Yesterday morning I got a call from one of the local car wash rookies that his car wash had been broken into. He did have a basic camera system, but no equipment room alarm. He got so-so pictures of the 2 guys doing there crime, hoodies, sunglasses and masks. Had he had an alarm system they might have been scared away. They drilled out the locks on the changer, ripped out both of the Mars validators, both Mars validators had 1000 note bill boxes installed that had about $1200 in each bill box, ripped out both the Hoppers, both hopper were full of tokens. The cost to fix the changer machine alone was around $2500. Lesson to be learned. Install an alarm system with a siren in the equipment that will hurt ones ears and confuse them, I also have a strobe light in the equipment that blinds you. DON’T leave a lot of cash on the premises. We pull our cash daily out of the changer and every other day in the bays and the vac’s. With the way the world is today, with the massive unemployment I think that we are going to see a lot more break-ins and crime at car washes as poeple begin to lose their unemployment benefits. Look at the U-6 unempolyment rate that's the true unemployment rate. The current U-6 rate is 11% and it could go as high as 20%.
Alarm system
- Thread starter Randy
- Start date
mjwalsh
6 bay SS w/laundromat
Randy,
The scary part nowadays ... it is possible they will still do the same damage during the sound & lights! I have always advocated split second alert to owner or staff with a way to verify before having the PD with their K9s arrive. Hopefully, the PD gets there first before the owner or staff gets there .....
Not sure how in some areas if the PD's "elected by the people supervisors" will respond if the PD does not .... some of those might even tie the PD's hands ... either way "no response or a bad response" is something that needs to be corrected by more than just campaign promises ... actions speak louder than words! Some in the media might think the economic damage is a "big joke" ... not always sure???
The scary part nowadays ... it is possible they will still do the same damage during the sound & lights! I have always advocated split second alert to owner or staff with a way to verify before having the PD with their K9s arrive. Hopefully, the PD gets there first before the owner or staff gets there .....
Not sure how in some areas if the PD's "elected by the people supervisors" will respond if the PD does not .... some of those might even tie the PD's hands ... either way "no response or a bad response" is something that needs to be corrected by more than just campaign promises ... actions speak louder than words! Some in the media might think the economic damage is a "big joke" ... not always sure???
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tdlconceptsllc
Well-known member
What kind of alarms system do y'all use with sirens and all these whisles where could I buy one? Thanks
slash007
Well-known member
I have it via a local company. They installed it and provide the monitoring. Basically someone like ADT, but cheaper.
Earl Weiss
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Another word of caution. Thieves trip alarm and the leave and watch. Alarm company call and you check cameras and all seems to be OK so, you don't call cops. 15 minutes later thieves break in and go to town thinking no one will come when alarm goes off. Had this happen twice. Second time caught the gut because alarm re set, went off again and I saw him in there. Police station is 2 blocks away. He got 5 years.
JMMUSTANG
car wash owner
Back in the 80’s twice I had my changer/alarm and the doors torn up. They had set off the alarm system 3-4 times during the night so the cops were slow to respond. They were all covered up so no good pics of them.
It cost me a couple of thousand bucks to fix all the damage they caused breaking into the changer.
Since then I keep the door to the bill changer open. I leave around $100 in each at night. I rather have them steal a couple hundred bucks and leave instead of $1,000‘s of dollars of damage.
Hope I don’t jinx myself but since then I haven’t had any issues.
It cost me a couple of thousand bucks to fix all the damage they caused breaking into the changer.
Since then I keep the door to the bill changer open. I leave around $100 in each at night. I rather have them steal a couple hundred bucks and leave instead of $1,000‘s of dollars of damage.
Hope I don’t jinx myself but since then I haven’t had any issues.
mjwalsh
6 bay SS w/laundromat
I wonder if any owners or operators have gotten to the verified alarm before the PD & the perps showed guns &/or even started to shoot at your vehicle approaching.
I remember over 25 years ago when I got there first with a verified sighting of them up by a "close to roof vent". I had no gun with. Many officers finally showed up. Building was searched without me with PD's guns drawn. They would not let me go in ... for fear of potential hostage taking. They did not have K9s with them ... or the perps probably would have been caught hiding in the "at the time" car dealership next door's lot with lots of hiding places. Apparently the perps were on foot. At the time K9s were even more scarce than now ... probably something to do with police resources??? True story of an actual very unpleasant event!
I remember over 25 years ago when I got there first with a verified sighting of them up by a "close to roof vent". I had no gun with. Many officers finally showed up. Building was searched without me with PD's guns drawn. They would not let me go in ... for fear of potential hostage taking. They did not have K9s with them ... or the perps probably would have been caught hiding in the "at the time" car dealership next door's lot with lots of hiding places. Apparently the perps were on foot. At the time K9s were even more scarce than now ... probably something to do with police resources??? True story of an actual very unpleasant event!
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AnalyticWash
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And how did they break in? I assume through a badly designed door.
So no, the lesson to be learned here is understand how people break into things and defeat their methods...
My advice on alarms:
-Spend the money to build your site (door/changer/etc) more secure so that the criminals never get past the door in the first place.
-Don't buy cheap locks. Search YouTube for "picking+your lock model" and prepare to have your mind blown.
-Alarms don't mean much if the police take 10 minutes to respond.
The damage a criminal will do breaking into your equipment is almost always higher than the value of the currency inside. A little effort spent upfront prevents it from happening in the first place.
cantbreak80
Maybe I need new clubs
