does, who gives a flying @$#@%$@. You're not a social worker (though maybe you are,) but figuring out what makes a criminal tick shouldn't be your priority -trying to get rid of him should be. As I'm writing this I just watched a story on tv about a guy who rigged his house with a shotgun booby trap. When an intruder broke in to rob his house he got his head blown off. Nothing happened to the homeowner because he had a right to protect his property. I'm sure no one else in that neighborhood will ever think about robbing that guy's house again. LOL!

Try a rottweiler. Only the insane mess with them. But to cover yourself legally make sure the dog can't get out onto the street unless your method of restraint is tampered with. One of these dogs along with CCTV should not only cover you but also provide you with all the evidence needed to get these comedians taken care of (unless you live in the UK where you would get sent down for 6 years and the thugs will get an all expenses paid Safari holiday). One more reason why I don't live there any more.