Armed Robbery in San Antonio Triggers More Holiday Safety Concerns

A brazen armed robbery at Cross Road Grocery in San Antonio Village has residents on edge tonight, and it’s happening right in the middle of the Christmas season. With families out shopping and communities preparing for the holidays, this incident raises a serious question: just how safe are we during what should be the most festive time of the year? The incident unfolded just before three o’clock Monday afternoon. Surveillance footage taken from the store shows the armed assailant pointing a gun at the cashier who hands over all the money from the register. In response, authorities and residents are joining forces to gather information, urging villagers to report suspicious activity or unfamiliar vehicles spotted in the area. Business owners are advised to remain vigilant, as criminals may target stores and shoppers during this busy period. We wanted to find out what Belizean businesses can do to keep their staff and property safe this holiday season, so we spoke with William Sanabria, Chief of Operations at Champion Security Systems.

 

William Sanabria, Chief of Operations, Champion Security System

“Champion security offers mostly security systems when it comes to cameras, alarm, fire system, intercom system, access control system. We also do gate operators and we do garage openers. Everything that has to do with security. Those are the most common ones.”

 

Britney Gordon

“And do you see an increase of business around this time of year? We know it’s the holiday season.”

 

William Sanabria

“Since December start this year, we’ve been very busy comparing to other years, previous years mostly because we are having a lot of break-ins this time of the year. So we recommend everybody to at least, have a alarm system installed at their residence. Because if you’ve noticed, most break-ins are mostly on businesses. So we recommend if they make all businesses reach out to us, if they need any assistance, any recommendations for anything we could assist with that.”

 

Britney Gordon

“And what is the most popular service for people to install based on what you observe? Is it cameras, is it alarm systems?”

 

William Sanabria

“Okay. My recommendations is at least if you have a security system, it is a plus. But my recommendation always start with, alarm system because when you install an alarm system, it’s like you are having a security guard, but 24-7, that doesn’t sleep. So if someone tried to break in your house, the system will trigger right away, scare away the culprits or whatever. So I recommend the alarm system. When it comes to security cameras that is the second option. Apart from the alarm comes first, then the cameras the cameras play a big role because you could go back retrieve footage if the culprit don’t have any masks on, you could provide those footage to the police and most of the time that help a lot and they solve a lot of crime when it comes to break-ins, robbery.”