08/10/2020
Unfortunately, we have been receiving an increased amount of calls regarding property theft. A few notes:
1. Call the police, file a report, get a case number. The sooner you get a report filed, the easier it is for the police to find your stuff. If a crook is going to pawn your stuff they usually will do it right away. Also, all items we take in are reported every night to Leads Online, a national reporting system that literally hundreds (if not thousands) of police departments around the country have access to.
2. If you want to let us know about your stuff, make a list with descriptions of the items, especially any special markings or things that would set your item apart. Its best if you can drop this list off, but you can message us on Facebook. You can also email the list ([email protected]) but please call if you do so we can check our inbox/junk folders.
3. The most common thread I've heard from victims is that their stuff was stolen by someone "staying for a short time" at their house. Second most common is that they forgot to lock their truck and stuff got stolen overnight (or sometimes during the day!). Third is that the stuff was stolen out of their garage during the day. Crooks seem to be looking for open garages.
4. Storage sheds: a crooks dream. If you have to use them, check up on your things at least weekly.
5. Bikes are typically stolen by crooks looking to use the bike for a short time to get around town, then ditched. I've heard of a number of bikes getting thrown in the river afterwards.
6. Believe it or not, it is not very common for us to get stolen stuff through our stores, but it does happen (about 1 item out of 1000). We train our employees the best we can to sniff this stuff out, but we can't catch it all, and we have a reputation for cooperating with the police.
Stay safe all, and be vigilant about protecting your things! Times are tough for everyone and there's plenty around that are looking for a quick buck.
