Security at St. Louis

[GeeTwo]

There is an enormous parking area upriver* of the Jones Dome. There are four huge lots with absolutely no markings. They will fill up progressively over the first few days of CMP. I honestly don't know how I managed to back out of a dead-end I found that I had driven into and found a dead end last year; DO NOT DRIVE A TRAILER INTO AN AREA YOU DO NOT SEE HOW TO DRIVE THROUGH AND OUT OF.

3946 had no theft issues in the gravel lots in the big city in St. Louis, but we had our solar panels stolen about a week ago on our own school campus in the small town of Slidell. To quote Alastor Moody: Be Ever Vigilant!

*[Edit]: Probably just an echo of growing up in the New Orleans area; we understand upriver and downriver [especially refereneced to the Mississippi] as better directions than North, South, East, and West. OBTW, I grew up on the West Bank, and regularly drove across the river "west to east" at sunrise using both bridges with the sun at my back, and home to the west bank with the sun in front of me. (For the record, in New Orleans, the river runs largely west to east, but both bridges cross as the river runs from roughly south no north.)

Edit2: For the record, New Orleans is among the worst cities in North America, so perhaps my witness means less than it might otherwise. My only brother was among our region's abysmal 1993 statistics.

[Billfred]

And one piece of security going the other way: expect your bag to be checked when you go into the building. I've even had to unzip my carry-on suitcase, underwear and all, in the front entry of America's Center to get through.

[Trying to Help]

Are there prohibited items? Leatherman tools? Pocket knives of a certain size?

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Trying to Help

Are there prohibited items? Leatherman tools? Pocket knives of a certain size?

Besides the usual Missouri State Laws, can't say in the 5 years of going to Champs I've ever been frisked while entering, though also can't say I've ever attempted to bring in a knife with a blade over 3".

[electroken]

Originally Posted by Trying to Help

Are there prohibited items? Leatherman tools? Pocket knives of a certain size?

I've carried my trusty Leatherman Skeletool in plain view at champs for the past 3 years and it's never been mentioned.

[BethMo]

Given that the place is full of power tools, forbidding a Leatherman would be remarkably silly.

[pilleya]

Originally Posted by BethMo

Given that the place is full of power tools, forbidding a Leatherman would be remarkably silly.

A powertool tends to be a lot harder to conceal than a multi tool.

But yes, it would be silly

[CloakAndDagger]

I would say that if you are planning on bringing items that you are unsure about, pack them in your trailer, seeing as they tend to be more lenient with things in your build cart/ things of that nature

[techtiger1]

Wait till the championship event in Detroit

[IndySam]

I love St Louis but like any urban area there are problems. We are a convention of high tech people and are prime candidates to have easily pawnable stuff in our cars. The criminals know this so don't leave anything in the passenger area of your car, not even a jacket on the seat (it may look like you are hiding something.)

Also the security in the parking areas last year was a non-existent joke. I wrote to FIRST complaining it. Lets hope they do a better job this year.

[FrankJ]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Also the security in the parking areas last year was a non-existent joke. I wrote to FIRST complaining it. Lets hope they do a better job this year.

+1 for this. They even warned not to leave your trailer overnight in the provided trailer parking. It would be better to collect a parking fee to provide some security.

[krtanjek]

Hoping security in the parking area for trailers and buses is better than last year. Last year our RV was broken into and lost ~$7k worth of equipment in the designated parking area where "security" had been. We thought about adding an electric shock floor this year. :-)

Hope everyone has a safe trip to St. Louis and look forward to having fun.

[hrench]

Originally Posted by krtanjek

We thought about adding an electric shock floor this year. :-)

This makes me wonder if there would be any way for police or security to build a 'mouse trap'.

May be a market for such a trailer as a product.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by hrench

This makes me wonder if there would be any way for police or security to build a 'mouse trap'.

May be a market for such a trailer as a product.

You know, as smart as all of us are one would think we could create a solution with a cRIO, LOTS of LED's, a bunch of barely-functional web cams, an on-demand cell connection, plenty of 12V batteries from a couple of years ago and perhaps some servos or motors to make things move.

It could literally serve as a beacon for "security", or the police, to say "hey, the thieves are right here, right now". Plus there would be photo evidence, auto-stored in the "cloud".

Then the marketing team could make some graphics that say
"What would you like to tell the Internet?" or
"Ha! Gotcha! If you run, our robots may chase you..." or
"Autonomous Apprehending Device Activated" or
"WARNING: This device is a prototype and may explode if it detects fear" or
<insert witty and snarky remark here>

Ok ... I (mostly) kid - this wouldn't help personal vehicles much. We had an incident in 2013, but the car was a rental and there weren't any personal items in it. It seriously needs to be addressed...

[b1nary]

as long as you carry your important devices with you or leave them with someone who will watch them, you should be fine. and also make sure someone is always in your pit. if something is stolen, there should be security footage that could be reviewed. i asked the security staff to do that at UIC pavillion at the midwest regional.