Stolen RED in Vegas, #735

[Leaf Baimbridge]

A good place to start is leaving your stuff in the trunk of your car. If thieves don't see something in the front or back seat it's more than likely they will pass your vehicle for a more appealing target. Smash and grab thieves aren't looking to spend more than a few seconds to get whatever they can and leave. Anything that may impede them will be left behind. There are plenty of ways you can secure your equipment inside a vehicle that will deter thievery. If you're going to be gone for a while and you want to leave it in the front of the car, keep all of your stuff in secure boxes with locks. Chain (or steal braided cable) those items together with locks and secure it to something inside the vehicle (steering wheel, seat tracks, door handles, etc). Taking an extra five minutes to secure your stuff can save you lots of heartache. It doesn't sound as if thieves are targeting the camera's specifically. Another thing. Sticking a GPS in the camera and expecting the cops to go chasing after your equipment when it gets stolen is just plain irresponsible. It's your equipment and ultimately your responsibility to take whatever measures necessary in order to keep it from getting stolen in the first place. There seems to be a "Just put a GPS chip in there and let them steal it, then we'll get them" attitude amongst a few of you. There are going to be scenarios where no matter how secure your equipment is, it's going to get stolen. In such cases, I would agree that being able to track it for police is a good idea. But I think a lot of people will get a very cavalier attitude about the security of their equipment if it's equipped with GPS.

 

[Erik Bien]

I know someone who uses Zoombaks; the car version in the grip vehicle and the pet version tucked inside the camera case. They can be set up to send an SMS message anytime they leave a designated "home range" and can be tracked in any web browser. Not a perfect solution by any means, but fairly inexpensive.

 

[Chris Newman]

Since that's the case, it's theoretically possible that you could create firmware updates that have the id's of stolen cameras embedded and abort the update process if a stolen camera is updated. Bring up a message on the screen saying as much. Sound possible?

That is a great idea. But there should also be a public list of the registered stolen cameras that buyers can check to avoid getting hit with this unexpectedly.

I'd be curious to hear what someone at RED thinks about this.

 

[Noah Kadner]

Location Sound publishes a regular newsletter with serial numbers of all gear that's missing from their rental inventory. It's a good idea. Perhaps a stolen gear forum?

Noah

 

[Shawn Booth]

What else can you do really?

Not leave your/anyone's camera in a car. Not leave camera gear unsecured. Camera trucks aren't safe unless in a lot protected by security (ala Galpin in LA).

 

[Ketch Rossi]

My Red was stolen this afternoon from my car - windows smashed. Also taken was an O'Connor 2575 head and a set of 4 IDX batteries with charger.
The car was parked at my hotel while I was at CES for a bit. I figured it would be ok for a bit in the middle of the day, under a blanket / out of sight, plus with security there (plus I'm having knee problems and didn't want to lug it all up and down to the third floor in several trips each time, so don't bother giving me shit).
But apparently the security guard didn't want to chase the guys he saw stealing it, as they then climbed over a wall; nor did he feel like calling the police. However, he did take a picture of my car and give it to the front desk manager - who later told me "Why don't you walk down to the police station and tell them about it". Best Western, yay.
Well, please keep your eyes open for that serial number in the future!

Tom Funk
tom@highdefmovies.com

I swear it wasn't ME!!

Bad jokes aside, sorry about your RED ONE and gear getting stolen.

Please make sure to PM me all the info and details of your stolen property including Serial #'s scratches and any particulars that could lead me to Identify your stolen property, here in Vegas I always run across the same people when a shooting any RED projects.

Ciao

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

is this the fourth in about a month?

lo-jack... what could be better than to be able to find the guy and know he is around the corner before you jump out in front of him with 20 of your closest gym buddies? but seriously... they won't damage it cause they want to sell it, so you'd be protected

 

[Lars Wikstrom]

Just a side not to all this theft. I got really lucky and learned from my dumb luck. I live in a small town almost no theft at all. One night we had a crime spree with windows smashed out of cars and many things stolen from cars and the trunks.

As luck would have it my 2001 Ford Focus had a failing trunk latch so you had to open it with a key and could no longer pop it from inside the car. I had left my camera gear and lights in the trunk but it was untouched because they could not get to it. They smashed my window in because they saw my old ipod that i didn't use any more since I got the iPhone.

When I bought my 2008 focus I had the dealer disable the trunk latch so you need a key to open it. More more step would be thief's have to deal with to get to my gear in case I leave it in the trunk by mistake.

-Lars

 

[ericyoung]

Good tip Lars!

 

[Matthew Rogers]

The only problem with the latch trick is most cars have access to the truck through the back seat now. Of course, if they are in a hurry, then they won't take the time to put the back seat down. You could also pack your biggest cases back there so they can't slip them through the back seat.

Matthew

 

[Dominik Muench]

I know someone who uses Zoombaks;

those are wicked, thanks for the link

damn, i just saw they only work in the US :bye2:

 

[Brock S.]

Should adopt the NRA attitude of...

You can pry the RED from my cold dead hands..

LOL... i agree... I live in KY and basically if anybody forcibly enters your home or car, you can protect it with deadly force (ie. shooting them)...

But in all reality, i'm glad he wasn't in the car and possibly harmed during the theft...