Garage security

I hear what you're saying Rich. It's just a bit hard to take that the police are never there when I need them but always seem to have enough resources to fleece the public for trivia. That's what I see as "better than average chance of finding the criminal". Great conviction rates for close to zero effort. Meanwhile the scum bags continue to steal our bikes. I'm not talking about organised crime but low life opportunists who know there are no consequences. It may be explained away as priorities and resources, but to me police ignoring this and the multitude of other things that affect people daily is just not acceptable.

 

Personally, if I was a thief and I saw a garage with nothing out the ordinary in terms of security vs a Fort Knox which by the sounds of it you're building.. I'd compare the likely hood of some rusted garden tools to perhaps something worth stealing which is inside your Fort Knox. I'd wait for your house to be vacant by watching you leave for work, stick on a high vis in the middle of the day and get stuck in.. if anyone like your neighbors asked, I'm a local tradesman doing some work on your garage, might even get a cup of tea and some biscuits out of it.

Point being, i think there's a point of showing too much security will get the wrong people curious. CCTV outside and in, alarmed garaged door + side door and some subtle physical security such as bolts etc, with a PIR light should be plenty. Using U-Locks etc or anything that catches someone's eye as being out the norm, in my opinion I'd be saying no.

The other thing to consider is recovery, worse case scenario they've got your pride and joys.. trackers will come in useful for recovery before they get broken down and sold for parts on eBay or leave the country.

 

Hahaha, but how plausible would be it be for you to question someone wearing a high-vis at your neighbours house? Would you even notice there not home? Would you batter an eye lid? If you asked them why they are there and they said that there doing some work on the property.... would you honestly think twice?

 

I'd like you for a neighbour! But I honestly don't think that many people these days would make any intervention

 

It's an honest shame, but I do think recovery is an important part.. I read somewhere that last September a young boy and his father were stabbed when they went to stop a thief stealing the son's moped from their house, if I remember rightly the son was killed. Bike theft is on a serious rise and I don't think there's alot really to stop them, with police not having the power to chase bike thieves most of the time.. I think recovery is the only way and everything else is to slow them down.

 

Camera? If the worst happens you know who to go after? Also you might see who cases the joint and stop em before they get to it?
Anything to make it difficult.
A pit bull terrier with aids used to be effective but they've got aids under control now. Maybe you could get one with Ebola virus?

 

It amazes me that bike theft is so rampant on what is an island. I guess the parting out is what they do to make money? Professionals are not stealing for joy rides, right?
Here any stolen bikes goes two routes. One - if a V-Twin, most likely stolen by criminal motorcycle clubs/gangs and VIN changed or bike parted out. Two - it goes lickety split to Mexico never to be seen again.
I most like a pager alarm that allows me a real time response.

 

That was just down the road to me in Chadwell Heath....A nice area for most parts. Scooter crime is high in this part of East london/Essex boarders. Only the other day I saw 2 youths on one scooter with no number plate riding up & down with impunity. I didn't think for one minute they were riding to find a halfords to get it replaced......I`d give my gold tooth if they wern`t out on the thief. I was on a bus so couldn't really see what was going on. I got the trusty tiger out when I got home & returned to the same place. This was about an hour later, still they were riding up & down, presumably looking for Halfords still!
Epidemic crime rate is a word I`d freely use

 

I hear you, but how are the police supposed to stop low life opportunists? The days are gone when there was budget enough to station a beat bobby on every corner. If you own a two-wheeled vehicle the simple solution is secure it. If you don't then blame yourself, the scumbag's parents, their teachers, their church, but come on, how can you blame the police? It amazes me how many expensive bikes I see parked up with little to zero security.

 

Being a small island is what makes a lot of the bike theft an easy and lucrative crime. A gang of three or four strong blokes can lift a lightweight sports bike that isn't anchored and secure it in the back of a van as quick as you like. Then they've got all the time in the world to put serious tools to dealing with chains and locks. They might only get £500 or £600 for each bike, but it's easy tax free money if they do four or five in a night. In to a crate, back of a lorry and before breakfast they're over the Channel where the re-seller will make a tidy profit.

