Door Knock Ditch...

Cameras are not that expensive these days, especially if you can install it yourself. Even if it is not working, putting up a few cameras and a sign that says the house and poperty are under video surveillance should deter them. Just make sure you do not tell anyone they are not hooked up... word like that might get around, and defeat the purpose.

Also if it seems to happen around the same time every day, you can see if the police will do a drive by on your neighborhood.

Good luck!

Fake cameras might help.
Motion activated security lights would help, too.
You can set them so if anything larger than a cat walks into your yard they will be lit up by very bright spot lights.
You can set them to be a little less sensitive if the neighbors start getting annoyed.

1. Black and orange "NO TRESPASSING, Violators WILL be Prosecuted!" signs at the edges of your property and on your door.

2. A big, barking dog.

3. Fake cameras and flashbulbs.

4. Instead of chasing them down, call the police and ask them to patrol your street more.

5. A real camera above your door so you don't bother to open it if there's nobody there.

6. Disable your doorbell (I hate mine, and I don't even HAVE a baby). Knocking is good enough.

A sign on the door saying "baby sleeping, don't knock" will only make it worse, I think. Imagine their glee at the thought they can wake the baby and cost you and their teacher some sleep.

I agree with those posting to suggest to do motion sensor lights. Get very bright ones. You can mount them on all sides of your house -- sounds like you need it, if they were on your deck, which by the way is trespassing.

Be certain your cars are parked where a motion sensor light would cover them too, in case the vandalism starts to extend to your cars. I also think cameras are a good idea.

If there is a way to rig "flashbulbs" that make it appear a photo's been taken when a motion sensor light goes off, all the better. That might drive them off, if they believe their photo's been taken. They likely already know that video cameras can be fakes, but a good flash in their faces could be a deterrent. I would ask a home security specialist company about this.

There is a much bigger issue here. Is the student body at this school so full of jerky kids with ignorant parents that this happens to other teachers too? I would ask your husband to find out from other teachers if this happens to them as well, and to have the school administration notify all parents, at the very start of the school year, that this has been going on and that teachers have agreed as a group they will all call the police about EVERY incident. It would also help if the school would have some form of discipline it will use whenever any student is caught by police doing these things. I know schools often are reluctant, or legally constrained from, punishing kids at school for things they do outside school, but....if this is an ongoing issue for multiple teachers and staffers, there must be something the school system would allow the school to do if a kid is caught. This is ridiculous. It's not pranking, it's vandalism, and it's time the kids knew that.

We were the lucky ones to get our home vandalized ( Egging is considered vandalism, along tieh TP, forking, and other items) when daughter got captain of the cheer squad in 10th grade.

On the 2nd time, we filed a police report. The kids around here knew that we meant business and I could not wait to press charges on someone. We happened to see 1 kid and about to identify and the police paid him a little visit and talked to him. The police told him that we had the choice to press charges up to 2 years from that time. After that, we never had our house, yard vandalized again.

It's almost funny now, daughter is at another school and we have no issues but when we run into any of these kids, you can tell they cringe when I look them in the eye, smile and call them by name.

Your family should not be subjected to these pranks because your hubby is a teacher. It needs to be nipped before school starts this year. Don't let the kiddos know it gets to you.. take action on it and stand up for yourself and your property. Get the word out. Then they will know you mean business.

Also, on a side note, the truth usually comes out in time because kids forget and can't keep their mouth shut so the person who did it is usually found out in some time.

Security cameras aren't as expensive as they used to be. And motion sensor lights are useful for any yard, pranksters or not.

When my kids were in high school, the teachers that were TPd (the prank of choice) were usually the teachers the kids liked! So one teacher was able to tell the pranksters, "If you *really* don't have anything better to do, you can TP my house, but you have to come back the next day and clean it up. And no noise, because if the baby wakes up you'll be sorry." And the kids did what he asked! That may be quite unusual.

Print out a big letter sign and tape in your window:

Premises under surveillance. Evidence will be turned over to police

Oh - and I'd also spend $3 at the local hardware big
Box store and get a light timer. We set ours in the living room and it turns on at dusk and off at dawn. Nobody knows if we're awake and in the living room or not. :)

Our house was egged twice and then someone wrote F&CK YOU in my front lawn with weed killer! We believe it was my daughter's boyfriend and his friends doing this since we didn't like him. We called the police after the second egging and definitly with the front yard. I was so upset. We had to spend money to dig up the old dead grass and put new grass in. We made sure our daughter told her friends and boyfriend that we were going to press charges when we discovered who was doing this. I would have had NO PROBLEMS with that!!!

Is there a pattern to this ding dong ditch? Cameras are inexpensive now. You would only need a couple mounted to the house. You could also sit up one night watching. If you see them, run out! Good luck!!

You are right - you gave them exactly what they wanted - a big explosive show complete with a crying baby. How fun for them!

Now they will be back for more. Several options -one disconnect the doorbell for a few weeks....trust me the joy of ringing a doorbell to get no response will cause the boys to look for other alternatives for fun.

