Thank goodness for surveillance camera recordings and social media.
Your wife was nearly beside herself when she came home from the store the other day. When she told the story of the kids on their bikes at the local middle school field throwing rocks she was still shaking. Sometime before 6:00 pm, she was driving passed the field when the rock struck the hood of the car, barely missing the windshield. She initially thought it was a tree branch or something unintentional, until you took the time to review her dash cam. The act of vandalism is on camera and you are filing a police report if nobody steps up. You are also working with the school officials to retrieve any surveillance camera evidence they may have. The boy on the left of the video you have is clearly wearing a maroon red shirt and the boy in the blue shorts was the one who threw the rock. The other kid, who did not really appear to be involved, was wearing a white cap, a horizontal black and white striped shirt, and black shorts. A fourth kid was behind the group on his bike. You have also asked the neighbors for any hints or additional videos they may have and have promise to keep the names of others who share videos confidential.
Residential and Commercial Security Systems Can Capture a Wide Range of Activity and Information
Within an hour of the post another neighbor mentioned that she had been up at the middle school in the east parking lot and saw these three of the boys ride their bikes through that lot. This was at 5:30pm. Unfortunately, she did not recognize any of the three, but they were certainly the boys caught in the surveillance camera video.
These boys are likely the perpetrators, and you have spent some time roaming around the school and saw a couple of security cameras that you are certain would have caught a better look at the boys as the rode through the lot. Kids have always been known to do the dumbest things but the only way they learn is by having consequences. You are happy to hear that the school might be able to help you when the administrators get back into the building next week.
Parents in the past were often really strict, and if they caught their children doing something stupid the kids were expected to pay for any damage they caused. Today, however, it seems like there is only a 50% chance that the parents of the guilty kids will hold the teens responsible without getting the police involved.
People have gotten in terrible accidents when rocks or other heavy objects are thrown at a moving car. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and it is not a joke when a reckless teen is doing something that could cause damage, injury, or even, death.
Fortunately, there are more and more cars and buildings that are equipped with surveillance cameras, so it is possible to catch vandals who doing things in public spaces. In fact, one of the latest sets of statistics indicates that as many as 1 out of every 7 businesses now has an alarm system, many which also include surveillance cameras.
In addition to the effectiveness of outside alarms, however, there are also many inside alarms and cameras that are helpful as well. For instance, 38% of inventory shrink can be attributed to shoplifting, and 34.5% to employee theft. Security cameras, of course, can help limit these situations.
You may not always be able to solve a problem about local vandals with the use of security cameras, but in today’s digital age it is important to check to see if anyone had a camera running at the scene of a crime, an accident, or a property damage event.