Re: kids loitering in gangway

["Crash Gordon" <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A microwave motion detector will see through wood/stucco/drywall...but not a
metal door. You may be able to rig one up with a sounder and time-out device
if you have an area that it can see through. Won't be cheap though.



--
**Crash Gordon**






"Nicko" <nervous.nick@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e6a0190e-01b9-4ffc-9485-ff0e89535010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
|I have recently had problems with teens hanging out smoking weed in
| the gangway immediately outside the back door to my apartment.  There
| is a breezway along one side of my 22-unit building which is open
| except for the section by my back door, which lies in a covered
| section of the gangway between two gangway doors.
|
| I have talked to the kids politely, to no effect.  I also called the
| police, equally in vain The kids must have been watching out the
| gangway door and saw the cops coming, and ran back into the gangway,
| up the back porch stairs and into the apartment where one of them
| lives.  The police walked up those back porch stairs to check it out,
| but of course found nobody there and could do nothing, legally.
|
| One of these kids lives in the building, and they are gangbangers,
| most likely, so probably talking to the parents who live there would
| not be a good idea if I want to stay here, and I do want to stay
| here.  I have no problem with kids smoking weed, as I did enough of it
| in my youth, but it is just WRONG for them to be doing it within feet
| of my door--especially if my girlfriend is home alone.  And who knows
| what silly ideas they might get about breaking in when we are not home
| (though the door itself is alarmed for entry).
|
| Yesterday I heard the kids out there smoking dope again, and I got
| what I thought was a good idea:  I took a smoke alarm and held it up
| to the door and pressed the test button.  The alarm went off, and the
| kids immediately vacated the gangway area outside my door.  I
| laughed!  I hope it scared the fuck out of them, but given that they
| are teens, it's likely they didn't get the message--not to mention
| that they MUST have known the police came up there looking for them
| that one time.
|
| Is there some kind of proximity or "anti-loitering" detector that I
| could mount inside my apartment/on the inside of this door, that would
| chirp a couple of times when someone passes through the gangway and
| past my door, and only activate if someone stays in the area outside
| my door for a defined amount of time?  And then (important when we are
| not home) shut off after a set amount of time?  Is this too much to
| ask?  Probably.
|
| Such a device would have to "see through" the door, most likely by
| induction, but I am open to any ideas.  The door is metal, btw, which
| I know might be an issue, but I could probably rig up something
| ungrounded between the gangway and the inside of my apartment.
| Placing a device in the gangway itself is not an option, because of
| the landlord and because the kids would just rip it off of the ceiling
| or wall.  The enclosed area of the gangway outside my door measures
| about 15x7x5 feet so the kids are never more than, say, six feet from
| the door.
|
| Thanks for any replies to this.  I apologize for Googleposting but I
| have my excuses.
|
| Cheers!
|
| Nicko
|