How do you handle neighborhood kids being morons

[N-Smooth]

So a couple awesome kids from somewhere in my neighborhood decided to destroy our game cam that we use to watch the foxes eat the gophers/voles/mice we leave out. It was a ~$200 camera with solar panel, cellular etc for reference.

The thing that sucks is after I realized the camera was gone (the next day) I saw these kids playing around in the field and asked them if they knew anything about it (I was not accusatory) and they said no.

One side of me is such a big fan of kids messing around outside, doing kid stuff which I know sometimes leads to being dumb. The other side is like dude that’s straight-up destruction of property and theft.

I posted it to the neighborhood FB page and asked if anyone knows them but I don’t know if that’ll go anywhere. So my real question is do I watch for them to be out there again and say “hey kids take me to your house so I can chat with your parents” or do I just immediately file a police report and then call the cops next time I see them?

WWRMED?

 

[Hickey]

Kill them, as an example to the other kids.

🔨 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨



That’s an old PBB reference, if you’re freaking out right now.

 

[Pike2350]

Kill them, as an example to the other kids.

🔨 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨



That’s an old PBB reference, if you’re freaking out right now.

This. Heads on pikes out in the field. Should be quite effective

 

[N-Smooth]

Kill them, as an example to the other kids.

🔨 🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨🔨



That’s an old PBB reference, if you’re freaking out right now.

I’ll take a dump in their sunroof for sure

 

[jeeper]

fine line for sure. They owe you a camera for sure also.
I like the parent route.

Kids need to be outside doing things. They don’t need to destroy things that belong to other people. Better they learn that lesson now.

 

[jeeper]

If the parents don’t do anything just walk in the house and smash the Xbox.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Who’s property was the camera on?

If it were me, I’d start right off with the police and press charges, drop them when the kids themselves pay you back for the camera.

 

[Kiel]

You gave the kids their chance. Poor character was exhibited. Depends on how nice you want to be. I'd say 2 new cameras seems fair

 

[N-Smooth]

Who’s property was the camera on?

If it were me, I’d start right off with the police and press charges, drop them when the kids themselves pay you back for the camera.

It was on the HOA property which could be a wrinkle but still.

 

[N-Smooth]

You gave the kids their chance. Poor character was exhibited. Depends on how nice you want to be. I'd say 2 new cameras seems fair

I’m hoping their parents are receptive if I get a chance to talk to them

 

[Kevin B.]

If you're going to pursue it at all, definitely file a police report first.

Then I'd probably stalk the kids for a bit to find out where they live instead of confronting them. You're not going to get a straight answer from punks like that anyway, and if you tip your hand then they have time to think up a story to tell their parents before you can talk with them.

 

[jeeper]

It was on the HOA property which could be a wrinkle but still.

No. Vandalism is vandalism. It doesn’t matter where it was at. Those boys don’t own that camera. If they were riding by on their bicycle and crashed into it, that’s a different story and is an accident. Blatant disregard for somebody else’s equipment is unacceptable.

We’ve had our dumpsters get spray painted. It doesn’t matter that it’s sitting in a parking lot. It’s not your property to destroy.

You could totally go way overboard and talk about how that is part of your business to monitor the animals you are removing and what other predators might be in the neighborhood. They are causing you lost time in your business efforts. That gets really expensive real fast. 🤣


Edit: I just called my police officer buddy. He said lot of parents don’t care and won’t do anything these days anyway. He leaned towards the idea of making a police report just so that it is documented, and then after chatting with the parents deciding if you want to press charges or not. But having the report filed earlier shows a better timeline.

 

[N-Smooth]

No. Vandalism is vandalism. It doesn’t matter where it was at. Those boys don’t own that camera. If they were riding by on their bicycle and crashed into it, that’s a different story and is an accident. Blatant disregard for somebody else’s equipment is unacceptable.

We’ve had our dumpsters get spray painted. It doesn’t matter that it’s sitting in a parking lot. It’s not your property to destroy.

