Curious what you guys have tried and what methods you use to deal with these bottom feeders? I am always torn between putting equipment in plain sight vs hiding equipment as much as possible. Whether on small/quick jobs or long running jobs. I know locally some large companies have gone to special painted components to quickly identify machines, such as painting the finals purple or something. Of course this is for outright theft of the entire piece. That would have to be a pretty well organized deal to steal large equipment, but I am specifically curious about vandals breaking windows and trying to see what they can find to steal off a machine. Fuel and batteries are probably high on the list but who knows with criminals.
We used to hang a coyote carcass on a fence post back in the day. I wonder if hanging a thief on a post would have the same effect?
The bleeding hearts cry far too much about shooting thieves
Thanks, I just found out that coffee sprayed on an ipad does not really clean it well.
Put hidden kill switches on all machines. Other than that, not much else you can do.
Also consider GPS trackers.
Oh, I have been disabling equipment for 20yrs and very confident in that regard, but I think it is the guys that destroy windows and such for no reason, or cause thousands in damage to get a couple batteries. I think my bigger concern is people messing with the engine oil, coolant, etc. I am just trying to see if you guys prefer to put machines out in the open with lighting, or try to hide em? I was going to work on some motion activated lights that I can quickly hang, and maybe some trail cams, but do pics EVER actually catch a criminal? I am more in the razor wire and shock therapy camp. I can bury a corpse pretty quick.....
Put padlocks on all covers. What type of areas you working in?
00 buck
I think what prompted the post is I will be going too look at a land clearing situation in what sounds like a mobile home area and owner has already mentioned the mobile homes on the property he bought have already been stripped of valuables, copper, etc. I just know that (no offense) mobile home folks tend to be shady and if I do that job, I want my equipment out asap. I will never cave to the "it's just property, it can be replaced" group. I want those folks to share their address so I can visit.
Times are different these days. Any cop will tell you that criminals being afraid to offend and get punished is not much of a hinderance any more to them. On serious jobs around here a security guard is often posted at night under a big floodlight. That way the damage never happens in the first place.
Signs saying things like video surveillance or smile your on camera actually work. Another thing is game cams placed so if someone drives up you can get license plate numbers. We leave equipment in the woods year round and fight the same thing.
The only solution I have for work in shady areas is the equipment leaves every night
How I wish it was legal... Or if I was certain that I could get away with it....
Just remember, you "feared for your life" and he "tried to kill you".... I have very little remorse for thieves. But back to reality, has anyone tried motion activated lights, sirens, etc? I was thinking of installing an actual alarm system. It might seem overkill but IMO, if you make noise and fire up lights when the thugs arrive, they usually don't like that.
Get a security camera tower or make a fake one as a deterrent.
Baha, this gave me a great idea to simply put a county sheriff badge on the sides. Well, I guess since we no longer stop looters and such, maybe that would be a target. We did use some fake video cameras years ago in a high end aerospace joint. The intent was to detour certain issues, and if that didn't work, real cameras would be placed. They had a red blinking light and rotated. They looked legit! I would agree all the way that my goal here is to detour people from even making an attempt. But I do realize crack supplies a total lack of judgment. Watched some crack heads trying to steal LIVE high voltage power lines! Yeah, they got some sweet justice!
It is all about the application velocity!
May want go with #6...
Nothing says “Good Evening” like a pump action racking one in...
There was a guy here in town that worked as a bounty hunter and had a security business as a side line. Big as a mountain. I can't repeat what he would tell people he would catch sneaking around job sites and businesses late at night. Any business that hired him troubles disappeared. He carried no weapons he told me although he had some.
Shotgun shells loaded with coarse salt and wheat grains.
