Minta and Bricia detected vandals and burglars at a school and church on Saturday, leading to the arrest of five individuals with another on the loose.

Minta helped the North Snohomish County Sheriff find four juveniles vandalizing a private school in Arlington, Wash. on Saturday when she received several loud crashes from the first floor hall. She dispatched the police and notified the school emergency contact. The dispatch called back and reported that four young people were caught smashing windows with baseball bats at the school.

A few hours later, Bricia received a door alarm at a church in Lynnwood, Wash. She could hear faint movement and banging but no voices, followed by a trouble signal from the fire panel, an AC power down and audio of more movement. She dispatched the South Snohomish County Sheriff. The responder advised that the church had been broken into and that one suspect had been arrested. The other suspect got away on foot. The burglars trashed a part of the building that was not secured and attempted to steal guitars and t-shirts. So far, the second suspect is still on the loose.

We pride ourselves in detecting break-ins and criminal activity before they happen. In these incidents, serious damage was already done to the buildings before police could arrive, but the response was still faster than it would have been if the school or church had traditional motion detector or glass break alarms without audio verification. Catching criminals in the act is very satisfying for law enforcement officers, which leads to an even faster response time when they recognize the alarm they are responding to is from Sonitrol Pacific and is more likely to result in an arrest. We hate to see violence and break-ins at churches and schools, but we are glad to be able to offer comprehensive protection.