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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Another reason to not leave your gear in your car overnight
Michael Moriatis, Photographer
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Santa Barbara | CA | USA | Posted: 3:53 PM on 08.18.09 |
->> http://www.thedailysound.com/081809policeblotter
August 11, 2:40 p.m. — Police received a call from a manager at Santa Barbara Loan and Jewelry, 136 E. Victoria St., reporting two men attempting to pawn expensive camera equipment. The men appeared suspicious, as they were asking a far cheaper price than the equipment was worth.
A police official received a call from a friend at Samy’s Camera around the same time, reporting two men who had left a few minutes earlier after trying to pawn expensive camera equipment. Officers responded to the store on Victoria Street and spoke with the two men, identified as a 22-year-old and a 24-year-old.
The younger man said he was simply selling the items for his friend, who spoke no English. Authorities found a phone number on a memory card in the camera bag and called the owner of the equipment, who said his car had been broken into the night before.
He said items stolen in the break-in included a camera, several lenses, a battery, a camera bag and several miscellaneous items — essentially a rundown of the equipment that the two men were attempting to sell.
Authorities took both men into custody on $20,000 bail for possession of stolen property and burglary. Police also discovered a small amount of methamphetamine in the 24-year-old’s pocket and added a count of possession of a controlled substance. |
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Michael Myers, Photographer
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Miami Beach | FL | USA | Posted: 5:06 PM on 08.18.09 |
->> I read this, and (besides being thrilled that the thugs were caught) see that I really ought to work harder at having my name and phone number someplace on my gear.
Maybe I should have it engraved right onto the gear, so if anything is ever stolen, at least there will be a chance I might get it back. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 5:13 PM on 08.18.09 |
| ->> Yeah, most crooks are idiots. I had a camera and lens stolen from by car a couple of years ago and one of my cop buddies got a call from a contact at a local pawn shop. He said he had a pretty "high end" camera and lens he had just pawned (the word had been put out they were looking for my stuff). My buddy went over and sure enough it was my camera. An almost new Nikon D2H with a 70-200 2.8, worth what, about five grand back then? He gave the dude $25 for it. They never caught the guy (fake ID and such), and the reason the pawn shop guy even took it was because he had been alerted and thought it better to pay the dude the minimum amount of dough and get the camera back. Sometimes it helps to have the cops on your side also. If anyone comes up with a good way to get your info on or in the camera, let us know. |
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Kevin Leas, Photographer, Assistant
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 5:41 PM on 08.18.09 |
->> Chuck - what's the name of that pawn shop? I could use some affordable new gear!
In all seriousness, this should be a no-brainer. No one should ever, under any circumstances, leave gear in a car overnight. Or any other time, as long as it's avoidable. And as Michael said, this is also a lesson that it doesn't hurt to leave some sort of ID on your gear so that you can be contacted if necessary. Sure, you can probably prove ownership of a body or lens via the serial number, but it's a lot easier for authorities to just call a phone number or look up an address left on equipment to verify ownership. |
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Michael McNamara, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 5:44 PM on 08.18.09 |
| ->> Chuck, back when the Nikon F5 came out, a friend of mine took his to a trophy engraver and had his name and drivers license number engraved into the metal body behind the film door. |
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Jim Comeau, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 7:20 PM on 08.18.09 |
->> If you haven't done so already, open up the word editor or spreadsheet program of your choice and write down the serial numbers for ALL of your equipment. Save it and email it to yourself or something so it can be backed up in case your computer gets jacked too.
A serial number is easier to describe over the phone between authorities and pawn shops than "a black SLR Canon with slight brassing on the hot shoe and tripod mount." |
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Andrew Nelles, Photographer
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Chicago | Ill. | usa | Posted: 8:08 PM on 08.18.09 |
| ->> This thread motivated me to update my list of serials, which was quite out of date. |
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PJ Heller, Photographer
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Santa Barbara | CA | USA | Posted: 8:32 PM on 08.18.09 |
->> So how dumb are these guys? How about this:
A thief has made a bid for the title of Christchurch's dumbest crook after providing his name and contact details to a store clerk minutes before grabbing money from the cash register in full view of the store's eight surveillance cameras.
Full story at http://tinyurl.com/r2j2kt |
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Neil Turner, Photographer
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Bournemouth | UK | United Kingdom | Posted: 5:06 AM on 08.19.09 |
->> A few years ago there was a major criminal trial in the UK and twenty photographers all parked in the same multi-story car park for several days. One day a local "criminal" broke into seven cars and loaded long lenses, scanners, laptops and other gear into his van.
