Private security making a difference by being proactive
Charlotte NC May 9 2018
It’s five twenty-one in the morning and commuters are already lining Interstate 95 heading northbound to the nation’s capital.
There’s a chill in the air though the calendar reads April and the sun has yet to crack through the darkness in Northern Virginia. The neighborhood is beginning to wake up in the suburbia that many believe is a safe haven from nearby big cities.
But parked on one of their streets, where the lawns are freshly cut and the garbage cans wait at the end of their driveways like soldiers at attention, three men wait in the shadows, parked in two separate vehicles. They’re not bad guys waiting for an easy mark nor are they undercover cops waiting to nab a fugitive on the lamb.
Instead, they are private security officers, hired to patrol the community and prevent crimes. After a rash of auto burglaries and a recent push-in robbery of a nurse who was making her way to her car parked in the driveway,
They have been lying in wait for more than four hours looking for suspicious vehicles or teenagers or anyone prowling the neighborhood but on this night, the coast was clear. Nothing unusual. Not even a stray dog passed through the area.
Security officers, some with arrest authority and others without, are finding ways to be more proactive and to stop crimes before they happen.
Recently, a hospital security team did just that. Hospital security officers aware of thefts from patients went on the offense and set up hidden cameras in Salisbury Township Pennsylvania recently hoping to catch the thief in the act.
And they got just that.
Gilbert Gouveia faces single counts of theft and receiving stolen property following his arrest accused of rummaging through the belongings of cancer patients who were at treatment.
Hospital security placed a wallet with $32 in marked bills in a locker and installed a video camera. Gouveia is allegedly spotted on surveillance video taking the wallet out of a pair of pants and taking the money, according to records.
Security interviewed Gouveia after his treatment, and he allegedly admitted to taking the other money. He was already wanted on a bench warrant for retail theft and taken into custody.
Organized retail thefts which are fueling gangs and even terrorists is another area where the private investigators and officers are making a big difference by conducting active investigations and taking the thieves down while in the act.
Sandra Cooke, an Organized Retail Investigator based in Chicago, spends countless hours tailing suspected organized retail theft suspects not just inside the store, but across the county and neighboring communities.
She details the suspected shoplifter’s travels, suspicious actions, vehicle descriptions and their every move while taking video from her ant number of her covert video cameras.
Working with other loss prevention agents and law enforcement, they often take down the thieves in the act. Most face serious felony charges that could send them to prison.
Some college and universities experiencing bike thefts on campus have enacted “bike bait” programs using GPS trackers hidden on the bicycles.
Campus public safety and law enforcement officers have gotten creative when it comes to curbing crime at their schools.
While some of the officers have arrest authority, others legally detain the bike theft suspect and notify police.
Private security and public safety officers frequently detain violators of the law and make thousands of citizens arrests every year.
Now, with the continued increase of security and retail loss prevention agents, to security private property, prevent crimes and protect lives, proactive methods are on the forefront now more than ever.
Observing and report doesn’t always prevent a robbery or a theft said Jim Kinkaid, retired police Captain and current security consultant.
Sometimes you have to be smarter than the bad guy and be willing to get out there and get your hands dirty.
Security can and are making a huge difference at not only preventing crime but taking proactive measurements to make sure that criminals are caught and prosecuted he said.
