Lead Theft Saturday 2nd April 2011

If you are responsible for: a Church, a School, a Listed Building or even residential premises, beware, You Could be the Next Ta Lead Theft soars by 75 percent but there are some easy ways to protect yourself against the theft of lead and other precious metals! This example of a church lead roof shows why this type of building is particularly popular with thieves With producers unable to keep up with worldwide demand for metals and the recession beginning to bite, it comes as no surprise that theft of precious metals and roof claddings such as lead and copper, has escalated as predicted. If you are responsible for: a Church, a School, a Listed Building or even residential premises, beware, You Could be the Next Target! Just a few days ago (28th March 2011), the Kingston Guardian reported a 75% increase in lead theft from roofs over just a 6 month period, and if you’ve already been on the receiving end of one of these robberies, you’ll know that it’s not just the financial aftermath that’s a problem, because it also results in all sorts of misery and collateral damage. …and the crazy thing is, the value of the metal stolen by the thieves, only ever gets them a tiny fraction of the cost of repairs that have to be made. Many thefts in fact, only net the thieves a few hundred pounds (so a days proper work would almost certainly be more profitable!), while repairs and weather damage to internal ceilings, furniture and artifacts, etc, often run into thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. One habitual thief on an 18 month lead thieving spree netted just £44,500 for around 45 tons of stolen lead (just think of how much effort it took to lug that much lead around) …but the damage caused, ran into hundreds of thousands if not millions of pounds. Sadly when this habitual thief was finally caught by the police, the magistrate only sentenced him to 100 hours community service, and fined him £100 costs – despite the fact that he had asked for 33 offences to be taken into account! So bearing that in mind, you really need to be taking immediate steps to protect your own interests! Here’re a few practical suggestions of ways you can reduce your risk, some of them can of course be used in combination for maximum benefit (where appropriate, we,ve included some links to useful security products which you may find of help); · Lock all gates and beef up your perimeter security measures to prevent easy access to your grounds or buildings · Lock up wheelie bins, ladders, etc, to prevent them being used as climbing aids to get to low roofs. · Apply anti climb paint to drainpipes, roof edges, etc, and put up warning signs to say that you have done so. · Replace lead roof panels with an alternative material, or · Paint your lead panels with anti climb paint, or · Paint the lead the colour of your roof tiles · Mark the lead panels with covert marking solutions such as enigmatag (criminals don't want to get caught in posession of something that can be proven to belong to someone else) If you're not sure which would be your best option, your local Police Crime Prevention Officer will almost certainly be pleased to advise you, or call Insight Security on 01273 475500, they'll be happy to help and they also supply a wide range of security products that could help you. This message was added on Saturday 2nd April 2011

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