was it really worth it?

HowardH

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Jan 23, 2007
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Well now I've seen everything.  We live in a pretty quiet suburb of Dallas without too much crime to deal with.  I go out front this morning and we notice some $$$%#@$^&&##$$ thieves stole 3 copper sprinkler risers.  Snapped them off at ground level and ran like the rats/vermin they are.  They got about 18" each so what's that worth, maybe a few dollars?  Are things that desperate that some lowlife would have to resort to stealing copper from a sprinkler?  I came home from work early and dug up the remaining length and replaced it with plastic.  Good thing they didn't get caught by my law firm, Smith and Wesson.  Unbelievable.  I park in my driveway which is off an alley and my Tahoe has been broken into three times over the years.  One time they got my laptop and projector as I forgot to bring them in.  Now, I keep nothing of any value in my Tahoe.  I hope they rot in he!!...I'm sure their mothers are really proud.
 
Here in some areas outside HVAC units and copper gutters and downspouts are victims.  About a year ago several thieves were electrocuted when they entered a power sub station and tried to steal wire.  OOPS.  I am pretty sure those guys are not your culprits though.

Peter
 
I saw a picture of a schmuck who tried to steal electric cable from a substation.  Darwinism at it's best. 
 
A plumber friend got a frantic call early one Monday morning. From a business that had a 2 inch water pipe running along an exterior wall. Along with the 2 inch water pipe were several smaller copper pipes, both on the first and second floor. All of it was taken over the weekend.

The thief was kind enough to turn off the water, before taking all the copper.

Needless to say it was NOT replaced with copper.

 
Up in one of the mines in northern Minnesota a council man or city board member (something like that) stole 3" power cable for one of the digging machines, cut it up into 1' long sections and tried to sell it as scrap. Because 3" cable is not very common he was promptly arrested.
 
HowardH said:
Well now I've seen everything.  We live in a pretty quiet suburb of Dallas without too much crime to deal with.  I go out front this morning and we notice some $$$%#@$^&&##$$ thieves stole 3 copper sprinkler risers.  Snapped them off at ground level and ran like the rats/vermin they are.  They got about 18" each so what's that worth, maybe a few dollars?  Are things that desperate that some lowlife would have to resort to stealing copper from a sprinkler?  I came home from work early and dug up the remaining length and replaced it with plastic.  Good thing they didn't get caught by my law firm, Smith and Wesson.  Unbelievable.  I park in my driveway which is off an alley and my Tahoe has been broken into three times over the years.  One time they got my laptop and projector as I forgot to bring them in.  Now, I keep nothing of any value in my Tahoe.  I hope they rot in he!!...I'm sure their mothers are really proud.

My guess would be those "high level" crimes like this are drug addicts that are doing anything & everything to gather enough money for their next hit -- what a grand life that must be!  [blink]
 
Does it have to be drug addicts? It seems like there are a lot of desperate people looking for their next meal.
 
Nigel said:
Does it have to be drug addicts? It seems like there are a lot of desperate people looking for their next meal.

I too sympathise. It's terrible to get robbed and it's also terrible to find yourself let down by your government/country/etc.

Motivation can be desperation, addiction, greed or anything. Stealing garden sprinklers - wow!

 
Fortunately, I have never had to live in "their" shoes but I do know there are plenty of government and social service resources around here where someone can get at least of couple of meals a day for free.  It could have been simple vandalism by local kids.  I'll never know. 
 
HowardH said:
... I park in my driveway which is off an alley and my Tahoe has been broken into three times over the years.  One time they got my laptop and projector as I forgot to bring them in.  Now, I keep nothing of any value in my Tahoe.  

I even keep the third row seats from my Tahoe locked up in the garage. They are easy to remove and worth about $3000. It was a big deal around here for a while to steal them and sell them back to auto insurance companies (for a big discount).
 
Kev said:
I too sympathise. It's terrible to get robbed and it's also terrible to find yourself let down by your government/country/etc.

Motivation can be desperation, addiction, greed or anything. Stealing garden sprinklers - wow!

This kind of thing goes on no matter what the condition of the economy. The prime motivation is usually a fast, easy buck and the popular targets are what sell easy and bring a good price.

Copper has been a popular target for theft for many years, and it is getting more popular as the price for copper scrap keeps rising. Copper is one of the easiest products to recycle, so easy that it is estimated that 80% of the copper sold today is recycled, not newly mined.
 
Really sad if you happen to be down so far that a few copper sprinkler risers strikes you as "worth it".... How long before we read about someone showing up at the scrapyard wanting the operator to remove bullets from his torso to sell the copper jackets off of them.
It reminds me of the folks who try to drill into a gasoline pipeline to steal gas and become roasted in the process.  I guess real desperation is a terrible thing and it seems to be getting more common everywhere. 
Copper thieves are pretty common around my area.  I was working in a dental center a few months back and had nice A/C on Friday, but come Monday morning two brand new units were gone and the older third one had the coil stripped out of it. It is a shame!
 
Laminator said:
... I guess real desperation is a terrible thing and it seems to be getting more common everywhere. 

Just to keep this all in perspective, according to the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report released June 11, 2012, both violent and property crimes (including theft) have dropped in the United States every year since 1991.

When people are out of work and out of money, the thinking goes, they get desperate turn to crime. But there's little evidence backing this theory. There seem to be some links between crime and economic conditions, but they are neither as direct nor clear as one might assume. Crime rose during the Roaring Twenties then fell in the Depression. America's economy expanded and crime rates rose in the 1960s. Rates fell throughout the 1990s, when America's economy was healthy, but they kept falling during the recession in the early 2000s.

