Break in at Mountain Archers, Mt Victoria

[longbowinfected]

Thieves forced their way through a metal window guard in a pretty hefty door between last Sunday and this morning.
They got away with 300 brand new club carbon arrows, an arrow saw, two metal detectors, a fold up gazebo, a couple of new shoot through kids bows and a microwave oven.

Bathurst Archers got done too.

Kevin

[bigbob]

Nothing makes my blood boil like hearing thieving scum robbing clubs and less fortunate people of their hard earned possessions.I truly hope they get their deeds repaid in karma before long. The worse the better.

[matt61]

I know your pain, we have had that many break ins at my club that we have bought gun safes to lock our gear in and they are bolted together and to the floor and to the wall. And we paint all the things like mowers etc fluro pink and write on them and engrave on them ... Stolen from ( club name) .. so that they are not worth stealing and trying the sell to the local CrimeConverters.
Matt

[Nephew]

What kind of mutt robs an archery club?

[hazard]

Absolute filth! I really hope these bottom dwellers get caught and replayed 10 fold for this gutless cowardice!

[rmcpb]

Didn't want to hear this type of news Kev

[Roadie]

Ay Kev . sorry to read this. these people are nothing better than Oxygen thieves, lower than a snake, and I despatch them. Cheers Roadie.

[longbow steve]

, Hard to secure against these low lifes. Steve

[longbowinfected]

Our landlord is the local council. We cannot push to turn the joint into Fort Knox like you could if it was your own property.
Anything set up in the bush and used a few times a week is always going to attract unwanted attention.

Part of life I do not like. I think this is the fourth or fifth time in ten years I have been there. Probably cost us between $10,000 to $15,000......and a lot of wasted time attending site with the gendarmes and forensic officers. A couple of members left personal equipment there for the club to use and that aspect burns me up the most.

Kevin

[bigbob]

Absolutely disgusting!

[morganp]

After the fact but for future and for others, why not get game cameras? Well sited WiFi/cellular cameras would also mean lower insurance premiums.

[Trad Bound]

Lilydale had the same problem last year, they stole the cameras too!!

[little arrows]

tests your faith in human nature doesn't it. They'll get their comeuppance - what goes around comes around.

sue

[morganp]

tests your faith in human nature doesn't it. They'll get their comeuppance - what goes around comes around.sue

Unfortunately I disagree. Too many evil creatures remain and thrive on this planet. Pollies, lawyers, paedophiles, my ex-mother-in-law ...

[longbowinfected]

with the advent of powerful 24 volt battery powered angle grinders and because you need to have doors which are weak points it is pretty hard to keep serious criminals out. The quality of pix in bad light at angles is not that conducive to getting a result. If they wear dark glasses or a ski mask which is likely as they wore gloves they would probably steal the cameras.

I think game cameras set up on nearby trees to pick up vehicle type and registration numbers might be useful unless of course they use a stolen vehicle. I doubt that thieves would have a chainsaw or twenty foot ladder on hand even if they figured out that there was a hidden camera. Perhaps a few external signs saying "smile for the hidden cameras, you are on a surveillance camera with a couple of fake camera domes would be fair warning for honest people taking a quick hidden slash but be sufficient to make any criminals hang around on show whilst disabling the fake units. At the least we could show council who was dumping rubbish nearby in the bush. I would like to do something effective that might help to get someone put away because I bet they would be responsible for a lot of other missing /stolen goods elsewhere.

Kevin

[longbowinfected]

The thieves decided to break in again sometime between Thursday night last week and last night.
We were all out at the IronFest with all our gear.
The cupboard was bare.

Obviously not involved in mainstream archery as it takes more than a week or so to get the funds and organise replacements.
There will not be anything there to be stolen in the future other than our old heavy Sydney Olympic timber target butt stands and our old white tail butts. The thieves seem to be unhappy about lifting heavy objects/doing hard work. We are thinking about not supplying any gear in the future and telling members to get their own gear even if it means losing members.

Whilst council has generously allowed us the use of their paddock and a building paid for by a Not for Profit donor, council has been the main contributor to our problems by not allowing us to provide a container we own for the security of our goods. This is now 7 break-ins in ten years with three in the last year at a cost of nearly $15,000 dollars to us and I do not know how much to them. Two galling facts are that our existing buildings are made from containers. The other is the fact that council repairs are without thought. Why replace a metal covered door with internal hinges and padbolts with a plain wooden door with external hinges and padbolt? Why have windows in doors? Why only place bar mesh over the windows broken into and not the others? I know it is difficult for council to protect a facility amongst many others in a bush setting but making it so easy is ridiculous. By any cost analysis doing it better the first time saves money. Most clubs in my experience achieve a much better level of security with amended locking systems on containers and what is really galling is that we could get a grant to buy and set up a container.

I would like to think the crims had to put at least a bit of sweat into transferring our hard earnt equipment.

Kevin

[Roadie]

Ay Kevin, I hope the thieves contact a life threating disease, then we would be Free of the SCUM. Cheers Roadie.

[hazard]

Should have left a giant box of chocolate laxatives

These Blackguards probably cant read and with any luck would scoff the lot