Troop Trailer Stolen

[fl_mom_of_2]

My son had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor tonight and after the ceremony when the troop went to put something in the troop trailer, they noticed it was stolen!! All of the troops gear was in the trailer!

 

Any suggestions on how to secure a trailer. Our troop will now need to repurchase everything including buying another trailer. It is so sad that someone would steal from the boyscouts. I hope they catch whoever did this.

 

 

[nolesrule]

Same thing happened to one of our local troops a couple weeks ago. I know in our area some of the other troops donated some equipment to the troop.

[jhankins]

Let the newspaper/TV people know -- usually when it's explained how important the gear is to the boys some of it is returned if it's a no questions asked policy.

[Pack212Scouter]

It is hard to secure a trailer entirely but here are some things that you can do.

 

- Use locks that are bolt cutter and torch resistant on the ball hitch and on the doors.

- Have one of the wheels secured with a locking wheel lock as well as a locking lug nut.

- Try to park the trailer so that the doors are backed up to a solid wall.

 

None of these are foolproof and someone determines with a torch can defete them, but it will stop most of the average and novice theives.

[nldscout]

NEVER EVER leave the trailer at the COR's location. Most parking lots are isolated and no one is around at night. Park it at a leaders house.

 

Use a hitch lock, and get a heavy chain and chain it to a big tree.

[John-in-KC]

1) Insure the trailer and its contents. I don't care if the Chartered Partner picks up the tab, or if the unit picks it up. Insure the trailer and its contents.

 

2) What Pack212Scouter said ... you can google an array of sources. Here's just one:

http://www.universalboot.com/

(I have no interest in them, and cannot vouch for them ... it's an example only)

 

3) Up to a point, what the Judge said ... but also, if you're in an area of relatively high theft, think about indoor storage.

 

Remember nothing is foolproof anymore. Your goal is to harden the target (your trailer) enough that it's not worth the effort to thieves.

[Eagledad]

>>NEVER EVER leave the trailer at the COR's location. Most parking lots are isolated and no one is around at night. Park it at a leaders house.

[dScouter15]

Unfortunately, this also recently happened to a neighboring troop. Other area troops were able to donate some equipment, and we also lent some equipment to the troop on a per-campout basis.

 

Like others suggested, avoid parking the trailer in an open parking lot. If you don't have a volunteer leader with enough space to keep it at his/her home, consider approaching local businesses or industries with secured yards. For several years my troop was able to keep the trailer in a section of a locked lumber yard at no cost. In return our scouts would do a trash cleanup of the yard once a year. Of course, this meant that the trailer was only accessible on weekdays during business hours, but it seemed to be worth the tradeoff due to the security.

 

Unfortunately, I also have to recommend this due to another possibility, even worse than theft: arson. A handful of troop trailers in our area have been affected by this over the years. If its stolen, at least there's a shot of getting it back. If its burned to the ground, you're pretty much out of luck.

[frank10]

Painted scouting logo all over it. Non stick on t ones that can be power washed off.

Makes it harder to get repainted when all the body shops have seen your story in the local press.

Will reduce the chance of theft in the first place since in most cases they are hoping to score construction or landscaping equipment not tents.

[Beavah]

Yah, seems like we're seein' more and more of this recently. Byproduct of the down economy these days. Lot of folks hurtin', and a trailer that's sittin' idle most of the time looks tempting.

 

Beavah

 

[oldisnewagain1]

Just a thought (a bit off topic), you might want to be checking local ads or craig's list to see if some one is offering a trailer like your for sale. It just might be your trailer.

[Knot Head]

Our troop trailer was stolen a few years back. Now we but a boot on the trailer wheel, a lock on the trailer hitch and the back door and city police try to keep an eye on it. The church parking lot has a gate but a determined thief could get thru that.

 

 

[NickP412]

Ours is chained to a light post in a parking lot, granted a dedicated enough criminal could cut the chain and drive off with the trailer. However this has yet to happen and I hope it never does.

 

I would like to meet the person who steals scout trailer, most of them are in church parking lots and have scouts written on them one place or another, I cant even imagine the type of person who would do that =/

 

Let me also add that I remember seeing a video on the internet by fox news about a stolen scout trailer, at the end they gave information where they could reach the scoutmaster to donate money or gear, so contacting the news might not be a bad idea.

[scouts-a-lot]

We use padlocks like this when it is parked. They cannot be cut off:

 

http://www.bikebandit.com/assets/product_images/09MasterLockSSRndPdlkLG.gif

 

We put a lock like this on the hitch:

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://image.fourwheeler.com/f/9033647/129_0708_06_z%2Bcarson_4x4_trailer%2Bhitch_lock.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles/trail/129_0708_carson_4x4_trailer_winch_sercurity/photo_02.html&usg=__b_sG7ToiBVFroNfQSfAgFMrbROw=&h=480&w=640&sz=61&hl=en&start=36&sig2=2UX0X3Ix04E5Yx89JVdVWw&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=CHBZwqXcM-vGhM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhitch%2Block%26start%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS370US371%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=fRXrS8ecNYrHsAaa_6GMDw

 

We also wrap the safety chains around the receiver and lock them together. Ours was stolen years ago and they hooked the chains together and lowered the trailer down and used the chains to tow it off.

 

We have two trailers that are chained together and then chained to a telephone pole.

[SctDad]

About two years ago someone stole one of our local Cub Scout Trailers. Marked and all. Some people are low.