Brand new house was egged and cherry bombed!

[Mr. Lee]

Well it's July 4th and some punk teenagers decided to go out of their way to ruin my newly built house. Not only is my house in a private community with live guards at the gates, but I also have an additional gate to keep others out. This didn't help though and the kids liberally let loose rotten eggs, a handful of cherry bombs, and one big mortar(?).

To be to the point, I'm ****ed. Not only are fireworks illegal here, my house and all the surrounding homes are surrounded by dry brush. In addition, these eggs smell horrendous and are going to be a pain to clean off all the windows.

This all happened while I was out with family, having a good time. I come home and find this. There are only a few worse things than a man coming home to find his property in such poor shape.

I went out and collected any remains of the fireworks I could. I was sure to put latex gloves on and I tried to be as careful as I could. My question is, what are my chances of finding out who did this? Are they slim to none or do I have at least a small chance? How should I go about getting everything done? Do I need to file a report? Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

[insulator]

Im sorry about what happened, I would have to say that your chances are very small (Im not a cop, but If I had to guess, too much of this stuff happens on holidays, and it is just written off in a way "ie. Kids will do stupid things.." and the police dont have enough man power to track them all down, at least not where I live.)

Also I'm glad they employee live guards and not dead ones at the front gate.. JK.

I dont really now what to do other than make the guards clean off the house, as they wernt doing their jobs.

[Mr. Lee]

By live guards I meant "manned gates." Some communities have those "electronic gates" and aren't manned.

Isn't egging a form of vandalism? I would be ****ed if it was simply written off. What would be keeping the kids from coming back for a 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th time? I think I need to nag the landscaping guys about setting up the security system faster.

[CarCop]

Mr Lee,
Sorry to hear some punks ruined your night. First off if you want to file a report for vandalism, thats your right and it may help if these punks did it to other homes. Since your neighborhood is a gated community with guards it may be a safe bet to think they may have cameras at the gates and maybe in the neighborhood. You should know. I'm guessing you already asked your neighbors and the security guards if hey saw or heard anyhting, if not thats the next best step.

Now that being said, it is difficult to identify these punks without witnessess or some solid evidence. Though you may get some satifaction in trying to find out who they are, in most cases these "pranks" go unpunished. Sorry, hopefully nothing was broken and it's just a mess to clean up. Good luck!

[Mr. Lee]

Mr Lee,
Sorry to hear some punks ruined your night. First off if you want to file a report for vandalism, thats your right and it may help if these punks did it to other homes. Since your neighborhood is a gated community with guards it may be a safe bet to think they may have cameras at the gates and maybe in the neighborhood. You should know. I'm guessing you already asked your neighbors and the security guards if hey saw or heard anyhting, if not thats the next best step.

Now that being said, it is difficult to identify these punks without witnessess or some solid evidence. Though you may get some satifaction in trying to find out who they are, in most cases these "pranks" go unpunished. Sorry, hopefully nothing was broken and it's just a mess to clean up. Good luck!

Sadly, my house is near the very end of the community. There are 2 houses to my left and right and that's it. I asked both of them and sadly, they were not home either. Just my luck. I will see if I can view the security video that they take at the gate and look at the cars with teenagers with pimply faces in them. The chances are slim but I am a man on a mission!

Do the cherry bombs not count as "solid evidence"? Unlike the bigger mortar(?) they are made of plastic. I'm sure if I can just get one kid identified, I can just go to the school and pretty soon we will have the entire group that did this. I was going to let karma do the job here, but I am VERY angry.

[CarCop]

Well the cherry bombs themselves won't lead you to the kids. You can hold on to them if you want but you have someone to connect them to it. Now I know I am just speculating that these are "kids" because this tends to be a school kids prank, but it seems that you are leaning strongly in that direction. Do you have teen kids that may be getting r***ed by school kids. Used to be toliet paper in my days.

I will say that if these are kids and somehow one gets identified or caught ....they normally fall like dominos. Either way. Good luck to you.

