When you get robbed...

[Artifex]

I was mixing a band at a festival atop a mountain yesterday when I got the call from one of my studio partners. "We got robbed" he said.

The first image that scanned my mind was our control room emptied of everything.

The opportunistic scumbags actually walked right through the control room,
past the Pro Tools rig, past the mic locker, beyond the two minimoogs
and kicked straight into the office to take it apart.

They found the cashbox, they emptied it. We lost over one thousand pounds in less than two minutes.

I feel lucky. All of the gear is still there, untouched. The project that was being worked on is safe. Our insurance may even pay out. We will survive.

The screwballs also stole my partners keys.

My partner took a bathroom and smoke break, leaving the control room unlocked,
as we often do, being behind keypad door locks and with a receptionist in the building.

The receptionist saw the culprits enter, but took his eye of them to get a cup of coffee just as they managed to enter our private and "secure" section of the centre.

We've spent all day changing locks, tidying and hoping they don't come back in the middle of the night with a crowbar and a truck.

Lessons to be learned:

1, get a safe for weekend cash payments. Bolt it to the floor (although this could have led to them trashing the place or taking gear)

2, Sometimes you can't trust anyone who is supposed to be doing their job.

3, Thieves don't know the value of recording gear.

If this post does anything for anyone, take a look at your security situation
and see where it's lacking, before it's too late.

On the upside, I'm starting an exciting album project in less than twelve hours
and I have the equipment to do it.

Hi,

I don't mean to sound paranoid, but this sounds to me like an "inside job".

Your receptionist did not greet the incoming potential customers, and just walked over to get coffee? FIRED.

You had over 1000 pounds in the safe and not in a bank account? Who put that money there, and who knew about it? That will be your biggest clue, since the robbers went straight for that. Cash is untraceable, unless you photocopy it for the serial numbers, which almost no one does.

Your business partner in the crapper? You were not there, were you... and they "stole his keys"?

And no one confronted the robbers at all? In a complex? I think these robbers are known by someone inside your complex, if not by your partner. Check and see if someone you know there suddenly is able to pay some bills, or shows up with shiny new equipment, a very common mistake of dumb thieves.

Cheers

Duh duh Dunnnnnnn!

[rocky]

Hi,

I don't mean to sound paranoid, but this sounds to me like an "inside job".

Your receptionist did not greet the incoming potential customers, and just walked over to get coffee? FIRED.

You had over 1000 pounds in the safe and not in a bank account? Who put that money there, and who knew about it? That will be your biggest clue, since the robbers went straight for that. Cash is untraceable, unless you photocopy it for the serial numbers, which almost no one does.

Your business partner in the crapper? You were not there, were you... and they "stole his keys"?

And no one confronted the robbers at all? In a complex? I think these robbers are known by someone inside your complex, if not by your partner. Check and see if someone you know there suddenly is able to pay some bills, or shows up with shiny new equipment, a very common mistake of dumb thieves.

Cheers

We thought about this, but on seeing the cctv, it's obvious that these folks didn't know anyone in the building. We have a type of person here that are called "spides" often referred to as "chavs" in England, I don't think you have them in USA.
They leave school at 15 and rob, drink and drug their way through life. Impregnating girls, signing on the dole and wearing shell suits, while randomly fighting anyone they feel like. Most end up in prison or dead from drugs or criminal activity/punishment. This is what we're dealing with.
A few groups of them have been hanging around the area and there's been a run of robberies.

This video will give you an idea of the type of people I'm talking about and also
the route most of their lives sadly take:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjqyDvSn ... re=related

[rocky]

Indeed, they even have a wiki page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spide

Just to tie it back to music, the Ted Leo & The Pharmacists song "Bottle Of Buckie"
touches on the Scottish version called "Neds"

They came back with the old keys and crow bar tonight. Thankfully unsuccessfully, for now. The police failed to find them.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

glad they were unsuccessful but that sucks they came back. good luck and BE CAREFUL.

[mrc]

I got hit once, years ago. They took everything but the phone book, a 1959 Martin 0018 and a Pedal Steel. They took the door frame right off the wall with crowbars. Locks are useless on wodden buildings/door frames. While the cops were there, they got a call on their radio's that the lead investigators' house had been robbed and they even took his curtains. They got my entire tape studio and gear.