Campground Theft?

[jjdcamper]

Originally Posted by jthomp58

We have been seasonal camping for eight years, and I can only recall 2 incidences. The first was some teenagers there for the weekend. When the parents went to bed, the kids made the rounds, stealing beer and coolers, but they were caught and the police were called. Although the theft was minor, it's important to let everyone know that theft will not be tolerated.

In the second case, it was a mid-week theft, and one of the trailers was broken into.
In this case, it was located in a more secluded area of the park, and that gave easier access, without being seen. A television was stolen, but more importantly, there was major damage done to the door and frame of the trailer. I think trailer break ins are becoming more common unfortunately, especially in the off season, when many seasonal trailers are left on-site, unattended.

We have found that for the most part, neighbors are always very good about watching out for one another and will get involved if they see something suspicious, as they hope someone else would do for them. We secure our site when leaving; putting chairs, etc. up beside the trailer and not leaving a cooler in the open, but the grill, firewood, but I guess we all take some risk. We just try to use a bit of common sense when leaving things unattended.

jthomp:

Unfortunately, I think the day will come when entire campers are stolen. It doesn't take much for a thief, who is purposefully going to a campground to steal, to back up to a camper, cut the lock off on the tongue, hook it up and drive away with it. When you consider that tractors, backhoes, full size Caterpillars etc. have been stolen off construction sites, stealing a camper would be easy. How many times have you seen a crane,with a valuable item attached to the chains, way up in the air out of reach of would be thieves? People steal cars all the time, whether they are locked or not. As someone once said, "locks are made to keep honest people, honest". I hope it never happens but I think it's inevitable. We should all do our best to minimize the temptation and try and keep our valuables as secure as possible.

6 weeks ago, my house was broken into and some items were stolen. How do you stop it? And I live in a mobile home park, with not much space between houses, but none of my neighbors saw anything. And it was during the day. Most likely drug addicts needing money to buy more drugs. I think campgrounds would be easy pickings for those intent on stealing. Lets all hope and pray that it doesn't happen.
Jim

[mjones12]

Originally Posted by jjdcamper

jthomp:

Unfortunately, I think the day will come when entire campers are stolen. It doesn't take much for a thief, who is purposefully going to a campground to steal, to back up to a camper, cut the lock off on the tongue, hook it up and drive away with it. When you consider that tractors, backhoes, full size Caterpillars etc. have been stolen off construction sites, stealing a camper would be easy. How many times have you seen a crane,with a valuable item attached to the chains, way up in the air out of reach of would be thieves? People steal cars all the time, whether they are locked or not. As someone once said, "locks are made to keep honest people, honest". I hope it never happens but I think it's inevitable. We should all do our best to minimize the temptation and try and keep our valuables as secure as possible.

6 weeks ago, my house was broken into and some items were stolen. How do you stop it? And I live in a mobile home park, with not much space between houses, but none of my neighbors saw anything. And it was during the day. Most likely drug addicts needing money to buy more drugs. I think campgrounds would be easy pickings for those intent on stealing. Lets all hope and pray that it doesn't happen.
Jim

I have heard that some thieves will take an entire trailer by using a small hitch ball that will fit inside the tongue, even though the latch is locked. This allows them to pull the trailer a short distance - away from the home or campground - and then cut the lock off and tow it normally.

[punkaccountant]

I'm like the others in that we haven't had anything stolen but I do try to lock the most valuable things up and keep them out of site whenever we're away.

However, my trailer did get broken into while in storage. Despite having a lot of gear inside, they took off with just a flashlight and some spare cash we leave in there for emergencies. This means one of two things...either we have cheap stuff or else thieves are looking for bigger dollar items like flat screen TV's and such.

[OL Creeker]

This will give everyone a warm fuzzy. I learned yesterday from a guy here in Glen Rose, that his key opened many other RV's. He experimented & demonstrated much to the dismay of the owners of said rigs. Apparently, the locks come from a vendor straight to the mfg of many rigs. So much for locking up the family jewels.

[punkaccountant]

Originally Posted by arjerram

This will give everyone a warm fuzzy. I learned yesterday from a guy here in Glen Rose, that his key opened many other RV's. He experimented & demonstrated much to the dismay of the owners of said rigs. Apparently, the locks come from a vendor straight to the mfg of many rigs. So much for locking up the family jewels.

Ah yes, the ubiquitous CH751 key. This is a common lock for every manufacturer of camper. On a previous camper, I had my locks rekeyed at a locksmith for $8/lock. Pretty inexpensive. My new trailer I didn't even bother. I'm glad too. I could break into your camper in less than a minute with a couple long screwdrivers and the damage is much worse than the loss of your items. If someone wants to break in, they will (I found that out first hand at my storage facility). I'd rather they use the key than destroy the side of my camper. All the locks do is keep the honest man honest.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by arjerram

This will give everyone a warm fuzzy. I learned yesterday from a guy here in Glen Rose, that his key opened many other RV's. He experimented & demonstrated much to the dismay of the owners of said rigs. Apparently, the locks come from a vendor straight to the mfg of many rigs. So much for locking up the family jewels.

