Thomas Catri
What’s new for 2016? Well, we start the year off with a new video surveillance system installed at the Riggs and Championship Drive main entrance gate, including cameras at the guard shack. I wanted to thank Maintenance Manager John Smith and his staff, along with Project Review Committee member Bill Hook for doing a great job with the professional installation of the six new cameras.
Video surveillance systems work very well in support of access control gates. Well placed cameras can keep an eye on the gated entry areas 24 hours a day and never blink once. Some of the important functions of these cameras is to identify a vehicle’s make and model, along with the license plates of anyone who approaches. Well placed cameras are also a great deterrent to vandalism and are also positive proof should a gate be damaged by a careless driver or someone attempting to tailgate in behind a SunBird resident.
Recently, we’ve had a couple of incidents involving damage to our gate barrier arms. I wanted to thank one of our alert residents who suspected a vehicle waiting at the Kerby Farms gate would attempt to enter behind her and then she observed the vehicle drive through the gate following her, causing damage to the gate arm. She then contacted Patrol and we were able to track down the perpetrator. A second incident occurred at the main entrance involving a truck making no attempt to check in at the guard shack and then proceeding through the resident gate, striking and damaging another barrier arm. I would like to give a shout out to Patrol Officer Joe Inorio who observed that truck while working at the guard shack enter the wrong lane and then drive through the gate hitting the barrier arm. Joe then contacted Roving Patrol Officer Don Swift who then made contact with the driver of the truck. Great job and great teamwork, Joe and Don! In these two incidents, Patrol worked hard to gather information and identify the responsible subjects so that they will be responsible for replacing the damaged barrier arms.
Also, as of late, I have received a couple of calls from our residents reporting that someone is calling them from their insurance company stating that they need to come out to their home for a health check and go over their prescription and medical health and if they don’t agree to it, then they will lose their Medicare. This is basically the latest variation of the Medicare card phone scam. It’s not your insurance company attempting to call you. It’s some type of an agency hired to obtain your personal information about you, your home, your health history and your medications. Scammers nationwide are constantly attempting to trick seniors into giving out their personal information. Protect yourself from falling for scams. Don’t answer phone calls you don’t recognize, check contractors and other workers and ask a trusted family member for help.
Has it really been that many years ago, that we were unsure what would happen when New Year 2000 came around? Most everything just went on as normal. Happy New Year, everyone. Stay safe!