Smarter Security Systems, provider of intelligent entrance control and outdoor security solutions, today announced that its customer, the City of Denton, Texas successfully apprehended an intruder set on stealing copper from a substation due to the alarm provided by SmarterFence. Cameras for verification and a rapid police response led to the arrest of one criminal in the act of committing the crime. The city has installed SmarterFence, a fiber optic intrusion detection system, on thirteen of its substations and equipment storage yards.
Smarter Security Systems, provider of intelligent entrance control and outdoor security solutions, today announced that its customer, the City of Denton, Texas successfully apprehended an intruder set on stealing copper from a substation due to the alarm provided by SmarterFence. Cameras for verification and a rapid police response led to the arrest of one criminal in the act of committing the crime. The city has installed SmarterFence, a fiber optic intrusion detection system, on thirteen of its substations and equipment storage yards.
An alarm from SmarterFence in the pre-dawn darkness at one of the city’s most northern and remote substations alerted dispatch personnel of the break-in. Recorded video showed a truck drop off a man who then climbed over the fence, triggering the alarm. Dispatchers monitoring live video from several fixed cameras at the site alerted the police and observed the intruder proceed across the yard and jimmy open the door to the control house. Dispatch personnel continuously kept the police aware of the perpetrator’s position. Police surprised the man who was inside collecting copper by the door to steal and took him into custody without incident.
“SmarterFence performs reliably to alert us of perimeter intrusions at our many facilities. We are very pleased with the way our security systems and people worked to foil this copper theft attempt,” said Coy Werner of Denton Municipal Electric. “If we didn’t have the alarm from SmarterFence, we would have just been watching recorded video of the event and would have never known until the substation was checked. The fence alarm was critical in catching this intruder.”
SmarterFence is a highly reliable fiber optic fence sensor that detects if someone is cutting, climbing, or lifting a security fence. It is cost-effective for smaller sites such as utility substations and its ability to tune out false alarms and integrate with camera systems and other security technologies enable it to be part of a complete security solution in many applications, such as water treatment facilities, power stations, and petrochemical plants.
“We are securing assets and people with our Smarter Outdoor solutions in over twenty-five states now, and we are especially proud to be protecting critical infrastructure in our home state,” said Jeff Brown, President of Smarter Security Systems. “Copper prices have gone through the roof again which has gotten the attention of opportunistic thieves. Many efforts have been made across the country to slow the sale of scrap copper, but there’s nothing better than preventing the crime. We are pleased to have been part of stopping this copper theft in Denton.”