And during the current downturn, the unemployment rate rose as the crime rate fell. Between 2008 and 2009 violent crime fell by 5.3% and property crime by 4.6%; between 2009 and 2011 crime fell by another 5.5% and property crime by 2.8% according to the FBI. Overall, America's violent-crime rate is at its lowest level in around 40 years, and its murder rate at its lowest in almost 50.

So, it's likely that most of the folks stealing copper are doing it simply because they think the pay is good for the work involved. Although, it's hard to believe that a whole night of snatching copper sprinkler risers could net much more than minmum wage ... and then there's those pesky lawyer fees if they get caught.  [smile]

 
I had several conversations with a guy that was a candidate for a PhD in criminology. He had some interesting statistics he had gathered and was collating to support his thesis. His thesis was that increased criminal penalties deterred crime and that the ultimate penalty, (we perform a lot of executions in TX), was therefore justified.

After months of study and gathering data, he had to change his thesis. He learned, he thought, that criminals don't think they'll get caught and penalties, including death, don't deter them overall.

Tom

 
Tom Bellemare said:
... He learned, he thought, that criminals don't think they'll get caught and penalties, including death, don't deter them overall.

That may be so, Tom, but my guess is that a death penalty for copper theft might slow it down some.  [big grin]
 
The larger the society get's the more SOCIALLY DISABLED individuals you will find.

Another theory:
http://www.freakonomics.com/videos/#on-tvhttp://www.freakonomics.com/videos/#on-tv

That said, should people be responsible for their own actions?  Yes;only to a point, most people walking around doing what they do because of their social level and how they were brought into this world and are doing their daily actions only on a marginal choice...you make little choices...you don't as a well functioning human being dramatically change what you are doing every day; spin out of control and go stealing sprinklers (maybe if you are a neglected child).  That's right, if the elementary school system is the only thing raising you as a child (because of compounding problems on home values both parents working, drugs in the home etc); you are more likely to steal and all that other socially bad stuff.  Does that mean that it is in your control not to steal?  Of course...but there is the dark matter we don't want to pay attention to...and that is that we are failing as a whole.  Not all of us are privy to the same level of social enlightenment; and therefor act like...APES!  The solution is not to shoot (or lock into cells with other socially retarded individuals to further degrade), but to take it as a sign of the times and get out there and SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP SOCIETY.  Go teach some 'at risk kids'.  Go spend a day doing some charity somewhere so resources are more readily available to those who need it (Robin Hood).

Should people be shot in a front yard because they are socially disabled to point that they steal copper sprinklers?  NO.
Should you have a right to defend your own property?  Yes---though I think when it comes to using violence it should clearly be more for defending your health/life---call the police if you see someone in your yard trying to steal your stuff.  If the fella or fellas had posed any threat to your person I can see where violence is a last resort.  Those are the rules...and then spend the rest of your life asking yourself---what can I do in my community to make it better so this never happens to anyone again.

Another thought.

There is no crime including rape or murder...in certain societies on this planet that have a population under 500 individuals (above that number things get unwieldy).  They also work on average 3-4 hours a day and have far less illness.  They don't have wars either where they kill off % of their populations over disagreements and their children are cared for by the ENTIRE tribe.  The responsibility of raising and teaching values to the child doesn't get put on an overworked mother at the end of her long workday where she can spare an hour or two to give her child some attention and teach them a few values...

We call ourselves sophisticated...yet simple Pygmy tribes with just a few individuals---work far less, and their society works better.

? am I talking about?

LARGE societies are relatively new to the human species...we have a lot of learning to do to get them to work as well as we can with only a few or so around us which is what for thousands of years was what we were; somewhere along the way we are loosing people----NOBODY should be lost and left behind to the point where they are stealing copper sprinkler parts---but we don't yet have a system in place where we are capable of keeping ALL of us all on the same page...

That is where Festool comes in----it makes me feel better at night working with my hands...building something for someone...showing kids what they can do instead of smoking that stuff and listening to that RCRAP music.

Christopher
 
Christopher Robinson said:
Should people be shot in a front yard because they are socially disabled to point that they steal copper sprinklers?  NO.

Should you have a right to defend your own property?  Yes---though I think when it comes to using violence it should clearly be more for defending your health/life---call the police if you see someone in your yard trying to steal your stuff. 

Socially disabled? Call me old fashioned, but I have always just called them thieves.  [smile]

And as far as I know, it is illegal everywhere in the U.S. to shoot anyone unless they actually present a physical threat.

Back in the olden days (even before my time  ;)) you could shoot someone just for trespassing, or stealing your horse. 
 
In my local area, Methamphetamine  is a common denominator to a lot of crime.  I don't know if sprinklers are being hit, but chain saws, weed eaters, blowers, four wheelers, trailers, lawn mowers, hunting and fishing gear, etc. are common items taken.

Shooting someone for stealing my property would be a terrible mistake to make. I really wouldn't consider it, but I know some who don't share my sympathy at all.  I think some might even enjoy it, at least temporarily.

Helping less fortunate folks to see ways of making a better life for themselves is something that has far reaching benefits for our communities.
 
I was working in london several years back for a Carpentry company that had its yard and offices right bang in the middle of a rough east end housing estate.

We arrived for work one monday morning to find the whole Alarm system (which was worth a bit) had been stolen?????

They touched nothing else including lots of tools and fixings and personal goods the lads had left lying around.

I am convinced it was an employee but I will never know now!

If you had to put a bet on it, the alarm system would be the last thing anyone would probaly rob....
 
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