BREAK-INS and VANDALISM at BART Pleasanton and Fremont Stations on the News tonight. Concord is being hit as well.
Felt like the news minimized the actual extent of the vehicles being broken into and vandalized throughout the BART system. They are following up with someone from BART next Tuesday. I'll be interested to hear what the BART spokesperson says about it because vehicle break-ins on the BART system are out of control. BART owes it to the passengers to make sure that they can leave their vehicles in the lot with a reasonable amount of certainty that the passenger will come back to their car and all four wheels will be on it and the window won't be smashed out, etc. If my community had better bus service to and from BART, I wouldn't even bother to take my car down there.
There is usually pretty
There is usually pretty decent bus transit to the BART stations unless you live in some crappy exurb. Anywhere on the west side of the East Bay Hills and north of Hayward should be OK as far as AC Transit goes.
Decent transit to the BART
Decent transit to the BART stations??? At Pleasant Hill BART, the last bus on my route -- FOR THE DAY -- leaves the station at 6:05pm. That would mean leaving work in SF by around 5pm, and risking BART delays that would make you miss that last bus. Hello? Who except government workers leaves work at 5pm? We professionals who leave work at 6-6:30 at the earliest have no choice but to drive.
Tri-Valley Transit only run
Tri-Valley Transit only run one per hour, miss the train by about 1 minute and then quit running at 10:30 p.m. Since i work 12:30 to 11:00, ruding the doesn't work out with my schedule but I sure wished it did. Oakland is lucky; A/C goes everywhere and often and is cheap.
Like I said, you live in
Like I said, you live in some soulless crappy exurb. Don't expect good transit. Thanks for playing.
Get over it, there are
Get over it, there are bigger problems in the world.
Create more summer jobs and activities for the youth = fewer break-ins and vandalism.
Its not rocket science.
It's not just kids that are
It's not just kids that are breaking into cars. There are some very desperate adults out there who break car windows (costing $200 - $600) to steal a few quarters or some loose change laying around in the ashtray.
These idiot criminals should realize that burglary is a felony and a felony = prison time, not just the county jail. Three felonies = three strikes and if all goes well, these crooks will be jailed the rest of their useful lives for stealing a stereo or some quarters.
Idiots like yourself are
Idiots like yourself are never going to get it. I know for a fact that you live with 10 miles of either Walnut Creek or Dublin.
Where are you going to jail all of these "crooks"? In the prisons? Fine, what happens when you run out of room, will you build more? Really, where will the money come from, will you cut the funding for schools and activities for youth?
Good, you can help create more "crooks".
Crime committed with little
Crime committed with little or no consequence begets more crime. Make the punishment outweigh the crime and soon those committing the crimes, if intellegent enough, will see it is not worth it. Those not intellegent enough are then taken out of society...
Our problem now is that society feels there should be little consequence for any misdeed, and that multiple "second chances" given. this lowering of standards has resulted in the mess we are in now... not a lack of work, just a lack of overpaid for underacheiver work...the same folks who mention more jobs for young adults usually also enter the immigration arguement with the fact that migrant workers tend to take jobs no-one elase wants...seems there are an abundance of jobs?
We expect that a person who would sooner bust out your window and take a cheap cell phone or two would be one that would report to work at 8am daily and do a good job? You'd want this person working on your house? Fixing your car? Cleaning your clothes? Someone with the lack of character it takes to B&E (break and enter) doesn't seem to be a candidate for bank teller of the month now do they? Respect is earned, integrity is the virtue displayed when others are not watching...if society were to be a bit more consequence oriented, understand that for every action or inaction there is an equal but opposite reaction, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now.
My daily 2¢...
Actually I live in Oakland.
Actually I live in Oakland. Nice assumption "idiot," or should I say, "liberal idiot?" Oh. Sorry for the assumption there, but it sounds like you want to give criminals 600 chances before justice is served, a common characteristic of an anti-government/law/authority pot smoking hippie liberal extremist.
I'm realistic, and I understand the current crowding problem in California prisons. However, perhaps you ignored, or just didn't understand the intention of my post. The main intention was to identify that the state of California finds the crime of burglary to be a felony. Felonies are the ultimate in the heirachy of crime and are punishable by fines, imprisonment (or both, and in some cases, death. California law makers obviously felt that entering a building, boat, locked car, etc, was serious enough to jail someone for more than one year. If you think the legislature are idiots, than that's your right to an opinion.
Maybe one day you'll have the tinted window smashed out of your Hybrid, or someone will break into your garage and steal your bicycle and you'll realize what a negative effect their actions have on your bank account. Perhaps they will someday be caught and charged with one couth of burglary, when it's pretty likely they've committed burglary dozens of times that should have earned them decades in prison.
