Baskets stolen at new Kentucky course

[DavidSauls]

Yeah, our efforts are just to discourage the less-motivated thieves.

 

[txmxer]

 

[araytx]

Anyone who is stealing a basket not on the spur of the moment is going to be able to steal the basket regardless of what physical measures are put in place regarding the basket itself.

These locks can also be defeated or bypassed in under a minute. Welding the the pole to the sleeve, depending on how it is done can increase that time to over a minute, assuming that the perps don't want to have to extend the pole to reuse it. If they don't mind doing that, we're back down to under a minute no matter how you attach the pole to the sleeve.

If, however, you pour some concrete into the poles --and use the below ground attachment together with the round "shackle-less" locks, the stealing becomes less cost and time effective for the thieves. Can't cut through the pole, Plus they have to dig to get to the locks. Well-organized thieves, of course as others said, cannot be stopped, but those tactics will deter the most opportunistic casual thief. Plus customizing the baskets' "chastity belt" bands makes it even more of a deterrent because the opportunity to re-sell becomes even more problematic for the thieves.

 

[Countchunkula]

^Agree that would make it much more difficult. Even if you fill the pole with concrete, I expect you could still cut it with a tubing cutter though.

At a place I used to work, they tore out the raised flooring in the offices to remodel. The decking of the raised flooring was supported with 2x2' steel squares that were about 2" thick with beveled edges so you could run cable in between squares. The steel squares were filled with concrete making them ridiculously heavy.

My coworker was selling them at his local scrap yard as steel. I was telling him that he'd be in deep sh!t once the scrap yard caught on. He said they knew from the first load and were simply mixing them in with the container loads they sent overseas.

So maybe steel filled with concrete is even more attractive to the determined thief?

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

If, however, you pour some concrete into the poles --and use the below ground attachment together with the round "shackle-less" locks, the stealing becomes less cost and time effective for the thieves. Can't cut through the pole, Plus they have to dig to get to the locks. Well-organized thieves, of course as others said, cannot be stopped, but those tactics will deter the most opportunistic casual thief. Plus customizing the baskets' "chastity belt" bands makes it even more of a deterrent because the opportunity to re-sell becomes even more problematic for the thieves.

This might help deter theft, but a lock also deters casual thieves. I'm not ever going to post how to do it, but pouring concrete into the poles isn't going raise the stealing time to much more than one minute with a widely availabe, $20 hand tool - although it will make taking them more work due to the increased weight. And if there are two determined thieves, as others have mentioned, they can just take the basket, concrete and all, in a very short period of time with no tools.

A course near my home took locks off the baskets because it was too much of a hassle to have to unlock them to change basket positions. They finally replaced those baskets this year and never had any of them stolen. The OP clearly shows that theft is a concern, but it just doesn't seem cost effective to me to put too much effort into theft deterrence. Just put a good lock on the basket and replace them if stolen.

I'd love to see baskets have airtags in them so that the theives could be caught and prosecuted. Installing them in the top of the pole would be exceedingly easy. The owner would just have to put in new batteries every year or so. None of this seems cost effective either unless there were repeated problems with theft.

 

[Dthunderchicken]

That's pretty much all you can do.

 

[Dthunderchicken]

This might help deter theft, but a lock also deters casual thieves. I'm not ever going to post how to do it, but pouring concrete into the poles isn't going raise the stealing time to much more than one minute with a widely availabe, $20 hand tool

In addition to the concrete I used to drop rebar into fence/gate posts to make it a bit more challenging

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

In addition to the concrete I used to drop rebar into fence/gate posts to make it a bit more challenging

I've thought up stuff, not to deter, but to get back at thieves. My favorite idea was to use alcohol to make a concentrated tincture of urushiol from poison ivy and put it in a bag that would rupture if the basket were removed. Even if that were legal, it would just be too much trouble. I think risk of theft is just something courses will have to live with.

 

[glassila]

I really doubt if an honest person or course would purchase baskets that have been "cut off". A cut pipe is a pretty clear indicator that the basket was stolen.
Making the basket much harder by welding it to the post and/or etching the course/owner name on it is probably the best deterent.
(unless the theieves are selling baskets to dirtbags who don't care that the baskets were stolen)

 

[txmxer]

I really doubt if an honest person or course would purchase baskets that have been "cut off". A cut pipe is a pretty clear indicator that the basket was stolen.
Making the basket much harder by welding it to the post and/or etching the course/owner name on it is probably the best deterent.
(unless the theieves are selling baskets to dirtbags who don't care that the baskets were stolen)

Fair point. I guess somebody is willing to buy stolen baskets

 

[R-Ogre]

Fair point. I guess somebody is willing to buy stolen baskets

I wonder how often it's people actually selling them as baskets vs selling them as scrap vs NIMBYs who just hate disc golf

 

[Steve West]

Here is a basket with a lot of anti-"theft" protection. Rebar in the pole, pole filled with concrete, a lot of concrete at the base, covering the lock. And probably more.

The weird part is this a rogue basket someone placed on the course without permission. Which is just as illegal as removing one.

I guess they wanted to make it hard for the parks department to confiscate it.

Spoiler

 

[R-Ogre]

Here is a basket with a lot of anti-"theft" protection. Rebar in the pole, pole filled with concrete, a lot of concrete at the base, covering the lock. And probably more.

The weird part is this a rogue basket someone placed on the course without permission. Which is just as illegal as removing one.

I guess they wanted to make it hard for the parks department to confiscate it.

Spoiler

Wtf….

 

[Dthunderchicken]

I wonder how often it's people actually selling them as baskets vs selling them as scrap vs NIMBYs who just hate disc golf

Last time I made a scrap run (maybe last month) the buyer wasn't even buying steel.

 

[txmxer]

Last time I made a scrap run (maybe last month) the buyer wasn't even buying steel.

serious? that seems really strange given the shortage of steel these days.

 

[R-Ogre]

Last time I made a scrap run (maybe last month) the buyer wasn't even buying steel.

Hey nobody said the kind of people who steal baskets are smart

 

[biscoe]

Here is a basket with a lot of anti-"theft" protection. Rebar in the pole, pole filled with concrete, a lot of concrete at the base, covering the lock. And probably more.

The weird part is this a rogue basket someone placed on the course without permission. Which is just as illegal as removing one.

I guess they wanted to make it hard for the parks department to confiscate it.

Spoiler

There is a course near me where all 18 baskets were installed "rogue" without the knowledge of the parks department. A very well known name in the game may or may not have been involved...

 

[txmxer]

I wonder how often it's people actually selling them as baskets vs selling them as scrap vs NIMBYs who just hate disc golf

The link shared here definitely looks suspicious, but selling stolen baskets seems like a lot of risk--people are going to be watching for baskets for sale. The OP article says the baskets are worth about $5000 (new). Used/stolen probably 1/2 or less? Baskets weigh about 60#s? Steel scrap is 185 per ton right now, so that's about $70 worth of scrap?

Seems nuts to me.

 

[Dthunderchicken]

serious? that seems really strange given the shortage of steel these days.

Yeah, I was surprised too. So much so that I looked up the price of scrap steel. IIRC it was $163/ton. I figured I donated about $20 to him. It was worth it to get rid of it.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

There is a course near me where all 18 baskets were installed "rogue" without the knowledge of the parks department. A very well known name in the game may or may not have been involved...

Hmmm....