Revenge on thieves- potential legal issues?
 

So for the past few months, there has been an alarming increase in the number of packages being stolen off of people's front stoops. I'm not happy about this. On Monday, my neighbor came home for lunch and spotted a white VW/Audi SUV in my driveway and my recycling strewn about. That evening, my other neighbor reported to me that he had a package stolen from his porch.

So...I have started thinking about a plan of revenge.

Initially, the thought of a small explosive that would detonate upon opening the box put a smile on my face. The idea that they would drive off, get pierced with some lead shot and have to go to the hospital and get caught is great. It's not like they're going to say "Yeah, well I stole it off someones property and it blew up"....but then again, this is shitty Atlanta and people are that dumb.

But anyway. I have a much more legit plan, but I need to know all the legal implications of this. What I want to do is make a dummy package to leave outside. Inside this box would be an item that looks like it has serious value, maybe even include some faux invoice showing a large payment as to show it is worth some good money. This is in hope that the criminal holds on to the item and does not toss it out the window somewhere. I was thinking something electronic like a bad laptop or something else that would need to be plugged it/charged up later. Inside of this item would be a real-time GPS tracking device. I've looked into these already- they are kinda expensive and most require a subscription for service. Prices range from $80-$400 and subscriptions from $10/mo to $30/mo depending on how much tracking you want to access. Oh yeah, most have some ridiculous "activation fee" as well. However, I did find that I can rent such a device for much less.

So now, let's say I go through with this and set them up the bomb (lol). Mosy of these GPS devices can be set with a geo-fence- meaning I will get a message on my phone when it moves. So say I were to be able to either intercept the vehicle or find the location of the package soon after it goes on the move. Clearly I would call the police at this point. But what I don't know is will the police even bother? Will I be breaking any kind of entrapment laws? I would like to think I wouldn't be as the item is on MY property and they trespassed in order to obtain it. I've even thought to go as far as sending something to myself via USPS and re0using the box in some attempt to make it a federal/felony crime as well (since theft of UPS or FedEx isn't tampering with a government agency).

So what are your thoughts about this? Mostly harmless and possibly effective? The only downside I could see is them possibly figuring out which house they got tracked from and any kind of retaliation (but that's not much of an issue as I'm moving out in like 3 months). Hmmm.

Personally I like the idea of sitting by a window with a crossbow and impaling them with a lovely retractable tipped arrow (look these up, they can be pretty gnarly).

Got an old smartphone? That would kill 2 birds with 1 stone, looks expensive enough to not throw out + gps tracking.

Thoughts?

Super duper waste of time and money for little to no reward, but you should absolutely do it for our amusement.

Instead of explosives, I've always liked the paint bombs you'd put in suitcases with large amounts of cash. Preferably in sparkly pink.

I like where this is going. Like what that news agency did with those iPads and the TSA.. If the police don't care, call up a local news agency, that would put pressure on the police to do something too.

EDIT, This: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/abc-ne...ry?id=17331937

Prepaid card on an old smart phone would be just about the perfect tracking device. The only problem is I do not know how well gps would work in a box.

you should just murder the thieves in cold blood and take pics

we'll give you +props for each pic

The only downfall of pissing off stoopid criminals is that they know where you live. If you could get the cops involved, could you not just use a pre-paid cell phone? They're like $25, put some minutes on it and pack it in a guaranteed-to-be-stolen amazon.com box. I know this kind of ripoff is big right around here- it's on the news regularly.

Thought about it. I wonder if I can obtain these such items. BTW- it's a dye pack :)

That has definitely crossed our minds.

Didn't even think about that. Need to look into what phones I can track from my phone. Thanks.

It's Atlanta. It's not like anyone would miss them. I'd honestly prefer to kidnap them and later leave them hog-tied to some railroad tracks.

As said above. Good idea. I could always leave it on a different doorstep, I have a neighbor that lives out of the country most of the time and is rarely at the house.




I still think something extra painful would be fun...like unloading on them with a painball gun filled with steel bearings or marbles lol.

The only danger with using a phone as both your GPS AND bait is if they aren't 100% complete idiots and they unplug the battery as soon as they see its a phone. How long that would take I have no idea. I guess if you made sure to wrap it creatively so that it would take a looooong time to open it.

There is an old case I think it was Bird V Holbrook, were a guy setup spring guns to get someone stealing his tulips, and some chicks bird flew into his garden. Some random guy tried to help and hopped over the fence and took a slug to the leg.

It was found the that the owner didnt post any warning and his intent was to mame, not deter intruders.

He was found guilty blah blah blah.

I wouldnt think its illegal to track your item but you could get into trouble for trying to hurt them, as your intention wouldnt be to deter but to injure.

Thinking ahead on this, I'd like to place whatever GPS device inside of something larger/looking of more value. I have a older laptop that is dead and gutting part of it for room for a GPS locator would be easy. This way, they get something and try to turn it on but can't and would probably think the battery is dead and will keep it with them until they can plug it in and check it out. Same idea for using something like an old BOSE Miata headunit...broke but looks expensive and easy to flip on CL for a few hundred dollars.

Honestly, in the situation I was on the phone with 911 and had the suspect in sight and was 100% sure it is them, I'd only threaten physical violence to light a fire under their asses to respond. Clearly I'm not really going to put out a loaded device, as fun as it sounds.