People like you are the reason that felons get small penalties, because you believe they are somehow rehabilitated or forgiveable for their "minor" offense. Criminals do what they do out of desparation, or because it's only what they know. I've seen the same burglars get caught, arrested, sentenced, released and then caught two more times. Why should someone be released back into society over and over again, only to be found doing the same criminal acts again?
My fellow poster, YOU are the idiot who is never going to get it. I think it's pretty clear why.
Great post. Yeah, maybe
Great post. Yeah, maybe that poster will get to his car at 1:00 a.m. and it will only have three wheels on it and a smashed out window, all for a few quarters in the ashtray. See how the poster feels then. It's the time involved too besides the theft to get the repairs done.
I do find the court system
I do find the court system far too leinient and "forgiving" of those who do get brought before them. But add to it the fact they, those perpetrating these crimes, are not being caught until multiple, glaring numbers of such crimes occur in a given area. Not enough being done there.
I do beleive that one learns by consequences, hard consequences. Burn your hand once on a hot surface and the smart person thinks twice about a repeat performance. Rehabilitation is the desired goal for some with regards to imprisoning criminals, it is not one I share. I beleive that one demonstrates their rehabilitation by not commiting further crimes. Plain and simple. It does not take a great deal of brain power to figure that out, so I'm sure that even you will get that. Repeat offenders need to have ever increasing peanlties until the will to commit crime is broken,the desire to not suffer the consequences of their lawlessness overrides the desire to break the law, or simply they and their inability to abide by societies standards is simply removed from the general public. Harsh, draconian, without compassion? Perhaps, but perhaps if society didn't have to teach these lessons to it's members and this was taught in the homes as it once was, we'd not have the ever escalating crime rates we now see every day.
But more to the point I originally stated, a poster had claimed that the only way to solve this is more jobs...something I here all too often. I again ask the question, place yourself in the position of hiring someone who otherwise would be breaking and entering your Camry and taking loose change out of the ashtray.Do you presume to beleive they would be able and willing to make it in to work at 8am on those days even workaholics dread, that Monday following a busy weekend? Think this is the person you want to care for your dry cleaning? the person to watch your car in a public parking lot? Filling your lunch order? I don't think so...people with regular jobs do commit crimes as well, so a job isn't the catch all answer either.
Some parts of society actually glorify criminal behavior, exhalt the one who flaunts his lack of societal concerns and profits from their lawlessness. Until such a time when that is again seen as something we will no longer tolerate, people will continue to see this as the "easy way" the get rich or die trying philosophy exponded by thugs and wanna be gangstas...
My daily 2¢...
Send the felons to Iraq and
Send the felons to Iraq and make them earn their freedom. Maybe insurgents will get a bit scared when they are confronted by "gangstas" that have nothing to lose and everything to gain...
My 2 dinars
Exactly. they took my
Exactly. they took my ashtray with change it; $66.00 for a loudsy ashtray.
Want to prevent auto
Want to prevent auto burglaries? Don't leave anything of value in plain sight in the vehicle. Open the ash tray and remove the loose change (leave it open). Remove all items from your glove box and center console and leave it open. If your back seat folds down to expose your trunck, remove any items of value from there and leave it open. I suggest placing a club on your steering wheel too. No promise that criminals will not tamper with your vehicle but the probability that they may lose interest in your car is much higher. You can not rely on the Police to catch every bad guy out there. Criminals know that 40000 parking spaces are occupied all day long. With only so many officers to cover a large area while responding to calls for service and other crimes, can't be everywhere at the same time. Lot of people want to blame BART for their car being broken into. Who do you blame when it's broken into in your car port, garage, or out in the street in front of your house? BART provides a transit service, not a personal vehicle security service.
For years I drove an old
For years I drove an old (and much loved) '72 El Camino that I parked at Bayfair BART everyday. It was no cherry but it had sentimental value. I had a decal in each vent window that said:
NO RADIO
NO VALUABLES
NOTHING
One evening as I was walking back to my truck from the station I was surprised to see several BART police cars where I was parked. The cars on either side of me had windows broken out and had been burglarized. My windows were covered with smeared hand prints where someone had a good look inside but nothing was broken. I asked the cops if they wanted fingerprints but they didn't seem interested.
Apparently the crooks bothered to read my decals!
We should just beat the crap
We should just beat the crap out the criminals that are caught with a cane like they do in
Singapore.
Just the thought of getting nailed with a cane on your bare skin would keep me from doing something
bad.
I agree... the punishment
I agree... the punishment should be severe enough to deter the crime..
most financial penalties really have not kept up..
I'm all for a Taser
I'm all for a Taser Free-For-All. I have no tolerance for hooligans that want to break into cars for change or whatever. Transients that try to ride for free. Taser 'em. People that are loud. Taser 'em. If you get tasered trying to break into your own car, as you've locked the keys inside, it is a small price to pay for our overall safety.
You finally get it...
You finally get it... d=-)