Stolen 1M CCTV footage

[Stuart]

I know that the politics of the average PHer are known to lean slightly to the right of the political spectrum, but are we really, seriously, advocating amputation or death for the theft of a motor vehicle? Without any sense of irony? Or awareness of quite what a bunch of reactionary daily mail reading idiots we look like as a result?

[lookatmypussy]

You're right Stuart - let the thieves get a few hours community service....

[Stuart]

lookatmypussy said:

You're right Stuart - let the thieves get a few hours community service....

That isn't what I said.

[joe_90]

Stuart said:

lookatmypussy said:

You're right Stuart - let the thieves get a few hours community service....

That isn't what I said.

A slap on the wrist then?

[thetapeworm]

I think it's fair to say there is a point between getting away with it and a brutal death but at the moment things seem to be more towards the lower end of the scale for car theft, burglary and general "wrongdoings to fellow human" crimes that don't involve direct violence.

Clearly rehabilitation isn't always the best option but at some point do we just have to accept that some people are unlikely to change no matter what you do? In these cases what's the balance between the cost of keeping them locked up to prevent their actions and letting them loose to do the only job they know they can do in order to retain the lifestyle the media makes them aspire to?

The people shown in the video here aren't just a random selection of "baddies", they are an organised gang, this is their chosen career and they seem to be proficient at it, what would it take to give them an alternative outlook? Take something they cherish from them? They would probably steal another one... if you tattoo their faces it becomes a badge of honour amongst them, imprison them and they make new contacts for when they get out.

There really doesn't seem to be a best way forward on this that skirts around being barbaric but still gives a suitable deterrent - what we need to do in the meantime is try to take as many steps as possible to secure our own belongings against them I guess, we shouldn't have to but clearly alarms, CCTV and gravel drives aren't enough

[BFG TERRANO]

Colonial said:

It doesn't shock me.

Amongst other things I'm a crime prevention through environmental design consultant.

CCTV only dissuades against opportunistic crime in limited amounts. This, coupled with the amount of fake cctv and ones that are never monitored means that a well organised criminal outfit, or even someone with some forward planning, will just take measures to mitigate their identity.

as a previous comment.."cameras indicate there is something worth taking, the flood lights show them where it is" unfortunately my guess is that motor was already on a container ship while the owner was still asleep.

[BFG TERRANO]

Stuart said:

I know that the politics of the average PHer are known to lean slightly to the right of the political spectrum, but are we really, seriously, advocating amputation or death for the theft of a motor vehicle? Without any sense of irony? Or awareness of quite what a bunch of reactionary daily mail reading idiots we look like as a result?

I agree something harsh needs to happen, not a bit of community service or suspended sentence. If we start killing car thieves where Does it end? What would happen to rapists pedos and the like? Where would it end? Security needs sorting at the ports making export harder.

[shoestring7]

BFG TERRANO said:

redtwin said:

I keep saying it in the hopes someone will listen. A £2 switch wired into the fuel pump or ignition loom and no OBD key programmer will start the car. Sure they could probably take the time to search for the switch, but that sort tend to not like lingering more than a few minutes assuming they even have a clue what they are looking for.

Another tactic would be disabling the OBD port. It is only used for diagnostics and servicing so no need to have it enabled on a daily basis. Crim sticks his programmer in, gets no joy with new key, gives up and goes away.

Any competent auto electrician could carry out either or both of those measures, though it is well within the realm of anyone who can cut and crimp wires.

It is a known problem, why sit back and hope someone else does something to fix the problem before it strikes you?.

simple trick from the days of rs turbo, cosworth, and astra gte. Switch in the boot for fuel pump or as a friend did up under the dash. If you have the money for motors like this a personalised immobiliser is pennies.

I can remember when the use of a centre punch near the door lock would release the c/l. I lost an expensive RST alloy wheel this way. According to the Ford people I know, the loveable scousers building the cars figured it out.

SS7

Edited by shoestring7 on Tuesday 3rd July 10:23

[djfaulkner]

Maybe the Blaster could be added to vehicle to deploy if the vehicle has been tampted with?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(flamethrower...

After all - Its also know as the BMW Flamethrower

[German]

lookatmypussy said:

Nicely put - my thoughts exactly. To work hard and achieve finances for a nice motor, only to have some hooded scum come and take it - punishment needs to be severe to deter this. I don't have a decent motor at the moment (by previous standards) as I'm out of work, but my German Shepherd is the best investment thus far. Hope all gets resolved op. Not even sure I'd want the car car back after being contaminated.....

