Ideas for dealing with trespassers

[funniegrrl]

At the beginning of the year I moved into my first house. It's in a old, in-city neighborhood that is relatively quiet, but not trouble-free. The house is on a corner lot. There's an old chain-link fence that runs the length of the property along the side street and across the back, with an opening to the alley (where trash and recycling is picked up). The driveway is on the other side of the house.

Early this week, about $50 of stuff was stolen off of my enclosed back porch. I THOUGHT the door was locked, but perhaps it wasn't. It's old so it's possible it's easy to jimmy open. I am thinking it was a crime of opportunity -- someone walked by while cutting through the yard, saw the stuff, decided they wanted it. They left behind other, more valuable things, so I think they just wanted those particular items, although they did break into and rummage through some sealed cardboard boxes.

So, this morning we had a little snow. I looked out my windows on the driveway side of the house a little while ago, and sure enough, there were a large set of workboot-type footprints going up the driveway, through the backyard towards the gap in the back fence.

Another issue is that cars sometimes park on the street in front of my house, and basically park halfway on the grass -- there's no sidewalk or curb and the grass is level with the street. Sometimes I see the car, but have no idea who it might belong to; I'm assuming a visitor to someone who lives nearby. Sometimes I just see tire tracks in the yard when I go to get my mail.

I can't afford to put up secure fencing at this point, and the truth is I really don't want it. I never see who's doing what, and with two jobs I'm not home a lot anyway. I could put up a "No Trespassing" sign like some of the houses on the street, but fat lot of good that would do, I'm sure. Any ideas for discouraging this traffic? Of course I want it to stop, but even putting out a signal that yes, I've noticed, and no, I don't like it would be something.

[gertdog]

Ugh- sorry you're dealing with this, especially someone stealing from you- and bold enough to come onto your porch. Do you have a porch light? A light that shines on the driveway? If so, could you replace them with motion-activated lights, so that when someone gets close enough, the light turns on? Of course, that only helps at night.

Could you replace the lock on the back porch with something stronger? Or even a key-operated padlock?

We have the issue with people parking halfway on our grass too. We haven't done anything about it yet, but my plan for this summer is to buy several large planters- the wooden half-barrel kind, and place them at intervals along the front edge of the yard. People would still be able to park in front of our house, they just wouldn't be able to pull onto the grass.

Do you need to be able to access the alley from your driveway? (I don't have a great mental map of the property- sorry if I'm misunderstanding.) Maybe some very large planters there, with trellises in them so you can't just step over the planter, would discourage people from cutting through? Cheaper than a fence, and pretty too.

Good luck- I hope you get some helpful suggestions!

[rosen]

Did you report your theft? If there is reported crime activity in an area, often there is increased police patroling for a period of time. There should be a city department that deals w/ zoneing issues. Start here w/ a call or a check on the city web-site for what you can & cannot do to deter this type of tresspassing. They may pass you off to another dept. or two or three..... It is possible that there is nothing you can do other than fencing & gates for the area & motion detector lights. Or it could be that this is an area that the city knows about problems & the more complaints, the greater the police presence is.

Does your neighborhood have a crime watch team? Are you prepared to start one? Most cities want citizen involvement in this area & are happy to help you start the ball rolling. I realize you are pressed for time due to your work schedules, but the homeowners have to get involved to help solve these types of problems. Do you know your neighbors? Do you know their work schedules & they know yours? If you can get to know them, all the better (sometimes!). It takes everyone watching out for everyone else to get the word out that this is not a neighborhood to be messed with.

For right now you need to get everything (of value or not!) out of view of anyone passing thru. It could very well be that folks are used to passing thru your yard... doesn't matter to them if you are the old owners or new... they feel they have a right to go where they have always gone. Does your street have parking passes? (If you don't have a sticker, you can't park in front of a residence unless you live on the block.) If there are no regulations for street parking, there is little you can do other than block the ability like gertdog said.

I feel for you! Good luck & let us know what you do.

[Peweh]

I second (actually third!) the idea for motion detector lights... wouldn't it be cool if there were a motion sensor device that set off a recording of a ferocious dog???

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I've been robbed before and felt so violated.

Congratulations on your first house!!

[HejazSunKat]

Sorry you're dealing with this. If you're living alone I'd be even more jumpy knowing that people are freely walking around in my back yard. The motion sensitive lights are a great idea and it isn't a big financial investment. My husband travels alot on business and before he started doing that I insisted that we do something about the lighting on our property. We put in a motion sensitive light in one spot at the back that had been completely dark as well as putting all of the outside lights on timers so that I never had to come home to a dark house. I also have a couple of indoor lights on timers so that it looks like someone's home. The motion sensitive light is on at a dim level all night but if someone moves through its 'eye' (for want of a better term) it immediately goes to 'bright'. That alone could be a deterrent for anyone up to mischief. You said that you think people are using your yard as a pass-through to elsewhere and that you saw footprints heading for the 'gap' in the fence. I know that you don't want to spend alot right now but is it possible to plug just that gap in the fence securely so that there is no point of them taking a short-cut?

