Teens knocking on door and running away.

[Jesse]

I think some teens ( i havent seen them yet) are messing with us at night. 3 times now they have kicked our front door really hard and have knocked on the back door where they had to come on the back deck. They are gone by the time i get to the doors. We dont know anyone in our neighborhood so i have no clue who it is.

They do this with the porch lights on and on random nights. What would you guys do in this situation? I have notice though its always around 7-8 pm. I need to catch these guys and do something. I just dont know what. Im worried they gonna start stealing stuff around the house or in the cars.

[Motasyco]

Concealed game cam.

[Guest brighac]

If you dont have a game cam. about 30 minutes before 7, hide in the woods where you can see who it is...if it is a bunch of kids, have the cops follow them home.  Im sure their parents will have more impact than you saying anything...

[UncleJak]

1: try and catch them in the act. If/when you do, try and get their parents' names, call them.

2: ask your local police to do extra patrol around this time

3: if all else fails set trip wires with high strength fishing line.

[R_Bert]

They will probably get bored with it soon enough. 

 

Print out a note - "smile for the camera!" and tape it to one of the doors.

 

B.

Edited December 13, 2012 by R_Bert

[Spots]

Leave the porch lights off and a few of these sitting around

 

 

But really, game camera in an inconspicuous place. Or hide outside, and when they kick yell freeze, and get their names and parents names.

[glowdotGlock]

I am soon going to purchase a 4 camera DVR with 3 outdoor cams and an indoor cam concealed as a smoke detector. I know you are just wanting to catch these (kids?) and a game camera would suffice but decent camera/dvr setups are relatively cheap now. I've got about a $400 budget but you can get some at half that and have constant surveillance. Also on another note, I'm going to install the dvr in my gun safe. I have a ruber plug on the back that will allow me to run the wires in. That way if someone were to spot the cameras and bust them or steal them which is very unlikely, the video footage would be preserved in my safe. Good luck

[TMF]

Game camera paired with trip wire initiated pyro, such as the largest firecracker you can get in TN. They will likely crap their pants thinking they were being shot at.

[glowdotGlock]

[quote name='TMF' timestamp='1355426071' post='859488']Game camera paired with trip wire initiated pyro, such as the largest firecracker you can get in TN. They will likely crap their pants thinking they were being shot at.[/quote]Or this^ haha

[Steelharp]

Game camera paired with trip wire initiated pyro, such as the largest firecracker you can get in TN. They will likely crap their pants thinking they were being shot at.

DING DING DING!!!

[TMF]

DING DING DING!!!

I do this every year with my Halloween decorations.

[RobertNashville]

I used to have a few kids who thought it was cool to walk through my backyard to get to their house (after the school bus let them off) rather than walking an extra 500 feet.

 

Since every few days I gather up all the droppings of my basset hound and rather than throwing it away, I started placing it in the route I knew they were taking.

 

They stopped walking through my yard.

 

Don't know if such a concept can work in your case but maybe. ;)

 

As to cameras...unless you recognize these kids and who they belong to, I'm not sure how that is going to help???  I think you are going to have to find a way to identify them and where they live...contact their parents and if that doesn't stop the behavior; get the police involved.

Edited December 13, 2012 by RobertNashville

[gnmwilliams]

Claymore

[Patton]

Motion activated water sprinklers.

[Chucktshoes]

Claymore

I like the cut of your jib.

[Caster]

Pitbull, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Belgian Malinois, Bull mastiff.....................................

[Chucktshoes]

Pitbull, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Belgian Malinois, Bull mastiff.....................................

Nah, I say get hogs. I mean those kinda dogs are cool and all, but they are a lot of work and you can't feed the bodies to the dogs like you can hogs. Plus, the hogs will eventually give you back bacon.

[gnmwilliams]

Motion activated water sprinklers.

 

Man it would stink to get soaked on nights as cold as they've been here lately. I'd sacrifice one night of sleep to lay in wait with the water hose and let em try to run home in sopping wet clothes.

[TMF]

Pitbull, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Belgian Malinois, Bull mastiff.....................................
Nah, I say get hogs. I mean those kinda dogs are cool and all, but they are a lot of work and you can't feed the bodies to the dogs like you can hogs. Plus, the hogs will eventually give you back bacon.

True, my dog usually spits out human body parts when she's done with them as opposed to digesting them.

[TNcitizen22]

In all seriousness. Anything that could result in them being injured (ie tripwires) could have legal consequences for you. I second a game cam.

[peejman]

Motion activated water sprinklers.

 

I like this idea but it might result in some retaliation.  Why escalate the issue?

 

The "smile for the camera" sign is a good idea.  Keep in mind that booby traps are illegal. 

Edited December 13, 2012 by peejman

[daddyo]

You need a trap door on your back porch.

[Caster]

Peejman's right.  Booby traps are illegal.  However, a back porch/yard full of junk and 'difficult to navigate in the dark' personal belongings such as coils of rope, stray lumber, ect is perfectly legal to store as you see fit so long as it is not a code violation.   :dirty:  A couple old tires in the darkest spots of the backyard........

Edited December 13, 2012 by Caster

[glowdotGlock]

[quote name='Patton' timestamp='1355427437' post='859506']Motion activated water sprinklers.[/quote]+10 I like

[TMF]

Peejman's right. Booby traps are illegal.

They are? I do the same pyro booby trap to alert me to vandals every year for Halloween after my stuff was trashed one year. Talking to a cop buddy of mine he thought it was hilarious.