Some of you may remember the looter incident from last years hurricane season.
If not here is the short version.
We got hit and we without power and everyone running on generators. Generators are a big ticket theft item after a hurricane. Basically low lifes drive around listening for a hum, drop off some guys who unhook your generator and the truck picks them up after circling the block. By the time you wake up your generator is gone.
About 2am one night the phone rings and it is the girl next door calling us because there are some black guys in their back yard. So I get my shit together, grab the MP5 and head out the door. 2 other neighbors are also headed back their with handguns and shotguns.
We gave them quite the surprise and I chased them about a block or two through back yards. Didn't get them but they left a bloody t shirt on a fence and I assumed it would be enough for them not to come back. Later a crappy pickup truck drove around the block a few times as if he were looking for somebody (possibly his fellow lowlifes who were suppossed to have a generator at this point).
Anyway I'm outside doing some final prep for the storm we are gonna get and I swear I saw the exact same pickup truck with 3 homies inside it. They were cruising past at about 15-20mph and could have been scouting things out. I didn't get a plate number and I didn't get a close enough look at the occupants to recognize them. But I'm about 95% sure it was the same truck as we looked at it pretty close last year and if it made a third pass we were considering stoping it and asking what they were looking for.
So do I call it in? Almost doesn't seem like enough to justify it. Some sketchy details and a bunch of maybe's. Don't think they are gonna set up a stake out to catch these guys based upon any of that. At best it will be one item on a laundry list of things local cops are briefed about. Again the only thing I'm really certain about is the truck.
The other alternative is to bait these jackasses. A buddy of mine has a crap ass generator that is mostly unreliable that he keeps to run a few things in his garage. If we lose power we could set that up at a house where it is obvious and visible from the street and keep watch on it from nearby houses. The downside of course is a no show and we sit out in the rain all night.
ETA: It just occurred to me that we may not lose power long enough for generator use, or at all. These guys could simply be scouting for portable property knowing most owners won't go outside to investigate during a storm or even hear them. Generator bait might not work. I may have to put the VCR on the front porch again.