It only takes a few days after employees at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota security firm install their surveillance cameras for business owners to see their benefits first hand. That was the case at a car wash the company serviced by installing a handful of cameras in and around wash bays and near the offices. Days later, they came in handy.

“We finished putting the new cameras in the new car wash on a Thursday and the following Monday, John called saying they helped the police apprehend a hit-and-run suspect,” owner Jeff Hansen said. “The video showed the color, license plate and make and model of the vehicle involved, and the face of the driver.”

Safe-N-Secure specializes in alarm systems and primarily serves schools, warehouses and grocery stores. But the company has also helped local car washes with the technology including Classic Car Wash, Eco Auto Wash and Super Suds. Hansen told the Yankton Daily about another interesting call he got where a car wash owner decided to install security cameras when he opened his business because he wanted to prevent crimes like the 2004 rape and murder of an 11-year-old who was kidnapped from a car wash and whose killer was caught on camera.

Thankfully, not all crimes are so sinister and Hansen said the security cameras are more likely to help with traffic infractions and employee theft once a car wash owner has them installed. The car wash that solved the hit-and-run with the cameras had several throughout each bay, in the office, outside the building, on a sign and in a control room.

“They have extremely good coverage for a car wash,” Hansen said. “Nothing happens on those properties without it being seen.”