[Mr. Lee]

Well the cherry bombs themselves won't lead you to the kids. You can hold on to them if you want but you have someone to connect them to it. Now I know I am just speculating that these are "kids" because this tends to be a school kids prank, but it seems that you are leaning strongly in that direction. Do you have teen kids that may be getting r***ed by school kids. Used to be toliet paper in my days.

I will say that if these are kids and somehow one gets identified or caught ....they normally fall like dominos. Either way. Good luck to you.

I was thinking of getting them dusted and possibly identified. I am pretty sure they will turn up in the DMV records because my house is so far out of the way. These kids would have to be marathon runners to get here and get back to where they came from if they didn't have a vehicle. I don't care how much it costs, I just want these pranksters to be found. I'm afraid the rotten eggs will stain the stone and columns and if they do, I want their parents to pay for the damages.

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?) I do not have any children. I am pretty sure these are teenagers because 30 year old adults don't do these kind of things. At least I hope not.

[curlyblue]

Slim to none on the identity search since there are no witnesses nor evidence to point to any suspects. At my agency we don't even make a report unless there's monetary damage and even then we would immediately suspend the case and mostly likely wouldn't even try to take prints. (Processing prints are not as easy nor as sucessful as you see on the tv) It's unfortunate, some kids just don't give a rip about anyone elses property. Since you're in a gated community I would suspect it's kids in the community. Might keep a wary eye out for little juvies running around your area.

[Mr. Lee]

Slim to none on the identity search since there are no witnesses nor evidence to point to any suspects. At my agency we don't even make a report unless there's monetary damage and even then we would immediately suspend the case and mostly likely wouldn't even try to take prints. (Processing prints are not as easy nor as sucessful as you see on the tv) It's unfortunate, some kids just don't give a rip about anyone elses property. Since you're in a gated community I would suspect it's kids in the community. Might keep a wary eye out for little juvies running around your area.

So even if I provided the cherry bomb casings, the agency wouldn't be able to help me out? What if there was damage caused by the eggs to the stonework and columns of my house? What if I thought my wife and I would be in future danger as they could come back, but with a more destructive agenda? I don't want the kids to think they can go around to the other homes and vandalize them.

[Creeker]

Sir:

I retired last year after working Crime Scenes from 1988 until my retirement.

If you are referring to locating your suspects via fingerprints on the items left behind, myself not being familiar with the capabilities of your local agency, I would have to tell you that it is THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE that fingerprints could be obtained from egg shells as well as laminated cardboard and most types of plastic. Possible, but not probable.

Now lets talk about the reality of fingerprints being located, found, recovered and an identification made using the fingerprints.

First, an item must be large enough to contain a significant portion of the fingerprint. Secondly, recovering fingerprints from beneath contaminants is extremely iffy, dependant upon what the contaminant is. If the contaminant is egg, no. If the portion of the fireworks that you recovered was subjected to heat, probably not. Third, fingerprint ridge detail does not magically appear upon an object after it was casually touched and is more likely to be smeared on a surface that is partially smooth and less likely to be easily discovered and recovered on items that have their own grainy background surface.

Fingerprints are left by transferring oils primarily from the face, as well as oils, sebum and sweat that exude from tiny sweat glands in the hands and fingers.
The enemies of recovering latent fingerprints are humidity (water), temperature and friction (rub off).

To top matters off, and your state.county/city may be different, once a fingerprint is recovered, lacking any suspects, it must be compared with a database, and unless your agency maintains its own database of juveniles, there are actually rules as to what crimes juveniles can and cannot be fingerprinted for... or at least used to be... and stored in the state & federal database. So if you have no database to compare any fingerprints to, the excersise is pretty much simply an excersise.

While I am empathetic to your discomfiture, having recently had my vehicle egged, I also want to be totally honest with you.

Given that the damage to your residence sounds as if it is largely a prank and one of disrespect and discomfort to your family, I don't see any agency wasting a large amount of taxpayer funded effort and equipment chasing down suspects on what would almost definitely be a lost cause.

