Theft…

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Must have forgot to lock the workshop door last night…."they" popeed in and helped themselves to my very nice Worx Lion hammer drill/driver and the spare battery and the charger….also took my 240v DA sander….not noticed anything else yet..

Still they walked past a lot of other high value items… I imagine just settling on the items that can be quickly sold in the pub or exchanged for a few grams of whatever…

Police gave me a crime number and the SOCO has been but I don't hold out any hope of seeing them again, going to cost @ £150 to replace, and then having seen the contents of the workshop I have no doubt they will re-visit.

Ba$tard$

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Had a similar experience some years ago, although the shed was padlocked, we were away for the weekend, took an expensive mountain bike plus most of my power tools. Our friendly copper used a pair of handcuffs to secure the shed, and lifted the culprits the next night after overhearing a conversation in the local hostelry that they were planning to do the house the next night, apparently they saw the handcuffs on the shed (and a second pair on the patio doors, scarpered but police were sitting outside in an unmarked car

Got the bike back in quite a state, never saw the tools again but recovered everything on insurance

Makes you feel sick at the time, we moved out of the area shortly after that.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

Be super vigilant from now on.

They will now know what goodies lie within. – Probably be back with more capability to cart things away. What has gone sounds like what is capable of being carried away by one set of hands.

Nick

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Hi Paul

Sorry to read your tale of woe.

Dont know what you have got for security but you now need to go OTT with locks/alarm(s). Just do enough to give them a hard time when not if they come back. Do it quickly dont put it off – you just dont know if they will be back next week next month or say end of January!

Good luck, hope it never happens.

John

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I've never been done but I've had visitors, we live in a dead end road and it amazes how many white vans and pick ups come up to our end look down my drive and then drive off, one of my wife and I's hobby is collecting number plate details but recently we've been getting knocks on the door asking if we need carpets or this and that and after I've said no I then get asked if so and so is for sale, again the answer is no but the items they refer to are usually in my back garden and they only know its there because they have been and looked, I'm currently having my front garden, drive and footpath turned into a large parking area and at the same time I'm having a six foot solid wooden fence and gates put between my house and wall, across the drive to make my property secure and to stop prying eyes and peace of mind on our part, I will also be putting up more lights as a deterrent. Its sad that we have to go to such lengths because everybody thinks they they own our property.

I don't know the situation of all of you but I live in a small village and if you read our Parish news you will see we have a local policeman who is so local he is ten miles away so no back up there if needed.

Martin P

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

What you need is a tray of "Mouse Glue" . Its sold over here in France to catch mice, rats etc. Its a very thick sticky substance. Once a mouse puts his foot in it, he then puts the other foot in to try to get the first foot out. They normally end up with all four feet and their nose stuck in the glue. I reccon 20 tubes of this stuff would catch a thief and make interesting reading in the local rag. Make sure you move the tray before you enter the workshop !!!

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Get one of those CCTV PVR systems. They record several frames a second from typically 4-8 cameras with IR illumination. You can view and rewind them from anywhere over the internet and even get email alerts when something happens. Even if they were to disable some of them, you'd still have a good record of the event and you could surely put a couple where it would be difficult to get at them. A few signs would increase their effectiveness too.

They are usually going to be local druggies and easy to identify from video. I suspect the knowledge that they would be on camera would deter most of the bu**ers.

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 05/11/2014 17:32:33:

Make sure you move the tray before you enter the workshop !!!

There's the rub for almost any trap that you dream up. Not to mention that laws in this respect seem more intent on protecting the transgressors than the transgressed-against.

[Kevin BennettParticipant @kevinbennett25223]

I had the same problem in January they had my compressor and angel grinder I ended fitting a door bar it is pain but you will not forget to lock it as you can see it it works for me

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

Kevin I really am not trying to piss on your parade BUT………………..I could open your shed door in less than 30 seconds., and I am an honest guy. Sorry.

[alan-lloydParticipant @alan-lloyd]

A good quality baby alarm will give you a head start and a crow scarer and trip wire they use 12 bore blanks, frieghtens the life out of them, you can also get a automatic tear gas thingy of the interweb, I agree with an earlier post you must now go over the top with your security

[Roger Williams 2Participant @rogerwilliams2]

12 bore with a tripwire. Seriously, if they are determined enough, they will stop at nothing, because in our sad society, criminals dont get punished, only the victims. The police are really only bothered about motoring offences—the other day , local radio announced, that after a major police operation, 11 people were caught not wearing seatbelts !!!!. Oh, and in the last picture, I would need about 10 seconds to get in, sorry.

[Mike TeamanParticipant @miketeaman64279]

I watched this thinking about how much more can you do to stop it. The owner seemed to have covered all the security options but …..

Caravan theft!

Mike

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

Noisy electronic squawk boxes on the wall are all fine and well but if they aren't monitored they are nothing but a noise nuisance to your neighbours. I agree that security cameras can be used to identify the rubbish that breaks in, but be careful , i have heard some types of footage isn't legally allowed in court, it must have a date stamp or something to be admissable.

If you are going to get serious about security, thick steel doors, steel safes (the job box type, bolted to a concrete floor with rawl bolts) and substantial lockable gates are they only way to defeat this malady of modern life, namely the scumbag out on the rob.

Below is a picture of a strongroom door bolt i made for a gunshop, believe it or not its not as heavy as i'd liked to have made it, a little drug addicted scroat turning up with a screwdriver and a junior hacksaw isn't going to try to get past security like that.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

You need one of these:

Neil

[Bob YouldonParticipant @bobyouldon45599]

Hello Ronan,

Seems a whole of work when the staple is the component at risk, that is unless you had made it from a single billet of heat treatable steel and then the staple becomes the item at risk. I'm of the opinion, leave it to the experts for both locks and security, that together with a monitored alarm system may help in detering the bandits.

