Tool Thefts - depressing reading

[addjunkie]

Until people refuse to buy tools from a bloke in the pub, around the corner, from car boots etc, it will keep on.

All the penalities in the world for tool theft won't matter a jot if you don't actually catch them.

Im in complete agreement. Seems they have no fear of getting caught, as the consequences are nothing to worry about. Id have advocated the middle eastern way of dealing with thieving scum, but then us folk who are honest and go to work would end up paying for someone to wipe their bums for them.

 

[MetalMonkey]

A lot of the tools and plant go straight abroad.
I doubt more legislation is going to make any difference at all and they haven't got the resources for harsher sentences anyway.
Likewise, increasing security will just mean an increase in the amount of damage they do to get in.

Last time I had stuff nicked, the copper that came out pretty much knew who had taken it and where it was, but there was absolutely no way they were going to go looking for it on gut instinct, given the hassle they would get for it.

There is a company called Automatrics MTrack, which track and recover a lot of plant equipment.
They put videos up on youtube and you can see the complete lack of interest from the police in the majority of cases.
He'll hand them the case on a plate and the reaction is often one of just mild annoyance at the inconvenience of the paperwork.

We recently had a group of couple of dozen vehicles running rampage locally, smashing up property, stealing, ramming cars, assaulting a couple of fire crews and trashing their engines.
Police already knew the details a month prior of who, where and when and did nothing about it. They are appealing for "more information". Not sure how much more you could give them.
I’m not knocking them specifically, their hands are tied much of the time and they are going to be damned either way.

The groups involved in these thefts are exactly who you might imagine, and they are organised and well practiced.
In contrast the police are mostly quite disorganised, the courts are at breaking point, and the prisons are full.

Unless somebody with some serious cojones is prepared to make unpopular decisions from the top down, nothing will change - and politics is unfortunately a popularity contest at the end of the day.
Sad to say about all you can do is make yourself look like less of an easier/richer target than the next bloke.

 

[Farside]

There's advantages to living a small community for things like this. Anything up to about 20kgs is postable at a reasonable cost, after that it can get silly.

Yebbut, you can have your towbar nicked, even in a small place.

 

[Farside]

The Isle of Man method?

It certainly worked. Most were on their best (or better than normal) behaviour with the threat of a good old-fashioned birching hanging over them.

 

[Farside]

I'd be Draconian. I do have a black handkerchief.

Tranportation. Deport them to some wasteland, off the Chilean coast.

 

[dobbslc]

Save the fuel and throw them over the side 5 miles off our coast.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Tranportation. Deport them to some wasteland, off the Chilean coast.

Bradford?

 

[keithski122]

as goes for someones garage tools that was an inside job if only there tools got nicked

Nah, any thief with any sense would nick snap on over sealey. Others tools were stolen just they had less tools and those they had were cheap and nasty.

 

[Migmac]

I was on a chainsaw course years ago. The guy running it had done one the previous week, all five of his saws got nicked by the guys on the course!
These ***** don’t care how their actions affect others.

 

[nickk]

I’ve thought similar before - ‘animal byproducts - not for human consumption’ should deter them.

Reminds me of parking my rd350 outside one of the Brighton engineering colleges,I had a 20 mile commute so invariably had waterproofs stored on the luggage rack…..inside an NHS bag,stating PATIENTS PROPERTY,SOILED LINEN.

 

[dieselsamurai]

Sign of the times i guess but I have effectively 'Computers inside' written on my companies van but its only been broken into once in 20 years and they only stole the satnav !

 

[MattF]

These ***** don’t care how their actions affect others.

That's the basic issue.

 

[northwest]

Always worth engraving or melting your postcode into any cordless tools.

I am paranoid now. I have a DeWalt cordless tool for sale in the for sale section and I have sanded my postcode off it and if you look you can tell :-(

 

[Trevorleach]

Only makes a difference if you can find them afterwards.
A lot of mine have my initials engraved on them or other identifying marks, didn't stop them getting stolen though.

I was kind of thinking sometime in the future if the police asked question where the tools come from and there was a postcode on them they could trace back to the owner.

 

[Greeves246]

You could Datatag all your tools. Fitted Datatag to many Ducatis when doing the PDI, no reason not to mark all your gear but whether the police would check is another thing.

Datatag ID

Protect your assets with a unique Datatag forensic marking security system, the ultimate theft deterrent for all your possessions to combat theft and act as a deterrent in the fight against crime and to defeat criminals.

www.datatag.co.uk

 

[Dilkris]

Some of our local car boots insist on seeing proof of ownership before peeps are allowed to sell battery tools

Not wishing to disagree or be argumentative - how exactly do they show proof of ownership?
I have a workshop full of tools and can honestly say I couldn't find a receipt for any item

 

[Dilkris]

I am paranoid now. I have a DeWalt cordless tool for sale in the for sale section and I have sanded my postcode off it and if you look you can tell :-(

Ahhh..... but can you prove you own it??

 

[cheb]

Not wishing to disagree or be argumentative - how exactly do they show proof of ownership?
I have a workshop full of tools and can honestly say I couldn't find a receipt for any item

For £2 per tool I can supply you a hand written receipt. How much more proof of ownership do you need?

 

[pressbrake1]

The can of worms has been opened and this is how it now is

 

[dieselsamurai]

You could Datatag all your tools. Fitted Datatag to many Ducatis when doing the PDI, no reason not to mark all your gear but whether the police would check is another thing.

Datatag ID

Protect your assets with a unique Datatag forensic marking security system, the ultimate theft deterrent for all your possessions to combat theft and act as a deterrent in the fight against crime and to defeat criminals.

www.datatag.co.uk

Do the police actually have the scanners ? if not then its probably a waste of time . Same with smartwater probably