Having tools stolen has been a fact of life since I was a child, It can be co-workers, strangers, family or friends. Maybe they only intended to 'borrow' the missing tools, but as far as I am concerned, when a tool is not where I store it, that is theft. Where the tool costs over a certain amount, which varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the crime could be felony grand theft.
My attitude has always been it is my responsibility to keep track of my tools and other valuable property. This starts with a double check that doors are not only closed, they are locked correctly. Before I leave, I make sure the electronic security system is set, since those are useless until activated.
Security cameras work best when monitored by trained professionals in contact with even better trained armed agents to immediately act upon suspicion of unauthorized entry. Even with professional monitoring the surveillance images must be of such high quality they can be used in a court when a thief has been caught, arrested and prosecuted. Blurry images and those obscured by signs, etc. provide no investigative value and do not impress juries.
Once your stolen property is recovered, it is vital you can prove ownership and disprove claims by the thief you gave permission for that property to be in the thief's possession. You could engrave unique ID on each piece of property, but doing so complicates eventual re-sale.
My own approach is to take a clear close-up photo of the serial number of each tool or valuable property I own. In those photos I place a card with additional information, similar to those used in forensic crime scene investigation. My cards have my company name printed on them, with space for date of purchase, purchase order number and date the photo was taken.
Next, I personally enter those serial numbers and related data in a data base, backed up off premises. I do mark each tool with the final 3 or 4 digits of the serial number, so I can tell them apart at a distance. My experience has been doing this does not reduce the resale value.
Each time tools are selected for use outside my shop, using the added short form serial numbers, I make a list of all traveling serial numbers. I send a copy of those lists to an off-site FAX machine. Now, the minute anything goes missing, I can send a detailed theft report to my local police department, with dates of purchase. Oh yes, also off site I have stored original bills of sale of all the valuable property I own.
So far none of my Festools have been stolen.
However, in 1981 my late wife returned to our home late at night after using a gadget bag of professional Nikons with several expensive lenses. She had followed our policy of recording the short form of all serial numbers. Unfortunately she forgot one of the three gadget bags which she left in her car, in our driveway over night. The next morning her drivers window was smashed and that forgotten bag was stolen. Within minutes of discovering the smashed window, we reported the incident. By the time a police cruiser had arrived, we had a full list of serial numbers and showed the responding detective copies of all bills of sale.
Meanwhile I replaced the most exotic missing lens at considerable cost. We did not accept a settlement offer from our insurance company.
Eighteen months later a person tried to sell the missing gadget bag to a pawn shop on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. Since the person hardly looked like a professional photographer, the owner was suspicious. He asked which model cameras and lenses were in the bag. All the suspect could answer was "They are black ones." The owner immediately called the LA County West Hollywood station to report suspected possession of stolen property. Bad luck for the suspect, a sheriff's squad car was approaching on the other side of the street. The suspect bolted, without my cameras and was nearly run over by the squad car. Seconds later the California Dept of Justice computer returned by FAX to the pawn shop my police report with details. The perp was arrested, but could only be charged with possession, not the theft.
Acting on faith, that same day I was allowed to claim my missing cameras, upon my promise to bring them to court as needed by prosecutors. Several weeks later a preliminary hearing was held. I took the stand wearing a suit and with my bag of cameras, along with the purchase records. One by one I explained how I could identify each piece of equipment by the serial numbers. Before I even got to explain why a Nikkor 58mm F/1.2 Noct lens was in my bag, the defendant and his public defender conferred. On the spot he pled guilty. As a frequent repeat offender within ten days he was sentenced to a lengthy prison term for possession of stolen property. Unfortunately for him he was killed in a prison fight the following year.
Yes, I did need to make the trip to the sheriff's station to identify my cameras. Yes, waiting for the preliminary hearing took a half day. On our own my late wife and I attended the sentencing hearing which with waiting took a couple of hours. The result was we regained use of nearly USA$5,000 of hard to replace equipment.
See, if the paperwork is done correctly, in California it is not always necessary to buy the stolen material back from a pawn shop.
