This video hit my feed this morning.
https://twitter.com/ClownWorld_/status/1702884326164369578?s=19
Yes, we can all mock Leftist and say, “you voted for this.”
But…
What about the people who didn’t vote for this? Should they suffer?
I am traveling at the end of this month that will have me spend two days in Portland, Oregon.
Most of one of those days will be after I check out of my hotel, so my belongings will have to stay in my rental car.
I have already posted about the secure container I have installed in my truck.
I will be taking some extremely valuable items with me on this trip and I don’t want them to get stolen and I can’t take them into the facilities I’m going into.
(Trust me, you will read all about this soon enough.)
So what to do.
When you watch the video, you will notice two things:
- They moved very fast.
- The only tool they used was something to break the window, and it was small. Maybe a center punch or something.
That’s good news.
It means defeating these people can be done with anything that slows them down and requires tools.
Again, nothing is perfect, it it doesn’t look like these assholes are willing to start fucking around with bolt cutters and grinders.
My most valuable items will be in a Pelican case with padlocks.
Of course, that alone is not enough. The box needs to be secured to the vehicle.
That is where a security cable with loops on each end comes in. Those are cheap. You can buy them at a hardware store or on Amazon for $10.
Now you have to know what to secure it to.
SUVs generally have cargo tie-down spots in the trunk. Cars don’t. You can secure it to the spare under the trunk floor cover. In my car, there is a steel loop. Welded to the car body that held the jack in place. I got my car used so the jack was missing. I can key lock to that.
In the cabin or behind the seat, there is also a LATCH system attachment point for car seats. That is very strong and can accommodate a padlock.
Many cars have a pass through from the trunk to the cabin. Usually the center armrest in the rear seat. A four foot security cable can reach from the trunk to a rear seat LATCH point.
A good padlock, a cable lock, and a Pelican case will defeat these guys.
If a Pelican case is too expensive, I’ve been impressed with the Harbor Freight version APACHE case.
For soft items, you can use a steel wire mesh bag by Pacsafe.
Here is a video of one in use:
You can also just buy sheets of that wire mesh from Amazon, and using a cable and lock, make your own for odd size or shape bags.
Once again, locking it to a tie-down or LATCH location.
I get it, it’s a hassle and you shouldn’t have to do it.
But wish in one hand and shit in the other.
If you need to travel to areas like this, you can take precautions that for less than $100, will secure what you own from theft.
“What about the people who didn’t vote for this? Should they suffer?”
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This is one of the things i try to be cognizant of when I see California or Washington plates in my area in north Alabama.
I’ve seen/met some that I’d call refugees from the areas and am glad to have them. There’s also the leftists who came here just because good paying MIC and tech bro jobs and “cheap” housing. Those people should have been met at the border and had their moving orders marked “Return to Sender”.
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Texans on the other hand . . . they’re almost as insufferable as New Yorkers with complaining about how North Alabama isn’t Texas. They can still get bent.
That PacSafe net looks pretty neat — I’m gonna pick one of those up!
Interesting. The thieves seemed to know exactly which vehicle they wanted to get into. So let’s think about how to avoid becoming a target in the first place.
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Three thoughts as to how they knew. One, they tailed the vehicle from an airport. Two, they looked for rental cars (could be identified by a sticker, special plate, etc. depending on the state and rental company) or out-of-state plates. Or three, the luggage told them there was something worth taking. If it were two or three, it seemed to me like they cased the parking lot a minute or two before the break-in, since it wasn’t a sudden “Aha!” kind of stop. Any other possibilities. other than pure luck?
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I had heard of thieves in San Francisco using a Bluetooth and WiFi scanner to identify vehicles with electronics in the trunk. Many devices will “ping” to a general Bluetooth connect request, and some cannot have that feature disabled. Likewise, many phones and tablets, and some users set their laptops, default to trying to connect to open WiFi networks. So that convenience feature can also be used to figure out where there’s at least some electronics.
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Short of a true power-down, which with some devices you really can’t guarantee, (e.g. Bose QC II headphones don’t have an “off” switch, either on the case or on the buds themselves) about the only way I know of to defeat this is to put it in a Faraday bag. Depending on the laptop and how it’s configured, “sleep” or “standby” might not cut it.
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Re the car, I tend to rent with National because I can choose any car they have in the section for the type of car I’m renting; so I choose one, if at all possible, with in-state or next-state-over plates. They also don’t tend to put a lot of “rental” stickers on the car. The exception is if the state I’m in requires rental plates on rental cars registered in that state (e.g. Colorado “Fleet” plates), in which case I’ll grab a car with “normal” plates from another state if I can. Many rental companies, put barcodes in the windows to make checkout and -in faster; nothing to be done about those, unfortunately.
It could be me, but the videographer kept repeating that the thieves don’t know what they’re doing. I could be wrong, but I believe that the thieves were pretty good (at least this time).
I lean toward Boris’ thought that they cased the lot looking for people who put attractive bags/cases in their trunk and then watched them walk away.
After my bag with a handgun went missing for a time (it was finally brought to me, having been on another plane), I bought a tracking device whose location I could monitor with my iPhone. After a couple of successful flights (I don’t fly often), the company went out of business.
Unfortunately, what’s available requires a monthly or annual subscription, so no go for me. I’ll go back to the old way—making a beeline to baggage claim and watching the ramp.
OK, maybe it is just me.
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But, I am going to go with “Things that never happened for $400, Alex.”
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First of all, why was this person videoing the car? No mention.
Secondly, why would the thieves continue with the theft, knowing there was someone recording it?
Third, they knew exactly which car, and where the goods were. (OK, casing the lot answers that question.)
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There are too many convenient things about this video that make me want to put a tin foil fedora on. (It used to be a beanie, but I have been wearing it so much, a bit of class is called for.)