I would file a report with Law Enforcement, explain what you did and ask for the report number. Since you cleaned up your "Crime Scene" they won't be calling out the Crime Scene Unit unless you manage to cower some Supervisor into doing it. Your only real recourse is to get a copy of the report and if damage was done, claim it under your homeowners insurance or write the cost of the clean up off as tax deduction.

The other reason for the report is that if these vandals are caught doing the same thing elsewhere, it may give you a bit of satisfaction, particularly if they admit to yours. In some cases part of the punishment can be to assist you in cleaning up. Additionally, progressive agencies keep track of incidents and attempt to adjust manpower and patrols accordingly.

My personal SWAG just based on experience and your info, is that some overpriviledged children... maybe in your own neighborhood (?) or kids school were bored and/or had some disagreement with one of your children. This is not to put any blame onto the children, but it was definitely a Juvenile/immature action and we always look for anything relative. Do you have any driving age or nearly so, children? Do you have any indication that access to your house was done via vehicle?

FWIW, Walmart now sells a wireless outdoor color video camera that can be connected to either a vcr or directly to a tv (I think) for around $70. I recently saw it in the Camera section.

Basically, CSI is not IRL. One is TV Hype.

[curlyblue]

Yup, what Creeker said. Also, unfortunately police are largely reactive instead of proactive so we can't act on something such as what you describe because it might happen. We understand your frustration. We deal with it from both sides...as police officers and as victims ourselves sometimes and it is frustrating!

[Mr. Lee]

Thank you everyone who has responded in this thread. I guess I just have to wait and see if these kids come back for a second time.

My entire estate has cameras that are being set up, but as the house is still new, they are not yet wired. This leads me to a second question. If these pranksters decided to come back and pay me a little visit with some more eggs and were caught in the act on video, would this be sufficient evidence to press charges? I understand that it may be a lost cause this time around, but I don't want to let these kids get away a second time.

Once again, thank you all VERY MUCH for your input. I appreciate it!

[curlyblue]

It would depend on the agency in your area whether or not you could press charges against the kids. In some areas it would also depend on the age of the kids who did it. Also, if your video cameras catch the kids in the act you'll then have to get the kids identified. If you don't know them, how will you find out who they are? I would certainly at least call the police if something like this happens again and make them aware of the situation. They can tell you whether or not you have a reportable case and/or solveable case. I hate to sound like a gloomy-gus, but many cases that are "insignificant" (and I don't mean that it's not significant because it always is to the victim, I just mean that in LE eyes it's not something they are usually going to use a lot of manpower/hours to try to solve), just go into the suspended file or closed file.

[Creeker]

Ditto Curley, with special emphasis on being able to identify with the video, tag info, faces, etc. Don't believe that your video will be run through all kinds of special "enhancement" filters, or facial recognition, etc. either. Those programs & equipment require special equipment/training for the personnel and time that many agencies do not have available to them other than for major crimes.

I mentioned the Walmart video, partly as a possible deterrent without knowing the specific video quality or resolution that it is capable of.

For the record, while I am a big firearm owners rights advocate, do not assume that you are justified to use deadly force in defense of your PROPERTY. Check your state laws regarding that. Personally, I would have a hard time dropping a hammer on someone who broke my windows and tore up my shrubbery, despite me being present within my home, even if my state laws allowed it. In that case your best defense would be to be a good witness take photos of the incident and the people as it occurred and call the law, then your local gate guards.

[Mr. Lee]

I am positive that if I get these pranksters caught on video, identifying them would take less than a day. Having a good relationship with the school district really helps.

The security cameras that I have ready to be installed are pretty amazing, except for the fact that they were not yet wired. I have 2 of them hidden in the lights at my main gate, 2 hidden in the trees at the front of the house, and more dispersed around the property. I was really hoping they would come in use one day but unfortunately not today. Oh well there's always next time.

If the pranksters were to come back but cleverly covered themselves (hooded sweatshirts, big baggy clothing) but their body outline was still identifiable would that evidence still be valid? If their face was not readily identifiable, do I have nothing on my hands?

Deadly force will not be a problem as I am not an owner of any firearms.