That's unfortunately "well known" (in quotes obviously, because new people learn it all of the time). Some people DO go through the effort to have all of their locks re-keyed.

[fredm.seven]

Like most who have replied I had no problems for more than 20 years, then at a popular park full on a long weekend our power cable was taken just before supper hour. We had taken the dog for a short walk, maybe 40 minutes. Had to be someone really close by. We were really po'd, but after reporting the theft and getting a loaner replacement from the park office we found out it happens quite a bit at that park.

Their setup has one power pole for two sites and in some cases the distance can be near 100 ft. People show up with a 25 ft cord and figure the solution is to make it someone else's problem.

Now I'm in the habit of locking up stuff but I know that just slows them down if they really want your stuff.

Oh yeah, one other problem, left one window open in the TV just enough...and there went a whole bag of my Oreos. Those park chipmunks are fearless!

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by arjerram

This will give everyone a warm fuzzy. I learned yesterday from a guy here in Glen Rose, that his key opened many other RV's. He experimented & demonstrated much to the dismay of the owners of said rigs. Apparently, the locks come from a vendor straight to the mfg of many rigs. So much for locking up the family jewels.

For those of you with golf cars each make is all keyed alike as well... unless the switch had been changed or rekeyed............


The good or bad is it is easier (larger market) to sell a flat car trailer or utility trailer so they are a bigger target than campers...........

We have had more theft problems at home than at campgouunds.......

[dkb74]

Originally Posted by fredm.seven

Oh yeah, one other problem, left one window open in the TV just enough...and there went a whole bag of my Oreos. Those park chipmunks are fearless!

Back when we were tent camping, we came back to find raccoon footprints everywhere. Opened our (zippered!) cooler, stole our entire breakfast. Even drank the kids Capri Suns!

[wolfpack21643]

Wow I never thought I would get so many responses back on this topic. I'm glad to see that the campground may be one of the last old school American holdouts of the way it was in the old days as far as crime goes. It sounds like I have been doing what most of you guys recommend ie. keeping high value items out of site and keeping a semi "eye out" when camping. It appears to me that I should have been treating my beer cooler like it was the Hope diamond though. I am not worried about replacing the beer as much as I am the what we call the "vicarious liability" factor, or the kids get drunk do something stupid and you get sued for leaving beer out where little Johnny or Jane could get to it. I mean this has become a world where few take credit for there actions, it's always somebody elses fault, right?

As far as the theft of your whole camper, I find that to be a very real prospect. I have taken reports for stolen construction equipment that would baffle the mind on how they removed it unseen. I have always thought that if professional criminals spent as much time trying to be a productive member of the world as they do pulling off their next heist then they would all be rich the legal way.

I have also noticed that most criminals that steal stuff like your IPhone ect. are people of the spontaneous type. And that is a good thing for us hard working law abiding types. Most scum don't get up in the morning and start planning their next score. They tend to be-bop through life picking the low hanging easy to get fruit. So buy taking a few precautions you can make the next guy the sucker not you and that gives you a fighting chance of keeping your stuff.

I think most of us have a lot of money tied up into camping and due to the fact that we have tied up a lot of money stealing from another is not even a thought. I am suspicious of tent campers though. They have little invested and seem to be the loudest groups around their camp fires from my limited time of observation. My wife and I started out tent camping and hence we ended up in the tent section at campgrounds. It seemed to be a cross between a tailgating party that never ended and large family reunion type affairs. Then there were a few like us just starting out and some granola heads that just kept to themselves eating their curds and weigh, (lol just a joke, I'm a steak and seafood guy, not the trail mix kind no offense)

The factory door lock on my Rockwood is a joke but that's not even the point of entry I would use if I were a thief. I would go for those easy to pop out "emergency windows". They are made to be easily removable. I am also a pilot and I have often thought about your local airport security also. That is even more of a target rich environment then the CG. When you think the average GPS in a small Cessena goes for around $3,000 on ebay it's hard to belive your local unattended airport isn't raped late at night. And their door locks are a lot worse then what we have. I think Cessena made like three different key locks over a 25 year period so if you have a Cessena key then you have access to a third of the fleet so to speak. And thankfully I have never had anything stolen in my 20 years at the airport.

I am glad the average criminals don't have much fore thought or imagination so they more then likely drive by CG's and airports with never a thought of what booty lies within. Hopefully this trend continues for a long time. And the pro criminal that wants to steal your whole rig, unless you put Lo-Jack in your RV you can kiss it good-bye cause they are smart and seldom caught. Just my two cents.

[RPAspey]

now that I think about, I remember a time when we were tenting on our farm and we had a theft. A loaf of bread went missing and the thief ate a hole in the side of our food tent. We always kept our food away from our sleeping tents. Anyway, we found the part loaf in the field with what might have been fox prints everywhere.

