Any ideas on yard sign defense?

[OmahaBlueDog]

Let's say you live in an area where yard signs for your candidate/cause are often vandalized? What are the best ways to defend against this? Web cams were my first thought.

Also, if you catch and identify a culprit, are there any creative legal remedies available (exaample: sue the parents of the 17 year old for a billion dollars for violating my first amendment rights)?

Note: this is all hypothetical -- no one has attacked the homestead.

[rucky]

1. land mines

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

28. This.

Failing that, Molotov everything.


Sorry for the 4chan memes :(

[ileus]

30. Steel Traps...it's okay to trap humans.

[panader0]

2. Tie your dog up next to the sign.

[tbyg52]

6. No, please don't do that to your dog, even for this cause. nt

[lonestarnot]

21. Yeah, no don't do that!

[Aloha Spirit]

3. Make the sign's message so subtle that a vandal wouldn't understand it.

Like, write it in backwards code.
80 tnediserp rof niaccm

[Occulus]

4. There's a particular slow-drying, grease-based (I think) paint.

This has been suggested here before, in past election cycles. Smear the paint on the sign in choice locations (if you want to be really evil, put it all over a single side of the sign). This paint will get on their hands and then on everything they touch, and I understand it's really tough to clean up.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

29. Ooooo, I like that idea.

[sellitman]

5. Here is a yard sign getting its just due.

[Ikonoklast]

7. If they are physically pulling the signs out of the ground

I would smear the posts with fifth wheel grease. It is a black, viscous, graphite bearing grease that does not wash off as it is designed to be water resistant, but has to wear off. Extremely tacky.

Hard to see at night, as I assume that is when the vandals operate.

It ruins just about any fabric it touches, as it stains immediately and permanently. You need a strong solvent to even get that crap off your hands.

And it ain't illegal.

[Warpy]

8. Capsaicin cream

or just habanero peppers buzzed with a little Oil of Olay and water in a blender. Paint the sign with the mixture where people are likeliest to grab it and pull it out. Keep the mixture around to repaint it after it rains.

The hot pepper won't harm anyone but it will hurt like hell if they rub their eyes or have to pee.

This is revenge. Nothing will prevent sign stealers from taking your property unless you are willing to set the sign into cement or do something illegal like electrify it. A security camera can catch the culprit's picture, but the capsaicin adornment will make him HURT.

As for legal remedies, just present the evidence from a security camera to the cops and say you want the prick charged with vandalism. An arrest record is punishment enough. The hot pepper helps. Just don't own up to it.

[Turbineguy]

15. Nice touch!

When I made chili for the first time I found out about hot peppers. Even after washing my hands three times, my eyes really hurt!

So when working with this mixture be sure to use rubber gloves.

[Jane Austin]

9. How about some Tree Tanglefoot?

It's sticky as Hell, and if I got it on me, I'd want to go home and try to get it off.

The tube is about $4.95, and one brand even has a spray-on version.

[alittlelark]

36. I have suggested that before... it is THE BEST

You just have to be really careful not to get it on you or your clothes!

[Jane Austin]

38. But just between us -

You can get it out with an orange oil cleaner like TKO or CitraSolve.

I wouldn't want to have to, but you could get it out if necessary.

[rosesaylavee]

10. Trip wires. :)

Seriously though... call the police everytime. Fill out a vandalism report. If they come by enough - they may get the idea that perhaps they should start watching for it to happen and try to prevent it. Also, if enough of it is reported in the police report, there just may be a journalist that is intrepid enough to write a story about it. Peer pressure still works in adult circles.

[Selatius]

13. I seriously doubt they're going to waste resources parking a cruiser near your house.

You're better off setting up a camera and catching him yourself.

[rosesaylavee]

19. Nope. They come by.

I had to do this in 2000. Funny how it stopped by the 2006 election. I think by then the aura of 'republicans as good guys' had faded with the youth interested in vandalizing.

[TalkingDog]

14. Repeatedly calling the police for a minor, nonviolent issue: BAD, BAD IDEA!!!!

1) It pisses them off. Eventually they come to see you as the problem, not the kid (who they begin to side with) because obviously you don't have the 'nads to deal with it yourself.

2) You are taking them away from serious crimes or even paper work, which they hate doing and you are helping to create.

3) If something ugly went down, as in the kid gets hurt or is even caught red-handed, you are going to get much less sympathy than doing it this way:


Call them ONCE to come and file a report.

Call them again if something else happens, always using the non-emergency number. After giving them pertinent data (who, what, when, where, why, how many times you've called before etc.) stress to the person answering that you DO NOT want the police to come, but you are just trying to keep a record of incidents in case the situation escalates. Be conversational and social without being glib. You want to come across as concerned, but not neurotic or condescending.

Call them if the situation escalates or you have concrete proof to turn over.

As for peer pressure: Adults are simply high schoolers who have gotten 20 years older. The jocks and the strong, still have disdain for the geeks and the weak.

If you live in a small conservative town, your sign may not fit their world view. It's better not to piss them off after showing them how "different" and "weird" you already are (you pansy-boy liberal you)

[rosesaylavee]

18. I do live in a small conservative town

and fortunately, there isn't a lot of serious stuff going on. There was even a time that one of our local convenience store was being robbed but the available cop was chastising some local male teens for throwing pine cones in front of cars. I know this because my son was one of them and his friend's family - who was with them - owned the store.

Believe me, if I had thought it was going to cause harm, I wouldn't have suggested it. Police reports are widely read here for lack of anything else to do.

