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[Madisson]

Put a spotlight on the outside of your garage and leave it on at night. It might raise your electric bill a little, but it is better than the vandalism. We had to do this when we lived in St. Louis as our house was not gated then. You can also get one of those fake cameras and mount it. In our case, it stopped the vandalism.

It will not help to move, as we lived in a very nice area in St. Louis. If the little hoodlums want to get in, they will...but you can scare them off with some of the tactics mentioned in this thread.

[mima]

If you put in cameras hooked to a DVR, then even if they destroy the camera, it will be recorded on the DVR of them doing it.

We have them at our store. My son has them at his home. They aren't that expensive, but if you don't know how to set it up, you'd have to hire someone to do it. You can get companies to put them in, but that would cost you much more than if you do it yourself.

[Deanie]

Sounds as if you have many good suggestions here. One that I may have missed would be to contact your local representatives to see if they could put any pressure on the police department. Maybe they can and maybe not. There is a philosophy in law enforcement called the broken window technique. Simply put, it is "take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves." I worked with a former city police officer that gave me some advice. He was large and in charge. He told me, "a piece of paper can not protect you, you need to protect yourself" In other words, you need to take care of the problem and if that means you install video cameras, then so be it. If you decide to move, there are websites that track criminal activity in areas and post it. I would never move without checking them.

[millieshops]

I'd buy a security camera first. That's much cheaper than moving.

Sadly, also, there's no guarantee where you'd move would ultimately be any better.

[willomenia]

Serve them brownies with rat poison in it!

[In-x-s]

Another thought is to ask for extra patrol for awhile in your neighborhood. Even if they can't do anything without proof, extra patrol and cops more frequently visible might deter vandals.

[Andreatoo]

if you go the camera route be very careful with the resolution! We had one of our cars stolen out of the condominium parking lot. we got to watch it in action but because of the resolution could not see the people nor the license plate number on the van that brought them in and then left with our car! fortunately the car broke down on them a couple of miles away, unfortunately that really p.o.ed the thief.

[Perkup]

We live in a gated community with a Board of Directors and frequent Sheriff's Deputy visits. It doesn't matter - bad kids will be bad kids regardless.

The most disgusting thing is that frequently, through the 39 years I've lived here, the kids who do the most "mischief" are kids of the Directors that year. They seem to think they can get by with anything and Daddy will fix it. They steal golf carts and dump them into the lake, tear down mail boxes, throw an occasional dead armadillo onto a front porch, take down a yard statuary and throw it into a tall life oak - whatever the mood demands. When brought to accounting, Daddy talks everyone into letting them go without a record. Not at all what they deserve.

We found several battery operated "cameras" that blink red lights, put them up in trees so high that the kids can't get them without an extension ladder, and pointed them at different spots around our home. So far we've had no trouble. No one knows that they are fakes except the two of us, and we're not sharing that info. Even the neighbors will phone us when they have some damage, and ask if our cameras have anything on the tapes. We just tell them that they only capture the boundaries of our property. You might try this - putting a little fear of being caught out there seems to work for us, and the cost was really minimal.

[Mominohio]

KarenQVC had great advice. Keep cool, lay low, and be sneekier than they are. Trail cameras that hunters use in the woods aren't very expensive (relative to the damage you are experiencing). You can find many locations to hide them, and get them on video for the police and their parents to deal with.

I wouldn't be run out of my house. If these kids are underage, the parents will be responsible for damages, and I'd make sure the parents knew that I was serious.

I hate to say it, but this is how people get killed. They badger someone, continue to damage and harass them, and when the law doesn't get it taken care of, they turn to violence because they are so frustrated. These stupid parents need to understand how really dangerous this kind of activity is. People today will strike out when pushed, without regard to the consequences. I'm not at all saying that you would do this, but the more they get away with doing this to you, the farther they will branch out, and risk running across someone who shoots first and asks questions later. You'd be doing them a favor to catch them and maybe getting punished by the law would wake them up. At least it might stop them from bothering you.

[corismom1]

We Moved and have never looked back. We had neighbors move in, put in a large above ground pool, no fence, open season for all (especially their old neighbors, relatives & friends, with no time limit. The parties went on all day & night with loud music, boom boxes (remember them?) on high base levels, drinking, screaming, crying babies and absolutely NO supervision in the pool. I called the authorities, no noise sanction in our town and so on. We waited until the pool was closed and all the visitors were gone and put the house on the market. There was even a bidding war and we were gone. Our new home in the same town gave us more land, fewer neighbors the kids remained at their same school but did ride different buses. We continued at the church, got 2 extra bathrooms, a bigger garage and larger closets. We have NEVER regretted our decision. Home should be happy, not stressful. A good realtor helps you sell & find a home that you will love.