[ohiocamper]

Way back in the day myself and some buddies were tent camping on a HOT August weekend. We went swimming in the creek and when we returned someone had taken all of our cold drinks from the cooler but inside the cooler they left us a $20 bill guess they were just to tired or lazy to run to the store themselves.

[bodzcampers]

OMG Ohiocamper...that's hysterical!
RPAspey.....I had a similar incident with Racoons who took food out of a clamped down lidded plastic container. They were kind enough to not leave crumbs, put the plastic wrap beyond our campsite, and....they clamped the lid back on. Intelligent little rascals! That was back in the day when I was tent camping across Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Mike and Lynn

[crushor]

Well, from my little corner of the campground...my wife and I are getting ready to start our second season. Like most, we wanted to start camping locally. Prior to doing this we visited the county park which has about 45 sites. The park also has operating hours that are from 8am-10pm with gates that close and are padlocked. The campers are provided the combination of the lock, which changes weekly so that if we need to leave or arrive after hours, we can. Otherwise there is no vehicle traffic allowed after hours. The campsites are about 4 miles in as well. The park has a Ranger that drives around to ensure all is sound, and he gets into the CG hourly. Additionally, the park has a CG Caretaker who ensures that all is well. The CG is open from April 1st to Thanksgiving. He is on site all season, although he does have a day job. Those of us camping tend to watch as much as much as we can to what is going on. (Attention to detail, driven into me while in the Navy). This tends to make a nice "community." While my wife and I were looking at this CG, we stopped at the Rangers Office got the information, and then before just merely driving through the sites, talked to the caretaker. Unknown vehicles are noticed....so.... One thing that I noticed is that there are questionable persons driving through the campground, even though they are not camping. I would be more concerned about the drive throughs than the campers.

Additionally, Oaklevel mentioned the theft of car haulers...two years ago, I bought a new 18' dovetail car hauler...brought it home, installed a hitch lock, wrap around style ball lock, and...ran MasterLock steel cable locks through both the aluminum wheels and spring perches on both sides. Yes, I agree, this is just to keep the honest man, honest, nevertheless I tend to like to keep my possessions mine...at least until I want to let them go...

I also agree that temptation should be avoided, so I as well lock up or take certain valuables with me. Additionally, our tv quit on us, very shortly after purchase and as much as I feel I want to replace it, I haven't. My DW and I have both agreed upon that...and as much as I miss NASCAR racing, love the outdoors and the family time.

[YoungKopernik]

I tend to believe, “I can only keep the honest people honest”, keep your sight organized and clean; don’t leave a wallet on the dash, shotgun leaning out the truck window or a case of beer under the camper(not covered). The bad-guys are not going to worry about a lock, if they want it they’ll get it.
This all said, I believe in lead poisoning and a good dog. I have a motion light but I think the best advice is to know your neighbors even when they change often. If we all watch out for each other I would feel safe. Even if you don’t want to get directly involved in a situation, take pictures. I like to drive by individuals, who look out of place, and let them see me taking pictures. Nothing to direct I just want them to know people are watching. I feel if your not doing anything wrong than why would you care if I take a picture. Let them think I am weird, I don’t mind.
Highway patrol has a class for campers(maybe only full timers) it’s a Home Land Security course. It’s to help campers be aware of suspicious situations and call it in.
We’re all in the same boat(campers) lets help each other.
John

[VinceU]

Originally Posted by YoungKopernik

I tend to believe, “I can only keep the honest people honest”, keep your sight organized and clean; don’t leave a wallet on the dash, shotgun leaning out the truck window or a case of beer under the camper(not covered). The bad-guys are not going to worry about a lock, if they want it they’ll get it.
This all said, I believe in lead poisoning and a good dog. I have a motion light but I think the best advice is to know your neighbors even when they change often. If we all watch out for each other I would feel safe. Even if you don’t want to get directly involved in a situation, take pictures. I like to drive by individuals, who look out of place, and let them see me taking pictures. Nothing to direct I just want them to know people are watching. I feel if your not doing anything wrong than why would you care if I take a picture. Let them think I am weird, I don’t mind.
Highway patrol has a class for campers(maybe only full timers) it’s a Home Land Security course. It’s to help campers be aware of suspicious situations and call it in.
We’re all in the same boat(campers) lets help each other.
John

Kinda like the shotgun hanging out the window. Good deterrent!

[TURBS]

I wonder how affective my "bug a salt rifle" would be as a deterrent ?

[Terier]

I haven't had any problems but I don't leave stuff out except for maybe one chair and a plastic table. Much easier to see if something is missing. Below is a picture of the sign that one of my favorite campground started posting.

[Filthy Beast]

My wife, in a former incarnation, was tent camping, went hiking and someone had rifles through tent. We don't make it any easier for them.

[Filthy Beast]

Originally Posted by dkb74

Back when we were tent camping, we came back to find raccoon footprints everywhere. Opened our (zippered!) cooler, stole our entire breakfast. Even drank the kids Capri Suns!

OH NO, not the Oreos!