The illegal activity of car side shows has picked up steam in recent months. The events are a type of car rally where people show off their vehicles and do burnouts and donuts. In this month’s video, one such event took place in a shopping center parking lot under our watch. That meant, police were dispatched, and a few arrests were made.
Around 10 p.m. one night, a line of cars began backing into parking spots at a Texas shopping center. One by one, drivers and passengers quickly exited their vehicles, and a crowd began to form. The group could be seen milling around the lot. At one point, someone waved a cloth as if to signal the start of a race. Moments later, smoke was seen billowing out from the back of a black pickup truck.
A trained ECAM security professional had been watching the activity and activated the on-site speaker warning to alert the trespassers. However, the participants ignored the warning, so our operator called to dispatch local police.
Several of the cars trickled out of the lot as others continued to “peel out” in another part of the property. Responding officers were quickly on the scene.
When police contacted our monitoring supervisor to request footage and images of the participants, they confirmed that arrests had been made, but not before damage to the lot had been done.
The Need for Speed Requires Live Video Monitoring
The recent spike in illegal street races and sideshows are drawing the ire of many city officials, citizens and property owners. Not only are they a loud nuisance, but they can lead to serious injury and property damage.
The incident in this video left vandalism and pavement damage in its wake. However, the consequences could have been much worse had immediate action not been taken.
That’s one of the many benefits of live video monitoring. Trained security operators, safely located in a remote monitoring center, use analytics-based cameras to watch for suspicious activity. When the analytics in the cameras pick up incidents and behaviors that are outside of the pre-programmed parameters, they alert a security professional who can quickly take over.
Based on this property’s protocol, that meant activating a speaker warning to let the trespassers know they were being watched. When the warning was ignored, the monitoring operator immediately called police. Within minutes, officers were on the scene to break up the activity and prevent further damage.
If you would like more information about a proactive security solution than can help deter break-ins, damage, loitering and theft, contact us.
