Allotment theft - tips on preventing it?

[roadkill]

we have had quite a few thefts ( the biggest being a 4ft x 5ft coop ) , drinkers and also mindless damage .....

we have used three things for prevention

1 , We called the police and had a chat with them we now have posters all around the site which states that these allotments are being watched and patrolled also the odd cop car drives down the lane from time to time ....

2 , mines are a good dettrrent they are basically a metal device fitted with a trip wire which once it is broken lets off a shotgun cartridge blank which goes with a great bang and its enough to scare the hell out of you and also allert peolple around at the time , these can be found on google and ebay and are legal

3 , This is the most expensive way but one of the best ways of catching the toerags in action . you can get a trail cam which can be secured anywhere on the plot and it takes pictures at any time during the day and night and it also dates and time stamps the pics and they are great quallity even in the dead of the night ... The only problem is for a very very good one it will set you back £300 but in my eyes are well worth it

[Paulottie]

We don't have sheds on our lottie, not that there is much of a crimewave here, but for many years, before I got a greenhouse, I used an old door laid over a grave like hole - An ideally subtle way of storing any tools in the dry and out of sight (or perhaps disposing of the corpses of any hooded urchins you catch vandalizing your plot!).

[Kristen]

"perhaps disposing of the corpses of any hooded urchins you catch"

Just need a bog standard Bear Trap then, I reckon

[jacob marley]

I do not have a shed or greenhouse on the plot what i do is work out what i am going to do and put the tools in the car what i am going to need .
When the job's are done tools go back in car and back home the only tool left on plot is a wheelbarrow a old barrow with a distinctive yellow wheel .
One or two people have permission to use it but it is always there when i want to use it if you remove temtation you do not get bothered by the nere do wells jacob marley

[di]

We also leave the shed unlocked but concerned about it being published as a way to deter thefts~now they all know!!(BTW~we have nothing in our shed worth nicking!!)
Also I think the veg thieves go for easy to grab veg~ie neat/obvious rows & easy to reach.when we had squash stolen they were right by the fence so on view to takers without having to even enter the plot(unfortunately I forgot about that this year but fingers crossed now more plots are taken we should be safer?)

[moggssue]

Didnt someone on here post something about putting up dummy cctv cameras, or even just signs saying they are in operation, as a deterrant?

[Stacey Steve]

If the signs were made of aluminium, the travellers would nick them as well around here.

They stole a load of road signs (you know the big ones you see on the motorway) the other year, also the guard railings off the pedestrian footbridges over busy roads.

[moggssue]

What on earth do they DO with them??!

If the signs were made of aluminium, the travellers would nick them as well around here.

They stole a load of road signs (you know the big ones you see on the motorway) the other year, also the guard railings off the pedestrian footbridges over busy roads.

[tootles]

Geese are a very good burglar alarm/deterrent!!
(and lay huge eggs.....)

[lynda66]

What on earth do they DO with them??!

weigh them in for scrap.

[Nicos]

When I was a kid , my friend and I nicked a couple of mangle worzles ( don't see many of those these days eh??)from a field for Halloween lanterns.

A few days later there was a report in the local newspaper about some spuds being nicked from a field near to the one we 'raided' which had had some of the crop nicked - but it had 'apparently' been sprayed with some toxic weedkiller and
the local hospitals appealed for those people involved in nicking the spuds NOT to eat them.

I bet a sign saying that the toxic manure has affected these crops and SHOULDN'T be eaten would deter most people from nicking the crops????

No idea about sheds etc though!!!

[Peter]

Most of the problems we have had on our site, have been, - sadly, - kids, who seem to think it very exciting or clever to smash glass, canes & crops.
We did have a larger visitor who smashed open every shed door up two thirds of the site, but nothing was taken, my tools were slung out onto my plot. I reckon the idiot thought we grew crops using petrol powered strimmers, mowers & hedge cutters.

The only working deterrent to small two-legged vermin is a stout six foot + fence and locked gates.

Even with a good fence one group of little sods cut their way in through our chainlink and some others stole wheelie bins and supermarket trollies to use as leg-up's.

An added and practical deterrent to both sizes of vermin, is a nature strip either inside or outside the stout fence, nettles and brambles encourage beneficial insects and are not subject to legal challenges like barbed wire can be. Blackthorn, hawthorn, pyracanthus and dog-rose are even better, especially once laid in a traditional hedge. A wide strip might even cover up the unsightly collapsed old fence, or that nasty dip where the old filled in trench has subsided.

Some one out to steal anything of value will as the police put it "go equipped to steal", locks can be cut or ground off, wooden structures smashed or axed. In an urban or ovelooked site, make things so getting at stuff will take time and make noise, the quick and noisy petrol powered grinder or road saw is a bit noticable, but damm Black and Decker (et al) for their quiet rechargeable tools. Sadly this does not work in a rustic or un-overlooked site.

While theft is not preventable, it can be made difficult, hiding things, difficult access, lots of locks etc.
Lock the shed, chain everything of any value together and to something concreted into the ground through the floor.
Have one valuable thing per storage place, or one in the shed, the rest in what looks like a wooden compost bin.
If someone is keen to profit by theft then they may well do their research and visit a few times to see what people are using, so make a note of any people displaying a more persistent interest in the site, or, rurally any strangers hanging around, or passing by a bit often, (and their vehicles), the rozzers usually know the local crims.....

Remember that anything left in a deliberately dangerous state such that it may injure someone could get you into deep water. If all your tools are just slung in the shed and tend to fall out is not the same as a carefully placed felling axe.
A rose growing so it hangs across the door or path will not trouble you, but may incommode the thief or vandal and is just a natural growth of ornamental value, that perhaps, yes, you should have trimmed but have jsut not had the time and anyway you haven't yet replaced the secatuers stolen last time...........

[jnkimjones]

I have been told that the best form of protection is digging a large hole the same size of your gargen chest and burying it. The only concern there is that the neighbours might start talking......

[Sue]

Hi
We have had some crop theft on our site and am wondering if two things might help, one is to grow more unusual crops, I've got yellow raspberries and they haven't been touched. Also my strawberry bed was in ignorance planted at too higher density, this did have the advantage of being so leafy it looked like there were no strawberries at all when in fact there were loads.
Also mixing up crops might help so it's not easy to find a whole load of stealable stuff together and it would take longer to find enough to steal. Keep up to date with the harvesting if poss so there are not loads of tempting crops hanging around.
Have a solar light or two on the plot, I know the people in the close by house overlooking my plot and they keep an eye out for me and have my phone number in case of emergencies. Again this might be an arrangement that some people can make - fresh eggs and veg every now and then for payment.
Sue

[Peter]

All this talk of digging holes to hide tools in.

I'm on clay that slopes down towards and halfway through my plot and rainwater seeps & runs down the slope, this winter/spring it also sat in puddles on the main path at the foot of my plot.

Get the drift, I'd need totally plastic/stainless steel/aluminum tools, no wood, rots when wet, mo ordinary steel, rusts when wet. Then I'd need to dry them after getting them out of the covered pond.