OT: Observation About Thefts

When I was growing up, I heard a lot of wisdom from my dad [some of which soaked in, while some didn't]. "Pappy" always said that generally, a thief would never steal something that he'd actually have to do some manual work with to use it, unless he had plans on selling it. And when I was a kid, that was generally true.

But these days, it seems to me that a thief will steal anything from anyone, for any reason OR even for NO reason. Is it just me, or has the "honor among thieves" thing also fallen by the wayside along with the other deterioration of morality these days?

I think you are correct. Little these days to discourage theft, i.e. probation, community corrections, or a nice cushy jail cell with color television two or three decent meals per day, etc.

If we returned to hard labor for even minor crimes perhaps things would quickly change. How about an hour of rock crushing with a sledge hammer for a speeding ticket, loud exhaust pipes, small change shop lifting, etc.?

Lock up anything that can be converted to drug money.

What your Pappy said still holds true in some cases.

When thieves broke in to my truck box they all took was the jumper cables and my small tool box, but left the shovel (even though it was obviously brand new).

Apparently they were not too intelligent either. James had put the bodies (saw less the bar) of our two best chain saws in the box. The thieves didn't know what they were looking at or they would have stolen the chains saws, too.

There have been equipment thefts around here where guys were running excavation outfits or landscaping with stolen equipment. A huge excavator was stolen last year from a highway project - a couple of guys, a semi, a lowboy trailer were needed. The state police said whoever did it knew what they were doing, it wasn't a bunch of crackheads. I think anything is fair game now. They busted a collision shop here 2 years ago. First they busted for crack, then the found a meth lab in the building, then a marijuana grow op, then realized the guy was running a chop shop also. And a bunch of illegal weapons. Owner was 45 years old, been in business 20 years, "pillar of the community" He posted a 1 Million cash bond. It isn't just the trailer park types ya gotta worry about.

Example set in Washington D.C. and now being carried out at State and city levels without any shame. Instead the perps seem indignate when confronted.

dog woke me up one night barking. Meth head was in my shop. Only one problem for him was that the dog would not let him come back out. I told him if he could get past my dog and my .45 colt then he was free to go. He chose to wait for the cops. I should have just shot him and claimed self defense.

Anything they can convert to cash quick is what they steal here. Chainsaws are very popular as are ATV's.

It is hard to find honest crooks these days. There is a code of honor amoung crooks.

About 20 years ago my house was broken into.I was telling a freind about it,he asked"Did they take all your tools."I said,no,they did not take a single tool.His responce was Well,you know they don't want to work.Ya,no crap.Thats why they are robbing my house.

While in the Army in Al I saw more that one gang in whites weed whipping the shoulders with the boss holding a double barrel year 1968. Wallace gov then???

Serveral years ago I was pouring a tennis court for the school. Every day a dead beat known for stealing drove past slower each day. On Monday morning he stopped to visit, and look around. I was ready to visit, and decided I needed something out of the cab of my pickup while he visited with me. After opening the pasenger door he exclaimed-- a 870 Remington hu? I said yea, a twelve guage and handed it to him. I said becareful there is a hot one in the chamber.

He asked why I would leave a hot 12 guage in the truck? I said -- since Nam I've always wanted to just kill some one! Don't you ever get those feelings once in a while? My desire seems to be worse when I hear those crazy voices in my head!

The story on the street to another kid is that I'm crazy and would kill anyone for no good reason. ---seems he never wanted to be the reason.

Most thieves are drug addicts (at least around here), and will take anything they can turn into cash. New houses have been stripped of plumbing before the buyers can move in. Churches have had their copper roofs stripped. A hundred-year-old bronze bell weighing several hundred pounds was stolen and broken up for scrap.

I had a number of tools stolen a few years back. The dummies were too lazy to go out of town to sell them; I found them the next day at a second-hand tool store. I thought the sheriff's department had a solid case against the thieves, given that the store had made a copy of one of their driver's licenses. But the DA was too busy prosecuting high-profile cases to be bothered with a mere burglary.

Many years ago I had my briefcase stolen. The thieves ditched it a couple of miles away. Apparently they expected to find a gun. Now this was a Zero Halliburton case worth around 300 bucks. I also had my passport and checkbook in it. The only thing they took was a $20 calculator. But it cost me 200 bucks to replace the window they busted out of my pickup truck. (This was in Los Angeles, by the way, in case anyone thinks Michigan has a monopoly on stupid criminals.)

They broke the window in sons car the other night. Alarm went off. I was out the door immeadiately and they were gone. Don't know how the idiot did not see the red flashing light next to the drivers window which he broke. All they got was a hat and a pair of Groucho glasses with nose and mustache. Trouble is it cost the son $200 for a new window. Wish I got out there sooner.

WHOoee,when I read the o.p. I thought it was referring to D.C.politicians.Speaking of which,I wonder how much longer it will take them to rescue those unfortunat prisoners in Arizona from the mean ol sherrif that forces them to wear pink undies and eat "tha loaf".

I had a 66 ford pickup that some idiot broke out the vent window on the passenger side.Guess he was to lazy to notice that the driver side window was down. All he took was a bag full of dirty clothes,I had just come back off the road.Two weeks of dirty underwear and socks and he leaves the Fluke meter in the seat.