Helping prevent vehicle break-ins.
We are not a “security company”. We are your neighbors that want to work with you to protect each other.
Our primary goal is to help police catch the criminals.
Our secondary goal is to scare the thieves off if the police are unable to respond quickly.
The Problem
Starting in 2020, groups of armed thieves started hitting Oldham County subdivisions like trick-or-treaters. They start at the end of one street and work their way to the other end, trying to get into every parked car and open garage. Security video shows them carrying guns. My greatest fear is a loved one will drive home from work and encounter the thieves.
Since 2020, the thieves have struck more frequently. In addition to cash, gift cards, and guns; they have stolen two cars from my subdivision. We estimate they are taking about $15,000 a year from our subdivision with 120 homes.
Even if you have not had a loss, this activity could cause your insurance to go up and/or your property value to go down.
Solution 1
Just let the police do their job. This problem started three years ago and is getting worse. I’ve had multiple conversations with Oldham County police. They view this as a “nuisance” crime. Even if they witness the activity, they are not going to chase the criminals at high speeds or cross county lines. I respect our police officers, but I do not believe they are going to solve this problem. The police just spent $48,000 on 8 Flock security cameras that read license plates and notify them of stolen cars. The problem is the thieves change the license plates on the car before the steal it, rendering the Flock system useless. Simply put, it’s been four years and the problem is getting worse. This is not the solution.
Solution 2
The most secure solution would be a private police officer patrolling every subdivision. Unfortunately, this costs each subdivision over $60,000 a year. It’s hard to justify spending $60,000 when the thieves take less than $20,000 a year. This solution is more expensive than the problem.
Our Solution
We came up with a no-cost plan that works. We have multiple cameras in our neighborhood that send us video when motion is detected near cars. We quickly review each video. If we believe there is a threat, we quickly contact the police and send a text blast to our neighbors. From the time the thief approaches a car, it usually takes about 90 seconds for us to review the video and notify neighbors and police. The text says “A threat has been detected in your neighborhood. Police have been notified. Please stay inside and use your key-fob to lock your cars and sound your panic alarms.” Our hope is that multiple car alarms triggered at once will scare the thieves off before they get to an unlocked car. If the police show up or they get scared off quickly every time they enter your subdivision, we hope they will quit targeting your subdivision.
We are providing this service free of charge. There is no guarantee that our system will detect every thief.
For our solution to work, we need your help. We need as many neighbors as possible to sign up to receive text messages when a threat is detected. Upon receiving a threat alert, we need you to use your key-fob to trigger your car panic alarm. Click here to start receiving threat notifications.
You can also help protect your neighborhood by volunteering to review motion alerts one or two nights a month. You can help by allowing us to install a camera that monitors your driveway and uses your home wifi network. The camera is about $60. Fill out the Contact section below to volunteer to monitor alerts or request camera installation.
About Us
Night Owls Neighborhood Watch was started by an Oldham County resident that bragged about how safe and secure our area was. For 17 years, we never had a problem. In 2020, thieves attacked our neighborhood for the first time. Now they hit us on a regular basis. Most recently, it has been reported that the thieves are carrying guns. I believe it is only a matter of time that a friend or family member drives home at the wrong time and encounters the armed thieves.
On May 27, 2023, our neighborhood was hit again and I was fed up. I spoke with the police and they really didn’t seem to care. They literally called this a “nuisance” crime. They are not going to great efforts to solve the problem.
My HOA looked into a security guard, but that was going to cost over $60,000 a year to drive around our subdivision.
We have a background in technology that gives us the ability to implement a surveillance system that will allow us to identify a threat and notify the police within 60 seconds. Our subdivision has about 120 homes. We would install 10 cameras that send our software motion alerts. Our software instantly sends a message to our employee with the camera location, security video, and police department phone number. Our software also has the ability to send text messages to homeowners, letting them know thieves are in the area. We would ask the homeowners to stay in their homes, and use their key-fobs to lock their car doors and trigger panic alarms.
We are volunteering our time to help protect our neighborhoods.