Nowhere is safe; the new entrance carpet complete with force coat of arms went missing from a Police Station front counter area only to be discovered several weeks later in a local public house!

Regards,

Bob Youldon

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

Bob i used a larger staple in the end and bolted and welded the lot to the steel strong room doors, anyone eyeing the doors up would have to get through the bolt first and then three five lever deadlocks, as well as a monitored alarm and cctv. So any little scroat weighing up as to wether its worthwhile having a go is going to decide its simply not worth his while.

As we are discussing shed security or workshop security if you want to be posh about, no one is going to spend out on a security consultant incase his drill or angle grinder is going to be swiped. So any solution is going to be diy most likely. I have never had a wooden shed, and to be honest i don't know how you could secure a woodlap shed, as its so easy to pull off the planks and gain access.

You could ask your local crime prevention officer from the local plod and see what you can and cannot do. One of the things i found good advice when i asked mine, was to plaster the top of my back wall (backs onto a laneway) with 'orrible old black grease from a lorry or tractor back axle. The scroats only try to get over it once and it really works lol.

[Kevin BennettParticipant @kevinbennett25223]

you need one of these but you need to set the trip wire 351039647351 from ebay

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

I don't like to advertise the fact that I have lots of expensive items in my property/garage by fitting lots of expensive or huge locks / bars and OTT security systems. If I fit a camera system (I have been looking) I will mount it discretely – if "they" know it's there, they'll just wear a hat or a scarf (or both, it's chilly outside!) – If I fit a door bar, it will be internal (a lot more work but it's out of sight then)

Don't inadvertently make your security an invitation to curious thieves……. _Paul_ what were they doing on your property in the first place, it's not like they just go door to door every night checking to see if anyone has left anything open – they'd get spotted in no time. They probably either knew it was open, or had come to break in anyway as they knew it was worth it.

A mate of mine who lived in Crowle nipped to the shops to grab a pint of milk, on his return, his neighbour was in his living nicking his TV/Audio kit. He's no doubt left the patio door unlocked many times in a morning and the neighbour had clocked it.

I'm going to just buy a nice big loud alarm – and mount the external bit somewhere out of sight. I will have an inaudible warning and NO chime (I'll disconnect the internal control boxes speaker or replace it with a resistor), no one will know it's there unless I or they set it off. – and then, they'll probably bloody run for it! – success.

Edited By Russ B on 06/11/2014 09:13:39

Edited By Russ B on 06/11/2014 09:16:27

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

Kevin, angel grinding was made illegal some time ago, I would take care about saying you are still doing it.

Doug

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Years ago a law was made to require shotguns to be locked up, a sensible idea. Being skint I made a lockable box from 1/4" plate and 2 heavy duty padlocks. The local police said not allowed, not good enough. Friend gave me a brand -new approved gun cabinet from a well known dealer.Snag was it was locked and keys lost. Took about 3 secs and a light screwdriver to open it, my postbox has better keys and nearly as thick metal. This one is ok though.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

When I was away last year some lowlife nicked a couple of 47kg propane cylinders from our house. It had a security wire but they just bolt cropped that and the connection hoses. The first thing plod asked was did we have a cctv system fitted. So we bought a 4 camera system and eventually installed it just before we went away again, good system, can be viewed remotely on-line, playback recordings on-line, it emails activation alarms, but, always a but, I did not spend long enough fine tuning the sensitivity and activation areas before I went away again. So I get about 100 or more emails a day, wind blowing the flowers, rain, passing car headlights all set it off, not to mention the helpful spider who has repeatedly built a web over one camera everytime the wind or rain wipes the old web out! But rather that way than maybe miss something. It maybe just psychological but we do feel we have sometime that will maybe make the scumbags think of trying elsewhere, if they are not too thick.

My shed has 500-600mm thick walls, the roof is fully boarded and the door has 2 off 5 lever locks, but I still feel I could do more to the door. It also has a window, double glazed and I must fit steel bars inside to protect that.

It is a very sad reflection of present day life in the UK when we have to go to all these measures to protect our properties.

Chris

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> It is a very sad reflection of present day life in the UK when we have to go to all these measures to protect our properties.

Actually, total burglary has been in steady decline since 1996 and is now only 75% of what it was in 1981.

Over the same period population has grown by about 13%, so assuming the number of sheds has also increased… sheds have never been safer in the last 33 years.

Sorry to spoil a good story with facts (from the Crime Survey of England and Wales).

Neil

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Locks & security systems are to keep honest people out… not scumbags. my garage was tuned over in march this year, compressor, plus airline &, my oscillating engine were the first to go, fortunately we mange to disturb the T**t .. scumbag but he had laid out a lot of other stuff on the drive ready to go in an accomplices transport. Mr plod was quick on the scene, 10-15 min, SOCO came the day after but prints were too smudged to be of use (gloves).. have additional security fitted on Crime prevention officers recommendations, not giving any details as these scroats do look on these forums (according to crime prev' officer) to see who's saying what they've got in their workshop/sheds, suffice to say one aspect is that if they try it again they WILL have burst eardrums. I was not the only one that night either, it seems that our area was targeted as another dozen or so houses/garages were turfed over ( Police feedback ) I have now also set up a neighbourhood watch system.

It's a pity that we aren't allowed to defend our homes & families ( thanks to the EUHRC ) whereas in the states, & elsewhere more than reasonable force is quite permissible for home defence.. no doubt some pc person will have something to say on that comment…!

George.

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