He then went and asked one of the photographers " casually" what certain items were worth. The photographer got suspicious and shot the thief's picture. He was seen by the owner of a bar less than half a mile from the car park trying to sell a Nikon 600 f4 lens for £100 (about $160) and was caught when a customer of the bar went to get the money from an ATM to buy the lens and actually called the police.
The gear was all recovered (much to the relief of a lot of uninsured photographers) and the police persuaded the thief to plead guilty so that the stolen property could be returned quickly.
The total value (new replacement) of the gear stolen was about £40,000 ($64,000) and the damage to the vehicles was another £6000.
Neil |
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Manuello Paganelli, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 11:56 AM on 08.20.09 |
->> Actually the thread should read.. reason not to leave your gear period.
It only takes a few minutes for someone to steal all your gear. Be careful specially if you are traveling out of town. A rental car is a red flag to any pro robbers. Also you can be at a point that your mind is not thinking well, not enough sleep and too many things to do. But it can happen two blocks away from home too.
Around 1995 I flew to the west coast to to a few photo gigs from NO Virginia. We landed in San Francisco. Spent three or four days doing a few shoots for three magazines then the following day we drove to Los Angeles for two more photo shoots for another magazine. WE figured it would be more fun driving than flying and getting to know and maybe shoot a few things along the west coast just like we all prefer to do. When we made it to LA we decided to stop by Samys to get more film and Polaroids.
WE were pretty hungry and tired so we stop at a nice restaurant for lunch in a "safe" area a few blocks away from Samys when they were on La Brea. We left the car in the parking lot in the back of the restaurant and walked inside, ordered and had our lunch.
All this time neither my assistant or me thought for a second that around 40k of my gear (two Leicas, three Hasselblads, Canon, lots of Dyna lites,portable strobes, a bunch of lenses, and so many other stuff) was in the trunk of this rental car. But most important all the film that I had shot, over 120 including 70 on my Black Cowboys Doc, was left in the trunk too.
I had done a few stupid things in the business but for an experienced traveler like myself who should had known much better that one tops it all. Obviously that day our brains were not where to be found.
We made it to Samys. At that time I don't think there were any security or folks working at the parking lot.
Inside Samys I ran into a friend, Jim Wright who is now a well known top photographer but at the time he was an assistant, and we chatted for a while. We talked about cameras and I said something regarding my gear. WE went to my car so he could see myLeicas or Hassy. When we got to the back of the car jim said to me, "looks as if someone was fooling with your trunk.." It was then that my heart sank and I was petrified.
The trunk was as empty as Main Street at 4am.
All my gear, film, luggage was taken. I drove to a police station and gave them all my serial#s, ALWAYS CARRIED THEM WITH YOU SPECIALLY WHEN TRAVELING, and described all my gear. Too many to mention and that took plenty of time. Had to buy clotles for me and my assistant and I had to rent new gear from Samys to finish my job in LA.
The main rental person at Samys knew my friend Jim Wright and he felt so bad for what happened to me that he didn't charge me a dime for any of my rentals at all.ONce done in LA I went back to Samys, returned their lights and hasselblads etc and spend over 20k buying new gear to take it to SF to redo the portraits but all my priceless work on the BC series was lost. While I was still in CAlifornia got a couple of calls from the cops and they found a couple of bodies which were the least expensive. Canon stuff but nothing else was ever found and we still dont know when and where the heist took place.
Back in DC dealing with the insurance company was another major headaches. And after a couple months, since it was such a huge lost and they wondered if it was an inside job, I got the money from the insurance company. At the end I wanted to place the insurance controller's face in my place and toss darts at it.
So folks when you travel at least have your main camera bag with you. Take precautions. Film is not a problem now for most of you. I still shoot my black and white film. Butdont leave your gear unless you can see it. Even if you stop at a fast food place make sure that your vehicle is on your view.
I even leave my TV, a couple lights on at hotel rooms before going out for dinner. Unless the hotel is too fancy and all electricity shuts off automatically the moment you walk out of the room with your card controlled environment. As I walk out, depending the hotel, I even yell back at the empty room "OK guys see you soon and enjoy the movie."
I used to leave those "do not disturbs signs" on my way out too. I stop doing that. Why let someone else know that somebody is staying in there. They are a few other things that I do but keep those to myself.
That terrible experience had stayed with me all this time. Is the worse feeling for any photographer specially loosing over 120 rolls of shot film.
BE alert at all time. I lean it the worse way.
More 2 Come
Manu
www.ManuelloPaganelli.com |
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