Contact your neighbors and have them help you keep a watch out.

Have husband hang out in a lawn chair in neighbors yard around the time of day that this usually happens to catch the offenders. Then call the police and have them pay the parents a visit.

Main thing is stop reacting to them...this is what they want.

File a police report. Speak with the officer that patrols your neighborhood,.
They will begin, driving by a little more.

Keep a record of when these incidents are happening. The police may notice a pattern.

Do you all have a neighborhood email or newsletter? Make sure you inform them that a police report has been filed.

Make sure you mention you have young children and some if this is disturbing them..some kids forget that teachers have families they need to protect them.

The more eyes and awareness out there, the more likely this will stop. They may even get caught.

I think they have outside lights that are motion sensitive - if someone walks within a certain distance, they switch on suddenly. A company I worked for got them to protect their vans at the office from being broken into. They were also thinking of putting a fake camera on it so it looks like it's recording when the lights are on. The surprise of the lights going on may stop them, and will alert you that someone is out there so you can see them before they get to the door if they still decide to try it.

Perhaps putting one up near the front and back would be helpful - and not a bad thing to have during the long, dark PA winters so you can see your way in easier.

And I agree with police report - I'm not a big fan of pranks cause they just aren't funny.

the motion sense lights are a good idea, a privacy fence would also help. Yelling at or chasing them is sure to.bring on more pranking. The best people to get were the ones who had the biggest reaction. There was a foriegn family in our neighborhood when I was a kid, we loved to do their house, as the parents would come outside and scream in thick accents or in their own language. Even the boy who lived there would get in on it, but we usually gave him a 10 second headstart to make sure his dad didnt see him. My house was also popular, since my stepdad is huge, loud, and usually drunk. The boys would dare each other to ring and run my house. Just be happy you havent gotten any roadkill in your mailbox, since that was the other thing we thought was hilarious to do.
If your husband is a teacher, you might be able to use that to your advantage. Im sure it so no secret to the kids that everyone pranks your house. Have him tell the kids if no one pranks the house for a while, like maybe 60 days or something, then he will bring everyone a treat, maybe pizza or ice cream or a movie and popcorn day, whatever would be most motivating. Maybe the kids will spread the word to their friends and siblings to stop. He could put a countdown on the blackboard, 59 days prank free, lol. If you get pranks, the countdown starts over. I dont know if he would want to do something like that, but its the only thing I could think of to.make them stop.

Do you think it is the same high school boys doing the door knock ditch? That seems way too old to be playing those pranks/games. Weird. By high school I had a job, a car, a boy friend and actually cared about studying. I wasn't playing little kids games. I used to do that when I was about 10. If we didn't get any reaction at all we stopped, but if people came out yelling, or chased us, it was way more exciting. Of course older boys might have different motives.

Security cameras are pretty cheap these days. My in-laws installed one on their front porch because they've had people steal their mail from the mailbox next to their door.

So I'd look into that option and then I'd install a small sign next to your door that says: SMILE! YOU'RE ON CANDID CAMERA

with an arrow pointing up to the camera. If they're really brats I guess they might try to ruin the camera ...

Yep. That sucks.

Electric fence?
Rabid dogs? (That's my sarcasm coming out.)

Security lights, signs up that say private property, signs saying you have hidden cameras and will call the police if anyone trespasses, etc., and a sign on the door that says no knocking or bell ringing due to the sleeping baby.

Have other teachers been bothered? If so, it may be a good idea for a letter to go home from school reminding students and parents of the laws the kids are breaking and that the police will be called.

GL mama. I'd be PO'd as well.

Case in town a couple years ago about this - guy was furious over this and ended up killing one of the kids (he was waiting outside with his gun for this prank - had been pulled on him for days) - while he wasn't aiming on killing the kid, just scaring them off, the angle and way kid moved was not a good combo.

I would wait a day or 2. Almost being cought MIGHT be enough to make it stop, but if it doesnt and it happens again,to tell you the truth I like the idea of Cameras. I guess I would be worred about the bad behavior getting worse. Sure now its something that's easy to ignore, but what happens if they start braking windows or keying cars.
I would get the cams (if your can), but I dont know if I would tell people. if the kids find out it there they might take them down and keep on doing naughty stuff. If you find out who they are dont be scared about talking to there moms and dads. When young boys get togather they think of naughty things to do and then kinda egg eachother on to do them. 9 times out of 10 the moms and dads don't know what they are doing and would be sure to put and end to it and know they have to watch there young men better. I would also write down times and dates in a not book of what is happening and when. that way (god forbid) should they do something worse you can show the police , parents, the school even that this kinda stuff keeps happening to you, even if your cant prove who it is.
Good luck
Blessing
Stay Safe
S.

Is it overboard to have a conference with parents at the school? I know - it seems way to logical to talk to parents about thier children's behavior outside of school (sarcasm).

I also wonder if a note/sign on your door like "baby sleeping - Please no door knock ditch tonight kiddies" could help?

good luck!

Motion detector flood lights and a big dog. =)