WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC-Surveillance system catches burglars on tape

Surveillance system catches burglars on tape

By Brigida Mack - email

Charlotte, NC (WBTV) – The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is hoping surveillance video from a homeowner in the McClintock Woods neighborhood could help them find out who burglarized another home in the east Charlotte community Tuesday morning.

Mark Barringer’s complex surveillance system inside his home has gotten plenty of reaction since he first installed it ten years ago.

"I've been called everything to paranoid to overly security conscious," he said.

But Barringer said he’s determined to keep his neighborhood safe.

"If they're going to make me a victim, they're going to work for it," he said.

He also told us the system has four different cameras at various locations around his house.

When Barringer heard thieves broke into his next door neighbor's home Tuesday, he immediately checked out his video and realized he'd caught the entire crime on tape.  

"They pull into the driveway, gentleman goes to the back of the home, breaks in, walks out the front door,” he recalled. “Brings his partner back--he and his partner go in the front door. Get the T. V. and they're gone."

While some may think Barringer's vigilance is over-the-top, his neighbor Tiffany Gilliam said you couldn't ask for a better neighbor.

"I'd rather he had the cameras then not have had them," she pointed out.

While Gilliam acknowledged, “Yeah, that's kind of Big Brother-ish,” she also said, “I'm glad that he's taking the extra step and has made the investment. Not only in his home, but in the neighborhood as a whole to just you know be on the lookout."

Barringer said he turned the video over to CMPD.  WBTV has also learned at least one other home was burglarized on Tuesday, but there’s no word on if the two are connected.

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