Thefts from Portsmouth

H

hisw

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 May 2003
Messages
181
www.araminta.org.uk
There have been a number of boats broken into in Portsmouth Harbour. eight in spider lake alone! Does any one know what the police are doing about it. What can we do to reduce the risk?

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You cant really expect the police to do anything about theft when there are all those speeding drivers to be caught! Just report the crime and they will give you a reference number for the insurance company over the phone, then we can all pay in the form of increased premiums.
On a more serious note, a lot of this stolen stuff must end up at boat jumbles. I was at Goole last sunday and I wouldnt be suprised if a lot of stuff from Portsmouth boats was there as well. I didnt see any of the boys in blue though!

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At least 4 have also been broken into up by Portchester castle - ours being one of them. The marine police unit have asked the MOD police if they could extend their patrols further up the harbour, even though they're supposed to stick around the dockyard. I don't know how often they make the journey up the harbour, but we were on board the weekend before last and a couple of them motored past in a RIB - not that that's much of a deterrent but I suppose it's better than nothing.

The Hampshire police go to all the local boat jumbles, but unless something is marked and has been reported stolen there's not a lot that they can do. We were broken into twice within the space of a week (just before the Beaulieu boat jumble) and have now fitted a moody cabinlock (£80), engraved/marked all our stuff, removed everything that we can and leave the curtains closed. Someone has been on our boat since we fitted the cabinlock, but didn't bother breaking in. They broke into nearby boats, but just scratched the topsides and left muddy footprints on ours.

My opinion has always been that if someone wants to break in they will do. As we live near where the boat is moored, our next plan is to fit an alarm (£300) that rings us on our mobile to let us know that the boat has been broken into, so that we can go and clear up the mess. It will also sound a very loud siren and maybe flash a light up the mast to draw attention to the boat. Additionally, if someone steals the boat it can be traced. The alarm is mainly for some peace of mind, but would hopefully act as a slight deterrent.

Heather

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I have a camera connected up to my pc which records anyone coming onboard or nearby. Using this with an alarm as well hopefully my boat will be safe.

Mark

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As long as people (who wouldnt dream of breaking into a boat) are quite happy to buy secondhand boat gear without any idea where it comes from then the vicious circle of boat crime will continue.



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I live near where I keep my boat, Heather. Do you have a www for the <<alarm (£300) that rings us on our mobile to let us know that the boat has been broken into>>?
Cheers
John

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Well said.

Personally I think everyone leaving a boat jumble should be automatically arrested on suspicion of handling stolen property.

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Problem is Heather that the Police can in reality do very little and until society, that is us, demand of our supposed representatives in Parliament that so called "petty" crime...it's not petty to me..is dealt with in a manner that is a deterent then things will only get worse.

We lost some things off our boat in Barcelona and they have a security guard checking all people walking near the pontoons. The warning to would be thiefs that cameras are in operation didn't come into effect as the cameras don't in fact exist!


Phil

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Thieves who entered my boat caused more damage than the value of the kit they stole!
The MOD Police also have the terrorist threat to deal with, so I dont think boat theft is their priority.
I recommend a loud alarm. In addition to the alarm, have a look at the link below. It will send a text message to your mobile if the alarm is activated. Seems a good idea if you live close by.
I have not yet fitted one of these units so cannot comment further

http://www.bikeguarddirect.co.uk/bikeguard.htm#low battery.

Regards

Alastair

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I went to the boat jumble at Boats on Show at Penton Hook at the weekend. This thread has now got me conjuring up all sorts of images of absolutely inept thieves nicking all the tat that was up for sale there. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

I do actually agree that jumbles, and ebay, are ideal 'fences' for stolen gear but a few carefully worded questions should obtain the provenance of the said items.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/forbsie?&page=1>My Project</A>
 
I was in port solent some years ago, and thieves floated over to the "secure" pontoons from the public quays. The boats that *didn't* get broken into were those with stickers on the companionway door saying "Autohelm Secure" or "Acme Movement Detector Alarm - disarm before entering" and suchlike. Of course, these don't wholly eliminate crime, just move it on somewhere else.

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Having had a CabinLock fitted - can you recommend it in terms of ease of use and quality of build etc?

Thanks

<hr width=100% size=1>Gavin
 
I would not normally offer anything for sale on the forum, but I have purchased about 10 mobile inteface boxes for our work in broadcast television. They have a mobile phone built in and a slot for a "pay as you go" sim card. They run off 12V battery and have a back up battery as well. When a contact is closed (ie from a magentic swith on the hatch) they dial a number. You can also answer the call and listen to what is happening in the boat (or car) and speak to the boat through a seperate loudspeaker installed on board. Basically you can tell them the police are on their way and to get out.

I think we can get the basic box for about £140 inc VAT if anybody is interested I can E-Mail them more details and a list of accessories. They are dual frequency so you can choose the network with the best coverage in your area. Of course with the right SIM card they will also work overseas.

I am fitting one to our boat on the Hamble. The police do attend boat jumbles with a list of stolen items and a UV lamp to show up marking, but they are in plain clothes for obvious reasons. They will also advise you on how to make your boat secure and mark your property. In Southampton there are two offices who deal with this.

Poggy

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It would be interesting to note how the various security facilities would respond to such a facility. I leave my boat on a fairly open (completely public) poontoon that is regularily visitied by a security patrol who have mobiles. If I were to put this in place on the boat it would be easy to program it to ring their number and to program their sets with the boat name - all in theory of course. I will speak to them this weekend. Wonder how MDL, for example, would feel about supporting such in their marinas?

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Hi,

That would be a good idea, as I mentioned we are not involved in the security business, but we needed to protect our "mobile" equipment from theft so I bought these units which work really well at a cheap price. I thought they would also be ideal for charter boats etc as you can also use it as a handsfree mobile so they could press a single button to get through to the charter company for assistance or advice.

Poggy

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Poggy

One thing to be aware of with text messaging (SMS) came from a recent letter to Navigation News (RIN puiblication). Neither Vodafone nor O2 have any service level agreements with customers for SMS. This means in effect that there is no guarantee of latency.

The writer went on to state that "I have been woken at 0400 by a response to a message that was sent at 2000 the previous day - such delays are quite common". In an emergency, such delays are clearly unacceptable. Some of the worst delays happen at night and at weekends when potential users of SOS SMS would need a reliable service. This may be because GSM network operators take equipment down for maintenance at these times.

Regards
Tom

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Hi,

This unit doesn't text, it actually calls you up and you use the caller ID system, which does mean you need caller display for a home phone etc. It also allows you to hear what is going on and also talk back through a loudspeaker to the boat. i.e you could say that the police were on the way or that they had been spotted on CCTV etc. Probably put the criminal off if they heard someone talking to them while they tried to steal your equipment.

Poggy

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Guess where my boat is moored: Spider Lake. I am worried, I always thought that
these moorings were a bit inaccessible. We removed the more valuable gear at the
weekend when we heard the rumours. Did I hear that they are housing asylum seekers
somewhere in Gosport? It can`t be related.
The place is a bit far from shore for an alarm to be heard surely? I like the idea of
the alarm that calls your mobile though- I wonder how quickly the Police would react
if your alarm went off and you contacted them. Anyone have a contact number for
Hampshire Police Marine Branch? To their credit Hampshire Police do seem to be
active- I was pulled over and checked when towing a trailer boat-they checked the boat and engine. I feel given the level of thefts at the moment they should be around at night stopping and checking on small boats around the moorings-most likely it is a
nondescript small motorboat with a cabin or cuddy where they can stash the stolen stuff.


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