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Crew Caught Using Substances on Camera at A California Shopping Center

Posted by Rick Charney on Mar 17, 2023

For commercial property owners and managers, maintaining a clean, safe, comfortable public retail or shopping center that is easily accessible to tenants and their clients is vital to the bottom line. Unfortunately, what makes a shopping center easily accessible to desired members of the public can also make it a tempting hangout for loiterers, criminals, vagrants, and those with ill intent.

In this Arrest of the Month video, a crew of Californians chose a shopping center as a place to hang out and use unknown substances. What they didn’t realize? Stealth Monitoring could see just what they were up to.

In the middle of the day at a California shopping center, three individuals were spotted on surveillance by a sharp-eyed Stealth security professional hanging out, behaving suspiciously. A closer look revealed the three were using an unknown substance, making their behavior more than just strange, but potentially dangerous. Operators immediately contacted onsite security, who was unavailable, and followed up with a call to local police. Officers arrived on site quickly, and responded by taking at least one of the three into custody right away.

Help Reduce Risks and Potential Damages at Your Shopping Center with Live Video Monitoring

Commercial properties like shopping and retail centers are often the site of loitering, vandalism, property damages, break-ins, and other unwanted or potentially dangerous activity. While many risks are more likely to occur at night when there are fewer people around to potentially intervene, loitering and associated behaviors can occur at any time.

The individuals in the above video appeared to feel completely at ease making use of a client’s property to hang out, spread their belongings, and use illegal substances. Loitering in and of itself is often not a crime, but the associated behaviors can be difficult to spot, prove, or deter without proactive security measures.

Even traditional security cameras and guards may not be enough to protect your property. Many criminals have learned that static, unmonitored cameras are unlikely to result in any real consequences. Guards can only be in one place at a time. Stealth’s live video monitoring, however, is a proactive security measure that can help deter, disperse, and respond to criminal and unwanted activity in real time, as it happens.

Live video monitoring uses a combination of video analytics and human intelligence to monitor multiple locations throughout your property simultaneously, flagging, alerting, and evaluating suspicious activity in real time. When our trained security professionals spot something or someone out of place, they can activate onsite warning speakers, contact onsite security, or call local police dispatch when needed to intervene.

Thanks to our ability to provide police dispatch with live reports and details of criminal or suspicious activity as it’s happening, our calls typically receive elevated priority and faster police responses, just as in the case above.

If you’d like to learn more about how live video monitoring can improve security outcomes at your business or property, contact us today. Texas Private Security License Number: B14187.