Unfortunately, if a thief wants your stuff there isn't much deterrent that will be effective outside of a few gunshots in their direction. The craving for drugs and money overwhelms their senses and they just become dumber and more blatant..... which makes them even braver. If I were you, I would rent a RV for the time being and live on site. I would park all the equipment nightly surrounding the RV and make sure I had line of sight to each piece of equipment. Buy a few paper targets, blast them a few times, then hang said targets on each operators door with a sign that says "YOUR NEXT!" Here is a few things you can do to make this point work for you even better......... 1. Make sure you do the target practice in the evening before dark. That way the neighborhood can hear the gunshots and KNOW you are armed. 2. Make sure you actually hit the bullseye on the targets before you hang them on the equipment. You don't want a potential thief to think your a horrible shot. 3. Make sure you have a bright flood lamp (handheld) and walk around outside before bed. Shine it all over the place including the neighborhood. 4. Explain to wife this is necessary. Its not getting away from her..........its saving money so she can buy more crap you don't need. 5. Also.....explain to wife there is such a thing as conjugal visitation..............Make sure she understands that she will need to disguise herself as to not draw attention to the area. This will require her to wear outfits (like a nurse, a librarian, a teacher, a coed, and..........uh.......hooker, etc.........) and not wear the same one twice.
Once a person drops the hammer on another, that persons life is changed forever and not usually for the good. This incident happened here in town in 2012 at a western outfitters store called the New York. https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/no-charges-against-walla-walla-shopkeeper-dont-try-this-at-home/
Shooting someone in the back 5 times from 120 ft + isn’t self defense. There have been several similar instances here in the last few years. There is a fine line between self defense and manslaughter/murder ......you can protect yourself and property while the assailant is aggressive but once they turn to flee you can’t continue to fire upon them. We have open and concealed carry in Oklahoma and a high percentage of citizens here carry something. The bad thing is that even stupid people can carry weapons here....that really shouldn’t be. People that carry should know the laws of their state when it comes to self defense.
That is correct V63--------But the actual distance was much closer, half that distance. Although that doesn't really mater.
Game cams can help you figure out who stole your stuff. Then I know who to ask for my stuff back. Around Wasilla, its mostly locals stealing the fuel for heating oil. In the bush, it’s part of doing business. Many young villagers believe that your stuff is their stuff and it’s only fair to share. Batteries, fuel, tires and I’ve had them steal the engine oil out of the crankcase for their snow machines. In that instance, at least they left a note in the cab. I was going to plow the runway, so my ride could land. No oil in the grader. ! Good times.
300 Blackout subsonic with a can on the end of the barrel...
These are nice and quiet, and very effective.
Locks only keep honest people out
They would probably steal it
Lots of options try one of these-they can eat two pit bulls for breakfast---Fila Brasileiro
WE lose batteries a lot. Most of the time you can go buy them back from the bottle exchange for 10 bucks the next day. We have been lucky, in the 20 some years I have been here, they have only cut the cables twice. Most of the time they unbolt them. Some years ago, they hit the crusher spread. Our electrician figured one of them must have been an electrician. They took the time to cut the end off the big control cable going into the tower with the wire labels and leave it on the floor by the genset. they steal a lot of kids bikes to, which is sad as a lot of parents can't afford to buy a replacement. They really need to hit the drug dealers harder. I don't really blame the drug heads themselves, as much as the dealers for supplying them in the first place.
But then they would be able to testify against me.....
Had batteries stolen once, the one compartment I forgot to lock that was a chain reaction to a lot of other repairs. They unbolted everything, and even put the toolbox that is on top of the batteries back in. Then this spring had all side compartment doors pried open, nothing taken or screwed around with just damaged the locks. Thankfully the battery compartment locks are a lot better. It was at a demo and the dumba$$es also opened up both containers that were right full, causing a huge mess and headache to get them closed again. I really try avoiding leaving equipment at a job longer then I must, and in any bad area now I won't leave it. If I don't feel comfortable leaving my 200 at a job, moving in and out everyday will be built into the price. I priced out a demo a little awhile ago, it's about 200' away from a homeless shelter. They were EVERYWHERE went I was there to look at the job, not a chance in hell i'd leave anything there. If you're going to do something, just remember dead man tell no tales.
