Flying Field Security

[Cuban8]

Speaking to a friend on the phone recently, he said that their field had been visited by thieves and they'd lost their ride on mower and other kit. Usual precautions were in place e.g locks and stengthened doors etc on the place where the kit was stored but these was easily defeated and the gear whisked away, probably on a low loader trailer if the tracks left behind were anything to go by. The main field gate was untouched and access looked to be have been gained from through the field boundary.

I know we've discussed this before but I thought it'd be useful to get some ideas about security - maybe some new ways have come about to stop the thieves or at least make things as difficult or inconvenient as possible. Worth a discussion I think.

I did mention (half in jest) that painting their replacement mower bright pink might act as a deterrent to the light fingered looking for a quick flip..............

[extra slim]

stick an apple air tag on the ride on. About £30, somewhere not obvious. keep an eye on the well known auction sites and social media sites in the ensuing weeks. Ours was taken a good few years ago, and turned up on the auction site a few days late a few miles from our field. Successfully recovered.

[Cuban8]

Wan't aware of those devices for iphones and android - certainly worth looking into.............thinking about some novel solutions to prevent the stuff from being nicked in the first place. I was imagining how to make the gear unattractive and difficult to flip on Ebay etc.

[Ron Gray]

Apple Air Tags make their presence known to anyone with an iPhone or Android both by a ‘ping’ on your phone and with an audible warning too! On a mower it would be relatively quick to locate and remove it.

[Cuban8]

1 minute ago, Ron Gray said:

Apple Air Tags make their presence known to anyone with an iPhone or Android both by a ‘ping’ on your phone and with an audible warning too! On a mower it would be relatively quick to locate and remove it.

Yes, there is a vid on YT that shows how to remove the small internal speaker.

[Ron Gray]

But you cannot prevent any iPhone or Android phone from being notified of the nearby presence of one.

[RottenRow]

When our club mower and trailer were stolen about 3 years ago we were advised that the criminals would know that a replacement would be bought and would at some point come back for that too.

 

The suggestion was to use an alternative storage location.

 

We were also told, by the mower supplier, that many stolen ones never resurface as they end up in Eastern Europe.

 

Brian.

[Ron Gray]

Our mowing equipment is stored in a 40' shipping container with 'hi security' padlocks. A determined thief would get past them but then they would probably be more interested in the full size hangar next to it! We are also going to instal a solar powered camera with SIM card which will warn of any movement around the area.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

There are various synthetic DNA solutions (in both senses of the word) such as Smartwater and SelectaDNA which may act as a deterrent.  Apparently it’s almost impossible to remove all traces of these fluids. 
 

Police advice to us was not to have too much in the way of overt security - the ne’er do wells (not the exact words Mr Plod used!) simply see this as a sign that there’s something worth stealing!

[Robert Cracknell]

Thieves don't like to be inconvenienced. I would leave a jack and a wheelbrace with the mower and take one of the wheels off and take it home when finished with. A pain, I know, but thieves would think twice if they had to buy a wheel and tire just to make the thing saleable.!

A bit like the good old days when you removed the car radio when you left it parked.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Our mowers are also in a big container, 2 locks the 2 locks are a complete waste of time, but tells us that someone has tried to get in, on the inside there are 2 nice big 12mm draw bolts on the left door, and on the doors a brilliant system that will baffle any thieves.

 The right has door has a 16mm threaded bolt that blocks it against the left door, 4 soldered nuts keep it in place and has a male Allen key welded on the end, and we use a long hand crank of 8mm steel 80cm long that we thread through the 9mm hole, with the female Allen key soldered on the end,  24 turns to the left to open.

The left-hand door has a similar system, with an old fashion car starting handle crank, a bit longer than the other one, both don't have any guides so it is fiddly even if you know what you are doing, and it's 35 turns.

 

 You have to crank both to open a door, it does work, as within the first month the lip on the right door was slightly bent where someone had tried to open it.

[kevin b]

We are very fortunate due to our location.

We have 24hour armed guards (some of them bring their pets) at our field.

We often chat with them and find them very pleasant (and helpful) when we have to go recover the odd erant model.

They sometimes come and chat with us when they are bored (or their pets need excercising).

The best bit is that it is all paid for by the government.  😁

 

The only downside of the location is that our farmer landlord also "excercises" his sheep in the field, which has a deterimental effect on the growth rate of the grass. Particularly on the strip, which does need cutting very regularly (and also the FOD problem).

[Robin Colbourne]

The best deterent is to make your mower one that no one will want to steal.   Cuban8's suggestion of painting it pink or any other very distinctive colours will make it difficult to sell on Ebay/Facebook Marketplace/Gumtree.  Another idea to consider, is to have an older mower that looks really, really rough, but in good working order.  First impressions are what matter to thieves.

Any form of tracker will only show where it is. 

Removing the steering wheel, or a couple of the road wheels will certainly make life a lot more difficult too.

[David Davis 2]

We have a club mower which stays in the chairman's private garage. When we need to cut the grass an email is sent out asking for volunteers to cut the grass with their own mowers. Usually 4-6 members turn up and with the club's mower as well, the job gets done in less than two hours. Everybody leaves with full petrol tanks.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

5 minutes ago, David Davis 2 said:

We have a club mower which stays in the chairman's private garage.

