4 suggestions to safeguard your business during COVID-19

On March 21th, Jorge Palacios was shocked to find out at least 4 thieves had broken into his restaurant in San Mateo, CA, stealing cash, smashing his property, drinking wine and then lingering on the premises for 11 hours over the course of two days. This happened just one week after the San Francisco Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order went into effect. With more than 75% of the US population now under some form of lockdown, police say they are seeing a significant increase in business break-ins. According to NYPD statistics, burglaries rose by around 30% in the month of March 2020!

Here are the four ways to avoid being a victim, according to our law enforcement advisers:

1. Daily visits:  Check-in on the business premises at least once a day. Unfortunately, business owners are finding out about the burglary 24 to 48 hours (or more) later due to the lockdown. Getting hold of any neighbourhood camera footage becomes difficult and odds of apprehending a criminal become extremely low when delayed. 
2. Facade: Make it appear that people are inside the building. Switch on a few lights, keep some music playing etc, 
3. Mix it up: Change the pattern of checking the business. This would deter any burglars observing you from picking up your ‘habit’ of checking.
4. Monitor: Install surveillance cameras and monitor regularly. This will help the law enforcement to act quickly and in most cases deter the crime from happening in the first place.

We at Sentry AI are deeply concerned about the current hardships that businesses are facing and we are committed to helping you. Our cutting-edge surveillance camera software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately identify intruders and can alert you immediately if any such event occurs. The last thing you want in these stressful times is to receive a lot of false alarms that add to your worries.