Agreed, plenty of cars about, so when the professionals come scouting (as they no doubt did a few days prior) 50kg of Akita on the driveway means they'll just move onto the next one, through our lovely friends at the DVLA....would also be interested to see how much cross referencing is done between thefts and cars that had their drivers details pulled? It helps that my dog is free to roam the drive and garden, but even if it isnt. Dogs are unpredictable and cant be planned, none of them are looking to get nicked and despite being scum none are as stupid as you'd think.....and it would have to be an especially stupid one to risk it, a small friendly bark from Kara sounds like someone is about to lose a leg :P

[bigandclever]

Unfortunately, dogs get poisoned.

[German]

bigandclever said:

Unfortunately, dogs get poisoned.

Fair point, on a farm ect with a lot of space if the dog is the guard...if my dog barks, anyone in the house asleep or not is going to hear it and come outside. He wont bark for a reason other than people so I come for a look every time. Early warning radar of sorts, and backup if someone gets a bit punchy

[Crow555]

Stuart said:

I know that the politics of the average PHer are known to lean slightly to the right of the political spectrum, but are we really, seriously, advocating amputation or death for the theft of a motor vehicle? Without any sense of irony? Or awareness of quite what a bunch of reactionary daily mail reading idiots we look like as a result?

Indeed. Last time I looked we didn't live in the middle east. Calm down people. It's an insured piece of metal and glass. It's better they take it without waking you by standing over you with a boiling kettle of water asking where the keys are.

[Greg_D]

Surely BMW could just fit an arm/disarm ODB switch in the boot or under the bonnet, thus keeping within the 12" rule but making it MUCH harder to programme the odb. Also, they need to sort their alarms out as well.

It would be a pretty easy fix tbh. It's simply unforgivable that you can have your hand in a car without the alarm going off.

[RZ1]

Incredible this is becoming a joke now, when will BMW do something about it

[ali4390]

Stuart said:

I know that the politics of the average PHer are known to lean slightly to the right of the political spectrum, but are we really, seriously, advocating amputation or death for the theft of a motor vehicle? Without any sense of irony? Or awareness of quite what a bunch of reactionary daily mail reading idiots we look like as a result?

This is a good point. It's all well and good to suggest the death penalty for car theft, but putting someone to death for theft of a car is ridiculous. As a society we would just be going backwards.

I'm all for the death penalty for certain crimes, but car theft? Get a grip people!

[loftylad]

Firstly, OP, sorry to read about this. Utter Scum.

I watched the footage of the S3 being stolen the other week. Shocking.

The guys on here who think a great big dog in the house/garden will save them are dreaming. I don’t care how big and angry the dog is – these scumbag thieving maggots WILL deal with it.

One of my neighbours has a huge German Shepard (dog ) The thing scares me stless every time he walks it past me, but thieves broke into the house, did whatever they had to with the dog and locked it in an upstairs bedroom. They then took everything of value in the house plus his 2 motors from the driveway.

What I’m trying to say is – stealing cars are these no-good, low life, wasters JOBS. This is what they do to make a living. And some of them are extremely good at it.

You can have a ten big dogs, 3 locks on the OBD port, 12 CCTV cameras, switches in the boot, fuel switches, Car keys locked in a safe – but these stty wkers WILL take your car if they want it. It’s THAT simple.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I DO know that the answer is NOT to treat car crime like a petty, low rent offence as it is currently.

Car thieving scum know that the penalty Vs reward is totally worth it. If you took 43k from your local post office you would do serious time. Get caught for nicking a car and what happens? Community service? a slap on the wrist?

What would I do?

Seriously, this

First offence – Verbal warning plus graphic explanation of what will happen next time
2nd offence – remove finger from subdominant hand
3rd,4th,5th,6th offence – remove rest of fingers from subdominant hand in order
7th,8th,9th,10th,11th offence – remove fingers from dominant hand

My method has 2 possible outcomes. The thief a) comes to realise the error of his ways and stops early doors or b) is forced into early retirement when he can no longer operate keys/scanners/locks because of a lack of digits.

There is an added bonus to this system whereby these degenerate fks can be identified on a day to day basis by simply looking at their hands/stumps. (there is a slight problem for people who lose fingers in legitimate work related accidents etc, but I’ll put them down as collateral damage)

[Marf]

ali4390 said:

This is a good point. It's all well and good to suggest the death penalty for car theft, but putting someone to death for theft of a car is ridiculous. As a society we would just be going backwards.

I'm all for the death penalty for certain crimes, but car theft? Get a grip people!

He's right, we should reinstate the death penalty for murder and sexual offences before we consider putting car thieves into an industrial microwave.

[Sailorbaz]

As a new owner of an E90 M3, I've subscribed to this thread with massive interest.

[Coldfuse]

Pretty shocking viewing