porch pirates

Even though this is funny its not something the LAW laughs about and it's usually the home owner, not the thief, who will end up paying a penalty for such actions. The rules vary from state to state so be sure to research the law where you reside but in general if you "KNOWINGLY" cause or allow someone to be injured on your property, YOU, the home owner, Can and most likely Would be held liable.

This applies to any "booby traps" as well as "known aggressive animals" aka guard dogs. For instance most states recognize the "One Bite Rule" or "First Bite Rule" which is used to determine if the owner had previous Knowledge of their animals aggressive behavior. The dog mearly has to present itself as being aggressive and does not even need to bite someone! The act of simply jumping on a person knocking them down is enough to meet the definition! Now if said owner neglects to post any "Beware of Dog" signs and some thief decides to break into that dogs owners property and is injured by said dog then that Thief would have grounds to sue and will most likely win regardless of the fact that they were on the property without permission while commiting a crime. Basically in the eyes of the Law (thats funny cause I thought Justice was supposed to be blind) it is Unlawful to intentionally cause harm to ANYONE in Any Situation save one exception.....You are trying to stop a violent perpetrator from harming any person in that Moment in time while using Reasonable force to subdue the perpetrator!
To be honest I personally think thats all Bull$h!+ and the law is protecting the wrong people but im sure there was/is a valid reason for such reaction in human history!
 
A friend with a one man job shop bought a new chipper/shredder. After unpacking it, he filled the box with chips and other shop debris, sealed it up and put it in the back of his pickup, to be disposed of the following day. It was Friday, so he drove to the local watering hole for a refreshing beverage (or three). Imagine his surprise when he came out to find that the box had been stolen.

If the box is sealed, there's just no telling what's inside and no time to check.
 
All this reminds me of a story a co-worker told me years ago after a neighbor started stealing his newspaper off the porch every morning. Turns
out the guy was taking it and going to Denny's for breakfast, so he grabbed the paper as soon as it hit the porch one morning, removed it from the
plastic, rolled the paper around a pile of cat **** and put it back on the porch. In due course, the neighbor showed up, grabbed the paper and
headed for breakfast. After waiting a few minutes he followed him to Denny's, slipped in and sat across the room where he could see the guy.
The neighbor opened the paper just as the waitress walked up to take his order, which resulted in the waitress screaming and a pile of
poo in the guy's lap.

Never stole a paper again.
 
Superburban said:
Just get a cheap appliance, or a big flat screen tv box, full of cardboard. and a GPS tracker that sends it coordinates to your phone.

Want the booby trap route, make some spring loaded devices to push on a spray can, when the string is pulled. The spray can can be paint, a nasty smelling stuff like battery terminal spray, bug repellent, or what ever you can think up.

A walk through the hunting department, may come up with some other ideas, like making a device to dump the contents of deer urine.
Click to expand...
Can of pepper spray with simple spring loaded nail to Pierce the can. Very cool if ya could delay it so it pops in their car.
 
I posted the video link because it was funny to me. However, the legal ramifications posted by members should be heeded. I'm not above practical jokes (ask meniscus Bill about his coffee), today's society is more tolerant of violent civil disobedience than harmless humor. Buzz the tower Mav.
 
My ex father in law had a solution to porch pirates. He had a large metal box fastened to the deck and wall from the inside and a lockable lid. When UPS brought a parcel, they would place it in the box, close the lid and lock it with the provided padlock.

I live in a rural area and have not had a problem with parcel theft (well once years ago, but I knew who the thief was). But we are both retired now so at home most of the time. When I order anything, I follow the tracking and plan on being around when the delivery is expected. So far, knock wood, we have not lost anything.

I had always thought it would be cool to have a pet mountain lion who preferred to sleep on the front porch roof. It would discourage those pesky solicitors as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top