You could totally go way overboard and talk about how that is part of your business to monitor the animals you are removing and what other predators might be in the neighborhood. They are causing you lost time in your business efforts. That gets really expensive real fast. 🤣


Edit: I just called my police officer buddy. He said lot of parents don’t care and won’t do anything these days anyway. He leaned towards the idea of making a police report just so that it is documented, and then after chatting with the parents deciding if you want to press charges or not. But having the report filed earlier shows a better timeline.

Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it. I think we’ll go the route of police report while I wait to catch the little sh*ts outside.

 

[J-mobzz]

I personally vote for no police.

 

[ID Bronco]

I say no police unless the parents are jerks. The video shows the timeline.

 

[kmboren]

I think Police need to be involved to get the serious point across. Did your trail camera have a GPS in in?

 

[The_Lobbster]

Maybe I’m just a grouch, but there’s no way I would let this slide from the cops. If they were a pair of 4 year olds that trampled some marigolds, I could see talking to parents first.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t a first time offense, they didn’t once hesitate for a second to destroy that camera.

I think it’s easier to drop the charges with the police after the fact, than it is to try and go to them after you’ve tried dealing with parents that might take their kids side right off the bat.

 

[N-Smooth]

I think it’s easier to drop the charges with the police after the fact, than it is to try and go to them after you’ve tried dealing with parents that might take their kids side right off the bat.

This is what I’m leaning towards.

 

[Stephen]

I say no cops. Could you bring charges, sure. I can almost guarantee that the cops will think you're a jerk for filing charges against a couple of kids for destroying a camera that was for your weird little fetish of watching foxes eat gophers you killed. Additionally, it being placed on property that you don't own without proper permission might make it difficult to press charges? I'm not sure on that, but I could see there being some statute about installing a recording device without permission on someone else's property being a no no. Also, and call me an asshole if you'd like, but $200 doesn't seem like that big of a deal to you? So is pursuing charges worth the time and effort? Its not like this was something you used for work to make money to feed your kids, this was simply for your aforementioned strange hobby.

My other reason for saying no cops is that we, especially us RME'rs, all did stupid shit in our youths that probably lead to someone's property getting damaged. Difference was that 30 years ago creepers with cameras recording public spaces weren't very common. Sometimes we got caught, sometimes we didn't. And when we got caught, what usually happened? The person who's property we damaged came and talked to our parents and our parents punished us and/or we had to pay for the damages. Rarely was there even the threat of police involvement. Now yes, "times are different", but its different because so many people go straight to 11 rather than taking the lesser approach first.

 

[N-Smooth]

Nah, $200 is $200. Don’t get it twisted, just because I don’t have a 14 bolt doesn’t mean I’m actually rich. It takes me multiple hours (it’s painful to admit how many) to make $200. With the side hustle, same thing- it’s a shit ton of work to make that money back.

The camera watching the foxes in the field is creepy or somehow sexual to you… cool but it was still not their property that they so brazenly destroyed. If my kids did something like this to someone else’s property you better believe I would side with the owner and my kids would pay for it and figure out a way to make it up to them. I would also not be shocked if someone called the cops on them for it. I definitely did some dumb stuff as a kid and I always paid for it. The times people threatened police involvement actually helped me take it seriously but my parents were plenty firm that I would fess up to my actions and make it right regardless. I understand your kids are young and you maybe don’t have a lot of experiences with the kids of today but I do and this may just be what it takes to wake these kids up. Do I hope they fess up to it and their parents are awesome about it? 10000%. I would love for it to end there.

My neighbor’s cameras facing the field in the HOA property (not public if we’re getting technical) is a safety measure. I’m not that guy, I don’t have any cameras facing out there but I understand the need and have appreciated him having them for similar situations to this. I know not everyone has open space behind them and I feel fortunate to have it but it’s a double-edged sword and having eyes on it is not a terrible thing.

This will be my last post on this thread and topic as I’m actually real life irritated with you calling it a fetish and calling my neighbor who is a spectacular human (he’s a freaking medical provider) and friend… a creeper. In fact this thread can be deleted FWIW.