First I can honestly say that it has been pretty cool seeing what the boating community has done for past victims of theft. I have known people that have lost wallets to cars and just about everytime people step up and help out.

The more we stick together and help each other out the tighter of a group we will become. That means it will be harder to sell our gear, and it will be harder to get away with it.

The bottom line is that the Police are not ever going to make it a mission to prevent thefts from White Water Boaters. Not that they should, were a small group and we have to take this on our own.

If you have any extra gear that seems close to the list above that you are willing to part with,  let Chris know. I honestly don't know if he will even want people to offer him replacements, but I do know that it is really cool when people group together to offer support.

As someone who deals with vehicle prowls, theft, and stolen property every day, here are a few things you can do to limit the chances of loosing your gear and help the cops catch the sh%theads who stole it.

Record all serial numbers and keep them in a safe place. If something does not have a serial number on it, write your name, initials, anything on it to identify it as yours. Give this info to the cops when your gear is stolen. I can't tell you how many times I have stopped cars that I KNEW had stolen property in them, got permission to search the car, and came up with nothing because I couldn't show that the items the person had in the car were the items that someone else had reported stolen. Even if a cop does recover your property, if he can't show that it is yours, it is almost impossible to return the item to you. The cops will probably never catch the person who stole your gear by proving they stole your gear, we normally get them for possession of stolen property.

If it is stolen, report it. A large part of deciding what areas get patrolled or get special details comes from the number of calls for service we get in any given area. If someone is working an area hard and we know about it, you can bet we will go after him (that's the fun part of the job!). Also if it isn't reported stolen, then the cops can't recover it. Get a case number from the officer. Stolen property reports go into a statewide database. This makes it harder for thieves to take your stuff out of county and sell it.

If your gear has been stolen, call up any store in the area that deals in used goods, and anyplace that buys scrap material if the item is made out of something recyclable. Tell them what was taken and describe it to them with as much detail as possible. Give them the case number. Visit these shops as often as you can and see what new merchandise might have made its way into the store's inventory. The cops won't do this because there are too many of these shops, and too few of us. Also, report the item stolen BEFORE you hit the shops.

Get the word out that your gear was stolen.

We need to look out for one another. If you see something that doesn't look right, it probably doesn't look right for a reason. This is a valid reason to call 911. It will generate a "suspicious" complaint and the cops will come out to take a look. Some of my best arrests have come from somebody getting a bad feeling about a guy and calling it in. If you come across an obvious vehicle prowl and the suspect has already left, go ahead and report it even if it was not your car. They might not send an officer out until the owner reports it, but it does help to establish a timeline. Most importantly, if you see a suspicious person hanging around an area, don't park there!

If your wallet was stolen as part of the deal then you are the victim of identity theft. Talk to the officer about what you need to do to protect yourself.

DO NOT LEAVE KEYS IN THE IGNITION, AND LOCK YOUR DAMN DOORS!!!! This is more of a problem with reasonable people than you would think. Also if you are going to leave your keys under your tires, somewhere in the undercarriage, or in a magnetic box on the car; you may as well leave them in the ignition with the doors unlocked.

As much as possible, do not leave valuables in the car. If you can't take them with you at least hide them. Don't leave extra boats on roof racks.

I am not trying to rub salt into anyone's wounds here by saying its the victim's fault. Blame<

How about we set up some bait cars, traps and high powered rifles and start making examples of these scum bags, like the old days, bring back the old days and lets have some good old shoot the bad guy fun! Then we can go back to hugging trees.

Doh.... Why am I contributing to your mis leading of this thread..

This is to help Chris Joosse get his stinking gear back.

Read the list above and lets help him out.

I am going to hook him up with a skirt and gloves and some drytop, but it is not goretex :(

Who else is out there?

I think I have a pair of "my creekin' shoes"... :-) Sorry James, couldn't help
myself....

How many post's does it take to get yo the center of the universe!??

Nick,

This was not reposted. Chuck E Fresh just likes posting silly messages on random threads. So this one was brought up as a Thread with a new post on it. The original post was made in Feb, and the only post that has been made on this thread in the last year, are yours and Chuck E's.... well and now this one. By the way this crap is driving me nuts O chuckie... Please stop that, your killin me.

If you look right above the post you will see a little "Posted: Date" That should tell you when it was posted or edited last.

As for reposting a message from Seattle Kayaker... I am not sure how trying to get the word out in multiple places is bad. You might disagree but our groups really do have different people in them, and there is a good amount of people here that are not there and visa versa. I asked Chris and he said it was fine. But then again I apparently should have asked you if it was ok to repost his missing gear. Don't be too harsh Nick, I think he just forgot that your his daddy, and that he should be doing things on his own like you said.

~J

Thanks James.  Sorry, yep the date is listed right there and I missed it.  No probs.  Go ahead repost all you want. I'm chalking it up to no caffeine this morning as a result of teh epic skiing yesterday.  The snow pack is in excellent shape.