At Radius Security, we have been celebrating a lot of milestones lately. In October, we logged one of our highest number of apprehensions ever, 51, for a year-to-date total of 404 apprehensions. That’s 50% more than we had in all of 2018 and double our 2017 numbers. The apprehension rate for October was impressive too: 64%. For every 100 dispatches from Radius Security, police apprehended 64 suspects. We are well on our way to breaking company records for 2019.

But what do all the numbers mean? Obviously, we’re helping to arrest thieves, vandals and trespassers. But the impact goes far beyond putting suspects into handcuffs and behind bars.

Kirk Roberts--who retired as a lieutenant in Texas with 32 years’ experience in law enforcement in Dallas-Fort Worth—explains how monitored video security systems help police officers do their jobs.

Improving arrest rates

“Verifying a crime with live video greatly reduces or eliminates false alarms,” says Roberts, who is also a U.S. army veteran and graduated from the FBI National Academy. When a Command Center, or monitoring station, can confirm a crime in progress, officers know they are not heading off on a wild goose chase. There are suspects to catch.

Police officers, Roberts adds, appreciate the co-operation and support from Command Center operators. “They stay on the phone throughout the event and provide copies of video footage and reports to aid in court prosecutions.”

Access to live video

Offering access to live video of a crime in progress helps police locate suspects quickly and safely. Command Center operators often track suspects hiding on site and relay that information to officers as they approach. These detailed updates help to keep responding officers safe.

.“We can warn officers if an individual is armed with weapons or other harmful items,” says Roberts.

Because they don’t go in blind, officers can take appropriate steps if, for example, a robber is hiding behind a container with a gun.

Multiplier effect

The insurance industry estimates that each apprehension prevents and/or resolves 33 other crimes. Roberts explains, “An apprehension deters the suspect, and perhaps others, from committing crimes where they were caught, and perhaps at other locations too.”

In other words, suspects, when caught, will think twice about returning, and they can’t commit more crimes if they’re in jail. Even if police were to release a trespasser, that person will be less likely to come back. A thief handcuffed and forced to return his loot will realize it isn’t worth it to try and steal again from that site or any other site that has remotely monitored video protection.

Apprehended individuals, says Roberts, are sometimes linked to other crimes or may be able to provide information on suspects who may be responsible for other crimes. A suspect may have an outstanding warrant or be already known to police. Once caught, she may become an informant and help solve other crimes.

These are some of the reasons why each apprehension prevents far more than one crime.  So, if you multiply each of our 404 apprehensions by 33 crimes solved, Radius Security has helped stop or solve more than 10,000 crimes for this year to date. Isn’t that something to celebrate?