A Pro-Active Approach to Preventing Crime for Car Dealerships

It’s a sad fact that car dealerships in the UK are continually faced with the prospect of being the victims of crime.  With police resources stretched to the limit, even when the perpetrators are filmed on CCTV, they aren’t always brought to justice.  Even when convictions are made, car dealerships still have the inconvenience and disruption caused by the crimes to deal with.  Fortunately, Brighton CCTV have a pro-active way of deterring criminals from targeting car dealerships before they commit the crimes rather than simply aiding in catching the perpetrators after the event.

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Crimes Faced by Car Dealerships

Because modern cars are so difficult to steal without the keys, car thieves are resorting to all kinds of creative methods to get access to car keys.  A recent incident in Essex saw a car dealership targeted when the customer left their car outside with the keys in the ignition and thieves stole it while it was briefly left unattended.  Some thieves have also been breaking into car dealerships to steal keys and then the cars they belong to.  A far more common problem though, is vandalism and damage caused by young people misbehaving.  This year a car dealership in Motherwell suffered around £850,000 worth of damage after an arson attack.  A dealership in Sussex also saw damage to their vehicles after a group of teenagers thought it would be fun to jump from car roof to car roof.  Petty vandalism is a very common problem and traditional CCTV is not an effective deterrent because the perpetrators are so rarely prosecuted so a better solution is needed.

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How Tates of Crawley are Tackling the Problem

Car dealership Tates, based in Crawley, Sussex, were having the kind of problems detailed above and wanted a better way to deter criminals as their current CCTV system was great at recording the crimes but the local police did not always have the resources to follow it up effectively.  Brighton CCTV offered them a solution using crystal clear 4K CCTV cameras and motion sensors.  When the motion detectors are triggered out of business hours, they send a signal to a remote monitoring station where a person can watch the CCTV footage live and act according to what they see.  If they see young people who appear to be getting too close to the cars or doing something that may damage the cars, they can speak over a speaker system in the forecourt to warn them off.  If they see something more serious occurring, they can alert the police or a private security firm located nearby.

Having a way of monitoring the situation live means the company monitoring the footage can act appropriately and immediately to prevent crime before it happens which is a far more effective deterrent than the threat of the CCTV footage being viewed after the event by the police.  Using real people for this function rather than an automated system also has the benefit of avoiding frightening dog walkers or other innocent people who happen to passing through the forecourt!

If you have a car dealership or any other type of business that would benefit from this type of security system to prevent crime, call Brighton CCTV on 01273 782 323 to discuss your requirements.