'Tired of it': California dads fight rampant crime by retrieving stolen items, beating up robbers, tracking thefts — but now they're moving to Texas

A pair of neighborhood dads in Los Angeles, California, have taken matters into their own hands to fight soaring crime in recent months. But now, they say they're "tired of it" and have decided to pack their bags with their families and ditch the area.

The two neighbors, identified only as Michael and Josh in recent report by local news outlet KTTV-TV, have retrieved a stolen car, fought off robbers, and tracked thieves with AirTags, all within the span of 18 months. Yet still, brazen criminals continue to stalk and harass their Playa Del Rey condo complex time and again.

"The number of instances that have happened in the year and a half that I’ve lived here has been in the half-dozen range, and I’m tired of it," Michael told the outlet in an interview. "I’m tired of losing our property."

The latest robbery served as the straw that broke the camel's back for Michael, who said he plans to move to Texas. Thieves reportedly broke into a locked parking garage and stole his elderly neighbor's car. Only 12 hours later, another neighbor spotted it about a mile down the road at a homeless RV camp.

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https://www.theblaze.com/news/california-dads-fight-rampant-crime

I never heard of these air tags before. Anybody ever used them?

Elizabeth Theus wrote:I never heard of these air tags before.  Anybody ever used them?

You can attach them to anything you don't want to lose and track it by GPS.  We put them on dog collars to find them when they jump the fence.

I considered putting one on my wife's truck during the divorce,  but I had all the evidence I needed.   I could have slipped one in her purse.

I'm happy to have Michael and Josh move to Texas.

Oh, those poor, poor innocent homeless people, who ended up that way due to no fault of their own.  
Which clearly explains why the impoundment lots are so over-crowded that the cops can't take anymore vehicles on.  

Well, I hope Mike and Josh are a positive addition to Texas, and not the type to vote to raise taxes in favor of 'amenities' provided by the city.
Nevertheless, good on them for all the positive they accomplished while in CA.  A shame there aren't enough cops to do the job that made their efforts necessary.

**What makes a Toyota Prius so special that it takes special instructions in how to drive one?

***P.S. I never heard of those tracking devices, but they sound like a wise investment for high-end items like bicycles, phones, vehicles, and all manner of possessions.

2cent wrote:Oh, those poor, poor innocent homeless people, who ended up that way due to no fault of their own.  
Which clearly explains why the impoundment lots are so over-crowded that the cops can't take anymore vehicles on.  

Well, I hope Mike and Josh are a positive addition to Texas, and not the type to vote to raise taxes in favor of 'amenities' provided by the city.
Nevertheless, good on them for all the positive they accomplished while in CA.  A shame there aren't enough cops to do the job that made their efforts necessary.

**What makes a Toyota Prius so special that it takes special instructions in how to drive one?

***P.S.  I never heard of those tracking devices, but they sound like a wise investment for high-end items like bicycles, phones, vehicles, and all manner of possessions.  

You can buy them in multipacks and get an app to track them on your phone. You do have to change the batteries in the trackers every few months. They are like garage door opener batteries. (CR2032?)

I think Josh and Michael would be concealed carrying Texans in no time. They sound like they want to be part of the solution instead of hapless victims.

2cent wrote:

**What makes a Toyota Prius so special that it takes special instructions in how to drive one?

It's controls and drive train. I've never driven one, but a co-worker of mine had one...said it had controls entirely different. A direction lever instead of a shift quadrant. And, the engine doesn't directly respond to the gas pedal - the electric motors do; the engine responds to the battery-pack's needs.

In 2002, a local Toyota salesman was getting a two-fer from our family - my mother was trading her 100,000-mile Camry in, my insistence, since she drove with another elderly woman to Florida every winter. And I was buying a 4x4 truck, having just bought a house in Buffalo's snow country.

My mother was very interested in the Prius - because of the environmentalists' agitation and lauding it as so "good for the planet." Yeah, she was gullible that way - a government worker half her life. And as it turned out, the Prius was reliable and a good buy, but back then, it was too new to know.

But it was also a different experience. The salesman took me aside, and said, frankly, he'd rather see an older customer in a conventional car. He talked of another elderly buyer, who with a lifetime of driving a certain way, had trouble adapting - since the engine noise and controls were so different. She, the buyer, finally traded it back, after a year and some minor accidents in her garage.

So she didn't get a Prius and I didn't learn how to drive one. It wouldn't be hard, I expect, but someone probably should explain the controls to a first-time driver.

2cent wrote:Oh, those poor, poor innocent homeless people, who ended up that way due to no fault of their own.  
Which clearly explains why the impoundment lots are so over-crowded that the cops can't take anymore vehicles on.  

Well, I hope Mike and Josh are a positive addition to Texas, and not the type to vote to raise taxes in favor of 'amenities' provided by the city.
Nevertheless, good on them for all the positive they accomplished while in CA.  A shame there aren't enough cops to do the job that made their efforts necessary.

**What makes a Toyota Prius so special that it takes special instructions in how to drive one?

***P.S.  I never heard of those tracking devices, but they sound like a wise investment for high-end items like bicycles, phones, vehicles, and all manner of possessions.  

""**What makes a Toyota Prius so special that it takes special instructions in how to drive one?""

My son was playing soccer in a local comp on Saturday, they heard a screech of brakes and a big impact, their pitch was right beside the main road , they rushed over and it was a prius that had hit a power pole . totally fucked it by his account, and some pissed Indian was staggering around the car , The fuzz turned up and carted him off lol, it was 3pm