Lodent Precision Ltd

Summary/background of company

The company, based in Brownhills in the West Midlands, is a precision engineering toolmaker which has been trading for more than 40 years.

Challenges the client faced

Lodent had experienced a series of costly and disruptive thefts from their yard on an industrial estate in Staffordshire close to the M6 toll road north of Walsall and Wolverhampton.

The company occupies three units on the Coppice Side Industrial Estate. Unit 1 in Collier Close (WS8 7EU), was the unit being targeted. It had an older, redundant CCTV system, whilst the other two units had no CCTV surveillance in place at all.

Whilst an employee did patrol between the units, any of the sites could have been unattended for several hours and, besides, he could have been vulnerable. Would he have been attacked if he’d walked in on a burglary?

Equipment we installed – and what happened next

Justice Fire & Security was contracted to install new CCTV Systems across all three Lodent sites, to ensure they could be monitored when the business was either closed or operating throughout the night.

The very same night that the equipment was installed, the thieves returned!

Our engineers, Aaron and Alfie had sensibly set up a “trigger point” which would be activated, if anybody broke into the yard. This is exactly what happened that first night. The three thieves entered the trigger area, which immediately sent a phone alert to one of Lodent’s managers.

On opening the app, the manager could see the CCTV operating in real time, as the theft was taking place. The recipient immediately called the police, who were able to get to the site, whilst the burglars were still there. Thanks to the app and the clarity of the CCTV pictures, the manager was able to guide the police to exactly where two of the culprits were hiding. The police apprehended one, crouching behind a wall, seen by the Lodent manager on the CCTV. The second individual was caught by the police drone team’s heat sensor and officers also seized their vehicle.

The final outcome

Justice Fire & Security have ensured that the three units have effective CCTV systems (HikVision) in place, to ensure there is 24/7 site surveillance. In addition, we have established a comprehensive preventative maintenance programme for Lodent, to ensure the equipment always remains fully operational and is regularly serviced.

A spokesman for Lodent commented: “If it hadn’t been for having the CCTV installed and the trigger that Aaron suggested we put in place, then we would not have caught these people. We wouldn’t even have known that there had been another burglary until the next morning, by which time it would have been too late again. We are so grateful to the Justice engineers for all their hard work, advice and support whilst they were here at Lodent.”