California Surveyors Forums

One of our crews just had a Trimble S7 and tripod stolen in Oakland near the Colosseum at Baldwin and Hegenberger.

Apparently a vehicle (unknown type, color or model) pulled up to the instrument, picked up the gun and tripod and took off. They left the case and other items. Clearly criminal masterminds at work.

Serial Number: 37411289

Bummer for the county. But in these cases I always wonder if the theft might have been foiled had a simple effort to lockdown the equipment been employed. I thread a 1/8" stainless steel cable through the tribrach and tripod and lock it to a stationary object whenever setting up my robot anywhere but the most secure sites. It adds about a minute to setup and teardown, and though to my knowledge it's never been tested by real-life thieves, it seems to me that it might well prevent the kind of grab-and-go event that your crew experienced.