A Stolen Truck, a Car Wash Detour, and Cameras That Never Blink

On January 5, a seemingly regular afternoon in Glendale, Arizona, became extremely stressful for the local cops. A Flock Safety camera at a local car wash saw a stolen GMC Sierra pickup truck traveling by and alerted the police, who were on the spot. That single alert prompted them to rush over to find the thief, John Graff, who was cleaning the truck’s interior as if he owned the place.

Flock Safety has installed a network of fixed cameras in areas such as busy intersections, company driveways, and residential streets. Each one is constantly scanning passing vehicles, and their unique software can read license plates as soon as a car passes by, cross-checking them against a list of stolen cars, people wanted by the police, and even those involved with crimes. Some of these cameras can also identify additional information, such as a vehicle’s color, make, and model, or a partial image if a plate is absent or fully covered up. It all goes straight into the police systems in real time, so any matches are reported to the officers in seconds. Departments connect these streams to their live crime centers, which are unique rooms where experts sit and view live feeds from hundreds or thousands of cameras, both public and private.

Glendale’s Real Time Crime Center monitors more than 1,700 cameras, including Flock units. When the stolen truck triggered the warning, the analysts at the center were able to trace it down and direct the police to the car wash where the trouble was. Within minutes, three police cruisers arrived quietly, and bodycam footage captured the moment when the policemen approached Graff with pistols drawn and urged him to step away from the truck. He pretended not to hear them, returned to the vehicle, and took off at high speed.

The truck ended up colliding with one of the cruisers, nearly trapping an officer between the two vehicles. Then he slammed another automobile before ditching his truck. The city’s cameras tracked him as he turned left into oncoming traffic, causing other vehicles to swerve out of the way to prevent a collision. He tore down the road, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, eventually crashing through the gates of a nearby church. Fortunately, he did not hit anyone on the playground or inside the truck, and he escaped on foot.

The cops kept their cool throughout the incident thanks to the live crime center, which was tracking the truck via various streams. Graff went missing for a while, but the original alert provided the police with a promising lead, and they were able to locate him a week later, on January 12th, at a domestic location. One of the officers approached him, commanded him to turn around, and arrested him without incident.

Graff is now facing charges of aggravated assault, theft, endangerment, and criminal damage. Later, he told detectives that he was only a little worried from drugs and had lost his temper, but he never intended to harm anyone. Police applauded the policemen for remaining calm in the face of what could have been a very dangerous situation.
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