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Originally Posted by hardcopi
I do wonder if First could do something about having someone patrol the parking area. Each team spends thousands and tens of thousands on our equipment and it would be nice if someone was just driving through and sitting there to call the police. If First doesn't do it we should. Just a rotating volunteer schedule. You see something, call the police and take a picture if need be. Usually just having people there will stop it.
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While there is merit in this idea, this is not a place for volunteers. It would place untrained volunteers in a potentially dangerous situation.
FIRST did have security staff present in the parking lot on Saturday morning, but I do not know if they were present the other days.
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The pits are more difficult. You just can't leave your pits unguarded. Not sure what if anything can be done over night. Our team uses a total if 9 ipads for data collection and I personally kept those next to me when they weren't in use. Except for occasional breaks to walk around (where I had another mentor watch them) I made sure our stuff in the stands stayed safe.
I don't think it was a first team, just difficult for a kid to show up with an expensive camera without someone on the team going: "Where'd you get that and why do you have so many pictures of Team 2959 on it?" 
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It has been stated in the past by FIRST for teams to not leave any portable electronics unattended or in the pit overnight. Anything left in the pit should be stored and locked.
As others have stated, these events are open to the public and it is fairly easy to blend in and steal something in mid-day. Who is going to question someone walking around with a laptop or video camera when there are thousands of others doing the same?