Category Archives: Uncategorized

In the News, part 10

Posted by J.J. Lewsac on June 13, 2011 None comments

In the News, part 10

by J.J. Lewsac

With recent advances in surveillance technology, cameras are popping up more and more in unusual places. 13 residents of Springfield Massachusetts found this out the hard way as they were all caught illegally dumping on city grounds. According to WGGB-TV ABC 40, the individuals, all local citizens, were caught dumping items on a dirt road near a wooded area. The items dumped ranged from mattresses, furniture, a child’s slide, and even a propane tank. The site had been a dumping ground for some time, and local environmentalists had been asking city officials to find a solution to the problem. The city of Springfield set up cameras along the dirt road, where a majority of previous dumping had taken place. Here is the local news story along with the surveillance footage: Read more »

In the News, part 9

Posted by J.J. Lewsac on June 6, 2011 2 comments

In the News, part 9

by J.J. Lewsac

 

Today’s story comes from ABC 5 in Des Moines, Iowa. Vandals were caught on camera destroying an art display that had been set up on the campus of Iowa State University. The vandals can be seen on the surveillance footage bending, tearing, and even urinating on the displays. An estimated $2,500 worth of damage was done to the sculptures, which had been on loan to the university from international artist William King. The surveillance footage and local news story can be seen here:

Iowa State art vandals

 

School officials had installed a new surveillance system as recently as 18 months ago. Nancy Girard, an educator for the University Museum explained, ”It was actually pretty easy to do. It took me about 30 minutes to go through the video and find the time it happened over the weekend.”

Universities are common grounds for vandalism, the culprits usually range from local enrolled students to rival university pranksters. It is fairly common for campuses to install camera systems to protect their grounds, and their students and faculty, however not all do so. Another university break in occurred at Utah State University in Logan Utah. According to that story, several rare minerals and a mammoths tooth were stolen, along with a laptop. That story can be read here, by the Deseret News. Since February, the school has had three separate break ins, yet as of today, no surveillance cameras have been installed.

One would think after the first break-in, school officials would be motivated to install some sort of security equipment to protect the schools interests. Yet, 3 break ins later, and an estimated $3,000 worth of specimens stolen, still nothing has been done from Utah State administration in terms of security cameras. Perhaps officials should make the investment of a surveillance system rather than allow these continued break-ins to occur. Cameras are much more than just a useful forensic tool. They are great deterrents, and should be placed in visible areas to keep crimes from happening.

Instead of becoming a victim of repeat crime, it is highly recommended that you invest in a surveillance system. The initial investment may not always be cheap, but it is a far better alternative than to continuously lose valuables to vandalism and theft.

 

In the News, part 8

Posted by J.J. Lewsac on June 1, 2011 1 comments

In the News, part 8

by J.J. Lewsac

 

Surveillance cameras in Chula Vista, California have been disappearing. According to local news station San Diego6, cameras from small businesses, homes, and even a church have all been stolen in the last few months. At least 16 cameras have been taken to this point, some valued up to $1200. One camera was able to get a good clean picture of the thief. As to the motives of stealing cameras, local police captain Gary Wedge stated, ”You would think one possible reason would be to enable that person to break into the business shortly thereafter, that has not happened.” The story can be seen here: Read more »

In the News, part 5

Posted by J.J. Lewsac on May 23, 2011 None comments

In the News, part 5

by J.J. Lewsac

The value of high resolution cameras cannot be over stated. Fox 25 in Boston reported a story about a man who is suspected of robbing several homes in the area. According to the story, the suspect approaches his victims as they leave the house, stating he is lost and looking for directions. When the home owner returns later that day they find their windows broken and jewelry taken. The suspect had been hitting homes in neighboring towns, without much evidence for police to investigate. That was until his latest crime was captured with a high quality surveillance system.  Check out the story from Fox 25, to see the footage: Read more »

In the News, part 4

Posted by J.J. Lewsac on May 19, 2011 None comments

In the News, part 4

by J.J. Lewsac

 

A recent story out of Woodburn, Oregon caught my eye. As reported by KPTV Fox 12, a local Coach outlet store was robbed. The perpetrator was caught on the stores surveillance cameras breaking through the glass front door after throwing a brick through it. The burglar then proceeded to steal 20 of the stores expensive purses, an estimated value of more than $7,000. Two parts of this video that really  shocked me was the low resolution of the surveillance footage for such a high end store, and also that the whole crime was committed in less than two minutes. The stores 16 camera surveillance system showed the suspect quickly exit into a getaway car at the back door.

Here is a link to the video:  http://www.kptv.com/news/27782462/detail.html

The way the suspect systematically broke in, stole the purses and escaped, points to this as being a well-planned job. With the most expensive purses cleaned out and a quick escape out the back door without any wasted time should tell the store owners that this was either an employee with knowledge of the store and products, or an individual who had spent a lot of time in the store prior to the robbery, casing the place out.

According to police the store’s alarm was triggered during the break-in; but, the sheer speed of the crime meant that, even with the quick response time of local law enforcement, the suspect still escaped.

The reason I am bringing this story up is because too often people can become complacent with a simple alarm and surveillance system and think that they are protected from incursions such as this. With the likelihood of the suspect being a person who had spent some time in the store, business employees should scour their archive of surveillance footage to look for an individual of a similar height and build browsing the store for a long period of time. Also, and business with a high value inventory should consider a surveillance system that is on par with the products they sell. Looking at the video feed its clear the footage isn’t from more than a basic surveillance camera with standard resolution. Had the business invested in a more professional system with higher resolution cameras, they likely would have captured greater detail of the suspect which would give law enforcement more information to possibly make an arrest.

If you are interested in a surveillance system, it is generally a waste of time and money to purchase a basic cheap model. Units like that are unlikely to yield much evidence other than to see blurry distorted views of your property being robbed, vandalized, or broken in to. I urge readers that are looking to purchase a surveillance system to learn from the video above and to purchase a system that is actually going to be useful should any unfortunate events come your way.