Banshee's gone Vigilante

[Banshee]

I've been a bit quiet of late on here due to issues at home on our new estate. Me and the partner moved into a brand new 3 bed semi detached Bellway Homes development in a beautiful part of rural Solihull about 12 months ago.

The house on the whole has been fine, usual amounts of snagging compared to our neighbors etc but the main problem started around 9 months in when the estate had developed more somewhat.

We've been facing what I would class as a massive epidemic of burglaries and car thefts from the area, you may have read in the news at the moment that this kind of crime is on the rise generally across the country however, as of last month my postcode was the 2nd most burgled postcode in the West Midlands closely behind Henley in Arden which is about 15 mins away.

After experiencing almost 2 burglaries a day for almost a week straight almost 2 months ago I decided we needed to take EXTREME action as the estate was in turmoil!! I started of by setting up a little "Lookout" WhatsApp group which just started with myself and my immediate neighbors either side and those opposite, this quickly started to grow and then ballooned as the burglaries continued and neighbors started talking and got wind of the group. The WhatsApp group has a current total of 46 members, all spread nicely around the extremities of the site.

The burglaries have ranged from 3-4 vehicles taken, 1 by force from the owner as he pulled up on the drive (Audi S3, Golf R, Q7) to break ins to properties where electronics and other valuables have been taken. The car thefts have all appeared to be gangs of at least 3 whereby the house break ins based on the CCTV footage we have managed to obtain and share through the group, appear to be being committed by a singular IC3 male in the same clothing every time!!!!

As the group grew in size via WhatsApp neighbors were growing increasingly worried and everyone was getting itchy just waiting for the next break in so I decided to get pro-active. As residents were talking between themselves due to current goings on we were already creating a fantastic community spirit so I decided to start doing organised street patrols, I was shocked at how much support I've received and to this day we'll have a minimum of 5 people per patrol at the moment. This would entail meeting up at randomized times in the evenings arranged on the group and we'd literally walk around the whole estate and make sure there are no dodgy goings on.

Things escalated somewhat when one of our residents, an elderly lady in a 5 bed detached house on her own, was targeted by the burglar for almost 10k of Jewelry from a safe in an upstairs bedroom. News came through via the WhatsApp and the streets were swamped with residents at the house, and the support searching the area and patrolling round the estate that night was moving!!! This injected yet another kick into the group and this is where we started to get serious.

Luckily there a lot of younger lads on the estate that are of my age and are willing to get out and get involved if anything was spotted, as such, we decided that it was time to organise a rapid response unit for any other such future incidents. We also decided that things had got serious enough to warrant getting as many houses as we could radio connected with handheld UHF radios for instant support as getting a phone out, unlocking it and sending a message takes way way longer than pressing a mic button and screaming, especially for our elderly residents.



We now have a crack team of about 8 lads including myself and some proper blokey blokes (builders, plasterers, an ex firearms officer, retired SAS officer and a massive gym nut) we are ready to respond 24/7 and will and have ran out of the house at 2-3am in the morning to check on any suspicious vehicles or people on foot within the estate.

It's been working to great effect and we've uncovered a few strange goings on within the estate which without being stereotypical all seems to be coming from within the small amount of social housing that has to be legally built on new build developments from now on We're currently working hand in hand with the Police, local crime commissioner and the Parish Council.

The Police have been very supportive of the current goings on and have been making their own inquiries into stuff we've reported and have been taking CCTV footage from break ins etc. The only problem is they have just closed our local station so if there are no cars in the area and one has to be scrambled it has to come all the way from Birmingham and as a result, when we have rang 999 in an emergency before it has taken between 25mins - 1hour for them to arrive.

Around a month ago, the same burglar had returned to break back into the same house that had already had 10k of jewelry taken. As we are organised now and the lady in question had had a rear ring camera floodlight system fitted, she got a notification on her phone to say that there was motion detected in her back garden, she went to the rear patio door and there he was again stood at the door, she grabbed her radio and luckily I was first to respond as I'm about 6 doors away, CCTV shows me arriving 46 seconds after the called it in. When I got there (with baseball bat) I jumped up onto the garden wall and saw the little sh*t running away 3 gardens away. I was SCREAMING my lungs out at him as I could see him and I know he could hear me, I won't re-type what I shouted as it was totally disgusting.

