Thursday, June 21, 2007

3 men sought in Arlington neighborhood

When I left for work on Monday morning, I found my garage door open. I mentally shook my head and made a note to remind my wife to make sure the garage door is shut before she comes to bed (She smokes and sometimes takes her last smoke in the front yard via the garage). When I got to my truck, I found that it had been broken into. The contents of the glove compartment and console were strewn around and the truck was a mess. The only things stolen were a checkbook, a winning scratch off lottery ticket, and my garage door opener. Nothing was taken from the garage, probably because there is not much room to get around V's Jeep in the door. We thought it was probably kids because my Maui Jim sunglasses were just tossed in the seat and left behind. I usually have two full magazines in the glove compartment, but they were in the house following Sunday's day at the range or they would probably have been gone also.

Reading tonight's news, it appears that kids may not have been the culprits.

From the Star Telegram:


ARLINGTON -- Arlington police were using dogs early Thursday to search for three men in connection with burglaries in an area near Indian Trail and Mayfield Road.

Police were investigating a burglary on Woodside Drive in southwest Arlington, when they received a call about a burglary in the 2700 block of Jewell Drive. They arrived in time to see three men speed away in a green Ford Explorer.

Police chased the vehicle, which fishtailed, went off the road and crashed into a metal gate that abutted a vacant lot in the 3500 block of Indian Summer Lane.

Police chased the men, who fled on foot and jumped a nearby fence. Police dogs searched for the men but lost their scent at a creek, officials said. Police found two lawnmowers, two saws, a weed trimmer, a baseball bat and a cellphone in the Explorer, which was not reported stolen, officials said. Police said they believe the items came from more than one home.
This is my neighborhood. Maybe I'll get my garage door opener back and not have to install a whole new unit.

Lesson learned: Having the remote to your garage door clipped to your visor is convenient, but a bit of a security risk.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can't just change the code?

My garage door opener is old and probably not very secure because of it, but there are dip switches on the unit and inside the remotes that are used to change the code.

I would think that more modern garage door openers would have provisions for that as well...am I wrong?

John R said...

It sounds like we have the same generation garage door openers. I can change the dip switches, but then all the dip chits have to do is sit across the street and play the dip switch lotto. V won't feel very good about that small possibility, so changing the opener will probably be best.

Anonymous said...

A 9 position DIP switch (found on older garage door openers) has 512 possible combinations. A 12 position DIP switch has 4096 possible combinations. It's probably OK to keep your current opener if you have a 12 position unit. Just change the code.

John R said...

This is the older opener with 9 dip switches. I have reset the dip switches.

There are a couple small home security projects that I have been putting off that have moved up on my list of things to do.

Anonymous said...

Well then, we must be neighbors!

Let me know if you want to go to the range sometime!

My treat.

John R said...

I always want to head out to the range. I'm a member at JCSSA, so whichever range you want to head out to, I'm game.

I'll email you.

Anonymous said...

The spot I usually go with Kim du Toit is near I-45 and Beltline (South). About 80 acres on the banks of the Trinity River.

Class III is OK there, too.

I was thinking of shooting some entries for Mr. Completely's ePostal match this weekend, so ... send an email & we can figure out the details.
email link

Anonymous said...

Blogger hosed the email ref. It's USCitizen@Well-RegulatedMilitia.org