Protect your vacant property from scavengers and house strippers !!

[ForumManager]

There have been  calls during house stripping on my street and no response for several hours as well.

[jay]

Last night I had a chance to listen to the police radio for Youngstown.  One call dispatched an officer to a home that was being stripped.  The problem is that the call had come in seven hours earlier.  A different system has to be developed for the crime of house stripping.   A delayed police response doesn't apprehend the criminal and doesn't prevent the crime.

[AllanY2525]

Jay,

From what I was told, the block watch spotted a suspicious character loitering
around the outside of the house at No. 430 Tod Lane.  They then surrounded
the house and trapped the scavenger in the basement.

The person they saw outside fled and was not apprehended (he was a
lookout for the scavenger inside the house).


Allan

[Towntalk]

Hopefully the person that was caught will blow the whistle on his look out.

[jay]

NICE WORK BLOCK WATCH!

Now all that we need is more block watches and more good people to join them.

P.S.  How did the block watch trap the scavenger?

[AllanY2525]

GOOD NEWS !!

Last night a house stripper was trapped in the basement of single family home at
430 Tod Lane.  The scavenger was arrested and incarcerated, pending arraignment.
His lookout person (accomplice) escaped, unfortunately.

It was the Crandall Park neighborhood watch program that caught and trapped
the scavenger - LIVING PROOF that neighborhood watch programs DO WORK !!
The house at 430 Tod Lane had been the victim of repeated attacks.  The last
time the house was attacked, the front door and two french doors from the
dining room had been removed.

[Towntalk]

Good advice as usual.

This very topic was discussed Tuesday morning on The Mangion Show; The Dan Rivers Show and on WKBN's news, and it was the consensus that this problem is low on YPD's priority list. If they respond at all, it's usually later after the damage has been done, and the thieves are long gone to a local scrap dealer.

High on the list of things that the thieves are looking for are copper wire and pipes.

It looks like the citizens of Youngstown are going to have to look out for themselves.

Why? If you have invested your hard earned money in a home in the city, for every house that is stripped, the value of your investment drops, your neighborhood declines, and the likelyhood of folks moving in also declines.

This is a problem that must be taken seriously not only by the residents, but our public officials as well, unless of course they want to see property value sink to rock bottom.

[AllanY2525]

Folks,

We REALLY need to get the word out about this problem!

The scavengers are at it again on the North Side of Youngstown - BIG
time. The Crandall Park neighborhood association is going to resume
neighborhood block watch patrols, but here are some things you can
do if you own a vacant home ANYWHERE in town and want to be pro-active
about protecting it against being stripped by scavengers:

Have ADT install an alarm system with motion and smoke sensors.
Motion sensors are more effective than door and window switches at
detecting a home intrusion.

Smoke sensors will call the ADT monitoring center (and, therefore,
the FIRE department) before there is even an outward indication that
a fire has started in the house. If a fire does happen in your
vacant property, every moment saved could mean the difference
between a damaged home and a destroyed home. With the recent rash
of arson fires all over town, your vacant property MAY ALREADY BE
a target for the arsonist(s).

For vacant houses without telephone service, ADT has wireless
modules that can be added to a basic alarm system so that the alarm
box can call for help without a telephone line. Their alarms also
have a battery backup that can operate without public power for up
to three days. They even offer a "wet basement" sensor that can be
tied into the alarm box. The ADT system will notify the monitoring
center if either the telephone line or the electric line is cut.

If you are concerned about the cost of an alarm system, just think
about what it would cost to replace all of the antique fixtures in
one of these old homes at today's prices.

Other measures that can be taken to protect your vacant properties
include having LOTS of BRIGHT outside lights around the house and
making sure that windows and doors are not obscured by bushes, weeds,
etc. DON'T give the scavengers dark corners around your property
where they can hide and do their bad deed without being seen from the
street.

If you have a spare vehicle, park it in the driveway at your vacant
property. Put up curtains in EVERY window. Make it appear as though
someone lives in the house - even though it is vacant. Try putting
an old portable TV in an upstairs bedroom - on a timer - so that the
flickering light from the picture tube can be seen through the
curtains at night by passers by. Black and white TV sets are
especially good for this ruse.

Keep the grass cut and the yard clean - nothings says "I'm empty,
come rob me" to a scavenger more than tall grass and trash laying
around.

Let's make it more risky and less inviting for these *&%$! scavengers
to do the despicable things that they do! If you have the spare time
and want to help make your neighborhood safer - VOLUNTEER for a
neighborhood block watch patrol. The Youngstown Police Department
needs all the help they can get!

Best regards to all,

Allan