Luckily, between the descriptions of the men and the video surveillance footage that the police are reviewing from the security cameras in the McDonalds and in the parking lots, they hope to be able to identify the men quickly, so that the robbed gentlemen can hopefully recoup his stolen funds.
As business owners, we never know what will happen in our facility. Burglary against the business is not the only crime that may occur. If someone steals from your customers in your facility, it can certainly give bad press to your business. Security cameras that are well placed and recording constantly in our business can help to provide evidence when a heinous crime like this occurs.
Jason Austin, a 26 year old man has been arrested in Chicago for allegedly robbing and killing an off-duty police officer – Officer Robert Soto. Robert Soto was able to call 911 to alert police, even after he was shot in the head and chest during the robbery.
Police quickly scoured the area and went straight for the security cameras that were installed on local businesses, to find the vehicle described by Robert Soto. Police officers swiftly found the maroon vehicle that they claimed belonged to Jason Austion in the area on surveillance tapes before and after the shooting. Chief of Detectives Thomas Byrne stated on the Fox News that “Video is Key, video is a critical component of a lot of investigations”. Without the video security camera footage from the local businesses, police may not have been able to make such a rapid arrest, and perhaps the killer might not have been brought to justice.
The family of the victim held a wake today for the slain officer, and were still in disbelief and mourning of their loss, but said that it was good that they were able to make such a quick arrest.
The security cameras for your home or business provide many benefits to you personally, but at the same time, your security cameras might also be able to provide key evidence to help bring justice to those who choose to disobey the law. The more criminals that can be caught swiftly, the less chance they will have to do the same thing again, perhaps the next time it would affect you directly. Security cameras are prevention, and they are needed evidence when something occurs.
9-22-08 – Update – Jason Austin, the man arrested in connection with this shooting was released for lack of evidence, and is now suing the Chicago Police Department for his arrest and allegedly coercing witnesses to point the finger at him for the murder. Jason Austin and his family have maintained his innocence since his arrest, and claim that his vehicle was in a body shop at the time the crime was committed, so he could not have been driving the vehicle and that he is not a cop killer and would not have shot the officer. Witnesses who initially pointed the finger at him have now gone on record as saying that they were beaten and coerced by the Chicago Police Department.
As a motorist, you know that accidents can happen. When accidents occur, it often becomes a your-word-against-theirs type of situation when it comes to the police reports and insurance settlements.
Below you will find a video submitted by one of our customers who owns a gas station, which caught one such accident on film. You will see the accident, and the offending truck started to drive away and was chased (somehow) by the car. Lucky for the driver of the Chevy Cavalier, this video footage was shot by our Alnet PC-Based DVR Systems that was installed at this location. The camera was not one of ours, but was an older camera that was previously installed at the gas station.
After the accident, the truck driver of-course tried to blame the driver of the car, claiming that he had his right turn-signal on, and the car went around him for no reason while he was making a turn. You can clearly see in the video, that the truck did not have his turn signal on, and looked like he was making a left turn due to his lane positioning. Luckily no one was injured.
Well this video was slightly older…we dug it out of our archive from October of 2007.
Late at night, we once again were alerted that someone was in our parking lot…so we quickly took a look an found this genius sitting in his car in the parking lot. After quickly grabbing the license plates remotely over the internet with Pan/Tilt/Zoom camera control through our Alnet PC-Based DVR System. Once we saw a second car pulling into the lot to meet up with the first, the Police were alerted by telephone to check out what was going on.
What happened after that, we didn’t expect. You will see the two teenagers get into the car together, and apparently use their car as a spare bed. Didn’t look too comfortable, and boy were they surprised when the police showed up.
I guess next time, they might want to look at the signs on the front of the building where they choose to park. Felt bad calling the police on someone who just wanted to “hook up” in our parking lot, but there was no way to know their intentions. They could just as easily have been vandals or thieves…after all, you have seen what happens in our parking lot already if you have been watching our posts. If not, you can see all of our posted security camera videos (including fires, car thieves, urination and more…all in our parking lot)
Enjoy the video, and keep watch of your parking lots and homes!
Security Cameras can be an excellent tool for virtually any industry, with benefits stretching far beyond the basic needs of watching entry doors. Today, lets take a look at one of the most dangerous areas of any business – The Loading Dock. In this area, company personnel are using heavy equipment like forklifts to unload and load trucks.
Unfortunately, in the case of many workplaces, while people are loading and unloading trucks, there may not be any other persons watching. So if an accident happens, and the loading dock personnel cannot call for help…what would happen. Security cameras can be used to permit monitoring of what is happening in your loading dock, so that you can be instantly aware if an accident occurs, and offer immediate response.
As a side-note, when accidents do occur, there will likely be a worker’s compensation claim filed…so what evidence do you have of what happened? Unless you had a camera trained on the area, then you probably dont have any evidence. Then again, maybe that isn’t so important, because employees never goof off around dangerous equipment, do they?
