Vandelized

[CovertRain 5]

My light show was vandalized last night.  My neighbor a few houses down was also hit.  I was already down a CCR 2 ribbon and now down another thanks to the vandals.  Other decorations were not salvageable.  We are assessing damage but I think I might be able to band-aid things together.  What has the world come to?

[k6ccc 884]

Sorry to hear about that.  Unfortunately it does happen.  Not very often - fortunately. 

One of the reasons that I have security cameras all over the place.  May not stop it, but improves the possibility of capture.

 

[Mega Arch 831]

Sorry as well. 

[TheDucks 144]

Does your HO insurance cover any of the damage

[CovertRain 5]

Have a $500 dollar deductible.  About the same was done in damage so a claim would make no sense.  Honestly, if it wasn't for my kids this would be enough for me to hang it up. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by CovertRain

[TitusCarnathan 69]

Sorry to hear that happened to you. Do you leave lighting on overnight or is your yard pitch black overnight? Typically lighting even spot lights help a little (doesn't stop it completely) with keeping hoodlums off your property. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by TitusCarnathan

[Speedster 40]

Bummer, sorry to hear that.  Vandalism and theft are the reasons why I would never put up any outdoor lights and yard decor at our previous home in Milwaukee.  We always heard horror stories about how people's yard decor and lights were either stolen or vandalized.  Hopefully they catch whoever did this to you and your neighbor. 

[B.Y.R.G. 124]

Sorry to hear.....freaking SOB's!

[tlogan 18]

Sorry to hear that. 

The worst I've had is a few years ago (before I got into the LOR stuff) someone broke EVERY BLUE light in my display. ONLY the blue lights.  I was doing all white with a few accents of multi colors at the time so it wasn't traumatic or anything,  just really annoying. And last year I ran a couple of strings of C9 LEDs along the top of my deck railing and had what must have been a squirrel chew  one bulb/socket clean off at the base. No other lights were disturbed. I  found it  a couple of days later lying in the yard in otherwise perfect condition and first thought the dog must have grabbed it, but it was too clean of a bite and the dog would have pulled the whole string down and mauled it. It was late in the season and believe or not I couldn't find another c9 LED strand. But I could find plenty of c7s, so replaced all the c9 with c7s. Two days later, the same thing happened! I JUST put those c7s back up last night (with the repaired string from last year) so we'll see how long it lasts.

[Richard Hamilton 17]

Gee, this is terrible that people do things like this.  Fortunately in my almost 20 years of doing synchronized lights, there was only one incident a few years ago where some high school kids were about to either steal or trash my display.   They knocked over one arch before they were scared away when the alarm went off from the motion sensors I had spread around the yard. 

I actually put the sound alarm on one of the LOR channels so they get activated after the main show and stay on till morning.  I guess it was worth the $50 I spent to buy it.  They were also caught on camera  and I sent the video to the high school on campus police and he recognized the kids.   Apparently they agreed to do some public service time in exchanged for not being charged.  As bad as it may be to protect a display, I guess it is needed in some places. 

[sticks4legs 39]

Sorry to hear.  At least the few that I have heard about around here, it’s just theft of cords for the pennies in copper.  No major decorations damaged 

[jfuller8400 33]

That's too bad.  We all put a lot of time into this hobby for it to be ruined by a couple of misguided people.  Try to remember all of the happiness it brings to others, though.

[~DOC~ 31]

Not cool at all. I worry about this even in the country. Sorry this happened. I hope you carry on. Although this is our first year with LOR we always decorate big. People who do decorate are far and few. I want my kids and grandson!!! Tocarry this tradition on. 

[LightsWithSoul 34]

I always worry about this happening.. This year I installed a wide angle camera that can see my entire display at the very least for some peace-of-mind. Fortunately I live in a gated community and haven't had any issues since I started a couple years ago. I'm sorry this happened to you. It's very unfortunate that there are people out there that have so little to do that they spend time destroying your hard work. 

[lightzilla 47]

I am, sorry to hear this news. It does happen. Happen to us in our old home 1 season but it stopped because we talked with a lady who talked to her song who talked with his friends & then it stopped. Then we move & all was good for 10 years & then it happened again. This time it effected me to the point where I decorated less....but kept decorating & even though I am doing a static display again this year I when bigger than  I have in the past few years.  It may get you down, and you may want to scale back a bit but if you do remember to  keep on plugging away even if you scale back a bit.  Think of the folks that do enjoy the display & the season.

