Theft prevention

[SlugSlinger]

With the apparent increase in all sorts of crime, including theft, can we hear some ideas on how to protect different types of items?

For example, I want to temporarily disable the tractor I have. I’ve seen folks use hidden keyed kill switches, remove or disconnect safety switches or even remove the battery.

Does anyone have other ideas around disabling equipment?

 

[dancer4life]

I use hidden gas shut off valves on my golf cart and jet skis.

 

[AtomicTango]

The crime rate has been steadily declining for decades, the rate of reporting on crime has been steadily increasing for decades. Fear sells.

I don't think there is anything that can be done to make something completely theft proof. That said, you can deter many opportunist thieves just by making your stuff one step harder to get into. Pull a fuse, disconnect/remove the battery, LOCK YOUR DOORS.

In the end your best bet is having insurance.

 

[golddigger14s]

GPS trackers.

 

[swampratt]

I park things around the item I wish to protect.
I was roofing a house and I left my trailer on sight but I removed one of the wheels and let the air out of the other one.
It was still there when I came back.

My trailer hitch on my car is bolted on so you must have big wrenches to unbolt it.
Friend of mine made a long steel bar reach from one wheel to the other wheel on the opposite side of the trailer and made it hook into the rim on one side and the other had a padlock on it.

This lock was inside of a 5" steel round tube and you could not get bolt cutters inside the tube and there was just enough room to get the lock unhooked.

Never lost his trailer.
If you tried to drag it you would have skid marks and you could not remove the rims as the steel bar system pulled them into the hubs.

 

[SlugSlinger]

The crime rate has been steadily declining for decades, the rate of reporting on crime has been steadily increasing for decades. Fear sells.

I don't think there is anything that can be done to make something completely theft proof. That said, you can deter many opportunist thieves just by making your stuff one step harder to get into. Pull a fuse, disconnect/remove the battery, LOCK YOUR DOORS.

In the end your best bet is having insurance.

This doesn't look like declining crime to me. Where are the numbers backing a decrease in crime?

 

[AtomicTango]

This doesn't look like declining crime to me. Where are the numbers backing a decrease in crime?

View attachment 309289

View attachment 309290

The numbers are right there on the chart in your screenshot. Look at the graph from 1990 to now, it would be even more stark if you zoomed out to the 70’s/80’s.

A one year spike does not tell us much of anything about an actual trend in crime rates. We all know 2020 was not a normal year.

 

[SlugSlinger]

If a trend line is drawn, it shows an increase in crime over the 10 years presented.

 

[TeamTomlyn]

Thieves aint great mechanics. Pull some fuses, have a battery disconnect switch hidden or fuel shut off.
Then there's the little GPS trackers that are pretty cheap for insurance.
Nothing is theft proof but you make them work for it; you got a lot less to worry about.

 

[sklfco]

Thieves are lazy and don’t like to be bitten by hungry possibly rabid animals.
Give your possessions the appearance of being difficult to steal or simply not worth the effort or risk of being caught. Motion activated lights by property entrance. Big toothy friends that are antisocial to new folks work wonders.
Geese, if you can put up with the mess.
Personally I would just have a tree of shame for them, pieces of leftover gnawed upon bones hanging from wire by the roadside.
Maby a big handpainted sign
“Organ donors needed, trespass for more information”