Theives and vandals

[greenishfing]

We have had numerous break-ins (of sheds), acts of mindless vandalism and thefts, both of produce and silly thing,s this last couple of weeks on our site. Some of the stolen items have then been dumped on other allotments. Our own allotment has been attacked twice.The police are of course noticeable by their absence.

By now several plotholders are muttering about becoming vigilantes etc and lying in wait for the perpetrators.

I have so far managed to keep my husbands more outlandish ideas under control.

I am however steaming mad by now and would like some, preferably legal, ideas to combat and get revenge on the morons if they return.

If I filled an empty wine bottle with fertiliser (either comfrey tea or urine) recorked it and left it lying around would I be committing any kind of offence or if I put some row markers in of strong fishing line across the paths at ankle height?

Any better ideas?

[Dorothy rouse]

Killer bees! ( if there were such things)
Barbed wire, brambles, nettles, electric fence, super glue on handles, ummmm am thinking, thick manure for them to walk in. Security lights?

Trying to think of more horrible things. That are 'legal' on an allotment.

Do feel for you, we had a problem last year, When shed were broken into,the cost of replacing locks and the inconvenience was horrendous, makes me so mad when this kind of thing happens.




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[zazen999]

We have a chap who used to run the local market garden, and who had the whole of our allotment site to himself, and who is in the throws of Alzheimer's unfortunately. So he goes on the plots when nobody is there and picks the veg, even though he doesn't eat it, and stashes it at home.

In order to stop him coming onto mine, I made it very hard to access the plot. We have beds and paths, so across the paths I left deliberate trip hazards, like bags of compost, or piles of spiky brambles. Near the sides, to stop him stepping on the beds, I put 3-4 canes in a row, vertically, and roughly wove other canes in horizontally, so that it looked hard to manoeuvre. The only time I did have stuff stolen was the cabbages that weren't near any of my hazards.

I'd just be careful about making it too dangerous. Just enough to put people of walking around the plot I find is best.

[Hans Mum]

End of school holidays usually coincides with less unwanted visitors on site.

[Bill HH]

This is a terrible problem, I have had a lot of tihngs stolen from my garden, furniture, a double ladder, plants, hanging baskets etc, I had £500 worth of fishing tackle stolen out of my car but luckily our postman found it thrown into some bushes half a mile away (minus some expensive binoculars).

However laying traps for these scumbags is not on, the law lies firmly in their favour. The only real solution is to lobby your MP into changing the law and that wont happen. So you are left with security lights, fences, locks and perhaps cameras (although these usualy get stolen.
Any harm done to these pathetic creatures will result in you being prosecuted.
In an allotment situation I think the best hope is an overall security fence and strong main gates.

I our care home we had a staff member who openly boasted that she used to send her children into the local allotment to gather veg for their Sunday lunch on a regular basis, when parents bring their children up like that what hope is there.

[Two_Sheds]

The police are of course noticeable by their absence.

They don't even bother to investigate 60% of reported crimes (and a lot of crimes simply aren't reported, as it's a waste of time).

I have a dash cam, and one on my bike handlebars. What the police need is evidence, so set a camera up and give them evidence. Yes, it's legal to have a camera in public places (but not in private situations, like someone's house).

PoliceWitness.com: Protection from dangerous driving

You can buy cheaper cameras, and you can just send the tape to the police direct, you don't have to use that ^ site, it's just to give you an idea

[Hans Mum]

We've got some of these at various points round site inside bird boxes images are good and they're motion detected

Swann - Advanced Security Made Easy - OutbackCam - Camera & Video Recorder

[greenishfing]

Thanks for the answers folks but after last night this is war!!!!! Legal, illegal I don't care. I'm going to start digging some very large holes and search the internet for "interesting" ideas.