We also live in a city neighborhood where several of the homes around us are multi-family and we have had alot of problems with the street parking issue. Beth from our board here gave me some good suggestions on this awhile back however I don't know if they'd be applicable to your situation. We know where the cars are coming from (two of the multi-families around us). My suspicion was that there were more people living in the apartments than code would allow and, of course, they all had cars (and their guests had cars, who oftentimes would be overnighters) so we had cars everywhere (on both sides of the street creating one lane of traffic and something of a hazard because they were parking right up to the stop signs). Below is an excerpt from an e-mail Beth sent me with her ideas:

it sounds like you might want to look into population density issues. There might be restrictions on the number of people allowed to live on the property and/or the number of guests. Leases typically have restrictions on the number and length of guest stays too, so that if you have 2 renters and 6 people living in the place, they would be in violation of the lease. Lease matters would have to be enforced by the management company or the landlord, but code, nuisance or safety issues may be enforced by your complaints or the city's

Can you talk to your neighbors and see if they are experiencing similar problems? I think some of the problem with resolving the issue is going to be enforcement and if you are able to band together with some of your neighbors to make complaints to the code dept and/or city council you'll have a bigger 'voice' with as many people as possible complaining. That way the 'violators' also wouldn't be able to pinpoint one individual as the person who dropped the dime. That was a concern for me because, well, you never know who you're dealing with these days - someone who'd take it well or someone who wouldn't. Really wouldn't.

I don't know if I've offered anything useful and I truly sympathize. We were fortunate in that the house that was causing the majority of our problems underwent a change in tenants which alleviated alot of the parking issue - until they move! That's why I've never deleted Beth's e-mail!

ETA: I'm also wondering if you might be able to pick up something cheaply at Home Depot in the way of an alarm that you can affix to the back porch where you had the break-in. It might be just enough to scare someone off if it's tripped. They aren't going to know if it's a real, hard wired, monitored system that's going to bring the cops down on them if they don't skedaddle. I really think though, that you need to remove as much opportunity for someone to be in your yard and as much attractiveness (like dark spots) to make this stop.

[Freddy]

Funniegrrl, I'm so sorry you are having these problems. It can really be scary, especially when living alone.

One suggestion is to purchase a "driveway alarm." These are not only for driveways, but can be placed anywhere outside when you want to detect someone approaching. This won't deter people from approaching your property, but you will at least know when someone is in the viscinity.

"This wireless Driveway Alarm system is perfect for driveways, walkways, entries, pools, yards, boats and business. Simply mount the weatherproof wireless sensor wherever you need to detect people or vehicles. Place the receiver in a central location to alert you with a pleasant chime when you have visitors."

http://www.absoluteautomation.com/optex/index.html

I have the driveway alarm on the above website. It's $135, so not too costly. I lived in a home with a very long driveway. I had the sensor mounted near the end of the driveway, and it gave me about a 30-second heads-up that someone was approaching our front door. I now live in a condo; but I loved the alarm so much, I brought it with me! Now I still get an alert (chime ringing in the house) whenever someone walks the sidewalk up to our front door.

It offers a little peace of mind.

[DanaSD]

I worked on a neighborhood revitalization project once and they had us put in inexpensive white decorative fencing - it was very short maybe just a foot high. Even though you could easily walk over it, the police department we were working with said it worked well with discourage people from running through the yards as a short cut. Also because it is low and decorative it doesn't give the image that you're trying to live within a fort which doesn't promote neighborhood friendlyness.

[funniegrrl]

Hi all --

Thanks for the responses, some good ideas here. To answer some questions ...

Yes, I did report the theft to the police, for the very reason mentioned. I knew the liklihood of anything coming of it was effectively zilch, but I did think it important that it be on the books as happening.

Also, I do have a motion-detector light on exactly that corner of the house. I think the trespassing is occuring during the day, though. Still, I agree that having it there is definitely a good move and I keep it activated. I also keep the front porch light on 24/7.

I'm not sure about the neighborhood watch, probably not. Most of the other residences on this street are rentals, and many -- not all, but many -- residents are Hispanic from what I can see. Won't hurt to ask around, just get the idea this is a neighborhood where people mostly keep to themselves. I have met my next door neighbor, they are owners and very nice and watchful. They grilled some workmen I had here before I moved in to make sure their presence was legit, so I feel pretty good about that.

As for the gap in the back fence, yes, it has to be there -- the alley is where the trash & recycling is picked up. So, I have to be able to put the huge rolley-bins on the other side of the fence in the alley. I could eventually put in a gate with a lock. But, the existing chain-link fencing is old & rusty, basically the whole thing needs to be pulled down and and new put up. So, I probably will do that eventually, but right now it's out of the question financially. (I had to have about $3500 worth of work done on the inside of the house before I ever moved in, and only about half of that was planned. :rolleyes: ) I had actually planned to put in a more secure back porch door, too, but ran out of funds. *sigh* So, that's on the list.

I had not heard of the Driveway Alarm so I will definitely be checking that out! It sounds very interesting.

