[ale] OT: To catch a thief

[David Tomaschik]

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 2:45 PM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
> On 09/05/2012 04:40 PM, Robert L. Harris wrote:
>>
>>
>>   I'm betting we have some kids in the neighborhood that like to go down the
>> street at 3AM and open any car doors that are unlocked and steal anything not
>> nailed down they can pawn.  It's happened twice,  the second time snagging the
>> radio out of my softtop jeep.  i want to catch them and either hand them to the
>> cops who can't catch them currently.
>>
>>   I'm annoyed enough at this point I'm willing to put a $50 radio in the jeep
>> that looks pretty enough (flashing lights?) to get their attention but I need a
>> way to track it.  I would love to find some form of wifi transmitter or such I
>> can put inside the case of the radio that I can pick up with an android wifi
>> tracker or something along those lines.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>
> Ok - thoughts:
> * Isn't this what stores use RFID for?  Put one inside.

RFID has an effective range of inches.  Not something you can really
track down over a neighborhood.  (Yes, there are exceptions, but
generally, RFID is VERY short range.)

> * Buy a radio with a faceplate that you can remove.
> * Properly secure your vehicle. I've never looked at jeeps closely - the doors
> don't lock?
> * Garage the vehicle. Lock the garage.
> * Don't they make loud car alarms with vibration or motion sensors for convertibles?
> * Etch the radio.  Take a photo of the etch and s/n for the police to show to
> pawn shops.
> * exploding ink pack!
>
>
> Have you been checking local pawn shops?  I doubt these kids are installing
> stolen radios into their own vehicles. They are selling them at school, a pawn
> shop, craigslist or ebay.

Depending on scale & quantity of thefts, the police may already be
checking pawn shops.  Ebay is harder for police to check, so it seems
more likely there.

> Where I used to work, we had a very large number of military-type hardened
> laptops. Some would disappear from time to time, but most would show up in pawn
> shops.  A new laser printer disappeared from work the first weekend we had it.
> This was back when laser printers were luxuries. It was in the local pawn shop a
> few days later and returned.
>
> As you can see - my thoughts aren't anything you haven't considered already.




-- 
David Tomaschik
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http://systemoverlord.com
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