Mowers, blowers, and trimmers are hot items
The Albany Police Department says that lawn mowers, blowers, and trimmers have been a hot ticket item for thieves this summer.
“Summertime is when the grass is growing the most. When people are out in their yards the most and actually working on their yards. This is when everybody has their equipment out in the open,” said Detective Tim Harvey.
Police say you have to minimize the opportunity you give to people to take something out of your yard. They say you can do that by keeping a well lit area, locking doors to sheds, and by writing down all of the serial numbers of your equipment.
“They basically can grab what they can. If they have weed eaters laying out in the yard, they'll grab weed eaters. If they have a trailer full of stuff they'll grab the whole trailer along with everything on it,” said Harvey.
So police teamed up with Lowe’s on Friday for some tips and useful tools to keep your investments safe. Assistant store manager Alan Mitchell says if it's locked up it makes it that much harder to take.
“Here we have another sledge key cable that you can loop through the tire that holds on to the trailer and you hook it to the axel that keeps the trailer from being mobile. Once you get it engaged just turn your key and you can unlock it. This is a pick free lock. The sledge lock has a braided design which is actually a carbide steal that makes it extremely hard to be cut with a regular bolt cutter,” said Mitchell.
Most of those items are under $50. Lowe's and law enforcement also praise lighting systems that could alert you to suspicious activity around you home. But if you're on a budget like most folks are Lowe’s has another item that may work for you.
“We have a grey 43" chain which is also a carbide galvanized steel which can't be sawed through. Can't be cut with regular set bolt cutters. You'd actually have to have something that had a hydraulic pump or something in order to cut it,” said Mitchell.