On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:56:56 -0500, aemeijers wrote:

On 11/22/2010 8:17 PM, Cory wrote:
My problem, trying to save taxpayers $ by discouraging thieves.

I know what I would do, but working for a State, I have to work with what
they give me.

Our guardrails have reflectors. The State is implementing new reflectors
going up on their routes. The workers are putting up reflectors mounted on
the blocks or posts for the guardrail. Problem is, the reflectors are
mounted on aluminum! Ok, someone at the top should've seen this one coming,
especially with the economy being the way it is.

The reflectors are installed using 2, 3/8" x 2" lags with a 7/16" head. The
thieves will not bother the reflectors on narrow shoulders, or on dangerous
curves. But, where a full width shoulder exists, the reflectors disappear.
Besides being pretty, the aluminum is probably what is making them
disappear.

Changing material from aluminum is out of the question. Remember, this is a
State Agency, and come hell or high water, some nitwit at the top wants
this to work.

My initial thought is to have the workers dab PL on the heads of the lags
after installing. But, a set of vice grips would still back out the lags.

Aside from having the State Troopers sit and wait, any ideas? Besides, they
have better things to do, like responding to accidents from people hitting
unmarked guardrails!

Thanks


Does your state have a scrap dealer law, where they have to check ID and
keep a record, like pawnshops do? I'd suggest a press release about the
problem, and a flyer mailed to all the scrap dealers in the area. 'Big
Brother Is Watching', etc. If you can get a local TV station to do a
piece about it, that would be great, too. Most stations are always
looking for filler pieces for slow news days.

That's an excellent idea. They did exactly this, here, regarding compressors
last spring. Evidently there was a rash of compressor thefts, particularly
from new builds. The state went around to all the scrap dealers and collected
the names they could, then publicized the hell out of the operation.

A coat of pink paint on the bases could help. It did wonders when I ran
the tool crib on an apartment construction site. Will they spring for a
big die saying 'property of State of XXX- anyone buying this item is
subject to arrest for receiving stolen property' ? Whack that into each
reflector as it is installed. (or if you have a hydraulic press back at
the shop, have the new guy do it assembly-line fashion- it makes a much
cleaner image.)

Basically what you need to do is go after where they are disposing of
them, since there are only a few of those, and they aren't mobile. If
the harvesters can't sell them, they won't steal them, once they catch on.

Yep. Make sure the scrap yards all know what the consequences are for
accepting stolen property.