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T O P I C     R E V I E W suzeeh I work in downtown Dallas for a law firm and got off work tonight, came home and discovered my new patio umbrella is gone. Last week my son had mulch and dog crap put in his car that was left outside the garage. He's 17, I work all the time and have basically no life so I'm assuming it's someone connected with being mad at him. I can't afford an alarm system and don't know what to do to protect myself anymore. I realize it's just an umbrella but it's the idea that I feel I can't even go to work without something happening anymore. Any ideas what other people do would be helpful. Do you put locks on your backyard gates? Thanks. ninjaman I've been locking my gate for the last 12 years and have never had a problem inside my backyard, of course that didn't stop the vandals from painting graffiti on the outside of the fence, or from putting superglue in my vehicle door locks, or from egging the outside of the house. Don't take it personally Suzeeh, it is just the way a few teenagers are raised. Call the cops, they'll probably take your report over the phone, ask them if you can get a squad car to give your place a couple of extra driveby's . I think the best thing you can do prevention wise is upgrade your outside lighting. For less than $100 bucks you can go to Sears and get some halogen flood lights with sensors that will make it look like the sun is coming up in your backyard and driveway. For another $100-$200 you can have some additional lighting wired up and really light up the town. It's a good investment. civicminded Sad and frustrating indeed!! But you're among mischief veterans here, as you've seen in older posts. Perhaps you've considered the weather events...blowing away the umbrella? But even that said, I understand the other stuff is vandalism! Also one can consider the security camera idea. It may not prevent stuff, but may help to identify these "perps". Lighting has been suggested, and this is often helpful. Lights can be timed, or operate by motion sensor as well. Or, one can just rotate the lights used, much like when you take care of someone's home for them. It might help to have dogs, or react to neighbor's dogs when they alert. One can sometimes tell when dogs alert as opposed to barking at balloons, moon, sirens, and other dogs. A neighborhood Watch group (also in here before)might be helpful too? In any case, call Police as suggested. They haven't always responded, but they will at least know what events are in what areas. This helps them focus resources there more routinely. pkstewart I know someone who installs and maintains security cameras as a side business (as well as home theater systems) and their services are affordable. Email me and I can give you their phone number. They can also put up "housing" that actually holds a survelliance camera, but without the camera. Anyone looking at it will actually think you have a camera but you don't, its just the housing. Motion sensor lights are definetly needed outside and will help. He is also an a master electrician too so he can wire the lights for you if you need some help. Its the summertime and bored kids are out there. Others are having problems too. I have had someone draw a penis on my steps with sidewalk chalk twice now. I want to ring their necks. I'm just about ready to put a camera out front to catch the perpetrators. I'll be putting up every little piece of chalk from now on too. I was so erked with the "drawings" I went to every house on our block and asked the kids and parents if they saw anyone. I talked to one parent and someone keeps shreading their newspapers and throwing them on their lawn. Another time they took a wet newspaper and pelted their back fence with it. I don't think these incidents are personal, kids are just finding things lying around, e.g., mulch, newspapers, chalk, then looking for an opportunity to vandalize property with what they find. I hope they get caught soon. VGotway We've been locking our gate since our dog figured out how to open it. Cheap and easy way to keep pets in and strangers out! allensince1979 I have locks on my gates to protect my dogs when they go outside. I hope you've reported these incidents to the police. We also have always kept our cars in the garage. If you have your garage full of junk maybe you could rent a storage for your junk and keep the cars in the garage. suzeeh I immediately had the police come and they took a report but basically as always they say there is nothing I can do if I don't have a witness see them do it. I usually have the cars in the garage. It just so happened it was the one time it wasn't in the garage. I'm getting a lock immediately. I have two dogs. They never want to go in the back yard when they go out now and I've been wondering why. Maybe I have my answer now. They probably have seen the person(s) doing this and are scared. Thank you all for the tips. I will email about the security info. I'm a single mom working at night so I need to have more protection. Just not really electronically inclined so will have to pay to have it done. pkstewart And remember, locked fence or not, don't leave things like brooms out or a brick by a gate to keep it open. They can break a window with those kinda things. Also, if the pretty side of your fence is facing your yard, then your horizontal fence boards are facing the alley and can be used to scale your fence if its a standard size fence. Next time you build a fence keep that in mind. And doors that have windows should have locks that require a key to unlock them, not the standard kind where you turn the lock thingee. All you have to do to break in is break a pain of glass and reach in and turn the lock. If you have to open the locked door with a key from the inside, you have to break the door down which will make a lot more noise. denisew We have always had a padlock on the gate to our backyard. A couple years ago we even had a sliding gate installed to keep people from cutting through our yard. We also have open picket style fencing first to allow breeze to pass through our backyard, but second, even though we give up a little privacy, our neighbors can also see into our backyard if anything suspicious is going on. I feel more secure with this new fence than I ever did with the six foot wood fences. And I ditto what everyone else here said - to call the police. ninjaman Suzeeh, when you get your lights installed, go for overkill. The hallogen light I have installed by the garage door is so bright you have to put your sunvisor down to drive into the garage. I know it works, it has a motion/heat sensor and everytime it goes off I can hear dogs barking up and down the alley, so I know someone or something got scared away. Tell your electrician you want the brightest lights possible, with a motion/heat sensor. sirhotwheels The other thing you can do is ask your teens to tell there friends that it is not a good idea to be stealing stuff from folks. I found two young men going through my tool box once. They where very unhappy when I chased them down bare foot and took them home and made them tell their folk what they had done. Most other times it happens and ther is nothing we can do about it. There is a guy here in town that installs night lighting for your yard. The best part is that it is low voltage(doen't use alot of power). I think the company is called Night Time Decor. I see there trailer by a friend place. His yard looks great at night and you could easily see someone.