A burglar broke into a home in a Colorado neighbourhood in the middle of a weekday, planning to drive away with thousands of dollar’s worth of valuables. This burglar was familiar with their target. They knew the homeowners were away for the day and knew the neighbourhood had security cameras at the entrances and exits.
They were also familiar with the kind of evidence the police need to pursue a case: a licence plate. The burglar removed the plate from their vehicle before driving into the neighbourhood, believing that without a licence plate, they wouldn’t get caught.
Capturing vehicle details
This Colorado neighbourhood had recently installed six Flock Safety licence plate reading cameras at the entrances and exits of their neighbourhood. They trusted Flock Safety to still catch the perpetrator because they knew their cameras could read more than just a licence plate.
Research shows that 70% of nonviolent crimes occur with a vehicle, and Flock Safety has the ability to read and capture vehicle details as actionable evidence for police. Flock’s technology reads the colour and type of vehicle, along with a timestamp, how often the vehicle has been in the neighbourhood, and if there are any visible objects such as an animal, bicycle, or person.
Licence plate number
Flock shows how many times a vehicle has passed by the camera, along with details like the colour
Flock shows how many times a vehicle has passed by the camera, along with details like the colour and licence plate number. A diligent homeowner witnessed the attempted burglary and called the police. This resident was also able to provide details like the colour and build of the vehicle.
The resident also provided these details to the HOA board’s security chair so he could search through footage captured by their Flock Safety security cameras. The security chair used Flock’s search tool to search for vehicles that matched the colour and build provided by the resident. Within minutes, he found a match. Flock had captured the vehicle even without the licence plate.
Flock Safety cameras
Further searching pulled up more images of the same vehicle. It turns out the burglar had been through the neighbourhood recently—with the licence plate still attached. The neighbourhood security chair quickly sent the captured footage to the police.
Within 1 hour of receiving the evidence from the neighbourhood’s security chair, police were able to locate the suspect and make an arrest. More importantly, police and the neighbourhood were able to send a message to any potential burglar that crime can have immediate consequences and that citizens are watching out for each other. This neighbourhood feels safer knowing Flock Safety cameras can catch even burglars who plan ahead.
