GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) — Glendale Police have issued a warning about residential burglaries that use Wi-Fi jammers to disable security alarms and surveillance cameras.
Police Sergeant Victor Jackson explains that the devices thieves use block signals and disrupt WiFi. “So if you have a Ring camera, a Nest camera, any kind of WiFi-based alarm system or WiFi-based camera, it blocks the signal and it stops working,” he says.
An unusual increase in residential burglaries plagued Glendale and Southern California in the fall, and investigators noticed a crime trend.
“When our detectives started going into these cases, they realized what was going on,” Jackson said. “In some cases, because of the way this device works, when they rewound the tape and looked at it, instead of a black screen, it looked like there was no seam. There was no evidence because there was nothing there.”
Police encourage residents to step up their security by:
The Glendale Police Department’s residential burglary unit has been working to reduce the number of break-ins, officials said.
Los Angeles Police are urging residents to be vigilant after a home in the Wilshire section was targeted by burglars using a Wi-Fi jamming device.
“We had our patrol officers, motor officers, special enforcement units and detectives infiltrated into the area and heavily secured the area,” Jackson said.
“It seems like there’s nowhere in the city where you don’t encounter a police officer or a police car,” Glendale resident Nora Alabi told ABC7.
“If you stand here for five minutes, you might see three police cars go by,” she said, “so I feel like this is a safe neighborhood.”
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