Charlotte is home to upwards of 800,000 people, and full of sights and sounds that are loved and appreciated for miles around. It’s where we work, play, eat, and enjoy life together. There is no question that we all want to protect our community, to keep safe the people and places which we cherish and hope our children will experience as well.
This is why all of Charlotte was grieved by the news that Scott Brooks, co-owner of Brooks Sandwich House, was shot and killed while opening his store. According to Kathleen Purvis of Charlotte Agenda, this makes 103 homicides this year alone in our beloved city. The violence in the city of Charlotte is affecting we all know and love in Charlotte. The increase in crime is not good for our communities, and we need to do something about it.
19th century economist Frederic Bastiat published an essay called “That Which We See and That Which We Do Not See” which pointed out what is now popularly known as the “Broken Window Fallacy.” which claims that destruction and war were good for the economy, using the analogy of a shopkeeper’s window that is broken. After all, if there were no broken windows, how would the glazier make any money from shopkeepers?
The problem with this fallacy, as Bastiat points out, is that it only looks at one small side to this multi-faceted issue. That which we do not see, is the many costs of destruction to a business and to society in general. For one, the shopkeeper has to spend money to replace his windows, rather than using that money to upgrade his facility or improve his services to the community.
Secondly, the glazier is spending his time replacing a window, when he could have spent it making new ones or upgrading old ones. When a break-in or property damage occurs, and even more so a homicide, the community now feels less safe and secure, and as a result they are not as likely to frequent a business, whereas they are more likely to visit a business where there has been an upgrade to the security of a location.
Let’s return to our current situation. In a WBTV article, it was reported that there was some footage that might lead to more clues about the suspects. “Officers said they were reviewing surveillance tape and are currently looking for two people they believe are connected to the case. Police did not release any description of the two people but did say they both appear to be males.” The cameras, wherever they were and whoever installed them, gets us one step closer to finding out who committed this crime and ensuring they never do it again.
We have posted two articles this year about break-ins and violent crimes in Charlotte, and in both of them the presence or absence of cameras was crucial to catching the suspect. The call to action in one of the articles was: “If you are a business owner reading this, there is one question you must ask yourself when you read this article: what am I doing to stop this crisis? Do you have cameras outside your business? We must come to the realization that it is not only OUR security that we should consider, but the security of our community. The cameras outside your business can protect your neighbors, and if every business in NoDa invested the time and money into cloud based security cameras, this problem could be resolved!”
At Loc Doc we have decided that we are not in business to make money off of tragedy and disaster. We believe in providing lasting solutions that protect people and their property, because we imagine a better Charlotte, in which every business owner sees a security upgrade as an investment into the safety and security of our community.
As we reflect on the tragedies of each and every one of the 103 homicides, we can respond by acting now to prevent them from happening. We can increase visibility and decrease violent crime if we are committed to this. Loc Doc Security is certainly glad to provide services to businesses who have suffered loss or damage.
However, we find far more value and benefit in helping these businesses prevent this loss or damage by providing high quality solutions that provide lasting protection. This benefits not only our business, but the economy and well being of our community.
This is why we believe that Cloud Based Camera Systems, among other things, are a great benefit to any business. Having the ability to record events such as a break-in, a robbery, or a shooting is one thing, but with Cloud capabilities, you can prevent them with immediate remote viewing access which allows you to react to a situation on the spot rather than after the fact.
This helps your business to avoid losing valuable property, it helps your customers to feel safe and secure, and it helps your community by ensuring that criminals are quickly apprehended and any would-be vandals think twice before doing any damage to property.
At Loc Doc Security, we value solutions that provide a long term benefit with a wide range. This is why we offer solutions such as Eagle Eye Cloud Based Surveillance. If you have questions about this system or want an estimate for installing it, please call us at 704-554-6121 or schedule a free evaluation with one of our professionals here.
Lastly and most importantly, please give and share the gofundme account to help support the Brooks family in their time of need. Proceeds go to funeral expenses and college funds for Scott’s son.