The homeless crisis continues to plague commercial properties. While homelessness itself if not a crime, having unwanted people hanging around a shopping center or other space could escalate to other issues, including trespassing, damage, vandalism and theft. Real estate managers and owners are under immense pressure to provide more protection for their properties, tenants and customers.
At 10 p.m., a Stealth Monitoring security professional saw two people walking behind an Arizona shopping center. One of the trespassers curled up near the electrical box and went to sleep. Our monitoring operator activated the on-site speaker warnings, which the individual ignored. The operator then called to dispatch police. Officers arrived and safely escorted the intruder from the property.
Taking Proactive Measures to Help Keep Your Property Safe
An increasing number of retail and shopping centers are being used by the homeless population for shelter. If they congregate outside of the businesses there, they could intimidate or threaten customers and employees. Some might even use the area to use, buy or sell drugs and leave a mess in their wake.
Many businesses make use of architectural deterrents to prevent people from getting comfortable. These can include enhanced lighting, benches with central armrests and wave-shaped seating. While some of these defensive measures can help keep people from loitering at your shopping center, there is a much more effective, humane and proactive solution.
Live video monitoring combines advanced technology with human intelligence to monitor properties in real time. Using video analytics on streaming footage, a trained operator specializing in shopping centers can make judgment calls in real time to potentially evaluate and escalate the situation so that action can be taken.
As you saw in the video above, our monitoring professional activated a speaker to warn the trespasser to leave, as well as called police. When police departments get a call from us, they know we are watching activity in progress, which tends to elevate the priority level of the call. As a result, officers often arrive while the intruders are still there, just as you witnessed in our video. This helps to safely diffuse situations before major damage and loss can occur.
Taking proactive steps to help protect your property and the people on it can be much less expensive than losing customers who are afraid to do business there. In fact, our solution can save you up to 60 percent on your security expenses especially if you have heavy guard expenses and repetitive property damage.
For more information about live video monitoring for your retail center or other type of commercial property, contact us.