[Alison]

We had a vandalism problem a few summers ago which we all reported to the police / council. The council were (as expected) useless but the police did at least ring back after I'd logged the call. They did promise to do a few drive pasts in the evening (don't know if they did) but then came up with the classic request that I needed to ring them next time when the crime was actually taking place! I did point out that if I was there then it was highly unlikely that anybody would come onto my plot and cut the plastic on the polytunnel but they didn't seem to get the idea. The problem eventually was sorted when one of the other plot holders found out who was doing it and went round to speak to the kid's parents. Seems they were supportive and it all stopped - have slight suspicions that a lot of shouting was involved and perhaps threats of violence but I wasn't there so can't be sure.

[greenishfing]

After the latest assault on our plot my husband rang plod today - I've completely given up on them after 2 earlier 'phone calls They say they are coming to see him. I have a feeling this might be more to do with the the ranting about what he would do to the perpetrators of this weeks crimes than anything else. However they will get more than they bargained for when their would=be vigilante turns out to be a 80 odd year old who can barely walk let alone fight or chase after the local riffraff and who would win the gold medal at the Olympics for talking rubbish. I can't wait!

[kizkiz]

The problem, as two sheds has already said, is the lack any kind of lead or evidence.
It's all well and good blaming the police, but what exactly do you expect them to do? Try seeing it from the other side. With no idea who it is, no forensic evidence, and no cctv/witnesses, how would you find out who the culprits are?

[Mr Bones]

I fully sympathise and know exactly how you must feel. Is the site protected by fencing at all. If they're climbing over in the same place a liberal daubing of treacle should encourage them to stay out and as far as I know it's unlikely you can be held for the cost of spoiled clothing, especially if there's a "caution wet paint" sign.

[SarzWix]

When my plot suffered vandalism a couple of years ago, it coincided with damage on the school plot next-door, and on the local cricket ground round the corner. Apart from spending a lot of time speaking to our Community Support Officers, I also spent a couple of evenings walking round the village with my dog, stopping and talking to any groups of teenagers I came across. I wasn't accusatory at all, just explained what had been happening, asked them if they could keep an eye out, explained how it felt to have 5 years of hard work trashed to give someone 5 minutes of amusement. Finished off by saying that I'd be around with my dog if they heard that anyone was planning to do it again.

Haven't had any trouble at all since then. (Touch wood...)

[alldigging]

The problem, as two sheds has already said, is the lack any kind of lead or evidence.
It's all well and good blaming the police, but what exactly do you expect them to do? Try seeing it from the other side. With no idea who it is, no forensic evidence, and no cctv/witnesses, how would you find out who the culprits are?

You probably don't find out anything but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be recorded.
Building up a pattern of crimes can actually help the police create strategies and target areas to deal with problems.

[jonohanson]

We have had numerous break-ins (of sheds), acts of mindless vandalism and thefts, both of produce and silly thing,s this last couple of weeks on our site. Some of the stolen items have then been dumped on other allotments. Our own allotment has been attacked twice.The police are of course noticeable by their absence.

By now several plotholders are muttering about becoming vigilantes etc and lying in wait for the perpetrators.

I have so far managed to keep my husbands more outlandish ideas under control.

I am however steaming mad by now and would like some, preferably legal, ideas to combat and get revenge on the morons if they return.

If I filled an empty wine bottle with fertiliser (either comfrey tea or urine) recorked it and left it lying around would I be committing any kind of offence or if I put some row markers in of strong fishing line across the paths at ankle height?

Any better ideas?

We have also been subjected to break-ins (I notice you're Yorkshire, my site is in Sheffield?). So as a counter measure and metal has been removed and this weekend I took the greenhouse down, there are now no structures on my plots, this makes them less attractive. I am in the process of re-building my fence line, all my new fences will include pointy nails at the top (where I 'accidentally missed'), grease and at the bottom of my fences (allotment side) I will be storing all my canes, pointing upwards so I can see how many I have and have easy access to them.

I am also tempted to build a water reservoir behind my door.

If anyone was to get hurt as far as I am concerned it their own fault, I am not being broken into again, and if I am this time there should be ample DNA left behind!!