We were just a little too slow that time to capture him as I only had 2 people respond due to the radio network being quite new we didn't have the resource to corden off the area. After that night the radio network exploded and we now have 16 radios out with 10 more on order and the patrols have been mental with almost 2 groups of 5 each night



Thankfully, since this night, we haven't had anymore incidents or attempted break ins until last weekend when we got a shout on the radios on a Saturday afternoon. My next door neighbor's daughter had seen 2 males force they way into the building site on mountain bikes with hoods up and both wearing rucksacks.

The rapid response team scrambled which resulted in a 7 man footchase leading to two 14 year old lads being caught and detained for the arrival of the police. Luckily these two weren't equipped to go breaking in and just had bags full of sweets and pop, they were apparently looking for big dunes to ride their bikes over



So that's where Banshee has been

Feel free to discuss guys, I have way way more info and stories, pictures, videos if there's enough interest, stuff like this is never nice to read but I just want to show that with the community with you, scum like this can be stopped!!!!!!!!

[jims-terrano]

Well fair play to you and the local community Zac, I really cannot blame you at all and it is truly fantastic to hear of such community spirit.

At the same time just be very careful, actions and words can be interpreted so differently and also so many people there may be a danger of someone going a little too far. The law is an ass and may also work against you.

Like I said fair play mate and it is such a pity that residents have to do the polices job, so wrong that cuts have caused all this problem.

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by jims-terrano

Well fair play to you and the local community Zac, I really cannot blame you at all and it is truly fantastic to hear of such community spirit.

At the same time just be very careful, actions and words can be interpreted so differently and also so many people there may be a danger of someone going a little too far. The law is an ass and may also work against you.

Like I said fair play mate and it is such a pity that residents have to do the polices job, so wrong that cuts have caused all this problem.

You've hit the nail on the head about the cuts Jim, we were told by the Police that on the night of the jewelry theft, there were 4 officers on shift and was a total of 40 calls that evening.

Safety in numbers is our best way to defeat these guys and we really are ready for them. When I go out on patrols I look like I'm ready for war. I don't go out without my bulletproof vest either and always make sure that we have cable ties on hand so that if we catch these guys, we can detain and hold them there.

It's become that much of a problem Jim that elderly residents are threatening to leave the estate and put their new houses up for sale just because of it etc. Families are terrified, I've had knocks on the door from guys who work night shifts asking me to pay special attention to their houses due to pregnant wives and girlfriends being left home alone at night.

We've all decided that it's gone way too far to not be doing what we are doing and we are ready to detain and hold these guys, we've even got people on standby that live on the start of the estate ready to use their vehicles to stop other vehicles leaving if need be.

It is starting to become very political and the Police are becoming a little embarrassed as to how organised we are and how much more we've been able to do.

[Blocky10]

KgGood work banshee. If anyone is capable of motivating people it's you pal. Obviously when you do catch someone, be very careful. When backed into a corner, folk can be very unpredictable.
Safety in numbers is key. Stay safe.

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by Blocky10

KgGood work banshee. If anyone is capable of motivating people it's you pal. Obviously when you do catch someone, be very careful. When backed into a corner, folk can be very unpredictable.
Safety in numbers is key. Stay safe.

Thanks matey That means a lot

I'm only posting all of this in case I can't make the meet on Friday in my truck, this is the reason why I've been so slow in getting Terrance ready for the road, I physically haven't been able to lift a spanner to it with what's going on

[macabethiel]

There are three large developments in progress within a few miles of where we live, two are round the corner. Once again as its a condition of planning consent for larger developments social housing has to be included. We have had an increase in crime in our postcode area.

When we were burgled admittedly a few years ago now it was when the nearby estate was being developed. I was on nights and the wife disturbed them. That made us fit an alarm and we now have CCTV due to our recent house fire causing general insecurity in our household.

The armchair socialist seem to believe that by including social housing in each development this leads to better integration, personal aspiration is absorbed by the community bringing the less fortunate to become better citizens.

The trade off is in my opinion that a few bad resident make life miserable whilst they plunder the locals who they perceive as well off. This will usually continue until they are caught, let off with multiple cautions, ignore community service orders, suspended sentences are broken, finally a few years down the line they end up in HMP or as drug addicts in rehab, a few get married learn about hard work and grow out of offending. Sadly the hard working community have to take it on the chin.

I applaud your efforts and wish you success, obviously avoid anyone getting heavy handed.

[Blocky10]

Originally Posted by Banshee

Thanks matey That means a lot

I'm only posting all of this in case I can't make the meet on Friday in my truck, this is the reason why I've been so slow in getting Terrance ready for the road, I physically haven't been able to lift a spanner to it with what's going on

We hope you can make it. There'll always be room in my truck for you