Hey teams,
Does anyone know if there is a precedent for laptops being stolen at the FIRST world festival? I’m trying to find out how safe it would be to bring mine and wondered if anybody had had theirs stolen before.
Thanks!
Micah
As long as you keep it with you or with someone on your team you won’t have a problem, our parent team had one stolen 2 years back at Peachtree, just don’t leave it laying around.
Team 1323 brings 3 laptops to Nationals, Long Beach, and UC Davis and has never had a problem with laptops being stolen.
Agreed, as long as you keep an eye on it, there should be no problem. We had one walk off at VCU, but if you leave it on the sidewalk outside the venue, that’s bound to happen.:yikes:
The biggest problem I have seen is that someone from a different team could pick it up and try to return it (thinking that it was lost). It either ended up at Pit Admin, the team’s pit, or returned after the competition. In light of this, make sure your laptop has your contact information on it as well as team information (At least your team number) so that it can be quickly returned to you by the many good samaritans in FIRST.
I had one stolen from our FLL pit at World Festival in 2006. It was packed up with all of our other stuff. They had instructed us to pack up our pit and leave everything there while we went to the closing ceremonies. Bad idea - they were not secured and the Dome had contract workers breaking the place down when we returned. Labeling doesn’t help unless your laptop gets lost. Mine had a big Bomb Squad sticker on the case. We have never had a problem in the FRC or FTC pits.
I have to deal with this question when giving tours of the residence hall that I live in (What if we leave our backpack at the table where were sitting, will it get stolen?). As I tell them, it’s possible, but highly unlikely that your lap top will be stolen. I will be taking my lap top to the event, and I have no concern in my mind that it will be exactly where I left it. :]
My team had one stolen, actually it was my laptop, while in Atlanta, at the competition Ive never had anything taken, however we were at dinner, my laptop bag was in the rear seat area of the truck with our trailer attached, the windows were well tinted, and the bag was black, in a dark interior, the guy smashed the back door glass and pulled it out, in plain view of the guard at a parking garage across the street. But of course " I dident see nothin man!" was the reply.
I guess the point is, at the competition not a lot to worry about, I have left my laptop unattended in the pit and nothing happened to it in the past, not a bad idea to have someone in the pit at all times anyway for visitors, judges etc. Just be really careful anywhere else!!!
The consensus seems to be not to worry about it at the event, I have to disagree with this. While I know most of the competitors at a FIRST event would not steal (even if this is wrong Im pretty happy with this delusion) we have to remember that our events are open to the public. Anyone can come in a look around. I would not leave any expensive equipment unattended for an extended period of time. This goes for anything, at any event.
I have to agree with Andrew. While there is a good chance you wouldn’t get things stolen, there is never a guarantee that someone unscrupulous won’t come by and take valuables. The safest thing is to make sure that anything valuable is always with somebody. If you keep your laptop with you at all times, then you can be certain it won’t get stolen.
Lo/Jack that stuff man. All my laptops have lojack as a precaution because we travel with them a lot. Take the precautions guys.
We have never had a problem at the events, however if you do bring a laptop I would recommend not leaving it in the pits unattended (general common sense stuff).
However, be careful where you take/leave it outside of the event. We had one of our team members parents that drove down left a laptop in the back of a minivan in a supposedly “secure” parking garage while in a restaurant and came back to find the vehicle broken into and the laptop gone. 
I’ve left my laptop in our Pit before, in the stands, and out in the open at team stuff. I haven’t had an issue. That being said, don’t make it easy to steal. I wouldn’t say leave you laptop open in Plain sight in your pit but you don’t need to put it under lock and key. Usually you’re ok if you throw something over it or put it under a table because most people aren’t going to rummage through your stuff. Even then, it’s always good to just give your pit neighbor a heads-up and they’ll usually keep an eye out.
I wouldn’t leave my laptop unattended. But it’s probably safer to leave it unattended at the dome than in your hotel room or car.
We never had any problem with laptops being stolen, but we did have an entire box of buttons vanish at VCU this year.
BTW, if anyone is in the possession of a shoebox-sized cardboard box full of 1793 buttons, please send them to us. Thanks.
i do have 1 question for you then, what if lets say theoretically someone like myself (very experienced with computers) finds your computer, and wipes it clean?
or better yet rips out the hard drive?
What will lo/jack do for you then?
Lo/Jack puts into in the BIOS of supported computers so wiping the hard drive wouldn’t do anything to help you. Atlanta is a rough city. Keep your laptop on you at all times and don’t let yourself get into a risky situation on the streets of Atlanta. I’ve had people come up to me and team members asking us for money. I’ve also had one guy show us a gun after asking me for money, but then he noted that the people walking with me were my friends and he was severely outnumbered. I feel that if I was not in a group of people, that he would have shot me and taken the $20 I had in my wallet. I wouldn’t dare carry around my laptop in the streets. It’s safer in the hotel safe or hidden somewhere in the room than to be on my back when I get mugged. I’ve never had anything stolen though. Just be responsible with your stuff and yourself, and you’ll be all right.
I’ve brought a laptop to almost every event I’ve gone to and I’ve never had it stolen. If you leave it alone in the stands to go get lunch or something as a scout, just ask one of the teams near you to keep an eye on your stuff just in case. We always do that when we leave camera’s and stuff in plain sight if we don’t have someone to sit with them. I know any team that sits near me can feel free to ask me to watch their stuff while I’m scouting. If you’re doing that job, just ask people not wearing that team’s shirt to stay away from that area. -shrug- but then I’m paranoid. 
This is starting to be a pretty good list of easy-to-lift-laptops…:yikes:
Yup I agree, folks you know, GP is nice, Id love to trust other people, really, but the ugly truth is that some people dont care about being nice. Some people will steal your stuff, that is a fact of life and if you put yourself in a situation for it to happen then you are just naive and foolish. Atlanta is a city, a real city with places you dont want to go at night, to leave valuable items unattended is stupid, outright stupid. This includes inside the Georgia Dome. The thinking, “Oh I will be right back” doesn’t apply here either, it takes no time at all to come by and steal something. I hate to bring it up but things are going to be worse then ever due to the economy. Don’t be alone, especially when carrying expensive equipment. Don’t wave around a lot of cash. Don’t leave things unattended.
Gosh that post sounds negative… The general thing is, dont be a fool and trust everyone.
Though, on a related note, if you guys care so little about your laptops that you will leave them unattended, Id GLADLY take them off your hands. I could sell them to finance a new camera that would not leave my sight. 