As for the parking issue, I had thought about planting something there, and I like the idea of the mini-fence, too. I'll definitely look into that -- either option would be more attractive than what I had thought of previously, which was traffic cones. :D There aren't any parking regulations or density regulations other than zoning allowing multi-family vs. single family. I suppose that kind of thing is more typical in northern cities than it is here, we Southerners don't go in for as much regulation. :D The car(s) aren't there for long, and I've only seen them a handful of times, so at this point it's not as big a deal as the other.

I think part of the problem is that this house was on the market for a while before I bought it, and may have been vacant a few months before that. So, people got used to there not being anyone here. In fact ... the realtor had a house key hidden on the back porch. It was pretty cleverly hidden, but not impossible to find. Also, the exterior door to the basement had no lock on it. The house obviously had "visitors" during the time it was on the market. Several times after I started looking at it and during the purchase process, I found condom wrappers and even a used condom in various spots. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I've rambled on enough. I appreciate the ideas and welcome any that anyone else has to offer!

[kwormann]

Hello

I talked to my friend in Sylvan Park. He also had suggested a motion light.

When I was growing up, we had an "alarm" on our back door. You could set it to be on when you were out or at night, so if someone even tried to jiggle the door, it would go off. That was in the late 80's, so I cant find the exact product, but here are a few examples:
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1297199&cp=&pg=3&sr=1&origkw=alarm&kw=alarm&parentPage=search&searchId=19783556531

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1297195&cp=&pg=3&sr=1&origkw=alarm&kw=alarm&parentPage=search&searchId=19783556531


Maybe to help with peace of mind.

[cchhbb]

I had an alarm that I would use when I traveled. I received it as a gift, so I'm not sure where to buy one. This alarm fit over the door knob of a hotel and would make a really loud noise if someone tried to come into your room. I also used to pack a little plastic door stop which I would wedge under the door when I was in the room.

I spent a lot of time traveling by myself for business and after being walked in on several times I started using the door stop. Perhaps you could use one on the inside of the porch door so people can't easily come in.

We were robbed about 18 months ago and it is a terrible feeling. We immediately installed a security system and that helped us. We did all the work ourselves and it was only about $500. Our monitoring is only $10 per month.

[barbara-cook]

I agree with the motion sensor lights. And I would put in some strategically located BARBERRY bushes. Not the ones that get huge, but stay somewhat on the short side (maybe 3-4 feet). They are thorny, so anyone brushing by them once would think twice the next time. But they are pretty and get red berries on them that birds love.

Congratulations on your first house. I hope this situation improves so that you can enjoy it and not feel violated every day.

[ChristyMarie]

What about a motion activated sprinkler? They are designed to deter animals but I don't see why it wouldn't help this situation.

[Gilgamesh37]

Except that she's not home a lot, and depending on who is cutting through her yard, soaking them down could just piss them off and then malicious vandalism is a real possiblity (spoken as someone who lived in a mostly student rental area of a college town for a lot of years, and had her share of vandalism every single bloody time I complained about noise from a party or someone parking in my driveway) I understand you need to be able to wheel out the recycle bins, but that doesn't preclude putting in some sort of simple gate with a latch, maybe even one you could padlock. Really, I feel for you, people used to cut through our yard all the time, and ours was a lot more closed off than it sounds like yours is---they had to unlatch and come through 2 gates, and cut along hte side of our house maybe 2-3" from our windows, and yet they did it constantly. (don't get me started on the football night parties where all the young men would troop into my backyard to pee.) Honestly, I think a simple gate nad some prickly bushes along the unfenced area is the best approach.

At this same house, there was one summer where people kept stealing the potted plants off my front steps. They had to come a good 10-15 feet off the sidewalk and up a few stairs to do it, too. It was always late at night (post bar time) and I suspect it was drunk college students. I was so tempted to pot up a big beautiful bunch of poison ivy and leave it out there......

[avariell]

I'm not sure about the neighborhood watch, probably not. Most of the other residences on this street are rentals, and many -- not all, but many -- residents are Hispanic from what I can see. Won't hurt to ask around, just get the idea this is a neighborhood where people mostly keep to themselves. I have met my next door neighbor, they are owners and very nice and watchful. They grilled some workmen I had here before I moved in to make sure their presence was legit, so I feel pretty good about that.


i am really not trying to jump down your throat but there is not some inherent quality about a hispanic person that would make them less likely to participate in a neighborhood watch... i would encourage you to ask around with all your neighbors.

[funniegrrl]

What I meant by that is that many people in this neighborhood don't speak English and I speak only a thimbleful of Spanish. Communicating about something as complex as a neighborhood watch would be difficult. In addition, the immigrant community is VERY wary of the police -- with some reason -- and tensions between government and immigrants are very high right now. So, voluntary interaction with the police is not going to be high on their agendas. Also, I know for a fact that most people on this street are renters, and in my personal experience[i/], renters are less likely to participate in something like that than homeowners.

Not to say it's not worth looking into, it definitely is. However, something like that takes time in the most homogeneous, government-friendly neighborhood, and I have people traipsing through my yard [i]today.

[applecrisp]

funniegrrl --

Maybe the police would have some suggestions on what you can do since they probably see a wide range of low tech to high tech things used. I recall a friend getting a bunch of ideas from her local police station. Worth a try.

Sorry to hear that you are having this problem.