Tips When Gear Theft Occurs, and Lessons to Make it Easier on You

Well, it's just a minor update, from a musical perspective, but I recently had a couple power tools stolen from my garage. It was a couple weeks ago when the theft occurred, but I didn't notice until about a week ago when I went looking for the tools. A neighbor saw it happening so was able to get a description of the burglar, but there's obviously just a minor chance my tools will be recovered.

PS -- this picture's hilarious. (Source)

Everyone I talked to about this had the same question for me -- "did you get the serial number for your tools?" While the answer for one was an easy "no," as I hadn't even opened the tool, let alone recorded the serial number after doing so, the other tool, and my favorite (it was an awesome drill...) did not have a serial recorded for it, even though I've owned it at least a few years. That makes for a quick lesson learned, doesn't it? Luckily the burglar only took the drill and a battery, so I still had the charger and a 2nd battery, plus the case all remaining.

At any rate, since I'm pretty wont to make lists of lessons learned, here's another one for you:

• Don't leave your garage open, even if you're home. This guy must have just run in and out the garage in a few seconds, as no one noticed, but when we talked to the neighbor, it happened while we were in the backyard. Yikes! Kinda scary when you think about it...what would happen if one of us had gone into the garage at the time, or he checked the door from the garage to our house? Speaking of which...
• Don't leave the door from your garage to your house unlocked. Maybe a "duh" piece of advice, but considering people could break into your car and use your garage door opener, or you may have your garage door opened, it makes an easy point of access.

Now, on to the ones that are relevant to you and I, as music gear owners:

• Don't shirk the task of recording ALL serial numbers to all pieces of gear that you own. Make a spreadsheet, save it to the cloud. Update it when you buy any new gear.
• Check out the pawn shops. I was assured by the local police department that they'll be checking pawn shop reports, and it was when I checked in myself with the pawn shops that I saw how tight the system was. Pawn shops report EVERY item they buy or pawn, to a database that police can access. If police are doing their job and checking every so often on that database, they'll find items that got sold that are reported stolen. Pawn shops have to wait at least 3 days after buying something before they can sell it, so there's a window there where police can check and keep an item from getting sold.
• Also, to the point of serial numbers, pawn shops are required to report serial numbers as well. The best way to prove a piece of gear is yours is through that serial. There's a plausible defense that the item is not yours if you don't know the serial. Even though one of my tools was brand new, there's no telling that someone may legitimately sell a brand new one of those tools at a pawn shop, and no guarantee that it's actually mine.
• Check the pawn shops often. I can't necessarily trust the police will have the same diligence I do, and that's nothing against them, but to ensure the item is being checked for regularly, I plan to stop by all the nearby pawn shops every couple days just to be sure.
• Check other avenues of selling gear. I doubt your everyday criminal will use Reverb, but check Craigslist and ebay at the very least. You can sort ebay auctions by location and would get an easy sense if someone's trying to sell your gear on there.

Luckily it was tools taken instead of any of my music gear. Luckily it was just theft, considering my family was at home. Take the necessary preventive steps to avoid giving criminals an easy way to steal.

~C