Mark Green

Did anyone see the crime program on CH4 tonight?

The things they do to nick cars is unreal. One guy forced the boot lock from a car (I think it was an Orion) took it back to his car and read the key number off the barrel. He then cut himself a key using a machine he'd nicked from a locksmith and drove away.

I'm going to find if this can be done to Scoobies (I know they'd have to get past the alarm) and take appropriate measures.

One other guy had built a box to completely bypass the alarm / imobiliser / locks from a plug hidden in the wheelarch of all Rovers (not the newest ones.)

The answer I think is to add a non standard security system in addition to the standard ones. I recon if I wanted to nick my car the first thing would be to bypass the alarm which lets face it if you know exactly which model and make it can't be too hard since they are all the same. (ie you could work it out in advance on a mock-up)

Any other thoughts?

Mark

p.s. Rotweiler is on order.

MTR

MTR

[This message has been edited by MTR (edited 17 September 2000).]

Nightmare

agree with Nick - put and interesting variety of alarm stickers on - make one up if you can be bothered....pro car theives wont even try (thats why they're pros) and amateurs prolly wont be able to get past your actualy system anyway....

Doc

I'm glad I don't live in a long dark street with a big front garden!

We should adopt the three strikes and your out policy. If they get caught three times we chuck them in prison and throw away the key, and it wouldn't be one of those cushy open prisons.

You can see why the police spend time nicking motorists for going a few mph over the limit. Its so much easier than nicking real criminals, and even when they do the courts give such pathetic sentences, the scum are back on the streets continuing with their life of crime.

If I went out and stole a car, as a first time offender, I'd probably get less than if I got done for 100mph on a clear straight motorway.

James Adlington

I've always wondered about putting those stickers that come with your alarm on the windows. On one hand they show that your car has an alarm, on the other it lets the professionals know exactly what they've got to get around.

Nick

Stickers

Good point. The thing to do is to attach the WRONG sticker. I have done this on my Beemer.

brooks

What horrified me was how proud these scumbags were of being 'professional' car theives. I am not sure if the police are harder of speeding than car theft. I did see Police, Camera, Action this week which claimed speeding killed 1500 people per year. Very sobering.

James Adlington

You've managed to mention my 2 pet hates in one post - thieving scumbags & rubbish speeding stats! Not a good week for my blood pressure.

The only positive(?) thought from last nights program was that I'd rather one of those guys nicked my car (and I never saw it again) than have some spotty teenager thrash it about for a night, then I get it back.

DavieR

There's one sticker that should do the trick, a Tracker one. Too difficult to find the bits and even if it doesn't have one, a thief wouldn't take the chance.

Davie

Moz

I liked the comment from one of them that the joyrider element gave car thieves a bad name.

jjones@work

I am fairly certain that TOAD alarms and their other security systems come supplied with only one type of sticker leaving the thief the dilema of - is there just window film installed or a full alarm/smoke system??

I'm starting to look into the whole security issue a lot more thoroughly!

[This message has been edited by jjones@work (edited 12-01-2000).]

pwebb

you folks surprise me..
I thought the program verged on the absurd - the lowlifes interviewed would not have a hope in hell of getting round a modern car alarm/immobiliser - they were only able to get into the car by caving in the door locks etc. (or by means of a freshly cut key) - about the level of the average 11 year old joyrider - this may be ok for nicking 10 year old fords/rovers etc. but there is no way that the same guys would be able to get around a cat1 alarm - sorry but it is myth that there are 'experts' out there that can 'take any car' - an installer will tell you that most makes of immobiliser have 50 -odd wires - all coloured the same and no way of telling which is which (except during fitting of course) This is precisely why the criminal community is forced to seek out the keys/alarm fob in order to take a car these days - bad news as this probably means breaking in to premises whilst the owners are inside!
Unfortunately,though, there are still a large number of scumbags out there who will rip the door/ignition wires apart on a car in a futile attempt at stealing it - usually resulting in a hefty insurance claim. This is why visual deterrents are so popular - e.g. disklok and handbrake type locks.

The only thing that apalled me was the shockingly bad level of journalism displayed by C4 !

fwiw I work in one of the roughest areas of north manchester - once dubbed car crime capital of europe - we have had many instances of cars broken in to (1 per week a couple of years ago) but on no occasion has ANY car less than 3 years old been stolen. Sure, many have had severe damage inflicted - but only the older/less well protected cars have been driven off the site.

This hasn't stopped me investing large sums in state-of-the-art car security - I want as much protection as possible, but I do wish people wouldn't make out that there are 'super' thieves out there who can nick anything - lets have some proof first eh?

cheers,Paul W

(hope I'm never proved wrong !)

Nick Lines

Disagree completely about tracker sticker: I'd rather they didn't know it was there. They'll nick the car, hopefully not have too great a hunt for the unit (it's not difficult to find, unfortunately) and suddenly find a helicopter above them.

This "standard fit" alarm scenario is why I wasn't bothered about my Dutch import not having an alarm: it's now got a clifford concept 600 on the car, which most certainly isn't wired up in the same way as every UK spec car handled by IM...

There aint 50 wires going to immobilisers - or at least any one that I've seen.

Still, the sobering voices on this thread are right: cars as well protected as ours are hard to steal without the keys. This is probably why stories of people being threatened for keys are getting more common, but my humble brain would say that this is a much more serious crime and people are risking more to do this. (Possible) Break&Enter, (possible)threatening behaviour/attack, TWOC,... I would hope that the courts would be a lot more hard on that offence, as it's not "just" TWOCing.

I'll still sleep at nights.

rsquire

OK People so here's my story. 4K miles,based in "the scariest part of South Wales"

Now for the truth. the local offenders program guys loved my 22b took them all for a good blast in it. There was never a problem even on the Gurnos Estate which is reputably the worst in the UK.

All I got were long admiring looks and a lot of people who enjoyed my car

Richard