I did that for 2 years, a real headache, car, trailer, round 52klm trip, take it off the trailer, clean it up to secure the trailer in the garden, and the stink of the mower in the garage, No, thanks.

 

And we have two of them !.

[EvilC57]

It amuses me that people are openly discussing the details of their security arrangements on a public forum. Our club has more than sufficient means of keeping the mowers safe, but I’m not going to give any details of what they are!

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

7 minutes ago, EvilC57 said:

It amuses me that people are openly discussing the details of their security arrangements on a public forum. Our club has more than sufficient means of keeping the mowers safe, but I’m not going to give any details of what they are!

Are you forgetting this a forum for helping modellers and clubs.

 

 Ps, I haven't told you where we hide / keep our container cranks.😇

[toto]

I'm with painting it pink. ..... and for a bit extra discouragement ....... smear it with cow dung.

[Ron Gray]

33 minutes ago, EvilC57 said:

It amuses me that people are openly discussing the details of their security arrangements on a public forum. Our club has more than sufficient means of keeping the mowers safe, but I’m not going to give any details of what they are!

Of what benefit do you think any information published here will be to a potential thief?

[EvilC57]

1 hour ago, Ron Gray said:

Of what benefit do you think any information published here will be to a potential thief?

Put it this way. If I were to describe the details of our security arrangements online, and members of our club committee or executive were to read it and recognise it, I’m sure they would not be amused.

Edited May 25 by EvilC57

[Ron Gray]

With the exception of Paul, with his clever security system, Al, others have said is that their security is by means of padlocks, security cameras, wheels off. All of these are what your average thief would expect to find so where’s the issue? In fact it could serve as a deterrent if I also added that our site has security guard dogs on the loose plus a series of lasers that project beams around our container which, if broken, automatically set off the alarm in the nearby guard hut, local police station and cause the close proximity electric fence voltage to be increased to 1000v. The high level floodlights are also triggered together with the anti vandal spray equipment that runs for 10 minutes creating a surrounding cloud of really smelly gas that, when in contact with human skin or body heat, attaches itself and forms a layer that needs at least 10 washes to remove, in fact to reload the system we have to wear hazmat suits to protect us. The system is so clever that it is not triggered by the aforementioned guard dogs Dick and Dom.

[Shaun Walsh]

1 hour ago, Ron Gray said:

With the exception of Paul, with his clever security system, Al, others have said is that their security is by means of padlocks, security cameras, wheels off. All of these are what your average thief would expect to find so where’s the issue? In fact it could serve as a deterrent if I also added that our site has security guard dogs on the loose plus a series of lasers that project beams around our container which, if broken, automatically set off the alarm in the nearby guard hut, local police station and cause the close proximity electric fence voltage to be increased to 1000v. The high level floodlights are also triggered together with the anti vandal spray equipment that runs for 10 minutes creating a surrounding cloud of really smelly gas that, when in contact with human skin or body heat, attaches itself and forms a layer that needs at least 10 washes to remove, in fact to reload the system we have to wear hazmat suits to protect us. The system is so clever that it is not triggered by the aforementioned guard dogs Dick and Dom.

I hate to ask this Ron, but where do you fly? Don't tell me if you would have to shoot me afterwards!

[Ron Gray]

Somewhere on the Norfolk / Suffolk border!

[Cuban8]

18 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Our mowers are also in a big container, 2 locks the 2 locks are a complete waste of time, but tells us that someone has tried to get in, on the inside there are 2 nice big 12mm draw bolts on the left door, and on the doors a brilliant system that will baffle any thieves.

 The right has door has a 16mm threaded bolt that blocks it against the left door, 4 soldered nuts keep it in place and has a male Allen key welded on the end, and we use a long hand crank of 8mm steel 80cm long that we thread through the 9mm hole, with the female Allen key soldered on the end,  24 turns to the left to open.

The left-hand door has a similar system, with an old fashion car starting handle crank, a bit longer than the other one, both don't have any guides so it is fiddly even if you know what you are doing, and it's 35 turns.

 

 You have to crank both to open a door, it does work, as within the first month the lip on the right door was slightly bent where someone had tried to open it.

This is just the sort of idea that I was fishing for. Something that gets away from the usual chains and padlocks etc.  Such a method as described needs a suitable building or container to be effective but given a bit of ingenuity could be altered to work in most situations.

I guess the only hope is to slow down access to the 'goodies' and hope thieves move on to somewhere easier and at less risk of them being disturbed.

Tracking devices are fine but a bit too late after the event - what about remote alarm systems - how do farmers secure their property that's spread over a wide area of their property?

 

 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

1 hour ago, Cuban8 said:

how do farmers secure their property that's spread over a wide area of their property?

They don't, watch all the thieving that goes on, from a chainsaw to 20 cows, on Clarksons farm Kaleb arrived with a GPS on the tractor, and he took it straight off, he said that it wouldn't last 2 weeks without it being stolen.

 

 

Ps, Ron, it's the President's Idea,( not mine ) he is a Gendarme and on the FFAM board, he asked around and that is what we installed.