| Author | Message | ||
     shh Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 629 Registered: 5-2001 |
Over the past several days my husband has noticed several kids (two kids with one bike, not sure if it was the same kids each time) around various Maplewood neighborhoods, spying inside open garage doors. He hasn't seen them take anything, so he hasn't called the police, but just be careful—if you have bicycles inside your garage, keep it closed...and, if you see unfamiliar kids snooping around your neighbors' yards, make your presence known. (Or call the police if that makes you more comfortable.) | ||
| mgl Citizen Username: Mgl Post Number: 60 Registered: 11-2001 |
Spying into garage doors warrants a call to the cops. | ||
| ReallyTrying Citizen Username: Reallytrying Post Number: 129 Registered: 1-2003 |
Which "various Maplewood neighborhoods"? How old are the kids? | ||
| shh Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 630 Registered: 5-2001 |
Tuscan area and Underhill area. I didn't see the kids, but I think he said 13 or so. He asked the kids by Underhill if they were looking for something, and then rang the bell to let the homeowners know to look out. Tuscan area was a little frightening to me— we had been working in our front yard, I went inside (locked the screen door) he was in the back with the kids, but our car was in the driveway near the street, open. He walked up front and saw the kids sitting near the car (on the sidewalk) and they told him they needed to use a wrench to fix their bike, and could they use the phone. He said no, and if they needed a phone to go to the Police Station, and did they know where that was. I guess they got the hint. | ||
| ReallyTrying Citizen Username: Reallytrying Post Number: 130 Registered: 1-2003 |
That is frightening. Did you call the police? (Does anyone know if police monitor postings here?) | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 3338 Registered: 5-2001 |
Was the bike the kids were riding broken? Sounds to me like they were just looking for a wrench. Sometimes paranois can be carried a little far. | ||
| Jackie Day Citizen Username: Zoesky1 Post Number: 82 Registered: 6-2003 |
Almost four years ago I was hanging out on a weekday afternoon with my newborn baby when suddenly two kids were walking down my driveway toward my garage, which happened to be open. I think they thought no one was home, because there was no car in the driveway at the time. I went out on the side porch and said, "Do you need something?" and they said no and ran away. It spooked the hell out of me. They were all the way down my driveway and acted rather suspicious. I never called the cops (dumb), but I really got nervous. Since then, I haven't really ever left my garage door open unless I'm outside doing things nearby. They were probably looking for a bike or somethign (too bad...all they would have got from me were some rusty gardening tools and a bunch of empty boxes). It was the trespassing aspect of it that scared me. | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 1699 Registered: 5-2001 |
I don't think there is anything to be afraid of in terms of physical danger. We've always had a lot of bike theft in this area, but it's usually earlier in the season. A former neighbor had so many bikes stolen from the garage that he closed off all the windows- and that was 10-12 years ago. We had our bikes stolen from our garage in May 1999. Our windows weren't covered & didn't lock (they were so old that they didn't really open very well). Now, the windows are nailed shut. We have a snow blower that is locked up with a very heavy chain. The other thing to be aware of is that, if you park your car in the driveway, don't leave your garage remote in the car. Although - I haven't been putting my car in the garage & two weeks ago, some kids tried to steal it. They didn't get it, but did $1000 worth of damage to the lock.  | ||
| Joan Citizen Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 1880 Registered: 5-2001 |
Two kids on one bike looking to be two kids on two bikes? If in doubt, you should report your suspicions to the police. At least three posters to this board have identified themselves as Maplewood Police Officers so it seems likely that the police are monitoring portions of this board at least unofficially but the police will probably need a more formal report: when and where the kids were seen, what they were doing at the time, a physical description of what they and their bike looked like, etc. in order to be able to check out the observation to se if it merits further action. A timely call to the PD, immediately after the incident perhaps, would be a lot more helpful than a vague posting on MOL. In the meanwhile, it is a good idea to keep your eyes open, your garage locked, and your neighborhood watch (if you have one) alerted. | ||
| deadwhitemale Citizen Username: Deadwhitemale Post Number: 375 Registered: 5-2001 |
There is no relationship between casing the joint, and stealing from it. The young criminals maybe were lost, or admiring the garage door opener mechanism, or the ease of stealing from suburbanites. But, innocent, they would say. DWM | ||
| mim Citizen Username: Mim Post Number: 273 Registered: 5-2001 |
