# You are not living in the crime capital of the world **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 29, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449 "2016-04-29T20:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/21 "2016-04-30T15:40:59Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I just wish my next-door neighbor would play _air_ bass for hours on end, rather than the electric bass plugged into a maxed-out amp. Maybe someday he will get good at it. Could be worse. Could be bagpipes. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/22 "2016-04-30T16:39:34Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > We’ve got Saw Guy in our neighborhood. Suddenly you’ll hear a loud buzzsaw going off at all hours of the morning and night, and I have yet to find a project being worked on anywhere near me. Yet, this has been going for years. Hopefully just a woodworker.😕 He has a router and a table saw and you won’t believe what Mr Sticha saw But what’s he building in there? What the hell is he building in there? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/23 "2016-05-01T02:29:02Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Well, you may be right,\*\* Skywatcher\*\* and **eschereal** , but after the sixth time in half so many hours, I reserve the right to both bitch and rant. :mad: You do and I don’t blame you. There are some neighbors on the street who (somehow) have theirs set to such a sensitivity that the alarm goes off every time anyone walks out the front door of their house. I’ve come close to asking for suggestions here for some device that could possibly be rolled under the offending car (possibly from the window of another car passing by it) that would some how manage to ‘neuter’ it. Lets assume, however, that grenades are too loud… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/24 "2016-05-01T02:34:15Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > You do and I don’t blame you. There are some neighbors on the street who (somehow) have theirs set to such a sensitivity that the alarm goes off every time anyone walks out the front door of their house. > > I’ve come close to asking for suggestions here for some device that could possibly be rolled under the offending car (possibly from the window of another car passing by it) that would some how manage to ‘neuter’ it. > Lets assume, however, that grenades are too loud… You could sponsor a piquish Dubliner’s visa. Those guys are really good with cars – they might even put a delay on it so that the car is out of the neighborhood when it, uh, is disabled. There was a “commercial” on SNL a lot of years ago for a shoulder-fired alarm-seeking missile, but I cannot seem to find it on the web. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/25 "2016-05-01T02:43:52Z")
So you cowardly complain here instead of going to your neighbor and having a talk because it would make too much sense? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/26 "2016-05-01T02:58:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think the states should mandate that car alarms alert the car owner via text message or smartphone app. There’s no reason anyone else needs to hear that a car alarm was activated. Well, if you’re car is actually being broken into, the blaring horn will make the person stop trying to break into it and attract attention to it. What good is a text message? That’s not going to scare anyone off? Ignoring how the car could send a text message (and how you’d mandate it), I could see it being nice to have a car send you a text message that the alarm is going off. That way if you’re at work or in a mall you know something’s going on and the horn isn’t honking for hours. In most jurisdictions, I’d guess, noise ordinances would cover it. If it’s that out of hand, call the cops. Even if it’s malfunctioning, all the person has to do is pull the wire off their horn (or speaker of it’s one of those old aftermarket ones) and and can go off for hours and no one will know it. But having an officer pay them a visit might make them realize that they’re driving the neighborhood batty. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/27 "2016-05-01T03:25:17Z")
Once upon a time, long ago in a place you’d never guess, St Paul, Minnesota–please note, SAINT-FUCKING-PAUL, MINNE-FUCKING-SOTA, now home of _A Prairie Home Companion_–was a wide-open town. The government was crooked, with an accommodating mayor, me own grandfather who ran rum from Canada, and Public Enemies Number One like John Dillinger, who one of my dad’s prepubescent pals wanted to gun down while he was loading his car, guarding it with his tommy gun. His mother objected, having already lost her husband in the gang wars. **dropdad** was not easily impressed after that. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/28 "2016-05-01T03:46:49Z")
Do car alarms actually do anything to deter theft? They make noise, but my first reaction is always to assume that it is going off because of a malfunction or owner error. I don’t think a car alarm going off has ever once made me think, “Holy shit! That guy’s trying to steal a car!” A thief muttering something about his “damned alarm malfunctioning again” would probably alleviate any possible suspicion from the general public. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2016, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/29 "2016-05-01T08:22:21Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > So you cowardly complain here instead of going to your neighbor and having a talk because it would make too much sense? If everyone did that, there would be no BBQ Pit, and many more shootings. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/30 "2016-05-03T14:09:44Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > So you cowardly complain here instead of going to your neighbor and having a talk because it would make too much sense? One would first need to figure out exactly who is responsible for the offending noisemaker. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/31 "2016-05-03T14:20:23Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > You do and I don’t blame you. True that. Our complex has a contract with the local PD to handle security so we called the non-emergency number about the noise at 2AM. The alarm had been going intermittently for a couple hours at that point. > [@](#): > > There are some neighbors on the street who (somehow) have theirs set to such a sensitivity that the alarm goes off every time anyone walks out the front door of their house. Back when I had that apartment in a two-level walkup, somebody with an oversensitive alarm visited one of my seven neighbors for dinner. Their minivan was parked on the street and would _honk honk honk_ whenever a sufficiently heavy vehicle passed. I stuck my head out the kitchen window and applauded when they left. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/32 "2016-05-03T15:22:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Well, if you’re car is actually being broken into, the blaring horn will make the person stop trying to break into it and attract attention to it. What good is a text message? That’s not going to scare anyone off? As **CoastalMaineiac** asked, is there any evidence that car alarms do anything to deter or stop people from stealing cars? Personally when I hear one going off, I hope it really is a thief. At least that way the car will be removed from the neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/33 "2016-05-03T16:10:32Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > Most new cars will beep or talk if you aren’t wearing your seatbelt. I want that sound gone. Do a search for “disable seatbelt warning chime carmakemodel”. For my old Jeep Wrangler, I was able to disable it by > [@](#): > > -DO NOT START THE JEEP. > > -Get in. > -Buckle-up > -turn the key to ACC on. > -Once the seatbelt dummy light goes out, unbuckle and buckle 3 or more times. > -turn off and remove the key. You should hear a confirmation tone. ETA: I use my seatbelt when driving, but sometimes I need to shuffle cars and trailers around in our parking area. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449/34 "2016-05-03T16:15:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > As **CoastalMaineiac** asked, is there any evidence that car alarms do anything to deter or stop people from stealing cars? No. From the AAA’s Via Magazine: ‘After surveying insurance claims for 73 million vehicles in 1997, the nonprofit Highway Loss Data Institute found “no overall reduction in theft losses” for cars with traditional audible alarms.’ One time when I was a kid, a car alarm went off outside our windows for something like 48 hours. My dad finally broke the window and disabled it somehow. On the other hand, when my neighbour’s car got robbed, the alarm went off for like fifteen seconds before the thieves disabled it, and everyone on the road thought it was just an accidental trip that the owner had switched off. So from my totally scienceworthy anecdata, I conclude that car alarms are more likely to cause damage than to prevent theft. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-not-living-in-the-crime-capital-of-the-world/753449.md?page=1)