My wife teaches silversmithing on the side through our local Gem and Mineral Society. They have a space in a building in the center of a park. It had been remodeled over the last year and a half. They have completed moving in their tools, equipment, etc... and have classes scheduled to start on Monday the fifth. Sunday the Club President was dropping off some books and found that someone had tried to break in. We spent four hours on Sunday waiting for the police and a board up service to come and secure the door. At that time, we were not sure the theives made it in. Yesterday with the city employees back at work, we got the parks personnel (the parks department is responsible for maintenance and repair of the building) to come and open the doors. We didn't want to totally destroy the doors opening up the shop. They got the doors opened and we were able to get in.
Thieves had made it in and were prepared with bolt cutters and pry bars. They cut off the lock to the storage room as well as cutting off the lock to storage cabinets within. They took jewelry hammers, pliers, and other tools. Fortunately they really didn't know what they were doing as they passed up on much more valuable equipment. Strangely, they took the MSDS binder!?! They didn't vandalize what they didn't take either. The loss totaled around $6,000. The final tally is still being compiled by the various instructors. My wife is in charge of all the classes and shop. Due to the move out for renovation, they had a really good inventory in which to validate the loss and the claim to the insurance carrier. Unfortunately, much of the equipment needs to be replaced by the start of class on Monday.
The parks department re-secured the doors with heavy duty hasps, cane bolts and padlocks. They'll need to get new doors and hardware to provide a permanant solution. The Parks staff were very helpful and responsive when we were back on normal business hours.
So here is my unsolicited advice and the lessons learned from the incident.
1-Look over your shop to determine how people could break in (Thieves aren't concerned with the damage they do when effecting an entry) Secure all identified weaknesses.
2-Consider an alarm system
3-Inventory and document your equipment and tools (It is remarkable how quickly even small tools add up to a very large dollar amount)