New Harley & some monkey business

[roscoe46]

I live in Conroe, Tx., down on the south end of town, at the extreme
outer edge of the ghetto/barrio without pinpointing my exact location.
I recently bought an almost new '06 Harley Sportster, which I've
been waiting almost 30 years for.
I live in a townhouse that has carports built into the building, just
like a garage, except no door.
Saturday, I washed my SUV & just happened to notice that our
security gate was slightly open; it has no physical lock or any remote
type operations. I close & secure it, no big deal.
Sunday morning, I go downstairs for a quick smoke, finish it & get
ready to back upstairs. I glance over at my bike & there is a little
leather thingy on my clutch lever; its 1 of those little keeper things
that you use on an overnight bag to pull the handles together with,
but it didn't come with the bike.
Monday, I'm ready to leave for work & my wife asks me to take the
trash down to the dumpster. Drop the trash & just happen to glance
at the wooden fence beside it & there's gangster graffitti, just 1 sign,
that I sure wasn't there previously.
I'm not really sure whats going on here, if some BOOGER-EATIN' MORON
is trying to send me a little message or trying to put a target on me &
my Harley.
I reported both incidents to Conroe PD & both LEO's said I'd probably
be justified in the use of lethal force since most of these BEM's usually
have a screwdriver & often times something more deadly along
with them. They also told me my biggest problem would probably be
momma & daddy DARWIN trying to go after me with civil action.
I've previously taken a CCW class & we were told of a Texas law, can't
remember the # or statute, that basically says that if after dark or it
may be 10pm-6am, you find some BEM prowling on your property, that
you can use lethal/deadly force.
Also, the mentality of most of these BEM's is that if you have a Harley,
you probably got some more good stuff in the house, so let's kick the
door in. My wife doesn't work & keeps our grandson & she doesn't
know the 1st. thing about guns. I'd just hope she could hit 911 real
quick & get the cops here.
I'm posting this here hoping that, YOU, some of my fellow TEXANS can
offer your comments & any advice that would helpful to me. I'm in the
process of getting some security items for the Harley.

Thanks guys,

Be safe,
Ride safe,

roscoe46

[j1132s]

Buy a cover for your bike?
Put it into a self storage or some other kinds of garage w/ doors?
Have you noticed any scratches on your bike? At least nobody tipped it over.

[txinvestigator]

I've previously taken a CCW class & we were told of a Texas law, can't
remember the # or statute, that basically says that if after dark or it
may be 10pm-6am, you find some BEM prowling on your property, that
you can use lethal/deadly force.

Negative. Texas laws allows a defense to prosecution for using deadly force IF you reasonably believe that it is immediately necessary to prevent the imminent commission of theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime, or to prevent the imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery anytime.

Deadly force is not justified to prevent or stop "prowling" on your property or trespassing.


I am curious where the spray paint was. Was it YOUR property or common property?

Also, the mentality of most of these BEM's is that if you have a Harley,
you probably got some more good stuff in the house, so let's kick the
door in. My wife doesn't work & keeps our grandson & she doesn't
know the 1st. thing about guns. I'd just hope she could hit 911 real
quick & get the cops here.
I'm posting this here hoping that, YOU, some of my fellow TEXANS can
offer your comments & any advice that would helpful to me. I'm in the
process of getting some security items for the Harley.

Thanks guys,

Be safe,
Ride safe,

roscoe46

Beef up the locks and tell your wife to keep the doors locked. Don't answer the door during the day. Install an alarm system with a loud siren. Get her to the range and get her trained.

[MTICop]

completely!!!

[jbirds1210]

I once hear that a good rule of thumb to justify a shooting is to take the item or person that you are protecting and imagine throwing it into a shark tank....

If you would dive into that shark tank to rescue it, keep your eye on the front sight and do what you have to do.

If you would shake your head, watch it drop to the bottom of the tank, and hope for another one someday....it is likely not a good idea to shoot.

If it is not worth dying for.....go back inside and let the police handle it.

If I were in your shoes....the motorcyle would be insured and I would make a phone call to the insurance company to repair damages.

Momma gets protected with everything I have....she is worth dying for!

Just my opinion......YMMV.
Jason

[JLaw]

.

If it is not worth dying for.....go back inside and let the police handle it.

If I were in your shoes....the motorcyle would be insured and I would make a phone call to the insurance company to repair damages.


Jason

Amen.

JLaw

[phddan]

Hey roscoe,
Read and re-read what txinvestigator posted.
Try and get your wife interested in self defense with your weapon/s.
Get a chain and a good lock, and get a brake disk lock. Anything to slow them down.
If they are after your bike they will either be looking to ride it out of there, or putting it in the back of a pick up. Either way there will be at least two of them. Keep your head on a swivel and dont just focus on one thing.
Get to know your neighbors. Maybe ther have seen some things also. Get their phone numbers and give them yours.
Keep reported all suspicious activities to the athorities, if for nothing else but to get a paper trail.

