TexasCHLforum.com

txinvestigator wrote:How many posts are you going to make about your interactions with the police that are not CHL related or humorous?

I wasn't aware that they HAD to be either. The category name is "LEO Contacts & Bloopers". These are LEO contacts.

Personally, I thought the kid giving me his ID card was hilarious. The other was posted as a positive contact with a LEO in spite of the difficult circumstances. If you don't like them, don't read them.

seamusTX wrote:Just so everyone knows, sharing broadband or cable TV off your premises is theft of services. Time-Warner prosecutes it when they find it. I don't know about the phone company.

Also, letting yokels connect to your network opens the door to viruses and trojans.

- Jim

That is very true, didn't know about that at the time. Just thought I was doing a good deed for a friend in need.

It is also a great way to spread viruses. I'm overly paranoid about that stuff, being an IT guy. His system was loaded with stuff. I would regularly go over and clean his stuff. Don't know why he never bought a virus scanner.

Also, if you have a wireless router, PLEASE use encryption. When I set up my wireless network in my apartment i found 7 completely open wireless routers that anyone could freely connect to. Not only are you letting folks suck up your internet for free with that but you're open to viruses and anything they do that's illegal is traced back to YOU. All it takes is someone connecting to your system and downloading naughty pictures of the underage. It gets traced back to YOU and you had no clue anyone was ever on your network.

always always always use encryption.

happy to talk in PM about that stuff if anyone has questions.

Generally speaking, I'm a good boy and don’t get into much trouble but I wanted to share this.

A little back story…

I live in an apartment complex and had an on/off friendship with two sets of neighbors. When they were sober they were great but that was seldom the case. At one point I was letting one of the neighbors use my DSL service via a network cable dropped out my window and along the wall down to his apartment. Was supposed to be a temporary thing as he was having financial difficulty.

I really thought I was being VERY cool about letting him piggy back off me.

During that time my DSL was spotty for some reason and would disconnect a lot. The crazy neighbor interpreted this as me jacking with him by randomly unplugging the cable on him. I tried to explain that MY service was going out too but he wasn’t trying to hear it. He’s one of those guys that thinks everyone is out to get him, especially when drinking.

He started to talk some smack so I finally told him, “Look dude, I don’t think this is gonna work. I was just trying to help. I have no reason to mess with you. Lets just disconnect and let it go before someone gets irritated.� I got the cable back from him.

A few hours later the other neighbor comes over asking to buy the network cable from me so that HE can share his DSL with the first dude. I just laughed and said… no, you can’t (they’re hard to find in that length, I didn’t want to sell it) but you can use it and warned the guy about the paranoid conversation I had with the first guy and then gave him the cable.

Well, two weeks go by and both guys start talking hardcore smack and just generally being pains in my keister. So, fed up with the whole situation (and frustrated over many other past incidents) I go out in the middle of the night and cut >> MY << cable that they had buried under a sidewalk between them. I realize, a bit juvenile, but I was really miffed and felt pretty much taken advantage of. In hindsight I should have just asked them to return the cable.

The next thing I know there’s a LEO knocking on my door. He seems pretty annoyed at being involved in the whole situation and asks me if I cut the cable. I tell him that the cable in question is MY cable and I'll be happy to show him the spool of the exact cable it was originally made from and that I was letting them BORROW the cable in question but that I had NO idea how the cable was cut or damaged (fibbing obviously). I honestly couldn’t help but get a huge grin on my face at the absurdity of them calling the cops for cutting my own able, which annoyed the officer even more. I politely apologized for him being involved in the situation. He read me the riot act. He knew what was up and knew that I wasn’t going to admit anything because it’s criminal mischief if I can’t absolutely prove it was my cable 100% which I might have had a hard time doing in court.

Ultimately he gave me a stern warning and went on his way. I was overly polite to the guy though. I felt horrible that something I was involved with got the police involved on such trivial matter.

It just amazes me what cops have to deal with on a daily basis. I guess that’s the moral of the story. It equally amazes me that they called the cops for me cutting my own cable too though.

I did end up having to call the police on the neighbors a few times for silly things like playing an electric guitar (with amp) on their front porch at 3am (20 ft from my front door), moving their entire entertainment center outside and cranking it up to watch movies together and eventually for planning my murder in a drunken party on their front porch. (had the camera out recording their little party for the leasing office). The murder thing didn’t stick because they didn’t actually say my name, but I made copies of the tape and stashed them with friends and informed the guys about what I had as a little insurance policy just in case something DID happen.

I have to say that the LEOs always handled themselves professionally every time they were involved. I know it had to get old.

Luckily one of the neighbors finally moved. Once those two were split up things really started to quiet down.