GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A Michigan shop owner came up with a novel way to catch the guy who broke into his video game store: He posted the surveillance video on Facebook and YouTube.
On Sept. 6, someone broke in the front door of a GranLan Gaming Center in downtown Grand Rapids. The shop owner, Arck Bauer, got great return on investment for the video surveillance system he had installed a month earlier.
A single, stationary surveillance camera was placed high on a wall in the video gaming business. The surveillance camera, equipped with motion-activated video, was fixed and focused on the doorway.
The surveillance film is in black and white and a bit grainy because the store lights were out. A man with a shaved or bald head, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, can be seen hopping over the threshold of the front door, through smashed glass. He wanders toward the counter and cash register, then casually glances up, straight at the surveillance camera. Startled, he turns and runs, exiting empty-handed, the same way he came in.
It appears from the surveillance video that the criminal was inexperienced. He didn’t seem to be in any hurry and he apparently had no idea what he would take in the heist. The surveillance system put a quick end to his adventure.
Nevertheless, the shop owner is determined to find the burglar. In addition to providing police with the surveillance footage, Bauer sent a copy to social networking sites Facebook and YouTube. He’s hoping the surveillance clips will get thousands of hits and that one viewer might recognize the vandal. Match the man with fingerprints police found at the scene and justice will have been served; thanks to an ordinary surveillance camera, placed in plain view.
Bauer is convinced the criminal would have, in fact stolen something, had he not protected the store with a surveillance system.
“He went through the trouble of breaking a door, I’m sure he would have hung around if that surveillance camera were not there,” he said.
Related posts:
Related posts: