Over the last week I have watch numerous break-ins, robberies and hold ups listed on the various news programs. What caught my attention was that the actual way the news broad casters illustrated the content of their story. The content from the CCTV cameras was the "witness" to the crime. In my observation, without this information the news caster would not have a story that would hold an audience nor would the public be able to assist without the information.
Take into consideration the father/son robbery in Union City. With the content of the CCTV Cameras, we are able to see who the robbery suspects are. Or the IHOP worker that was beaten and robbed. What is troubling is that the robbers in both cases beat the victims on top of robbery.
A good illustration of the lack of camera data for a robbery is the DeKalb used camera shop where cameras were not available. When you watch this story, notice how the robbers made entrance into the store. Here is a great example of multiple violations of a merchant right next door. You did not see the burglars this time did you. Why? No camera data.
What was reported was that the break-in happened through the restaurant next door. One item to note is, I am certain that the restaurant is receiving and processing credit card information when they process customer payments for the meal they have eaten. If they do, they are supposed to be in PCI Compliance and PCI Compliance standards require both a monitored security system AND cameras that record the payment card data transactions to ensure against card skimming. So not only do you have the news story that reports the burglary crime, but the crime is "gaping hole" was committed because of the lack of compliance on the merchant next door! (60% of all credit card data theft is caused by non compliant restaurant merchants. Think twice when using your credit cards when you pay for a meal. You may get a gift that keeps on giving, credit card theft or better yet Identity Theft!)
Probably the burglary that bothers me the most this month is the murder of the Florida couple that cared for mentally handicapped children. The reported crime took 4 minutes from what reports stated and the group was only on the property for 10 minutes. Because of CCTV Cameras this couple provided the proof of the identity of the individuals involved and ability to identify and arrest the people that were involved with this crime. The Sheriff was reported that he wondered "Why was this system left on in an otherwise perfectly executed murder." He called the failure to cripple the system the "gaping hole" in the suspects' plan.
In each of these robbery events it was the camera that told the story and provided the evidence critical to the arrest of the individuals responsible for the crime. Thank God that in these cases the resources were there to provide this evidence.