[TalkingDog]

20. You are lucky. Some of us have corrupt Sherriffs and their goons. n/t

[blondeatlast]

24. Don't I know it (Phoenix, AZ area here). nt

[rosesaylavee]

42. Our corrupt county sherrif

was just voted out and replaced with a Dem in 2006. I am not sure if its the first time a DEM has held that position in the history of the county ... wouldn't surprise me though. And, he's not white either... a definite plus for these here parts.

[Fumesucker]

11. There are motion detector programs for webcams..

The webcam doesn't record unless motion is found in the view..

[Selatius]

12. Smear shit on the backside of it. Seriously. Either that or put motion detector cameras in window.

Try it.

[LiberalFighter]

16. Do you have a local sign ordinance pertaining to sign removal?

Here in Ft Wayne it is illegal to remove a sign from a right of way unless the original poster removes it or authorized city employees.

Also illegal to remove signs from private property under the ordinance.

In addition, it is called trespassing. Of course you need to catch them.

By the way, in most cases the parents are responsible for the actions of their children until they are emancipated.

[Bigmack]

17. After somebody vandalized my "Veteran...

for Kerry" sign, I started putting them on a long 2x2 screwed to the to of the rose arbor. Much easier to see and impossible to steal.

[lonestarnot]

22. Yeah, you can chase their asses down like I did and make them put them back!

Heh!

[blondeatlast]

25. Hey, neighbor, I've been thinking of planting a cholla in my yard anyway--

what a great way to protect my sign but to plant it right in the middle of the branches! :rofl:

[lonestarnot]

26. eye eye yeye. Con mucho quidado!

[flvegan]

23. I don't think any "defense" or retaliation is a wise idea.

Okay, say you smear crap or grease or something on it. You're already dealing with an asshole that hasn't got a problem with trespassing and destruction of property. He/she/it gets mad, and you've got another issue. Truly pissing off a rethug dipshit is by not being swayed. Just replace the sign. Hell, put the broken sign up too with another sign that says "Some douchebag anti-1st Amendment rights Republican did this." next to it.

My signs are inside the chain link fence, and my "Beware Of Dog" sign is usually enough to keep them safe.

You could also try putting one of these up next to it:

[goddess40]

27. Put name and address on the inside of the sign

When they are found since they can't identify the owner there's no proof of theft.


I also like the idea of extremely sticky stuff they use for bugs on trees.

[RB TexLa]

31. Huge shards of glass around it work if they are coming at night.

[Scout]

32. lots of dog poop on the ground around the sign? n/t

[mdmc]

33. stake out

every year some chucklehead politician is caught red handed stealin signs...

[ccharles000]

34. Be happy you can have a yard sign .

I am not allowed my uncle says he will not allow communist propaganda in his yard.

[Occulus]

44. So hang it from a tree.

Not in the yard, right?

[Anarchy in Detroit]

35. NAILS

Put nails around it, preferably rusty roofing nails.

Or if you're a destructive mean spirited liberal like me, you could dig a board under it, put shotgun shells with nails under the firing pins, and wait for them to step on it. When you hear BANG! and some ass clown republicant is rolling around with no foot, your work is done. Have beer and revel in their pain.

[sudopod]

37. When one disappears

Put up two. :D

[lonestarnot]

39. And have handy 3 to replace those two!

[theHandpuppet]

40. This worked for me...

During the Clinton campaigns in the 90's we had a terrible problem with signs being ripped down/vandalized. We solved that little problem by slathering the signs and posts with vaseline. Ben-Gay works nicely too if you want to leave them with a warm reminder. A good hot pepper spray available for your local garden center might work, too. It's used as an organic pest deterrent but might work on the two-legged kind as well. ;)

[AngryOldDem]

41. Those were going to be my suggestions.

I had a boatload of Kerry signs stolen in 2004, and those were exactly the tips I was given.

One more thing: Stealing signs is illegal and can be prosecuted as theft. The rub is, it's next to impossible to find out who did it, except in those cases where someone leaves their trunk open and there's a million of 'em in the back.

I called the cops every single time this happened. I think I was seen as a crank after awhile, but I was reporting a theft. (And I have to add that I was living in an uber-Republican part of town at the time too, which explains a lot.)

[KharmaTrain]

43. Contact The Local Campaign(s)

Let those whose signs were ripped down know it happened...so they can get you even more and then help you in keeping them there.

In our area, we ended a lot of that vandalism by doing a nightly group patrol through the area...if someone's sign was missing, we'd get them a new one, if we saw something suspicious, we'd call it in (non-emergency number) and if we caught someone in the act (and, yes we did several times...stupid...and they weren't always kids) we'd urge the owner to file a vandalism complaint and the village here was more than happy to follow through (as we later learned that if they vandal yardsigns, they destroy other property).

Most definitely contact the local campaigns and see if they have some creative ideas. Usually replacing the signs faster than they can take 'em down really pisses 'em off...especially if they take down one, and we put up two.

[GTurck]

45. How about

attaching the sign to the fence or the house? It maybe won't stop the vandals but would be a stronger case for property damage, hate inspired action and trespass. They always seem to get caught when the stakes are higher for the police to investigate. Usually the vandals are neighbors who think it is funny to trash their opponents yard signs. I was once told by an acquaintance that she had done this in 2004. For Fun! It was an appalling admission because otherwise this is a very nice lady who is over 50.
Other than that stake a large menacing dog, ie a Dobie, Rottweiler or Bull Mastiff, next to the sign which also doubles as a feeding dish. Extra bonus if you use the Mastiff because they don't bite so much as dit on those they attack. They weigh upwards of 230 LBs.