A group of thieves, all members of the same South Side smash and grab burglary gang, are finally either under arrest, or being sought by police armed with arrest warrants, after committing a string of at least forty burglaries in the Midwest this past year.
The well-organized smash and grab burglary gang has targeted high-end stores in and near Chicago; they usually wear masks, gloves, and hoodies and are always gone within two minutes of their entry. According to Central District Police Commander, the thieves did their homework; they cased the stores ahead of time, chose which items to steal, and even created maps of their targeted items. As the Commander told CBS Chicago, the maps allowed them “to steal the most valuable items in the shortest amount of time.”
The thieves’ usual entry, accomplished by either driving cars through the front doors of the stores or smashing windows, took very little time. In at least one case, the thieves smashed their stolen car through the doors of a closed mall and drove through the mall to an expensive handbag and luggage store. They then drove through the doors of the store, grabbed most of the high-end merchandise on display, and made their escape. According to the surprised cleaning crew, the entire event took only a minute or so.
The police finally cracked the case last December when patrolling officers captured two of the smash and grab gang who were hiding behind a dumpster while their cohorts were ramming a van through the doors of a nearby department store. Although the gang is now broken up, most of the stolen items haven’t been recovered and police are still trying to find and arrest the gang’s fences. The stolen goods are reported to have sold for 30 – 40% of their retail value.
The shopping center and other properties in this articles are not clients of Stealth Monitoring. Stealth proactive live surveillance can detect and deter crime in Chicago and other cities in the U.S. for greater security while reducing security guard and other expenses. A Stealth operator could have seen unusual activity like smash and grab burglaries, activated an audible warning to deter the thieves, and called the local police.
Please contact Stealth today for more information to protect your shopping center or store chain. Visit our web site to see actual videos of criminals being apprehended at shopping centers, as well as other businesses.
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