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Preventing equipment theft

This happened to me a few weeks ago...

I live in student housing near Atlanta, so I have three roommates and we are sharing a small-ish apartment. About three weeks ago I came back from a visit to NC to find some of my PS2 games stolen. My games binder was "re-arranged" to look like nothing had happened, etc. I can at least laugh at the thief for making st0opid choices of games to steal (Tony Hawk 1 when 2 is right next to it?!? And who takes one disc out of a 2-disc game?) So, I did the usual reporting to police, school thing, but things kept getting messed with (furniture turned upside-down, belongings overturned), so after a lot of stress and BS I finally got moved into a different apartment with a different set of roommates. This new group seems to be a little more responsible than the others (two of the roommates are in their late 20s), but I am still uneasy about my equipment and my belongings.

I have put luggage locks on the bags that hold my CDJs and my mixer. I am not going to set up the equipment unless I am going to do a mix/practice, then the gear gets put back immediately. My CD binders are also locked up in a large duffel bag, and I took the game binder back to NC, bringing only a small CD wallet of games back (I realized that I don't need lots of games with me). Also, I bought a chest/footlocker to store my consoles, headphones, etc. Only burned CDs and CDRs are not locked up somehow.

I'm posting this thread as a warning to any other DJs that have roommates: Lock your stuff up now or pay for it later! Don't make the mistake that I did by leaving things out for someone to snatch while I'm not around...

Is there anything else I can do to keep my equipment safe? Are there any lockable flight cases that you guys can recommend? Thanks in advance.

Most flight cases are lockable, so maybe you can buy a large coffin case, and lock up your decks and mixer in there. It's pretty large, so its very heavy and difficult to steal (dont get one with wheels!).

Either that, or you can drill some holes in the chassis/body of your equipments, and get those thin wire locks (like they use to lock notebook computers) and lock your equipment to your table.

but a shotgun, blow that mother ******s hands off

quote:

Originally posted by leph555 but a shotgun, blow that mother ******s hands off

I was thinking something along the lines of 'repairing' the thief's PC. I swore he told me that his machine was running slow or something, so I can do a big favor for him and let him start over! He's going to be so thankful that all of those pesky files and programs are off his machine. I mean, if I was a thief I wouldn't expect my target to turn around and help me out, but that's just the kind of guy I am

A:/delpart FTW

If you have a computer as part of your setup put password(s) on it, activated at startup and by screensaver. Yes passwords can be overcome by the computer-smart thief but it will slow them down (especially a laptop which is harder to dismantle so as to bypass password). And if they know your gear has a password they might decide to not bother taking it. Also it prevents people from messing with your computer even if they don't take it.

Another idea is the "call-home" anti-theft software, helps recover stolen computers.

Here is an idea, buy a door lock, lock your shit in your room. Nobody is going to break your door down. If they do, I hope you have your receipts.

Last year when I had roommates there was a lock on my door, but I never had to use it because my roommates were pretty cool. They didn't go out much because one was an engineer major and the other was a World of Warcraft addict. They didn't bring too many people over and we never had any parties so I didn't worry.

Maybe renter's insurance covers theft?

for studio equipment you can ge those little laptop lock type things, lock everything to your untakeapartable desk or bed

quote:

Originally posted by epdarks Here is an idea, buy a door lock, lock your shit in your room. Nobody is going to break your door down. If they do, I hope you have your receipts.

I would love to do this, but the student housing company won't allow locks on personal bedrooms, and I am sharing a room with one other guy. If I could I would, but I can't

I'm looking into renter's insurance. Also, I don't have much that I can tie the equipment down to besides my bed, so I'll have to figure out something there (hopefully without doing too much hole drilling).

tvmann: Thanks for the tips, but I have CDJs and a Numark mixer as my setup (although adding some Tech 12s might happen in the distant-future.) The Numark mixer could have a computer lock ran through it (the rack holes on the side are perfect for this), which leaves the CDJ bag to secure. As it is right now someone would have to steal the entire case, then cut the lock off at a separate time.

Thanks for all of the tips! It seems like the best plan for right now is to look into getting a locking coffin or another footlocker to hold my equipment, and to get renter's insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux Last year when I had roommates there was a lock on my door, but I never had to use it because my roommates were pretty cool. They didn't go out much because one was an engineer major and the other was a World of Warcraft addict. They didn't bring too many people over and we never had any parties so I didn't worry. Maybe renter's insurance covers theft?

