April 16, 2007
Surveillance catches thieves by listening in
Retailers, especially in high-risk areas like convenience stores and banks, have long relied on video surveillance for investigation into the crimes that occur. Clear footage of a bank robber or convenience store vandal can help law enforcement identify and prosecute a criminal, but it's often a difficult process to seek out the criminal after the crime has occurred. Not so at a pawn shop in Broward County, Florida - where an alarm company monitor was able to hear two bystanders in the store talk about escape plans - plans for after they robbed the store!
The pawn shop's cameras, monitored by an alarm company, not only observed the store's activities - but listened in on them as well. This isn't a common feature of many security cameras, but this high tech addition allowed the alarm company to notify the store owners, as well as law enforcement, before the thieves were able to act. This type of functionality could make conspiring criminals think twice about their plans to rob or vandalize a store - or at least talk about it in front of the cameras.
Before you install a microphone in your camera, check local laws - it's often illegal to record video AND sound from the same camera without consent, or at all.
Posted by Jennifer on April 16, 2007 4:51 PM | Comments (0)
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