If you hope to get any action taken you have to have cameras. High quality cameras put in places that license plates and pics of the thieves can be taken. Here, the police, if they don't have plates will post the incident on local internet news apps. Pics go out everywhere, and typically the thieves are caught quickly if there is enough on pics to catch faces and vehicles. We have theft still but these guys get caught where video/pics are available. That works here, certainly not everyone has it this good (if you can call it that) small enough area that the police can actually do something about thefts like this and are willing to. However without any pics you have next to no chance of stopping the thefts or getting your stuff back. As far as knocking someone down. It sounds good and feels good to write it on the internet, but not so good going through the process after the fact. Even in areas that are more conservative, the process can be very expensive and your future freedom is at risk. Some areas of the US, the suspect has more rights than you do it seems. It can be a huge roll of the dice, with you breaking rock at the State Penn as a result when you roll snake eyes. The facts are unless you or someone else is being attacked or threatened in a way that justifies deadly force, it is not worth it. Having your rights read to you for homicide (no matter how right you may think you are) is a sobering moment, batteries, fuel, tires even a $300k machine wont seem worth it.....and it may not be.
00 Buck shot, dogs, cameras, batteries hmm I smell something cooking oh wait that might be the perp who decided after hearing trip alarms set with 00 buckshot https://fithops.com/products/12-gau...erm=4576373562504720&utm_content=All Products decided to forgo the adventure to steal while grabbing a piece of equipment and shocking himself with electric fence hooked up to piece of equipment that completed the circuit of grounding a ground wire to electric magnet that had held guard dogs in a fenced in pen which is now open. All the while be recorded on cameras to be later posted to YouTube for our entertainment. Life is grand!
Regarding the story above with the gang banger, I think most probably ignore the fact that if he didn't drop that dude, he likely would have returned, and probably the same night with more people and guns, and it would have ended differently. I carry concealed daily, and have actually used that firearm once already. While I have no issue handling that sort of business, I am smart enough to know that prevention is key here and I would rather avoid the confrontation or fixing stuff. I guess I have my own tactics that are pretty effective, but I wanted to see if you guys had any ideas that seem to work. I do agree, if the area is too shady, just don't leave it! I could never live in a place where I had that crap hanging over me all the time. After some thinking, I would like to examine some battery operated motion lights and an alarm system on machines. It probably seems overkill to some, and not enough to others. I refuse to work (we don't really have) in gang or homeless infested areas. I feel at least in my area, flashing lights and sirens going off should detour most people around here. I am hoping the motion lights are enough but I usually build in "stages of reaction" and the hope is people realize "you were expected" and leave.
I like how you think! I like the primer tripwire, which I have used in the past with great success. I would love to energize a machine but I need to think carefully about the electronics and current path. That is several KV so need to ensure I don't roast my ECMs. I am not going to get too wound about the legal issues there. In my personal experience, the DA 'might' try to throw charges but any misdemeanor or felony has a right to a jury. Good luck finding a packed jury full of Karens. Won't happen.
Farmers here have taken to LARGE Quiet pups. Pyrenees Anatole mix dogs that bark seldom and only growl once get REALLY close, they can sneak up or outrun Coyotes. Post the notation at property lines that are on site and NOTHING the perps can complain or counter charge of as to crossing the perimeter. Sheep farm next door has Four now, coyotes have once again decided to venture closer to other farms(As Mine) and are being slaughtered, dogs catch them they maul them to unrecognizable. Couple idjits crossed his fence to either thieve or to scout out and got pinned in his barn on a platform, Sheriff was more than glad he had the dogs. One perp lost a shoe and part of a pant leg with some blood.
I have 10 inch fire alarm bells in my shop and my house garage. They are very loud and still scare the crap out of me when I forget to turn them off ! Very easy to hook up to any motion detector light. I have a wall switch connected to the bell circuit so I can reach in and turn off the bell but not the light. For a garage door opener light a simple plug adapter screwed into the light bulb socket is simple and quick. One of these.
In Texas it is a defense to prosecution if you shoot someone at night stealing your property if there's no reasonable chance to recover the property. However my carry license instructor told the class (this was over ten years ago) there is no way he would shoot at a thief running off with his TV for one example. Absolutely not worth the potential consequences. I always joke that I have more money invested in security cams at the ranch than I would lose in a burglary.
If a person wins the charge-the civil case against them will clean them out. My wife and I don't own much of any value and what we do have is pretty well used so if someone want's it that bad [take it] saves me the fee and gas to haul it to the dump. Hell I might even throw in a few bucks for the energy they spent and invite them back to steal the rest of the worthless crap. Just don't take our two cats-well after they had them for 5 minutes those would be returned.
