View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2006 > August > 29 > Entry
Get a crime plan for business travel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here are two points that I would like to share:
Several cars, parked in hotel parking lots, were broken into Sunday night, and a whole bunch of items were taken. Ranging from laptops to wallets and golf clubs, a number of items were taken in about seven or eight incidents.
What perfect targets. Out of town people coming in on Sunday night for Monday meetings might leave everything in the car, especially if they’re back out of town on Monday night.
Hotel security probably focuses on the inside more than outside but you need to know that when you travel you become a better target because you don’t know the area, and unfortunately for most of us, we don’t err on the side of caution or prevention. Why drag all that stuff out of the car only to re-stock it the next morning. Most of us use the “I’ll park in front of the room� or plan B, known as “I’ll park within a hundred feet of the door.� When you travel, at least move the big stuff in for the night.
Here is the second point of the day: We had an armed robbery at a check-cashing store. The officer responded to the shop and noticed the video camera. The victim said it was fake. The fake camera is supposed to deter the bad guys. Obviously it didn’t. I found that very surprising given this was a check-cashing store. The loss was over $34,000 cash. I think with that amount on the line, I would get the real thing.
We love video. We make a lot of arrests on video and still photos. If you own a business, spend the money and get something you can record on. Then, we can work on the number three problem, putting tape in the machine. Believe it or not, probably a quarter of our robberies and other crimes that are committed in areas equipped with video don’t benefit from it due to human error meaning the tape wasn’t put in or was erased or somehow disabled by the employee.
If you own a business, have some in-service employee training and set a documented time frame for training on how to remove and restock video tape or otherwise hard-drive operation.
It is always the little things that bite us. Make sure that you put some time in your security plan for your business.
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Comments
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By Toni
August 29, 2006 12:38 PM | Link to this
Video Camera’s are fabulous! I was a victim of an attack in a Wal-Mart Parking Lot last year. The video captured the attacker stalking me from his truck as I walked out to my car. It also captured me kicking the crap out of him. The fact I was able to give the police a complete tag number, id him, and the video is probably why he copped a plea and is now serving time. Ladies pay attention to your surroundings. Criminals will attack big women in inclement weather!
By Cletus
August 29, 2006 1:47 PM | Link to this
I traveled every week for 31 years, the first 4 without incident.I was in the parking garage of a well known Miami hotel, when I was mugged by 3 crackheads who obviously had done this many times before.When I arrived in the lobby beaten and bloody at first they were reluctant to call the police, but they did. when the police arrived and we played 20 questions for a while,they told me that if they caught them they would call me to ID them,They haven’t called yet. When I returned to ATL I purchased a 9mm hand gun and a carry permit, since then I carry it faithfully,I’m a lot more careful now. Since then I have never had to use it, however I was forced to display it twice both times the display worked.The only time I ever fire it is at the firing range for practice,my wife and both carry 99% of the time,I think its safer.Keep in mind that handguns are cheaper than coffins, thats why the cops carry them.
By Sheila
August 29, 2006 11:58 PM | Link to this
Good advice about video. Another problem is the same tape used a bazillion times which drastically impairs the images. Better yet, if possible, spend the money to upgrade to a digital camera system. No tape to fool with and Mr. Criminal can’t steal it. You run the digital images back to the correct time frame, burn a CD, and there’s your evidence. The video quality is far superior to that of tape. And have your alarm monitoring hooked to a dedicated cell phone backup so when Mr. Criminal cuts the land line, your monitoring still works just fine. Any reputable alarm co. can do these things for you, home or business.
By Pete
August 30, 2006 4:55 PM | Link to this
Great blog!!
By catlady
August 30, 2006 5:38 PM | Link to this
My aunt, one of the earliest female Episcopal priests, and I took at trip to Tallahassee abouy 18 years ago. Her car was broken into at the motel, and what was stolen? A sermon tape and her communion equipment. When the police came, they took one look and said, “Crack.” We did not have a CLUE what they were talking about. Oh, how wonderful those days were! How innocent we were!
By Lee
August 31, 2006 8:03 AM | Link to this
A bit of advice about video tapes - make a copy of the tape before you give it to the police.
Several years ago, my surveillance camera recorded a break-in. I handed over the original tapes to the police. Wasted two days in court before the judge dismissed the case due to lack of evidence because the police lost the tapes.
Oh well…..
By Lee
August 31, 2006 4:04 PM | Link to this
If you do capture an incident on video, make a copy of the tape before you give it to the police.
A few years ago, I had a break-in at my store that was captured on camera. Turned the tape over to the police who lost it. I wasted two days in court before the charges got thrown out because of lack of evidence.
By Greg
August 31, 2006 8:32 PM | Link to this
I always carry two things with me when I travel on business and stay in hotels:
Mini Maglite-brought to my attention when a hotel in which I was staying had a power failure. Would be a great help in a hotel fire too.
Door stop/alarm combo-besides jamming the door, the piercing alarm will hopefully send any intruder running the other way.
If I’m checking luggage, I throw in my knife and pepper spray too.
By Pete
September 2, 2006 8:06 AM | Link to this
I’ve never had nothing done to me in travel, cause I dont stay in no hotels no how. They’re filthy. Monica Kaupfman did an expose about the filth in hotels using a black light to highlight bodily fluids on carpets, walls, pillows, phones, remotes, bedspreads etc. There’s semen, blood, and other bodily fluids everywhere no matter how upper-crust the hotel is. Apparently, when Americans check into a hotel, they immediately have sex, and then a knife fight. Look, people leak. It’s a fact. The idea of sharing a bed with thousands of strangers, I mean, wheres the supervision? Who was the public service genius that came up with the idea of a hotel anyway? I think I’d rather be robbed by well-scrubbed crack heads than stay in a filthy hotel. No thanx. Howard Hughes, we hardly knew ye!!!
By Lt. Steve
September 6, 2006 7:58 PM | Link to this
In this age of technology we still screw up low-tech style. The comment about the tape being played over too much is right. I had a burglary case that was captured on video but a security ‘professional’ at eight bucks an hour recorded his tv show over it thinking that nobody watched it anyway. We were in beautiful Corbin, KY Friday night on the way to Cincinnati. I unloaded the car at the hotel. I had a bunch of junk but since I wrote this column recently I though Murphy and his law was waiting for me to mess up so i bit the bullet and emptied the car clean. The next morning the guy parked down from me had his truck entered but they didn’t get anything. They left the door unlocked. Corbin isn’t exactly the hotbed of crime but it shows these hotels, especially interstate hotels are vulnerable. I’ll bet in a lot of cases, the jobs are inside.
By Ralph
September 6, 2006 9:33 PM | Link to this
As a 15 year law enforcement veteran, I must say that video is good, that is if the quality is good. Why do Banks have the worst video? Everytime a bank gets held up, they post the video pictures on the news, and you cannot tell S**t from it. And the news anchor will say ” if you recognize the suspect, call police. Recognize who? All the blurry suspects look the same to me!!! I have seen better video in mom and pop gas stations. I worked part time at a mall store and we had top quality video, i could read a perps’ driver license lying on the counter. Its’ not like the banks don’t have the money LOL. If I was a bank president, I would have so much video, that it would seem like a Hollywood film crew was there. Keep up the good work Steve!
By Jennifer
September 7, 2006 2:16 PM | Link to this
Have gun. Will shoot.