On November 26 at 3:05am, our Central Station caught a man on camera walking through a secured lot behind one of our customer’s facilities.
“The intruder got in past the fence after about 9 minutes of work,” our customer said. “[The intruder] was on the property for approximately 9 minutes before the police arrived. That is indicative of a fast response on the part of Sonitrol personnel.”
See the footage below:
He doesn’t look suspicious, until you consider he’s in an enclosed area that’s armed, in the middle of the night.
At Sonitrol of Western Kentucky, we pride ourselves on our verified security. Starting with audio detectors 50 years ago, we’ve continued to refine verified technology, branching into verified video security over the past decade.
Our sales manager always says, “If someone’s trespassing or breaking in, what’s better than hearing the intruder? Seeing them!” When we top that off with an apprehension, we know we’ve done our job.
But how did we get to this point…
First, a little about our customer
This particular customer – Industrial Electric Equipment – is located in an industrial park in south Louisville. Like most companies, they’re conscious of their security needs but don’t want to spend much effort on it day to day.
In the past, they had trouble, including a few break ins, with the vehicle area behind their main building. Out of sight from the main road, it’s a tempting target for intruders who want to grab valuable tools and materials from the trucks parked at the docks.
So they brought us in to help…
Specific challenges for this application
Outdoor security is always a challenge. There are so many variables to control. Traditional motion detectors can’t always differentiate between a weathered lens and a person moving in the lot.
Video surveillance cameras can work, but they’re mostly passive: set and forget until after an incident has occurred. This customer wanted a solution for catching intruders, not just identifying what happened after the fact.
How Sonitrol helped
Sonitrol verified video solves a lot of the challenges with outdoor security by allowing our Central Station monitors to see what’s happening before dispatching the police. Some of the smart analytics we employ can even differentiate between a vehicles and people.
Here’s a video example of what this looks like for our Central Station, capturing a vehicle (first video below) compared to a person (second video below):
Verified video, though, isn’t completely without challenge. For this particular customer, we originally had some problems with overgrown shrubs setting off the cameras. Central Station didn’t dispatch on these – because they could see they weren’t legitimate alarms – but the numerous signals became an annoyance.
We visited the site and made some suggestions to the customer. The customer in turn trimmed their shrubs to allow the cameras to see just what they needed to see.
With the view cleared and our cameras armed, we’re ready to do our job properly.
Security results for our customer
When our Central Station caught the man sneaking onto our customer’s property, they immediately dispatched the police. Police on the way, Central Station followed up with a phone call to our customer to notify them off the dispatch.
Within minutes, the police arrived. Because it was a verified alarm – meaning that the Central Station could verify someone was on the property at that time – the police made this a high priority dispatch.
On site, the police apprehended the intruder.
Again, most security companies focus on deterring criminals, scaring intruders away with loud sirens. Sonitrol focuses on apprehending the intruders. In fact, we’re the only company that publically publishes our apprehension numbers, with over 170,000 to date.
This means our customer won’t have to worry about this intruder trying again.
With valuable tools, raw materials, and even facility damages to consider, one apprehension like this can easily make the entire security system well worth the costs involved.
Our customer was certainly pleased. They emailed us directly:
“My gratitude and congratulations go to Sonitrol for a job well done. I appreciate the quick response and success in catching the intruder found on our property.”
For more information on how Sonitrol of Western Kentucky can secure your business, call us at 502-966-8999.
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