At work, we are having people come at night and stealing valuable supplies. It is a factory complex, with a big, big parking area and a lot of trucks.
We have a security company but they won’t be able to install a camera before 2 weeks hence.
Is there some sort of improvisational alarm, like a portable motion detector that will make a racket or provide light that we can throw together, reql quick like? I thought of the old beer can etc… traps, but if i mentioned it up here they would ride me out of town on a rail (even though i think it would work quite well.) Some sort of ad hoc technology is the answer…but I don’t what kind. Can anybody tell me of any kind of portable, easy, do-it-yourself security equipment that I could recommend?
hh
You have a security company, and you’re asking us about DIY security devices?
Your security company should provide guards at the entrances to the parking lot (even though it’s big, there are probably limited entrances) and key entry points to the buildings, like where the thefts are occurring.
Seems like it’s the security company’s responsibility to figure out what to do.
Ditto on the security company not being up to snuff. I hope THEY pay for anything that goes missing. Are you sure it’s not them doing it? I’d say call the police and let them handle it. My uncle (a cop) once for a sting, became an ‘employee’ at a company that was having problems with laptops being stolen. After he worked their a few days he ‘left’ his laptop and wallet on his desk with a hidden camera. The person was caught. So maybe the police are an option, your third party security dosen’t seem to be cutting it.
Well, one would think so, but there is so much politicking up here. The company doesn’t tell security of the thefts, if they see somebody stealing it they go to security the next day; evefrybody from maintenance to shiplping is trying to get security into their sphere of influence without letting security in on anything. Somebody even SPOKE with the thief and thirty minutes later decided to mosey around and asked if they could see the security tapes-without mentioning the reason why!!! Security asked why, and the answer was mumbled out some time later in the day.
The DIY stuff is to catch/deter the thief. Security is pretty well hamstrung; I just want a brilliant idea to pass on (and don’t say ‘let security in on the deal’-it won’t happen.)
thanks,
hh
More to the point, I need DIY technology ideas. Quick, easy and cheap for the interim period.
thanks,
hh
Home Depot sells floodlights that turn on when they sense motion and small cheap wired or wireless cameras.
There are several freeware/shareware webcam security programs that will begin recording anytime something moves in their feild of view, the camera is always on. I liked it better than the “motion detector triggered” ones because they tended to have a few seconds lag before the camera activated often leaving you with just half of someones shoulder as they walked past or motion was too far away to trigger the sensor.
IIRC they should work with just about any bargain basement USB webcam
Thank you all for your input!
hh
You could get a motion detector floodlight that has 2 sockets for lights, put a floodlight in one and an electrical outlet adapter in the other. Plug a something that makes a lot of noise into the outlet adapter, maybe even something as simple as a radio turned all the way up.
But I have to say your company sounds ridiculous. Security is not told of failures in security and isn’t held accountable? How much are you paying them and can I bid on the next contract?
Strings with tin cans on them are quick and sloppy.
Isn’t it amazing how companies can exist for any period of time when the politics trump the task.
If this is a 3rd party security company its probably just a patrolling guard or two, even then a place of significant size and the targeting of specific high value items would point to an inside job or inside informer something third party security is ill equipped to handle since they have little business poking into what an employee is doing.
If those in power have no desire to see the problem solved, years of being hammered down for being the nail that stuck out tell me, let it go. I watched this stuff go on for years and in my case was shunned for quite a while for daring to point it out. Silly me thinking my boss didn’t want thousands of dollars a day in product winding up at the swap meet being sold by one of our truck drivers.
Drach, ex corporate minion, now robber baron in training 
Is Dog 1.0 out of beta yet?
Yeah, I’m thinking “Rotweiller.” Set up is no sweat, just open the gate and let the anmal in. Every morning, clean up any scraps of skin and bone.
Oh, I most def do not intend to get betrothed to the idea of saving anything. I just wanted something to throw out and let them see what a whizkid I am. I mentioned that the area (pitch black, or course) woul need light and one of the higher ups actually laughed like a maniac as if it were the funniest thing he had heard and started cackling “Yes, so the thieves could have light to work by!” It was so hilarious that he had to repeat it.
Naturally, no one laughed harder than your handsomeharry. 