Dash cams are great products that are popping up in tech stores and websites, but we don’t really recommend them for security if you have other options such as a mobile patrol service.

Dash cams are devices that capture footage from any place in your car. Drivers use it to get a good view of the front bumper, the rear bumper, or another place on the car so drivers can get a better look at their surroundings. Drivers can see what’s happening in real time with a connected monitor that’s placed on their dashboard. A great feature that these cameras have is the ability to record what’s happening for a period of time and it can be transferred to your smartphone and shared with others.

If you’re looking to ensure neighborhoods are safe, the best security company Alberta recommends using their mobile patrol services rather than rely on a dash cam. Here are two big reasons why mobile patrols have the advantage over a car security camera.

Dash cams are not imposing

Dash cams can work to record incidents as they happen, which is great, but if you want to prevent crime from happening in the first place, it’s not all that helpful in this regard. Dash cams are hard to notice on cars, since they’re very small and drivers are often focused on the road or other cars. Some dash cams have that traditional camera shape, but others don’t, and for most drivers, it’s very hard to tell if you’re recording outside your car. Thus, a dash cam is not a good way to prevent crime much like a security camera at a store is.

With a mobile patrol service, you can have a patrol car nearby to ensure drivers are on their best behavior. For most drivers, they drive carefully at the sight of a police or patrol car, so most of the time, you won’t need to worry about theft, road rage, or other incidents with our services. This leads to our next point.

Security’s (likely) not around to catch culprits

A dash cam is not a security force or tied to a security force. So if a crime were to be committed towards you or around you, we wouldn’t know about it until a report is filed. A dash cam is helpful to identify suspects, but many drivers rather have the security or police present to apprehend criminals on the spot rather than have them be at large until they’re caught.

We understand that security and police are not always around to see everything, so not always will we be able to respond quickly to danger, but a great inquiry you can make about mobile patrol services is being able to have an officer patrol or be stationed at certain areas. So if there’s a certain street or place that you’re not very comfortable being in, we can be sure to be there to apprehend any culprits that might be present.

That is not to say that dash cams aren’t useless. If you have one or are looking to get one, keep using it. It serves as a great backup tool to document crime in the event that we’re not around to stop it. A security team, however, should be the top priority when it comes to stopping and preventing crime.

Summary

While dash cams are very useful and record footage outside the car, they shouldn’t be outright replacements over a mobile patrol service, as they aren’t capable of preventing crime or apprehending criminals as crime takes place.