break ins

[Ron Frazier]

I know we all have problems with stealing .  In my music store we have in the 20 years that we have had a store fount  we have been broken in night 13 times!  The first time they got 28 insterments.  We got all those back. Thank you Lord!  We are in a small town in Oregon and the cops think they are to busy to even come out to talk to us so lately we don't report it as they wont do any thing about. The last time was 19 pc.  I believe it all goes for drugs.

Each time we do more things so they cant get in and it is better.

They steal all the insterments for a band once.

One place in the bible it says the thieves come in the day time and return at night and steal.

I know they are customers or at least lookers.

I think a big bad dog might work

Any ideas?

Ron

[Mike Kolb]

Where are you at in Oregon, Ron? 

[David Collins]

Motion lights, HD camera system (they've come down a lot in price in recent years), upgrade the alarm if it doesn't have flashers and deafening sirens, and make sure it's set for instant direct police contact upon being triggered. After that, insurance, and perhaps some consultation on improving deterrents via improved entry point security. If that doesn't lower the occurrence of break-ins, the best option may be relocation.

Sorry about your misfortunes, but a lot of these security technologies have gotten much more advanced while also coming down in price. Today you should be able to have an alarm go off on your smart phone as soon as someone enters, and instantly view your store cameras on your phone while the alarms and lights are going off and the police are being automatically dialed.

[Hesh Breakstone]

No offense intended but it probably is not going to help to put the fact on the Internet that your place is easy to break into, has been done many times, and that you don't even call the police.

Perhaps this thread should be deleted???

[Mike Kolb]

Hesh, I'd like to think that the folks who participate here are not going to be participating in burglarizing Ron's store.  

As far as deleting the thread, that should be solely Ron's decision. 

[Mike Kolb]

I've never seen a need to mention this here before, but I've spent many years in law enforcement, so this advice comes with a bit of experience.  

Ron, if you don't believe you're getting a fair shake from the local police regarding the investigation of these crimes... take it up a notch.  Share your thoughts with the police chief (or sheriff, as appropriate) and tell him/her you believed you're being short-changed.  It's the "squeaky wheel" theory.... and it works.

Secondly, don't hesitate to report each and every incident... without fail. When you do, make sure you've got serial numbers and pictures of the instruments. Insist they take the information and document it in the report, and yes... you want a copy of the finished report... each and every time.

Finally, it's a two-way street. If law enforcement sees that you're taking more proactive steps in protecting your property (refer to David's comment, above) then they'll be more inclined to help you as much as they can.

However, if they pick-up on your "oh-what's-the-use" attitude, they'll probably wonder why they should care as well.  It's just human nature and they're humans, too.  

Best of luck in getting a handle on resolving this. Now go take a hundred photographs and keep them handy!

[Ron Frazier]

I wont say what town. The first brake in they kicked in the the back steel doors so the doors are barred inside with a steal pipe. My daughter lives in a apartment in the store. The glass steal door in frunt  is barred. I live about 5 miles away. She disturbed them so they never cleaned us out.   At 1:30 PM she called the sheriff office and their response was we have no one to send to you.  They also stold my 357 gun. The cash drawer was just a drawer in the counter and no one but a customer would know where it was. A week later on a sunday when we were not open but we answered the phone and a town 40 miles away called and said did we loose 28 insterments and if so they had recover them and they said that our shereffs office had never listed we had a break in so the next Monday morning we got a call from our shreffs office and informed us they had found our stuff!! I also found out later they had a shreff living 1/4 mile from our store.  We have cameras recording devices all over.  I just got a smart phone the last month. I think I am going to close the store and move my repair business home.  I am 80 years old and tired!

ron 

[RETROROD]

Hey Ron, sorry about this misfortune. Not sure of the nature of your 'shop', but I would be leary of bringing it to your home, with this type of crime and clientele. Just one of my thoughts.

The other thought is, that cops are being 'neutered' by the political machine/media. They are almost scared of re-acting to a crime now days, in fear of back-lash. Enter.....international/federal cops. Will be worse....I can only imagine!

If I have gone too far with my opinion, let me know. I will shut-up.

You may consider a shotgun to replace the 357!

Good luck to you!

[Hesh Breakstone]

Mike the regulars on FRETS are not my concern, it's the other 7.125 billion people who can read this thread that concern me....

Agreed on your second comment.

[John]

When I had a store front, I covered the windows with conduit and 1" x2"s. We painted them black and they looked just like metal bars. I think the total cost was under fifty dollars. In the ten years I was at that location we were never broken into. 

When I opened up I didn't have the money for real bars and when I did the fake ones were working fine.

[Ron Frazier]

We have all windows covered with hog wire that is 6 inches square and the wire is 1/8.  It stopped the window breaking

Ron

[Kerry Krishna]

 John is a friend of mine when I was living in his town,and I stole his idea about the wooden dowels painted black on a few different occasions. In case anyone is wondering, John Rocks!

Love ya Buddy!