Safecracking in CA

[CaliCWKing]

Came to my wash for servicing one morning and to my dismay, I noticed the combo door to a coin vault missing (I dont know the correct terminology, basically the vault that collects the coins from the vacumm). What puzzled me was the lack of any metal shavings laying around from where someone would have drilled through it.

Turns out, someone had previously drilled through, took the evidence and replaced it with a dummy. This "dummy" was rigged so the culprit(s) could find out my combo. Well, they succeeded, and for the past week have been dipping into my coins. After not servicing for a day or two, i noticed the coin count to be a little thin, so i placed some marked coins in my vaults, and viola, theyre gone.

Anyone have this happen to them?

 

[Jeff_L]

That is a lot of work for coins! Must be stopping by to get quarters for the vending machines at their work.

 

[CaliCWKing]

Dont know how well your stalls do, but we do pretty well over here, even in the winter.

 

[Jeff_L]

Oh they do just fine. I was referring to them not taking all the coins out (at least I assume that's what they were doing), and doing it on a regular basis would probably mean having to run to the bank a lot. Figure the bank would get suspicious. Unless they go to one of those change machines in the store to have it converted to dollars (less the service charge).

Not sure about everyone else, but I get some goofy looks sometimes when I pay for things in quarters. They do not, and cannot turn it down, but makes me uncomfortable every now and then. However, maybe I shouldn't take $50 in quarters to the restaurant!

 

[Danny]

Now that you know what, where and how their stealing from you if you figure out the when you can get the who arrested!

 

[Jeff_L]

Can you put a device on the door which records the time and date when it is opened? Maybe you can find the trend and stake the place out police style...

 

[Danny]

One option is to check with your local police department for off duty officers that do private investigation work on the side and let them do a one night stake out if you know when they will steal from you again. They know the proper procedure for an arrest and best of all they get to legally carry a gun!....just a suggestion

 

[denduke]

These issues used to nag us relentlessly. These four words gave me peace of mine and they still do: we switched to Tokens!

 

[lgriffin]

At my wash someone stole the coin drawer from the vacuum, they must have used a crow bar or something because it was bent all to he!!... I had not collected in a week, and the vacuum they stole the coin drawer from is a high traffic vacuum and we do pretty well with it.. People are doing anything these days... this morning i pulled into my wash and someone was washing down there camaro with weep water from the brush!!

 

[MEP001]

If these are Star combination safes, once they've been drilled out by someone who knows what they're doing, they can easily be picked. If it was drilled out at some point it needs to get replaced. Ra-Lock makes a replacement head that will take a plug lock, and it's a bit harder to drill than the Star head.

 

[galen]

Stake out?

You could probably have bought a single camera and a small single input dvr and nailed these guys. Staking out all night for days on end? That's what a camera is for. Go to wally world if you don't want to spend very much or Super Circuits. They have some very inexpensive stuff for under a hundred dollars.

 

[Happycarz]

Call Jennifer at Carwashcameras.com and ask her about their small solid state dvr for around $250. Mine put away a thief for three years.

 

[soapy]

Crooks don't have to take quarters to a bank, any grocery store with a coin star counter will cash them in. I have always tried to have layered locks on anything that has money. A crook might know how to defeat one lock but seems they don't know how to defeat others so they move onto the next location. I agree with everyone that a camara would be a great deterant and is a must for any location in these times.

 

[Mr.Aap]

Put a rattle snake in there...Just dont forget you did it....