 

Sorry Rich but I think you are just missing the point. In Scotland and I presume elsewhere in the UK vehicle crime is still illegal. I know of no change in the law that says it's ok for someone to take my property without consequence. As far as I can see all police complacency/incompetence is doing is alienating themselves from the people that pay taxes to fund them. I know very few people who have a high opinion of the police. Like I've said before they're never there when I need them but somehow there's always plenty of them available to man speed cameras and radar traps in the arse end of nowhere. Maybe if some of these so called public servants did something other than screw the population there might be a bit of respect.

I am thorough to the point of obsession with my bike security but the fact is, no matter what I do, without deterrents or consequences that only the police and courts can provide, all it does is inconvenience the thief. I know of cases where bikes have been stolen, the owners know where the bike is and who has stolen it and when informed the police do nothing! Maybe you think this is acceptable, I most certainly don't!

Should I arm myself in case I'm attacked in the street? Should I keep a machete next to my bed in case I'm burgled?

If I physically try to protect my property from thieves I'm liable to arrest and prosecution yet the thief is seen as the victim.
If the police are not there to maintain law and order then what exactly are they there for?

I don't expect miracles from the police but I expect more than I get, which is zero! My car got sprayed with yellow paint outside my house along with neighbours walls and fences a couple of years ago. I reported it to the police who informed me it wasn't classed as a recordable crime. I was issued no "number", couldn't claim insurance and had to deal with the cost myself. The local council who had to clean up much of the vandalism to property agreed that it was very much a crime. No surprises in the local paper a week or two later the local chief cop was bumming about how there had been a decrease in vehicle vandalism in the area. No shit Sherlock, if the crime isn't recorded........

I really am fed up listening to excuses, reasons and apologists for police lack of action.

 

Point not missed at all. The strongest deterrent to any crime is the risk of being caught. It doesn't really matter how severe the punishment if you don't think you'll be caught. Whether you or I like it, police resources are already stretched coping with Home Office priorities (and fecking paperwork). So chances of catching a bike thief in the act is slim to nil, and so prevention is the best course, and that's our responsibility, no-one else's, albeit local councils should provide more secure anchor points than many do.

 

It's sad that's for sure thieves go to this extent, I'm from Essex myself and in my area since 2017 Essex Police have announced 50 vehicle thefts since January. I hope those pads weren't going back and fourth looking for your tiger

 

Police have been squeezed like every other public service. Then there's back room jobs being done by serving officers when civilian clerks on less pay could do as good a job, but Home Office won't allow it. Then there's the never ending increase in paperwork. Then there's the goals and priorities set by the Home Office. Then there's the sheer frustration of a demoralised force. You think police officers aren't tax payers too. You think they don't have ideas where they'd rather be spending their time. Don't blame the bobbies. Blame the bosses who are playing to the tune of their bosses, the folk the majority of the voting public put in charge. But then again, you can't really blame the police bosses for doing what the politician bosses measure them by. Don't moan and groan here. Join MAG. Write to your MP. Write to the Home Office.

 

If the opportunity presents itself I still highly recommend giving them an old school education (within an inch of their lives).

"I have never asked for permission to take out the trash in my whole life and I don't intend to start now" - CWO2 Jerry L. Whitmore

 

Since losing my Shoei GT air & Scala q3 to the feckers back in September I`m very hyper-sensitive to the little f#ckers. It`s amazing what you see better when crime has affected you in this way. Ive said it before & I warn all others on here...............
IF YOU SEE 2 KIDS RIDING ON A SCOOTER, THEY AINT OUT FOR A SOCIAL RIDE........THEY ARE ON THE THIEF!!!!!

 

^ Good on you Thruccyboy, that is what we call using your 500 foot radar. Situational awareness is crucial in our world today.

 

The strongest deterrent is PAIN!
You didnt get many people going back for second helpings of the cat o' nine tails and that was legal.
A severe beating can be just as effective.

 

Rich, can you tell me exactly how you prevent a gang of thugs on bikes boxing you in at some traffic lights and attacking you with hammers, axes, screwdrivers, stanley knives and baseball bats.
Where does a responsibility for innocently going about your daily duties and then being mugged, kidnapped, bike stolen come in.
As put in earlier posts, police hanging around with speed cameras doesnt exactly help their case.
Yes, the Police are only being asked to do their job, but by hell dont some of them just love it!
The answer to the prevention question is quite simply going to become a gun.

 

Blimey, def going to take a detour round Yorkshire if that's the state of affairs up North.

Mind you if that gang did come after me I'd get off the bike and say there you go boys, all yours, then give my action cam footage to the local force and hope they can find the thugs.