I know I for 1 aint giving nothing to no low life punk that I have worked hard to get. I aint never bought into "its just a thing, let insurance handle it." But it all depends on the situation and how your are equipped to deal with it.
If I found some scum trying to jack my 96 road king, you better believe I'm going to do something about it.

Wish I was closer to you to to help out.

Dan

[DaveT]

roscoe,

As a long time Harley rider, I can sure understand your feelings.

I'll leave the legal aspect of things to others who have already answered, let me offer a few ideas on the Harley and storage.

1.) If you are worried about an immediate threat to your Harley, contact your local dealer and inquire about leaving it stored there for a while.

2) With a carport type arrangement, you can check with companies that make chain link dog runs They usually don't cost that much and are four sided, chain link fencing on 3 sides, a gate on the end that can be chained and locked securly, chain link fencing on the top also. The entire enclosure can be secured to the poles, etc. that hold your carport up. In the duplex complex that my son lives in, several folks have them for their dogs, the ones for larger dogs would fit a Sportster easily.

3) Buy a cover to keep what is under it out of sight. Buy a motorcycle cover that has no brand emblems on the outside, most criminals look at the big Harley logo as a 'steal me' invitation.

4) With an enclosure like I described above, or even without one, you can go to Radio Shack and get a proximity alarm with a very loud siren for not too much money. That would at least warn you or your wife if anyone was near the Sportster.

5) Go to Lowe's, spend under 50.00 and get a good motion detector light that will light up the area where your Harley is. Chances are you already have a porch type of light for your carport the wiring is probably already there. I installed one a few weeks ago in my back yard for our dog when he goes out at night.... took way under an hour for the install.

Good luck !

[cloudcroft]

roscoe46,

I think the best solution is to MOVE!

Yeah, it's a hassle and you shouldn't have to do that but the trash in the barrio isn't going to move. It doesn't sound good where you live presently and I suspect that whatever you do now is only going to postpone the inevitable: Your bike stolen/trashed and/or a confrontation with x-number of low-life gangster punks.

But perhaps the more important question is why would you want to live in ANY part of ANY town where you have to be so concerned about crime issues day after day?

At least consider moving to the OTHER side of town if there is better, or, if Conroe itself is overrun with low-lifes, look for another place to live.

You might start your research here:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/

...where you can read about people's impressions of other cities in various states, including Texas, as they look for information about relocating. The City-Data website also has lots of into re: demographics, race, income, crime, weather, and other stuff one would need to locate a place of interest to move to.

Maybe there will be some stuff about Conroe there in the "Texas" section...do a search here and see:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/texas/

Personally, I am looking to move to NM (not because of any particular crime problems here in El Paso, TX, -- although we have LOTS of gangster punks/barrios here, too -- but for other reasons).

Good luck,

-- John D.

[KD5NRH]

5) Go to Lowe's, spend under 50.00 and get a good motion detector light that will light up the area where your Harley is. Chances are you already have a porch type of light for your carport the wiring is probably already there. I installed one a few weeks ago in my back yard for our dog when he goes out at night.... took way under an hour for the install.

$50? Go to WalMart and get one that handles dual 100W floodlights for about $20. For bonus points, put it in a location where it's unlikely to false, and one of the bulbs can be aimed in your bedroom window to alert you while the other lights up the snooper.

Alternately, I don't know of any reason one of the sockets couldn't have a socket-to-oulet adapter, (also cheap at WalMart) with a radio or something similar turned on and plugged in to give you an audible alert.

Several web stores also have glowstick-based tripwire setups, (disturbing the wire activates the stick) which might also make for a low-impact way to alert you. (put the stick just outside a window you spend a lot of time near) Also on the tripwire idea, WalMart had a neat little item that was basically a tripwire rigged onto a small digital clock; disloding the wire stopped the clock so you'd know what time game used the trail. They were two for $10, IIRC, and I'm kicking myself for not picking up a pair. If anyone knows where to get them at a similar price, let me know - knowing what time someone is messing with your stuff can be a huge help in catching them.

[fm2]

You might be interested in these. Driveway Patrol motion detectors, from a place called "As Seen On TV.com". They cost about $14... $20 with shipping.

[KBCraig]

Game camera. With flash.

[gigag04]

actually, if you could get that circuit in the proximity detector and then wire it, through a fuse of course, into the gas tank, when it trips, it'll blow the whole operation.

If you don't get it, nobody gets it, right?

JK - seriously though I want to echo the posts of those who have beat me to it here. Good advice on proaction and (lack of) reaction posts.

-nick