Best ways to stop trespassers when the LEO is indifferent

[Storm56]

I had this problem when I first bought my land. Tried being nice and asking, that did not work. Tried posting, that did not work. Dropped trees across entrances, that did not work. So I waited on the property until I caught them, explained that mext time I caught them there I was going to be unpleasant, that did not work. Waited and caught them again and met them with a baseball bat, told them in no uncertain terms next time I catch them they were not leaving without broken bones and smashed atv's. One guy got lippy so we settled it the way men do and I have not had a problem since. Guess the word got around.

 

[Taylortractornut]

At the landfill one summer the company we worked for sold out. We ad gotten every things ready and grassed for the dormancy ahead and these farmer kids that have land beside the fill came in and tore heck out of all our slopes and grass. When caught to make it right we brought in a 53 foot trailer full hay. It was late August and they hand shook the whole site over.

 

[aczlan]

We ad gotten every things ready and grassed for the dormancy ahead and these farmer kids that have land beside the fill came in and tore heck out of all our slopes and grass. When caught to make it right we brought in a 53 foot trailer full hay. It was late August and they hand shook the whole site over.

I'll bet they wont do that again.

Aaron Z

 

[ultrarunner]

A very good friend had no end to problems from people trashing his property at the end of his private road... he is a WWII fighter ace and as feisty as they come.

The land was posted, had a barricade with posts and then he added boulders...

What really got his dander up was the trash left behind and cigarette buts... very high fire danger California's hoe and dry summers..

Anyway, when he again found the chain cut and his sign knocked over... there were two parked parked inside his property and he lost it... "Somehow" the parking brakes on both cars failed and they rolled down into the ravine...

Turned out the father of one of the boys was a Sheriff Deputy and the other a local Dentist...

Never had another problem...

 

[LBrown59]

Run one strand of barb wire head high

Then get sued for everything you own and everything you earn for life.

 

[alabama roughneck]

LBrown59
What would you sue me for? Is it illegal to put a fence around your property where you live?

 

[David P]

I started the thread in your second link...

We purchased our property (68A) last year. Prior to our closing there was essentially no activity by the previous owner on the property for the preceding 10 years AT LEAST. For this reason it became a sort of community-property that was a playground for many of the locals. We put our offer in in April or May and didn't close until early October. Since we had permission from the owner to be on the property we would often head down there just to get to know the parcel better.

We saw people on the property quite often; dirt bikes, atvs, people walking etc etc etc. However, once we closed on the property and made some changes that were noticeable (installing gates, moving dirt around for various purposes, trimming trails back, etc) the activity decreased immensely. We still saw tracks of a few stallworts but these really thinned out after hunting season as I was down there so much.

I did a few things that helped but none more so than just being present on the property. We would try to mix up the times we were there; early morning sometimes and late at night on others. Just being there was our greatest asset. If you can spend some time down there where these people could see and or hear your presence I think you would see an improvement.

Beyond that, trail cameras are your friend. I picked up a couple of wildgame innovation cameras with the external battery packs that worked fairly well for me. This year I added a Bushnell Trophy cam and mounted it up about 15 feet in a tree. This camera has a feature that allows me to set it to take pictures at regular time intervals throughout the day AND when motion is detected. By placing it up in the tree I get coverage over a much, much larger area than I would have had I placed it at chest or head level.

The police may want to do something but can't as they simply don't know who is violating the law. The trail cameras will provide you with a very valuable asset to the police, evidence. When I first approached the police with my issue they really were unable to help me as my evidence did not show the commission of a crime. However, when I took them evidence with very clear pictures of the suspects faces and provided them with their address, they were much more ready to get to work.

I have also moved some trees onto ingress points for atv traffic on our property. This helped somewhat.

Good luck!

 

[GGB]

I'm not condoning some of the suggestions offered here, but is it any wonder that a lack of respect for other's property would lead someone to take such drastic actions?

Pretty frustrating when you've put hard work in to acquire a little piece of land to call your own, and then see others who have zero respect for you and your property trespass, tear up and destroy it.

Again, I'm not condoning extreme efforts by landowners to keep people out, but I sure can understand the sentiment.....

If the LEO community doesn't address legitimate landlord problems, are we very far away from the days of the posse???

GGB

 

[David P]

I'm not condoning some of the suggestions offered here, but is it any wonder that a lack of respect for other's property would lead someone to take such drastic actions?

Pretty frustrating when you've put hard work in to acquire a little piece of land to call your own, and then see others who have zero respect for you and your property trespass, tear up and destroy it.

Again, I'm not condoning extreme efforts by landowners to keep people out, but I sure can understand the sentiment.....

If the LEO community doesn't address legitimate landlord problems, are we very far away from the days of the posse???

GGB

I don't understand LEO's general unwillingness to address the trespassing issue either. It seems to me that trespassing is likely to be one of the very first acts committed in a criminal's life of crime. First, step onto someone's property illegally and without consequence; next, look around and see what's available. Theft and vandalism would seemingly be the next steps and who knows where things head after that. If you wait to enforce the laws when a so-called "more serious" violation occurs, you are way too late to be effective, IMO. I believe that when Rudy Giulani took over as Mayor of NY he started enforcing the "smaller" laws with this in mind. Stop them early and you don't have to stop them later it would seem.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

"Once you have killed a man, it's easy to rob the next one; once you have robbed a man, it's easy to shoplift his property; once you have shoplifted a man's property . . . " and so on all the way down to "it's easy to run a red light." A rule breaker is a rule breaker.

If the police academy training takes, LEO will be interested in the smallest of crimes, including trespassing because it sometimes leads to solving much bigger cases.