One of my very favorite courses in college was Business Law which was a broad brush of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), contracts and some miscellaneous topics. I still have the textbook. Some notable takeaways: person was having vandals/thieves/whatever violate his shed/barn/whatever (forgot the exact scenario) so he rigged a shotgun to be triggered when a door was opened and fired at the door opening. As I remember the perp was either wounded or killed. The owner was charged with a felony, again I don't recall what the exact charge was. Another pearl of wisdom gleaned was business owners or individuals that post "not responsible for accidents" signage legally means absolutely nothing. If you are negligent in a situation you can still be charged regardless of how many signs you post. I see gravel trucks with signs on the back of the dump that claims "not responsible for broken windshields, bla bla." They are responsible for securing their load no matter what the load is. One more - contracts are usually enforceable unless the court finds the party was somehow taken advantage of. Signing a contract is NOT a guarantee of execution. Verbal contracts can be enforced but any contract involving real estate must be written. I should dig out that textbook and refresh my memory. The instructor was a really good guy and did a lot of pro bono work for those people with limited resources that were somehow harmed (not necessarily physically harmed.)
Here, the driver is responsible for securing his load, but I always thought rock in the windshield was a done deal. A shady contractor here was doing a job when one of his trucks had an open tailgate do a bit of damage to a person's car. Instead of the normal go out and fix the car, he fought it. The woman had no proof that the material came off his truck, and she had to fix her own. You pretty much need a dash cam.
Date, time, truck number and road it happened on.
All you need here too Truck insurance pays
Here you need proof. Too many goofs who see a big truck and think they can get a free windshield, or don't use common sense and drive 10' behind a dump truck, what do you think is going to happen? I had someone follow me to my yard and claim I put 3 chips in their window from my flatdeck. Told him to pound sand if you don't have a dash camera, and maybe use some common sense and not tailgate a truck. If it comes off the tire, not the trucks fault as long as mud flaps legal. The part that baffles me when hauling my track hoe is people will drive right beside the trailer. No matter what you do, if you hit a bump chances are stuff is going to come off. Common sense would say to keep away from any big trucks.
Loading up a machine and having dirt fly off it or the trailer you are still responsible. City started cracking down on contractors having trucks going in and out of muddy sites and leaving a mess on the road. Contractor doing the Capital Care Norwood expansion had a skid steer with a pick up sweeper constantly cleaning the road before the cold and snow came. Some tires are really bad for picking up rocks and throwing them too. I somehow got a rock in the windshield where there was no one anywhere near me on Hwy. 14. Quite awhile ago I read a story where someone rigged the door handle of a vehicle so a person would get shocked if they tried to open it. Vehicle owner was liable because they didn't put a warning sign on the vehicle.
Maybe just lucky Currently have a skunk living part time in my barn Does not get excited when open door or turn on lights just waddles away and I do not attempt to aggravate or intimidate Can see a moron getting in there and pissing it off
Speaking of which it was a private owned pickup white Dodge pickup truck just passed me few hours ago, but slung rock up and parking for the night noticed a crack forming in windshield on drivers side started at the bottom
I wouldn't count on anything happening to the thieves from a law stand point. Caught a guy on camera in yard this spring, police came really fast and tracked him to coffee shop a bit away and clearly ID'd him from footage. Even then they didn't want the hassle of pressing any charges. The cops comment was he already had similar charges and if he was able to see a justice that night, they would likely let him right back out. In his mind, pressing charges was a waste of time. The only benefit I see at least is he will go elsewhere to try and steal next time as he didn't even get anything before he was caught. Owner lives on site at yard I rent so it was super handy that way, within 2 mins of the cameras catching the guy he was out there with his dog and scared the guy off. I do agree it would be satisfying to put a thief 6 feet under, but it's not worth the risk. I would however have no problem with them tripping and falling a bit.
You know what amazed me? We had an accidental deer shooting here recently. I was vert surprised that within 48hrs, that deer was completely eaten and gone!!!! I just want to mention that to any pricks that care to visit. Apparently we hit our mark and the evidence is very soon gone. My Doberman is just here to distract you while I select the right ammo.....