[Mega Arch 831]

4 hours ago, lightzilla said:

I am, sorry to hear this news. It does happen. Happen to us in our old home 1 season but it stopped because we talked with a lady who talked to her song who talked with his friends & then it stopped. Then we move & all was good for 10 years & then it happened again. This time it effected me to the point where I decorated less....but kept decorating & even though I am doing a static display again this year I when bigger than  I have in the past few years.  It may get you down, and you may want to scale back a bit but if you do remember to  keep on plugging away even if you scale back a bit.  Think of the folks that do enjoy the display & the season.

yeah - but your static blows most displays away - trains, ferris wheels, bamm.

But when you sequence - it's spot on amazing magic!

 

[dibblejr 855]

That's why I have video cameras, and on top of that I have been seen sitting in front of my home cleaning weapons. The thought of possible led l.e.d. poisoning should make people think. Even though with all of that last month someone had the courage enough to walk into my landscapers truck and steal $3k worth of stuff. Local LEO asked if I could watch the videos and gave me a precise 10 min time frame.

Noted a possible vehicle drove by 6 times in about 7 mins,

Next day he was busted, turned out to be a friend of a friends adult son who figured he was safe just out of camera view. Didn't realize that driving by a house that many times in those few mins would get him busted.

[Richard Hamilton 17]

My solution in addition to having a few cameras with night vision is a few years ago I put motion sensors at various locations around the yard and they point inward so I don't false triggers from cars going by at night.  The motion sensors are on batteries and transmit wirelessly to 2 receiver alarms.  One alarm I leave outside so people coming into the yard can hear it.  I gave it a siren sound.  The other receiver alarm I put in the house with a more mellow chime.

I have an LOR "night Sequence" that runs after the normal show until daylight.  The only thing it does is to turn on the channel where the receiver alarm is attached.   Thus, in the daytime when motion is detected, the receiver never sees it and doesn't bother us, but at night it gets powered up.

Recently I saw a newer version of the system I bought that is $50.  I paid $35 a few years ago.  I am not proposing this particular product.  The link is just to give you an idea of what I do.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074K46VBP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Wayne K 21]

On the local news the last couple of days 2 displays vandalized. The first one from the news report says they went in and cut a lot of the light strings and wiring. His reply was I will show them, I will add a lot more lights. This one about 12 miles away from me. https://wpta21.com/news/2018/12/10/grinch-steals-christmas-but-one-man-is-stealing-it-back/

The second one from a video camera across the street show a person getting out of there vehicle and walking up towards the display and looking it over and then goes back to his vehicle and runs thru the display with his vehicle. This one about 55 miles south of me:  https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/watch-grinch-driver-plows-through-indiana-yard-destroying-christmas-decorations

I hope this does not ever happen to me. I did just upgrade my surveillance system to 5 mp ip cameras and have a pretty clear picture that would hopefully help identify a person if something would happen.

Wayne

[Speedster 40]

I suggest putting out a big sign that says  "Smile, You're On Camera! ".  Maybe right below your "Tune to" sign if you have one.   Even if you don't actually have cameras monitoring your display and traffic/people around your house, it could be a good deterrent for vandals & thieves.

[dibblejr 855]

23 minutes ago, Speedster said:

I suggest putting out a big sign that says  "Smile, You're On Camera! ".  Maybe right below your "Tune to" sign if you have one.   Even if you don't actually have cameras monitoring your display and traffic/people around your house, it could be a good deterrent for vandals & thieves.

The thought of L.E.D. Poisoning works better but yes, my huge cameras and sign on my mailbox probably add to the mystery.

JR

[B.Y.R.G. 124]

A.

[GWJepsen 0]

I live is a nice neighborhood, but even so, I put a thick cable through each unit and to a tree because of people venturing in from other areas.

[kevinob 8]

such bad news! Don't let it stop ya!

[CovertRain 5]

Thanks everyone for the community support.  FYI, I couldn't replace everything this season but I have it back up and running at least.  Screw this person.  Evidently, they hit several neighborhoods in the vicinity and did lots of damage.  None of them had a synchronized light show like me but still.  Unfortunately, multiple videos caught the person using their GMC Yukon to purposely drive over decorations but not one good picture of a license plate.

Such a Grinchy thing to do.  I am so pissed I am going to go bigger next year.  Going to hit the sale, replace some old LOR controllers with some LED ones and say a big screw you to the person who did it.

I wish I could pony up to get at least one new replacement CCR controller but it's tough right before Christmas.

Again, thanks everything for the well wishes and thoughts.  Hopefully Santa puts the jerk on the naughty list.