Security & Theft Equipment Stolen

[wvpolekat]

2 words:
Security Camera
or
Armed Guard

I would bet that the reduction in claims and premiums would more than pay for a real security camera setup. The $1200 setups are ok for seeing what just went bump outside the garage, but generally cannot capture enough detail to identify a person or get a plate number in anything other than ideal conditions. Get a real system that you can depend on getting usable images from.

Another cheap option would be a cable that runs through all the machines that would have to be cut to move them. When it is cut, alarm goes off. Of course, with a little thought, they could jumper around it. Gotta be a way to do it without much trouble.

 

[hemiguy]

I just heard on the news tonight that someone broke into a lumber company facility a couple of miles from me here and stole 4 forklifts worth a total of $150,000. I don't know what type of security they have over there, but I guess if someone wants this stuff bad enough they will figure out ways to get at it.

 

[mjncad]

Commercial grade lawnmowers stolen, suspicious beat up old Ford Tempo...illegal aliens maybe?

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I think the appropriate punishment for tractor theives would be to stake them out and drive over them with all the stolen tractors and attachments. If 1500 pounds of tractor didn't do them in, the disc harrow ought to finish the job nicely.

 

[IH3444]

How about an inexpensive idea. A perimeter buried wire dog fence. Each machine could have a hidden "collar". When the machine is moved off property, multiply absolutely absurd loud alarms goes off, large halogen lights come on, picture cameras turn on, as well as a notification to the local police station, and to Neil's house.

 

[Redneck in training]

Friend of mine installs security cameras in various businesses. No motion detectors are needed. The camera software detects motion and emails the picture(s) to an email account so it can't be destroyed or taken by the thiefs. It can also be programmed to call phones with prerecorded message and send live picture and sound.

 

[JC-jetro]

Hang them or execute them publically.

I'm all for that.

some potato sacks over their heads and then a fire squad.. might actually be a deterrant... could have it right outside the courthouse.. gavel bangs.. and then 10 miutes later.. so do several guns... people might be less apt to go help themselves to others property if justice did a lil something...

soundguy

I like it get a rope!! but really technology is there and is cheap. cost fo a gps chip is at most a few dollars. It is important to have info at the very least on the first 24 hrs after the thievery. It is not difficult to write a small program where the GPS/locator device checking it position every few minutes and upon moving certain distance(programmable) to send out a simple GPS coordinate to a database along with an email warning to owner. The locator device will send info to this database/website whether the owner checks his email alert or not. Once owner figures out the rubbery has taken place, he can let the police know or he can go for some investigation using google earth or inputting lat-long in to his GPS device. I would personally go after my stolen property with some reinforcement other than foul language


JC,


PS. I think under $50 should be more than enough for a GPS locator device.

 

[Giterdone]

Hey guys. Just caught this thread, what's all this talk about thieves? You're not talking politics again are you? Eh?

 

[mjncad]

Aren't some of the rental yards using the Lo-Jack gizmo to deter thefts?

 

[charlz]

I know Lo Jack is predominately for the end consumer, but we have recovered several pieces of stolen construction equipment over the years with those. Probably too expensive for a sales business to invest in but I know they work.

Actually I just looked at their website and they have various commercial applications as well with a 'rugged' product. They have an ROI calculator...

LoJack Car Security System for Stolen Vehicle Recovery

might be worth checking out. Looks like they just look at cost versus recovery but lower insurance premiums might be in there as well.

The trailer version might work for a dealership, that way you don't have to connect it to the battery etc. Would add some overhead though as you would need to charge them occasionally:

LoJack for Trailers

* Designed specifically for untethered trailers
* Self-contained with long-life battery--no external power source required

 

[lopezian]

2 words:
Security Camera
or
Armed Guard

A Kubota dealer near me had a tractor stolen this year despite locked gates, a cyclone fence, bright lights, and surveillance cameras. I don't know how the thieves got through the gate, but they defeated the camera simply by focusing a bright spotlight from their truck onto the camera. In the pictures you could make out that it was a truck with a trailer, but the image was mostly washed out due to the truck-mounted light.

 

[Redneck in training]

That can be fixed very cheaply. They sell fake imitation of the real cameras. You install bunch of cameras all over the place but only few are real. The criminals don't know which one to pick. Some cameras are also so small that they can be concealed while the fake one are visible etc.