LOL Local poor attitude types made mention would take to streets and take what want Rural Have NO clue! Guy jokingly said something to that effect to me on another forum, explained there are Hog farms out here, the bodies would not ever be found as would be gone in hours. Jimmy Hoffa most likely disappeared that way! He did not respond back.
I have a backhoe and can rent a excavator, there is thousands of acres of state/BLM land plenty of ravines and thermite gets very hot easily made from home with all the metal I got. Acid might work but buying too much raises a flag and cell phones to call 911 don’t work out here.
Rule #1.... Never kiss and tell. Rule #2.... Don't brag about the weapons you have and how you would use them. The DHS is watching and I promise you that they read, copy and use anything sent by anyone anywhere. If you say the right thing, they will investigate and check up on you. Rule#3.... since most people can't keep their mouth shut, chances are that you just incriminated yourself. Does the phrase " premeditated " ring a bell?
Well I am not sure if that is directed towards me or not. In any case, I think the general sentiment from most on here is likely that they are not going to simply roll over like a helpless puppy when the real criminals stop in for a visit. But anyway, SOO far off topic! LOL I am curious if anyone has seen, heard of, used any basic alarm system for equipment? It would seem like expensive machines without the most basic protections are sitting ducks.
Has anyone found a camera that can read a license plate at night from more than a few feet range, without really bright artificial lights to overpower headlights or taillights with or without license plate reader software ?
It wasn't.
Talk to the photo radar people.
I have accidentally discovered that my cell phone will do that fairly well at an oblique angle. I was taking some picture on a clear night bright sky and I had to go back and edit the plates out. I will try it for you with a dark sky this weekend and see what I get. I will let you know.
Back to the OP, if the location looks that shady or I get the wrong feels, I load up every night. It's a pain, sure, but I have my tools the next day. The other alternative is treat it like a camp job and stay there in the RV.
I believe they use Nikon pro level cameras in the traffic cams around here. Would be pricey and lenses would be key to field of view. And low lighting is still tough... flash would be important. Infra red camera and light would be best
Yeah, I was just making a point they have no problem getting photo radar pics.
We had someone staying in an RV at our Riverside site. Some tweaker somehow caught him off guard, held a gun to his head and made off with a gator, a trash pump and some tools. We recovered the gator a few days later however we were without any security for a few weeks. The owner tried to get me to bring my trailer to the site. That would have saved me a small fortune on fuel and drive time but I respectfully declined. I know better. I know me....and I'd end up in jail for blowing someones head off. As much as I would not have a problem doing Gods work, in fact....I would enjoy taking any low life tweaker thiefs life, I cant afford the legal cost. I would never intentionally put my wife thru something like that.
I did that once a long time ago. Gives new meaning to sleeping with one eye open.
Around here you can get all the photos you want or even catch them red handed but the cops and courts don’t care. They arrest the same people every week for the same stuff and turn them loose. I’ve had a deputy tell me the most frustrating part of his job was exactly that- that the scum bag class is essentially immune from punishment.
Such a waste of taxpayer money. I believe that it is much more cost effective to leave the cops and courts out of it all together. Being any kind of LEO is hard enough today with all of the defund the police crap and racism garbage going on. Cops and courts have better things to do than deal with this growing pestilence which has been out of control for some time . As a man, as a tax payer and as a United States citizen, I am tired of watching our government and our legal system fail hardworking, decent people by giving criminals more rights than their victims. Calling 911 is not needed and a total waste of time. I believe in handling pests myself. It's much better on the environment, less wasteful on the tax payer, the legal system, the court system and helps decrease overcrowding in our already overcrowded jails. The key is to always have a pre-dug scum bag pit at the ready. If you catch them red handed....do what you gotta do, toss them in and and most importantly, to keep your mouth shut!
And if under 18 they can't possible know what they were doing is wrong.
If under 18, you are doing the entire world a huge favor.
Septic tanks and grease interceptors never get removed just collapsed after service life
My full time job is in law enforcement. The gps tracker is a good idea. You can also get solar powered motion activated lights help also camera help also. A guard dog also helps. Other than that good luck pos theaves and vandals cost a lot
I’ve seen professional rings get busted hauling away the big stuff, including being so brazen as to hit dealerships. when not taking the whole machine besides batteries and fuel they do stuff like ripping out displays, grade control components, etc.
