Owning a business comes with many challenges. Protecting your property from crime is one of them.
In this video, a Stealth security operator saw an individual attempting to break into a store at a New York retail center by smashing in the front window. An accomplice stood by and watched. Our monitoring operator contacted police immediately. When officers arrived, the suspects ran. The police pursued the perpetrators, caught up to them and made an arrest.
The Data Behind Retail Burglary
A USA Today article states property crimes are the most commonly reported crimes in the United States. These include burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. A Statista
report shows there were a reported 1.23 million burglaries in 2018.
Since 1990, the overall property crime rate has been dropping. That doesn’t mean it’s not still an issue. In fact, so far in 2020, property crimes have spiked by 16 percent in Philadelphia, with the largest increases in retail theft.
For the most part, people steal for economic gain. Retail burglaries often occur at stores in outlying locations, at those with desirable merchandise, or ones with insufficient security. This includes bad/low lighting, poor locks and a lack of alarms or cameras. One more thing to note, stores that have been broken into once, are more likely to be broken into again.
Deter Retail Burglary with Live Video Monitoring
Retail centers present unique security issues. Often, those challenges are too big for a security guard to handle. Live video monitoring is a cost-effective way to help reduce and deter crime, including theft, break-ins, vandalism, damage and trespassing.
Trained security operators watch for suspicious activity in real time to catch crimes in progress. Unlike patrols who can miss criminal activity simply by being on another part of the property, our operators can monitor multiple areas simultaneously and cover more ground than a guard. We also have a team of video analysts who can study footage and provide condensed clips of any incident to be shared with police and insurance companies.
In less than a minute, an intruder can smash a window and make off with merchandise. If you want more information about how a proactive security solution can help protect your retail property, contact us.