 

[tatra805]

a DIY alternative...

Wireless networks (WIFI) are cheap these days. Devices mostly work on 12 or 9 VDC or USB key type at 5VDC.

Such wireless acces point coupled to the battery and with simple network monitoring software you can monitor presence of each router (which you give the ID or name of the device it is in) from anywhere.

Network managers will help you out on other alarm functions but the text message, mail or hardware switching are all normal things in network and server monitoring.

Even more, as long as the thing is transmitting (not found by the thieves) it will be visible on every wifi network it passes, be it public acces points or private networks. A MAC address (the physical unique to that device ID number) search with eg a firewall attack tracing program should trace you back to the currrent location (network) of the device.

Same principle as the GPS tracking but on another network system.


Empty fuel tanks are also a help, but not always that practical.

 

[777777]

Hi ,

There are some nice alternatives out there.

Here is another 1.

GPS Snitch

 

[schmism]

everyone expects them to show up on CL or have "buyers arranged".

its way more simple than that.

4 guys got together (likely friends, brothers etc) all decided it would be nice to have new Kubota's to mow grass with so they went and stole them.

each of the 4 guys got there own mower.

its used in there private property for the next 10 years.

how many times do you question were the new mower that your neighbor got to cut his grass came from?

There was as story not to long ago about a guy who was stealing stuff from the local HD/lowes. he then turned around and installed it into customers homes. They said it would be hard to catch because the guy doesnt have a buch of stolen goods at his house (or is trying to sell) and who questions were the new dishwasher came from, or $50 worth of crown molding etc that you paid some guy to install for you.

 

[horse7]

One objective is to have enough more security (or apparent security) than your competitors so that the thieves go elsewhere first.

One problem with many systems is they are ex post facto-- you see the DVR record after the fact, the items are gone, and probably it helps to recover the stolen items but the best case next to prevention is to catch the thieves in the act.

Real time response has the problem of falsing-- enough false alarms and no one will respond.

Something that has not yet caught on widely is to have alarms filtered by humans-- they can even be outsourced somewhere cheap (yeah, no one likes that until they get the bill for first world drones to stare at video streams). With IP cams and Internet access the filtering humans can be anywhere, the level1 escalates to a first worlder if the action seems suspicious.

If the signal cuts off, the local hires local security-- should not happen that much, so the cost can be contained.

Once you stop the outsiders, then you get to deal with the insiders-- those are the ones that can really clean your clock.

 

[Soundguy]

Reminds me of an electronic store i used to help out at... it got so bad that the manager went thru the trsh.. apparrently employees would toss a good item or two into the trash every day, then toss it.. then come back later and retrieve it....

soundguy

 

[chh]

Reminds me of an electronic store i used to help out at... it got so bad that the manager went thru the trsh.. apparrently employees would toss a good item or two into the trash every day, then toss it.. then come back later and retrieve it....

soundguy

Dumpster Diving at its finest. We had the same type of problems when I worked in grocery stores. It is bad when you have to limit who takes out the trash to trusted(hopefully) employees.

There was a case here a few years ago with an older gentleman that had been a small used equipment dealer for years was caught with an Arkansas state tractor in the shop behind his house. It turned out when he was traveling to auctions looking for machinery to sell, he would ,when the opprotunity arose, steal tractors or equipment in Texas, Arkansas or OK, bring them home, paint them and either sell them off of his lot or auction them in another state besides the one he stole it in.
They were eventually able to trace several pieces of equipment to him and he ended up with federal charges and prison time in the case, but had gotten away with it for years at the rate of 3 or 4 pieces a year.

 

[slowzuki]

Dealers have a tough job. All the ones here leave their lots open so people can look around on weekends or evenings. Something that was set off when it left the perimeter would be handy to cut down on the number of units stolen but I'd bet people would still grab a single unit and go.

A local Kubota dealer got hit a few years back, people had M series keys and two semi trucks. Got a pile of cabbed M series tractors. No insurance on them.

 

[MikeD74T]

In the 60's in my hometown the parts man at the GM dealership was skimming from the parts till. Apparently went on for years when a new bookkeeper caught on. Rather than turn him in she & her boyfriend, another employee in the parts room, wanted in on the action. Unfortunately for them the old parts manager passed away & within two months they were both caught & eventually jailed for embezzlement. There are no dumb successful criminals. MikeD74T