Done it myself too, and I slept with a rifle. There'd been suspected sabotage at that site.
Ever tried setting up a trail cam? You can buy these very easy, set them up in plain site. Cover or camouflage most cameras are easy. You can even set these up to send the random pictures to your smart phone.Least when your machine has been sabotaged,you have pictures.
Trail cams work but I must reiterate that the cops and courts don’t care. The thieves are brazen and they know they will face no punishment for their actions. Even if they are arrested they will be turned loose right away. good friend of mine got a bunch of stuff stolen and had good shots, was even able to ID the thief with the help of Facebook even had their address and everything. Thief was out on parole too. My friend did ALL the legwork for the cops all they had to do was come and get the SOB but they would not. When the legal system does NOTHING to help the victim and everything to protect the criminal where do we stand?
In Illinois the local State's Attorney's would most likely go after him armed with that kind of evidence. It is a publicly elected job in Illinois and they are watched by the news reporters a lot. Hopefully it is the same in your area.
The situation that you outline, that nobody cares may be true where your at. It isn't like that everywhere. I would suggest that it isn't like that in most places.
Sadly it's like that here as well. Friend had packages stolen from his porch, had excellent full video showing face and license plate, identified the person on facebook and linkedin, did the cops job for them, and they wouldn't go after them. Insanity. Should note that I'm in a city of a million
I'm on a job site near Houston again...lots of foreign exchange students here from below the border. The last UTV rented from United Rentals was stolen from us and had the GPS removed from it and slung up on a tree branch...we just found it today and the theft happened over the Thanksgiving weekend. Before that, we had our batteries stolen off of one excavator...and that one was only accessible by boat from a nearby bayou, excavator was barged in...even the fishermen are thieves. They brought a torch to the site to cut a hole in the rental job shack made from a sea container because we had a dozer parked at the door to prevent entry. Our hidden game cameras have caught a lot of our people peeing on site by the secretary that downloads the pics...not much else. We put a hidden disconnect switch inside the frame rail of a brand new John Deere tractor after the last one was stolen near Beltway 8 on a shredding job...so they ripped the dash out of this one trying to hot wire it and cut several wires, but we kept the tractor. On the same job right off of Beltway 8, we were building trails in the middle of a 1600 acre tract for the Flood Control district and that land hasn't seen a human in 50 years, maybe more as they've owned it since the 1930s...it was literally so grown up with underbrush and briars and every kind of sticking tree or brush that you literally could not crawl through it...and I parked my pickup on a trail behind a brush clearing dozer and walked down to talk to the operator for 20 minutes or so and heard my pickup suddenly leaving...and chased after it afoot from a hundred yards away only to watch it get stuck in the freshly churned sand and a guy jump out and run to an opening in the brush that hid a set of railroad tracks that nobody knew ran through there...I guess the guy had been riding on the train or walking down the tracks out there a couple miles from anywhere and just decided he didn't like walking. Still don't know how he saw my pickup...but at least he didn't have time to steal tools out of it or make off with the rig itself. 3 months ago at 6AM one morning I was getting gas at a dimly lit gas station with no other customers and a guy walked up on me out of the dark from the direction of a crack infested motel about a half mile down the road, asking for cash to supposedly get gas for his car to get to work (he looked like Tom Hanks did when he was on that island on that Castaway movie for a couple of years and he wasn't exactly acting right)...it's a damn wonder I didn't get robbed there of a couple of thousand dollars worth of tools, or worse. He was jacked up, but at least he wasn't armed. All I had was my old Case pocket knife close, but I made sure he saw it. That one bothered me...this country is not what it used to be. There's no responsibility for your actions anymore. Hell, I have no choice but to arm myself anymore now just to make it to the job site...while our politicians hire armed security for themselves and live in a mansion behind locked and guarded fences. I know what the solutions are...but I can't discuss them here. Even this post will land on my Permanent Record one day in the future for wrongthink, lol.
Made in America!!! https://www.reconyx.com/product/hyperfire-2-license-plate-capture-camera