This also happened to me, in the CHS neighborhood. Garage doors open, no car in the driveway -- I happened to look out and noticed two kids in the driveway, one of them nearly inside the garage, the other close to the sidewalk, on a scooter. I leaped to the conclusion that they'd ripped off our kid's scooter, and went out screaming. Kinda dumb in retrospect, but I was furious. They just laughed at me, but hustled themselves around the corner as quickly as possible. I did call the cops, who took a description and cruised the neighborhood. However, I WAS wrong about the scooter -- I later found ours in the garage. Oops. Still there was no legitimate reason for them to have approached our garage. | ||
| Robert Little Citizen Username: Boblittle Post Number: 57 Registered: 4-2003  |
This thread points up the need to form neighborhood watches. Shh, I'd love to talk about setting up one for Tuscan. The events many posters describe demonstrate the need to call the police more readily. Entering a garage fixing to steal something is not trespass but burglary, a third degree crime rather than a disorderly persons offense. Increased vigilance will help prevent all sorts of crimes. Also, there is a tendency for repeated crimes. Once one finds success stealing from a garage in a neighborhood, the criminal goes back to the same area again and again. The police will not act like you're wasting your time. Calling in this situation is appropriate. | ||
| mim Citizen Username: Mim Post Number: 274 Registered: 5-2001 |
Absolutely -- the officers who responded to my call took me very seriously (even when I had to confess the scooter WASN'T missing). | ||
| shh Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 631 Registered: 5-2001 |
Well, by my house they didn't even go near the garage, they were just sitting on the sidewalk. (Which is a bit peculiar, BTW.) By Underhill, they were obviously looking to steal a bike. Next time we will call the police. | ||
| deborahg Citizen Username: Deborahg Post Number: 654 Registered: 5-2001  |
We had a bike stolen out of the garage. | ||
| Dave Ross Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 5062 Registered: 5-2001  |
I've left the garage door open, facing a park with bike in full view... and it wasn't stolen. I don't know if I have a point here.... | ||
| redY67 Citizen Username: Redy67 Post Number: 86 Registered: 2-2003 |
We had our garage broken into, and they just looked through our stuff threw some stuff in the lawn. I have had several neighbors that have had their bikes stolen out of their garages. | ||
| sac Citizen Username: Sac Post Number: 668 Registered: 5-2001 |
We have had two bikes stolen from our garage at different times (about a year apart) when the door was inadvertantly left open. The second time the bike in question was locked up, but with a fairly weak chain that the thief cut with our garden clippers (hanging on the wall). We are now being more scrupulous about keeping the door closed and mostly keeping the bikes in the basement. | ||
| copihue Citizen Username: Vperalta Post Number: 37 Registered: 1-2003  |
I live on Valley, and every week in the summer months kids walk on the sidewalk screaming at the top of their lungs nothing intelligible. Before moving here I lived on Maplewood Ave., and the teenagers made a racket there also, with their skateboards. Maplewood Ave is an echo chamber which amplifies all sounds on the street -- keep that in mind when walking on a quiet evening with a friend while you have an intimate conversation -- so it was torture having to put up with the kids. I hear from friends who still live on Maplewood Ave, that they haven't stopped the disturbances. The whole point of the action seems to outrage, annoy and anger the adults since nobody can possibly be trying to communicate anything while shouting like that. I wouldn't be surprised if those same kids who are checking out the garages in town are also reading these postings and enjoying every minute. Have you tried engaging the kids in civil conversation? probably destroy any fun they might get from ruffling our feathers. Do you remember what you did when you were a teenager? My friend and I took up the sport of shoplifting when we were teenagers. Yeah. All I had to do was to ask my parents for tennis balls or whatever junk we were taking (taking things which would meet our needs would not have made it fun), and they would have bought it for us. But it was fun stealing it, to test and transgress the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Mabel Schumaker had a chat with me after getting caught for the first time, and she told me that she would send me to juvenile hall if I tried that prank one more time. Cured me forever. They'll grow out of it eventually. | ||
| NRL Citizen Username: Nrl Post Number: 163 Registered: 8-2003 |
Your bikes stolen, your car broken into, your neighbor is nailing his windows shut? Why is this tolerated? With all these taxes we pay we each should have our own private security guards for gods sake. Chain my snowblower? Where do we live in the Bronx? We should not have to chain up the snowblowers or bikes in our own garages, we should be nailing the little bastards that steal them to the wall and holding their parents accountable if their too young to serve time. We need more agressive policing and no tolerance for even the smallest crimes. I will be damned if I am going to chain up my stuff so some punk kid doesnt steal it or violate my property. These incidents should be brought up at every TC meeting. I would like to hear what our officials have to say. This is not acceptable at any level. |
