Capitol Hill’s Gay City Health is looking for assistance from the public following a burglary at their E Pike headquarters early Friday morning.
Overnight between 1 and 4:30a, a thief proceeded to use a stolen security fob to enter the premises three times and remove what seems to be a targeted list of electronics and equipment, Gay City’s Robert Roth said.
Included in the haul were two computers used for media and graphics work, cameras, a high-end video camera and an external hard drive with years of work from Gay City documentaries.
“Insurance will replace [the equipment], but the footage is irreplaceable,” Roth said.
The fob was apparently stolen from Gay City earlier in the week.
Gay City provides education and health services to residents in King County. It is a CHS advertiser.
Anybody with information about the theft or who may have seen something around the 500 block of E Pike early this morning is encouraged to call East Precinct burglary detectives at (206) 684-5733. You can also let Gay City know at (206) 860-6969.
So sorry to hear it! Hoping you find the missing stuff. It seems a particular shame when thieves attack non-profits who are helping the community.
This is terribly sad…
Any data which isn’t encrypted and backed up off site is always at risk. This is as true for individuals as it is organizations. If you’re reading this, take a moment to consider how easily your data might be lost, what the consequences would be, and what you can do about it.
Why was the key fob not deactivated immediately after being reported stolen? Basic due diligence?
Perhaps they didn’t realize it had been stolen until the break-in happened and they were investigating how the burglar(s) got in.
The theft of something irreplaceable like original media content is terrible, but it’s also also an avoidable calamity. Disk space is cheap, offsite cloud storage plans are reasonably priced. If you are working with content that cannot be easily replaced then it should be backed up offsite, whether you are a business, a nonprofit, or an individual.