In here (Netherlands) you can only claim insurance money if there is physical proof of breaking and entering. A window needs to be smashed, or a lock picked etc...

quote:

Originally posted by tvmann If you have a computer as part of your setup put password(s) on it, activated at startup and by screensaver. Yes passwords can be overcome by the computer-smart thief but it will slow them down (especially a laptop which is harder to dismantle so as to bypass password). And if they know your gear has a password they might decide to not bother taking it. Also it prevents people from messing with your computer even if they don't take it. Another idea is the "call-home" anti-theft software, helps recover stolen computers.

Bios password(you can have it so you have to type it in before startup or just to change bios settingss) + taking that little plastic(that resets bios) thing in a hidden spot is gonna confuse anyone who doesn't have a pretty good understanding of computers.

quote:

Originally posted by Darkarbiter Bios password(you can have it so you have to type it in before startup or just to change bios settingss) + taking that little plastic(that resets bios) thing in a hidden spot is gonna confuse anyone who doesn't have a pretty good understanding of computers.

This is especially useful on laptops without floppy drives to boot from. Even an experienced computer user will probably not have a BIOS password crack on hand, and not on a CD. Someone can still get in by booting into a CD with the brute force program, but thats going to take time (and hopefully the thief will think its not worth it!)

Quick tip: Write down the serial numbers for the equipment that you own. Keep a hard and a soft copy, so that you have a bit of a chance of finding your stolen equipment if it shows up at a pawn shop, etc.

as mentioned above, get another lock on your room and lock it up...I would also go buy one of those small security cams and mount it in a place so it "sees" the whole room. U can set them up so u can watch the vids remotely. That way u know exactly who is stealing your shit and u can kick their ass when u get back then have them arrested.

quote:

Originally posted by Dojomaster26 This is especially useful on laptops without floppy drives to boot from. Even an experienced computer user will probably not have a BIOS password crack on hand, and not on a CD. Someone can still get in by booting into a CD with the brute force program, but thats going to take time (and hopefully the thief will think its not worth it!) Quick tip: Write down the serial numbers for the equipment that you own. Keep a hard and a soft copy, so that you have a bit of a chance of finding your stolen equipment if it shows up at a pawn shop, etc.

Well the point is you have to put in the password before booting from anything. So even a cd shouldn't work (in theory)

If I was in your shoes I'd get a coffin that held your decks and mixer. I'd add padlocks to the coffin. Then I'd get a heavy wooden table, and drive screws through the coffin into the table. Then get a safe to store your CDs in. You might also consider a wireless camera to ensure next time it happens you'll have enough evidence to ensure prosecution. They're quite cheap these days.

College kids can be quite shady... You might consider moving off campus so you can get away from both desperate starving students as well as oppressive campus-nazis.

I think your campus's policy of no locks on your door is downright stupid. This puts students at increased risk of both property theft and violent crime.

Do they have a policy against intrusion alarms? You might also consider rigging your door to trip a loud and annoying siren should it be opened when you don't feel people should be entering your room.

Energizing the area with high voltage would also be a good solution, but likely violates both campus policy and various laws. Removing the body of an electrocuted thief might also be a real nasty chore, although likely satisfying all the same...

quote:

Originally posted by Darkarbiter Well the point is you have to put in the password before booting from anything. So even a cd shouldn't work (in theory)

This actually happened today at work. One of the other students thought it would be funny to set a CMOS password before the machine booted. The rest of IT didn't know what to do, since taking the CMOS battery out and putting it back didn't reset the CMOS. My boss didn't know what jumper to mess with either since the motherboard wasn't labelled well. We spent a few minutes looking up the motherboard specs online and found the jumper that had to be moved for the CMOS to reset...

I doubt that a thief would take that much time to get around a password, and he/she would have to have some IT experience to figure it out. Sounds like a good security idea to me

I wonder if that kid is going to "hack" any more of the machines...

