Area Businesses Appreciate Nightly Security Checks
Many Geauga County business owners may not be aware that while their store is closed, someone is looking in the windows and checking door locks — but it’s not a burglar.
Many Geauga County business owners may not be aware that while their store is closed, someone is looking in the windows and checking door locks — but it’s not a burglar.
Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand’s office regularly conducts business security checks around the county to help reduce the probability of break-ins and burglaries.
In some cases, a business’s alarm goes off and the sheriff’s office is unable to get ahold of the owners, but will do a security check anyway.
“We just let them know that (the alarm) did happen, we were there and we checked it,” Hildenbrand said.
Businesses like Lake Effect Auto Sales in Chardon appreciate the extra layer of security.
“When we moved out here three years ago, I sent an email to Sheriff Hildenbrand just basically introducing myself and my business and letting him know we support law enforcement and that if the deputies on patrol ever needed a place to pull off for a break, especially after-hours or on the midnight shift, that they were always welcome to use our parking lot,” said owner Tim Arko, adding Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Falcone periodically leaves door tags confirming the property was secure during his nighttime safety checks and Arko tries to give the deputies a shoutout on his social media pages.
Arko said his favorite safety check was when the message on the door tag left by the law enforcement officer said, “Tell Daphne we say hello!”
“Daphne is my 1 ½-year-old golden retriever who comes to work almost every day and has a big presence on our social media pages,” Arko said. “I took a picture of her with the door note and tagged the sheriff’s office page for sure that time.”
Hildenbrand said business checks tend to occur when a deputy is not on call in a specific area and there’s no set schedule.
“It’s just wherever the deputy might be, you really don’t want a set schedule because if you know if you’re going to check the place at seven o’clock every night, the burglar can say well, I can break in at 7:30, so it’s just random,” Hildenbrand said, adding there have been instances where a door was unlocked and they check to make sure they’re secure and everything’s okay.
Arko said he’s always been appreciative whenever he comes to work and sees the hangers on the door.
“I thought it was not only good for any community members who follow our page to see those types of interactions with the department, but also that could potentially thwart a criminal looking online for a place to hit next,” Arko said. “I think pre-emptively doing these checks is one of the big reasons why there’s not a lot of crime issues out here. As a business owner, it certainly only helps and never hurts.”
Arko added it’s good for the deputies, too, because they have the opportunity familiarize themselves on the layouts and set-ups at different businesses in the county.
“It’s always best if they’re one step ahead of the bad guys and I certainly feel that they are and our extremely low record of incidents at our location should certainly be a shining reflection of the patrol deputies,” Arko said.
Hildenbrand echoed Arko, he personally looks forward to meeting and talking with business owners.
“I encourage our deputies to stop and talk with people. Many times, they have questions and they can be answered,” Hildenbrand said. “It’s just a friendly type of thing, I think it’s a great idea and gets us out in the community and think everybody should do it.”
