shop security?

murf · #1 2010-09-08, 8:14am

well my new studio should be up and running but I'm seriously worried about security.

my meet and greet with one of my new neighbors leaves me wondering. hate to judge a book by it's cover, but he or they are exactly the type of persons I don't want around my studio.

so, I have decided to limit what glass stock I have on hand, and now I am looking for a gun safe for my tools and torches.

since this studio is vacant half the time and is some two hours away from here, not sure what I can do as far as security, out side of pray. any suggestions?

Wonker · #2 2010-09-08, 8:39am

If it's worth it to you, you can get a nanny cam installed which is motion activated and connected to the internet and at least you'd have some evidence. The other thing you might consider is a policy from a company like RLI or your home policy. I have a Mirage and I worry about it and I see that you have a Kobuki and I bet you worry about it as well. I am just as concerned about someone ripping off my liquid oxygen tank that I rent...replacing that would be expensive! I actually saw a news program recently about a guy that had his motion activated camera alert him on his cell phone and we was watching the guys break in as he was dialing 911.

murf · #3 2010-09-08, 8:46am

thats what i'm thinking. some type of cam. a home security system that would cost me monthly seems like a waste of time. yes some security company would contact me to let me know I've been robbed, but I can figure that out when I show up. i will look into the nanny cam thing. thanks

murf · #4 2010-09-08, 9:06am

my paranoia is from having a studio here on 12 acres and moving that studio to a 50' x 100' city lot some two hours away. we country folk deal with robbers in a different fashion that city folk. nice to have a tractor on site. dealing with neighbors will take some tolerance and sadly the first night my wife and I stayed at the new place took my tolerance to almost the breaking level. I lived in the big city once for 12 years and was robbed 9 times. presently it would take a one time robbery for me to hang up glass and I rather not do that.

Wonker · #5 2010-09-08, 9:23am

Man, you really do need to consider an insurance policy, even though you and I both know that replacing that Kobuki would take years of waiting probably. It's worth an annual premium though to protect all you've got in this. The equipment is just a part of it...the time it took you to learn how to make it all work, you can't put that on the line as well.

crofootadv · #6 2010-09-08, 12:56pm

Do the obvious security stuff - no doors with windows, no wondows w/o some type of obvious security on them, no open windows that people can see into, steel security doors, lots of outside lighting, both general yard lighting and specific motion lighting.

If they can't see in and know it's worth breaking into, sometimes they won't. And make it as hard as possible, you can deter amateur thieves into going to softer targets.

Have a local friend drive into your driveway periodically, and even leave footprints in the snowy months.

My parents put thier house on the local PD "watch list" when they go south for the winter. It works, the sheriff is supposed to drive thru every day and immediately investigate if anything other than my black Ford pickup is spotted in the driveway. They have even stopped and checked me out while I was there checking up on the place a few times.

Get friendly with any nosy old ladies in the hood too - they see everything.

Dale M. · #7 2010-09-08, 2:57pm

Check out your own security system...

COSTCO and other sources has 4 camera system + recorder system for few hundred dollars.... Also friend of mine bought his own alarm system and it is programmable to dial any number if its activated.....

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...9699_200349699
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...1858_200381858

There is a ton of systems out there, some research required....

Big signs "SECURITY CAMERAS on premise and monitored remotely".... A few extra dummy cameras (along with real ones) to confuse the stupid may be a help...

And as "crofootadv" suggests, blacked out windows or at least curtains and security bars on windows and maybe big old barred security door.... Some re-bar and angle iron and friend with arc/mig welder can do a lot....

Any oxy or propane tanks or want ever that needs to be outside should be in a "cage" with big old lock(s)....

Make it hard on them to get in..... Also "accidentally " trip alarm once in a while to let them know its active....

Get something like a "gun safe" and bolt it to floor and put torches and other high value items in it when you are gone....

Dale

one hot beader · #8 2010-09-08, 5:03pm

When a local glass studio/supplier was robbed here, they took a small amount of cash and a $12 Ikea clock.

Leaving behind, $10,000 of silver findings, glass, torches, kilns....etc. All too heavy or they just didn't know what it was.

We have pretty specific wants in the glass community, no-one else even seems to recognise.

Beef up your ordinary security and do't let it worry you. Get some insurance to cover damage if they smash the place up but be content that even if you do have a break in you will not have anything they want anyway!

menty666 · #9 2010-09-08, 5:46pm

Yeah, but the problem is when you get a thief that *does* know what they're getting their hands on.

Do you happen to have internet at the shop? There are cameras you can hook up that can pump their pictures to a remote server for you via the internet, no computer needed. I'd find that preferable to an onsite recorder that someone could just as easily take with them.

murf · #10 2010-09-09, 12:39am

so sweet Jesus and sorry to start my opening like that , but i got a call from wouldnt you know it the Seaside police department today. seems the neighbors cat took a liking to my home and squatted from three days while i was gone.

to be honest that sent me in to a Eeyore gloom and a quick visit to my local security cam store, before I headed out to the home for a very nasty clean up.

long and short of it is, wow $$$$$$ these thing are not cheap.
got a 4 channel multiplex DVR recorder, G3 ready ,so any where I am, I can be alerted, look in on things, receive emailed alerts(sounds fun, read it with the email about some guy that wants to send me a barge of money from africa?) or if not around it records it all. 4 cameras two which match my smoke alarms , two I built to suit the shop needs.

crazy small, great picture.

but what is truly crazy is in that the four times i have been down here. I've had a stranger on my roof waking a guest in the house who was in the a second story bed room, a domestic fight(the neighbors) that went on for three hours on the street the first night my wife and I came alone, and a squatter of a house cat, not mine but all the same stripping the finish off my new floors. oh lord , Whyyyyyyy me!

the one uneventful time was when i came down and replace a planting bed the cat was using with a cobble stone path, thus explaining his taking revenge.

theft is a a bummer, chances are one gets nickeled and dime to death making insurance claims not worth the pursuit. and honestly the bad guys know that you will no doubt have to replace the item and possibly double up.
deductibles, depreciation, and that in its self is a joke make it a tough call for the small shop. the loss of something is replaceable, the invasion in to ones personal space just lacks words and for me if its taken(my personal space), then I would close the chapter on that subject.

i think the oddest part of the day, was the sign out side of the security shop, advertising pepper spray and taser products. times have changed I thought, what ever happened to hickory baseball bats?

murf · #11 2010-09-09, 12:42am

ya I stay off of I-5 Kimberly, grid lock from tacoma north. head south young lady

good advice Greg

murf · #12 2010-09-09, 12:56am

oh ya
for the safety of my tools , I have decided to purchase a gun safe and will redesign it to house my torches and tools.

Lorraine Chandler · #13 2010-09-13, 2:53pm

If you are handy maybe you could make a hidden room just for the big $$ items?

http://www.heirloomsafeandchest.com/...t_hideaway.htm

murf · #14 2010-09-14, 10:03am

to be honest I'd love that, but dont have the space.

Ofilia · #15 2010-10-24, 5:41am

I'm sorry. I just have to express, knowing how I am, if I had to take 2 hours to get to my studio, I'd be in serious trouble.

Compound that with dred of what to 'expect' of surprises from what my ill vibed neigbors have done while away.... would TOTALLY ruin my creative spirit. I don't know how you do it, but hey, kudos for the cohones!

Truly, I don't know what was involved with your decision to move your studio to this location, but I think once you leave it, the weight of the ugly side of the world will be lifted for you. I always find the energy that surrounds me is key to my well being. But this weakness is not always a good thing.

I wish you well!