Security at Sports Pools
 

In today’s online news is an article concerning an arrest made of a man who was caught on camera on two recent dates stealing from the locker room and a table on the pool deck. This is not the first time such thefts have occurred and not only from the Colony Cottage Pool. It may be the first time the thief was caught.

Nobody should leave anything of value in a pool locker room. The only alternative is to bring keys and ID, presumably in some sort of bag, and leave it on the deck while swimming, playing volleyball, water aerobics, etc. There is no way to even lock up your keys. Anyone can walk around the pool deck, help themselves, and get away quickly while people are enjoying the pool.

I’ve called John Rohan’s office asking that lockers of some kind, even just for keys, be installed at sports pools. The number is 352-674-1800.

If you use sports pools, please join me. Make the call.In one of the cases mentioned, the thief stole keys and opened the car where the person’s wallet was and took cash. He could have stolen the car!

Was that the 40 year old living with his parents?

:ohdear: Sounds like the 40 year old that lives with his parents in the $465,000 house on Bonifay Golf Course. You would think the parents would have smartened up the first time. Wonder how safe the neighbors feel. :shrug:

Don't know if you have seen this, but it might be a viable alternative: FlexSafe: Anti-Theft Portable Safe and Beach Chair Vault. Packable & Slash Resistant to leaving your keys/wallet unsecured.

That would be fine it one was permitted to bring beach chairs into sports pools or are you being facetious?

Update: I just returned from Colony pool. Coincidentally, I met the man whose keys were stolen. He had nothing in the dressing room. All he had was his keys which he put in his shorts pocket. He placed his shorts on the table on the deck beside the pool. When he went to leave, his keys were no longer in his pocket.

The thief used his keys to access his wallet from his car, took the cash, and threw the keys and wallet (which the victim had hidden on the passenger side floor) on the drivers seat.

I called the Recreation Department earlier requesting some system be installed to safeguard at least keys. They asked me if I wanted the Colony Cottage manager to call me back. I said no—this is a sports pool problem—not a Colony Cottage problem, it needs to be escalated. Well, guess who called me back? The manager from Colony Cottage! She wants to know what questions I have! Questions??

We’re playing phone tag. I will update.

Why wouldn't you just wear your key/s?(around your wrist, around your neck, or pinned to your bathing suit?) Or if they are fancy keys not made for water, leave them with the volunteer at the front desk) and lock anything else of value in your car? Think of all of the accessories in all of the rec centers that never get stolen around here. I think this guy has been caught and that's good. I don't look for a crime spree, do you? Besides installing lockers in ALL of the regional rec centers, I bet someone can figure something else out. We have lived here for eleven years and never had anything stolen at the pools here.

:confused: Who do you think is in charge of the Colony Cottage Sports Pool? How about the Manager from Colony Cottage Rec.! I'm sure they have a procedure to follow. I'm sure they also have a "Chain of Command" to follow.

My question would be..... are you looking for an argument or a solution? Follow the procedure (don't change it) and hopefully you can get something done. Good luck. :ho:

"He went back to the Colony sports pool on the afternoon of Jan. 27 and stole a 71-year-old man’s backpack, containing his wallet, credit cards, driver’s license, clothing, car keys and jacket, all valued at $1,066. That day he also stole a woman’s navy blue bag containing a bracelet and a vehicle key fob. Those items were valued at $375."
You leave a backpack with over $1k of stuff in it on a table at a pool, or a bag containing a valuable bracelet? SMH.

Whenever I swim laps at one of the sports pools I bring all my important stuff with me to the pool in a back pack and leave it right next to the pool at the end of the lane I am swimming in. If someone has the nerve to go into the pool area and go right to the edge of the pool (without a bathing suit on) and grab my back pack, God help them if I catch them. The only thing I leave in the men's changing area is my clothes, so if you see an old man driving in a golf cart with nothing on but a bathing suit, you know it is me and someone stole my clothes from the changing area.

There's also the District Gov incident form.

How about a picket line in front of mom and dad's house tell they toss him

All they need is an employee there to scan cards as you enter

If this guy was living with his parents, he already has an ID card.

This is getting to be a real problem. Wonder if TV would put a wall of safes in the locker rooms. They do this at radiology at UF. You lock your stuff up. The key is on a bracelet that you wear.

:coolsmiley: I'm in!