the sad thing about this is that the RNLI, like the churches in this land of ours rely upon the honesty of others, and are probably the most relaxed organisation where security is concerned that there could be.
And yet the RNLI are a charity of immense collateral and valuable equipment. I don't think that the RNLI have even gone down the road of fitting CCTV's to their stations yet, and so are their worst enemy.
I know that Cromer was never, and neither is Fleetwood, from what I am told, plumbed into their local police stations for any early alarms from burglar break ins and they still labour under the belief that people just won't break in to a station in order to do damage or theft, because they are a charity who saves lives at sea, and yet such scrota that do, do not have any more on their mind than obtaining goods that can be sold to maintain a drug habit or similar, and as such couldn't care less what the charity is or represents. It is just money to them, and sadly a bright shiny lump of gold has no distinction other that the price they can get for it. And sadly it is also a case of "steel to order", which is even more depressing.
It won't be long before such thieves actually steel a lifeboat from an afloat pen. I know from talking to the lads at Fleetwood that this was once attempted when two nutters scaled the high security fence and gained access to the lifeboat deck, but happily they were drunk and couldn't make entry to the main cockpit, not knowing that they could have started her from the flying bridge with some nouse. It was only the diligence of a dog walker apparently who heard the noise down on the pontoon and alerted the police that they were found, arrested and GIVEN A CAUTION for trespassing..........no more than that!
I know that the case of the theft of the Gold Medal is seen to be an inside job within the RNLI as some seem to think, but had there been more security within the organisation, it would not have happened..
Jim.