Month: August 2014

Centralized Vision’s real-time monitoring noticed suspicious activity when a black SUV pulled up to a white van on the property of one of its clients. A Centralized Vision technician on duty that was monitoring the client’s property in real time and zoomed in with the PTZ camera to notice the driver of the black SUV looking suspicious after he opened both passenger side doors of the vehicle and occasionally bent down between the vehicles to look at something. It was determined the suspect was syphoning gas from the white van using a device in his black SUV. The on-duty technician immediately alerted the company’s security patrol and local law enforcement authorities, but the suspect in the black SUV left the property before the police arrived.

After a Centralized Vision technician noticed suspicious activity while monitoring surveillance cameras at a Phoenix recycling facility around 6 p.m. on October 27, 2012, he alerted the Phoenix Police Department about the incident. As the tech zoomed in with the security camera, he noticed the trespasser in the bottom-right corner of the screen was wearing a light-colored bandana over his face and a dark hat while he was removing copper metal from the facility.

At 6:13 p.m., Phoenix Police arrived at the facility and five officers along with a K-9 unit were allowed on the facility’s grounds to look for the suspect. As the officers and K-9 looked for the suspect on foot, camera surveillance showed a Phoenix Police helicopter shining its lights from above trying to find the suspect. At 7:14 p.m., Phoenix Police notified the Centralized Vision technician that the suspect was found and arrested.

Metal theft has become an epidemic in Arizona since the economic downturn started in 2008. Law enforcement agencies blame the trend on a combination of the unemployed seeking items to sell for cash and drug addicts looking to finance their next score. Insurance claims arising from metal thefts rose nationwide by 81 percent during the last three years compared with the number of claims filed from 2007-08, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

A Centralized Vision technician noticed suspicious activity at 3:15 a.m. on November 28 when conducting camera monitoring tours of a North Phoenix facility after seeing a Caucasian male enter his security camera view on a bicycle and closing the bin doors of a dumpster area. Knowing that the suspect was trespassing on a client’s property, the technician notified the Phoenix Police Department immediately. At 3:34 a.m., the camera surveillance shows two Phoenix police officers arriving on the property and cornering the suspect at gunpoint near the trash dumpster. After the suspect surrendered, the police officers received his identification and found no arrest warrants or criminal history when running his files electronically. The male suspect was issued a trespassing warning and left the property. By 3:51 a.m., the cops left the property secure of no criminal activity.

A large portion of our client base at Centralized Vision that we provide video surveillance monitoring for are auto dealerships throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. Overall, we provide remote-camera monitoring with real-time response options at 14 car dealerships in Arizona.

The dealerships have a variety of reasons (theft, trespassing, vandalism) of why they would need a company like ours to routinely monitor closed-circuit video cameras on their properties at various times throughout the day. However, a technician at our centralized tech center noticed suspicious activity after seeing two trespassers on camera recently at the vacant Infiniti of Scottsdale dealership we monitor in Scottsdale.

As you can see while watching the video, the cameras we monitor caught two suspects climbing over a locked gate on the property. After numerous cameras on the property provided detailed video images of the two suspects collecting copper pipes and other metals, our technician contacted the Scottsdale Police Department’s dispatch operator to alert local authorities of the criminal activity.

Within five minutes, one Scottsdale police officer was at the property, and another unit arrived at the auto dealership shortly after. Later in the video, the police officers can be seen arresting the suspects and also locating a bag of metal objects the criminals stashed on the property. The Scottsdale police officers were in contact with our technician to verify they were apprehending the correct people.

Although we usually see people trying to steal copper and other metals from recycling facilities we monitor, this video capture is proof that any crime can be committed on the property of various types of businesses.

Tom Vigilante, Jr. is President & Founder of Centralized Vision, which has offices in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver. For more information on real-time video verification services or GPS monitoring, go to centralizedvision.com or call 855-888-8094.

A Centralized Vision technician noticed that a male suspect was trespassing on the property of Arizona Recycling Corp. after seeing him on video surveillance going through copper and other metal materials in cardboard bins at 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2013. The technician immediately called the Phoenix Police Department’s dispatch center and three units were sent to inspect the property near downtown Phoenix.

In the video, the suspect was spotted on Arizona Recycling Corp.’s property by the spotlights from a Phoenix Police Department helicopter. Phoenix Police confirmed seeing the suspect on property at 8:57 p.m. Five police officers, along with a K-9 unit, entered the property at 9:17 p.m. to search for the suspect. At 9:25 p.m., two officers can be seen on video escorting the suspect on the property in handcuffs.

The Centralized Vision technician confirmed with Phoenix Police Department’s dispatch at 10:29 p.m. the suspect was arrested and going through processing at a local jail.