Meridian: If I had the money I would get a coffin, not just for the security, but also to be able to move my gear a little earlier. Unfortunately my dorm room doesn't have enough room to add tables. And yes, the housing policies are retarded. Again, I would love to move out, but money is an issue

quote:

Originally posted by tvmann especially a laptop which is harder to dismantle so as to bypass password

did you know lots of laptops will have their cmos reset if you take the battery out for long enough?

i used to do it at work when i couldn't be bothered taking them apart. sure... the customer had to wait an extra ~80 hours...

Bear traps have worked miracles for me.

It's all about insurance.

Setting up your gear every time you want to have a mix is just a complete pain in the arse, you'll end up never mixing at home again. Plus if each CDJ's in a massive stucco case they're gonna be a pain in the arse to lug around... and the padded fabric cases aren't going to stop anyone from stealing them (in fact probably make it a bit easier!)

I appreciate the value of looking after your belongings, but there's a point where it causes you more hassle than it's worth.

Make sure it's all insured then if it gets nicked, you claim. Yeah there'll be an excess but that's pretty low for student room insurance. You're then also covered if the house burns down.

I don't know what your living arrangements are but can you not just get some sort of high security lock on your bedroom door or something. Might cost a bit more, but i'd rather do that than mess about unpacking everything and packing it up again when i wanted to mix.

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox It's all about insurance. Setting up your gear every time you want to have a mix is just a complete pain in the arse, you'll end up never mixing at home again. Plus if each CDJ's in a massive stucco case they're gonna be a pain in the arse to lug around... and the padded fabric cases aren't going to stop anyone from stealing them (in fact probably make it a bit easier!)

I was going to bring my gear to school with me, and then I thought the same thing. There is no way you can fully protect it. They can just walk out with the locked case(s) and mess with it later, and in my opinion insurance isn't worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by Dojomaster26 This actually happened today at work. One of the other students thought it would be funny to set a CMOS password before the machine booted. The rest of IT didn't know what to do, since taking the CMOS battery out and putting it back didn't reset the CMOS. My boss didn't know what jumper to mess with either since the motherboard wasn't labelled well. We spent a few minutes looking up the motherboard specs online and found the jumper that had to be moved for the CMOS to reset... I doubt that a thief would take that much time to get around a password, and he/she would have to have some IT experience to figure it out. Sounds like a good security idea to me I wonder if that kid is going to "hack" any more of the machines... Meridian: If I had the money I would get a coffin, not just for the security, but also to be able to move my gear a little earlier. Unfortunately my dorm room doesn't have enough room to add tables. And yes, the housing policies are retarded. Again, I would love to move out, but money is an issue

This is why you set a password to the bios settings (before startup just isn't really necassary in most cases) so that people can't do shit like that. They also can't load a virus off a floppy if the boot priorities don't have floppy on them (I'd go HDD, CD so then you only load off cd IF the hdd boot fails)

If you really wanna shit scare someone just set the memory to the wrong frequency or something. Same solution but you get annoying beeps and no display when you start up the computer and stuff so you dunno wtf is going on. I guess you could do that to your computer if your going away for a while... your "friend" will just think your computer is broken instead of perhaps giving it to an IT professional. Either way they probably cbf.

I remember a few years ago I did a small high school dance, had about $4000 worth of equiptment sitting in the hallway waiting to get loaded into my vehicle. I go to get it in the 5 min I was gone 3 guys came in and stole the whole load, pissed me off so bad there was security camears in the hallway that caught the whole thing on tape. The tape was too distorted to make out anybody. Fortunately the school reimbursed me for my losses, insurance would have anyways.

So I suggest you get your equpiptment insured and documented, record the serial numbers on everything and if it gets stolen the police will have something to go on for the items. Take your CD's and make copies of all of them and if you have vinyls keep those locked up when not in use. Take pictures or even beter a video tape of all your equiptment, also make sure to note the price you bought everything for and keep receipts on everything.

One more thing if you do happen to get ripped off, and it will be a considerable amout to repalce everything and all other means have failed you. I don't care what they "say" your school is liable for everything you have on thier property. You can make the school replace all your equpitment or give some sort of compensation that you agree too such as reduced tuition. If it ends up there these situations will easily be ruled in your favor if taken to court.

Please note this is only advice and should be taken as such, I am not an expert at law and do not claim to be. I have just taken a few business law classes and you do have certin rights when it comes to these matters. These laws also vary from state to state so research local city, county, and state laws before you go after anyone.

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