"Steve H" wrote in message
...
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Exactly, anything can be stolen, thieves in Russia stole a bridge a few
weeks ago. But in general thieves are deterred by anything that slows
them down, makes a noise or attracts attention in any other way.


If you have ever had the misfortune to watch 'overhaulin' you will have
been struck by how easy it is and how little attention is paid to people
in hi vis loading a stolen vehicle onto a tow truck.


Everyone assumes its official or the owner ordered it

A hi-vis waistcoat and clipboard, especially if you're also smartly
dressed, will get you into a surprising number of places if you're
brazen enough to try it.

In this area of West London potential burglars casing houses
dress up in hi vis coats and safety helmets offering to do all
sorts of building work. I had a chap calling at my house with
an immaculate Stanley Tools T shirt under his hi-viz jacket
and immaculate De Walt or similar Boots that had clearly
never been worn in anger.

Last week a few streets away I saw two similarly clothed
chancers going house to house lugging a theodolite tripod,
minus theodolite natch, around with them. Unlike with my
chap who would have been hard to spot, these two would
stand out a mile if plod arrived quickly enough so I invested
15p and dialled 101. I'm not sure if lugging an empty tripod
around counts as "going equipped" but it would have been
interesting to hear their explanation had plod actually
arrived on time.


michael adams

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