Preventing center strap theft/vandalism

[kayak4water]

We have two tennis courts in this town open to the public. It's too open. People have been stealing/vandalizing the center strap. Nothing else, just the strap and the hardware. I don't understand the motivation. What can they possibly use them for? Enlighten me?

We detest buying new straps at $15 a pop. It's too, too easy to unhook/undo them. For now, we'll just try to make it more difficult to steal. Make so that only the dedicated scum can succeed.
Ideas:

1. Substituting an S hook for the snap hook
2. stitching the strap at 36" (sorry, pickleball people!)
3. Writing the name of the Park on the strap.
4. Hook a chain & lock on the gate with S hooks to simulate locked courts. We did that for the squeegees and they've not been moved (knock on wood!).

Any other ideas on raising the center strap thuggery bar?

Thanks.

 

[stapletonj]

There are places selling center straps for $9.99, first..... Buy one, stick it in your bag....

Writing the name on the strap is a good idea.

Probably kids doing it for the thrill, cant think of any other reason to do that.... probably will drop off over time

 

[esgee48]

It's the clean white center strap that is stolen? If so, replace with a dirty (rub new strap with dirt and spray animal repellent on it) strap. All the ideas above are good, but kids are kids. They're really dumb until they achieve maturity.

 

[struggle]

small cable looped through the anchor and padlock through the eyes of the strap?

 

[kayak4water]

Thanks everyone!

1. We replaced the snaphooks (that join the straps to the court ) with burly s-hooks, which were so hard to crimp that only the dedicated vandal/thief could penetrate.
2. We wrote the name of the park on the strap
3. The new style straps can't be unthreaded from the hardware, so we'll stitch only to keep the 36" height.
4. The gate now has a cable and 4 digit combination lock that permits it to open only enough for a small dog to pass. As the cold, rainy season has begun in earnest, most players won't come out; anyone else will assume the courts are closed for the winter. The few tennis nuts that do go (wet or dry!) have the combination. Cost: under $10. (Unbelievably, the Parks person had "researched" locking systems and came up with something that cost $4,000)
5. One of us saw a trio in the courts today during a modest rain, no balls or racquets, just furtive glances in all directions; clearly not performing community service.
6. We'll search for the $10 strap online. We now have three spare straps. We'll bring one on each visit.