What the figures actually say
The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 19% of nonfatal carjackings in the United States in 2012-21 happened in a parking lot or garage, against 39% at or near the victim’s home and 22% on the street. Most carjackings, wherever they happened, involved an armed offender: 59% did, and 26% injured the victim.
That is the national figure we use, because it can be read in its own table. The wider shares repeated online name no table, so they are left out.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Carjacking Victimization, 1995-2021 (NCJ 305204, October 2022), table 1: 2012-21 National Crime Victimization Survey estimates, published October 2022. Read 5 October 2026.
What a diagnosis of the facility looks at
A diagnosis of a garage or lot looks at the entries and exits, which are where access is controlled; at sightlines and lighting, which decide whether anyone could see; at signs, boundaries and upkeep; and at what active surveillance is in place (patrols, guards or cameras) and for which hours.
Entries and exits
Natural access control
Every way in and out, by car and on foot. These are the access points to control, and a single, clearly identifiable point of entry is easier to control than several.
A gate alone leaves gaps. Residents of gated apartment garages, in two public conversations we read, describe cars broken into overnight behind the gate: people lifting it from the ground and crawling under, or a gate that fails to work half the time. Nobody in either conversation describes anyone watching the garage at night.
Sightlines and lighting
Natural surveillance
Which levels, rows and corners could be seen, and which are dark or out of view.
Signs and boundaries
Territorial reinforcement
Whether the edges and the signs mark the facility out as managed property.
Upkeep
Maintenance
What is broken or left unrepaired.
Active surveillance, hour by hour
Active surveillance
Who or what is watching on purpose (patrol officers, security guards, cameras) and in which hours. Set those hours against the unattended hours you marked above: whatever is left is the time nothing covers.
The list follows Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) as the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice sets it out: five principles (natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial reinforcement, maintenance and activity support), with the entry and exit points of parking lots under access control, and active surveillance by patrol officers, security guards and CCTV cameras kept apart from the surveillance that design makes possible.
Source: Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Office of Research and Statistics, ‘In Detail: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design’ (May 2024). Read 5 October 2026.
What can you put on the facility for its unattended hours, and what does each actually do?
Recording cameras show an incident afterwards, if someone looks; gates get beaten; patrols pass at intervals. Someone present over the risk hours is the option with evaluated evidence: in a Home Office study, two attendants covering one commuter lot’s risk hours were followed by 66% fewer offences, with no sign the crime moved next door. Someone watching the cameras live, who can speak and call it in, is another way to have a person there.
In the parking-security offers we read in US search results, operators are sold guard and patrol services, solar, cellular camera trailers (some with live voice-down), barrier gates and gate arms, and cameras sold as hardware.
| Option | While it’s happening | Hours it covers | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recording cameras | Record it. The footage is seen afterwards, if anyone looks. | Every hour they record, with nobody seeing it live. | A condominium owner: “we spent over 40k on cameras that no one ever watches.” A property manager who doesn’t monitor the footage reviews it with the police and insurers when needed. |
| A gate or barrier | Stops a car that can’t open it. People on foot get past it. | While it is closed and working. | Residents of gated apartment garages describe gates lifted and crawled under, or not closing. |
| A patrol | Passes at intervals, and sees what is happening only while it is there. | The minutes it is on site. | Guard and patrol services are among what parking operators are sold. |
| An attendant or guard over the risk hours | Someone is there while it happens. | The hours they are scheduled, set to the risk hours. | In the Home Office study’s one evaluated lot (Laycock and Austin, 1992), two attendants placed to cover its high-risk hours were followed by 66% fewer offences in the next 12 months (38 to 13), with no significant evidence that the crime moved to the town’s other car parks or the surrounding streets. One lot, in one town, in one period. |
| A camera trailer | Cameras on a solar, cellular trailer. Some have live voice-down, so someone can speak through them. | Wherever and whenever it is deployed. | Among what parking operators are sold. |
| Someone watching your existing cameras liveWhat Blinkless does | An operator looks at the live video and can speak to the people there over two-way audio. The people your plan names are told while it is happening, and the footage and an incident report follow. | The hours your plan sets. | How we work when we’re watching a property. |
The authors of the Home Office study note that parking managers often hold enough evidence to act, and lack the incentive, because the cost falls on the parker.
Source: Laycock, G. and Austin, C., ‘Crime Prevention in Parking Facilities’, Security Journal 3(3), 1992 (Home Office Crime Prevention Unit). Read 5 October 2026.
Residents in two public conversations we read describe operators buying night cover after thefts: after airbags were stolen from cars in one garage, an extra gate, new fobs and a night guard to walk around; in another city, neighbouring buildings jointly hiring a private security company after break-ins the police had given up on.
Free · no site visit
A free written plan for your facility
We assess the garage or lot remotely, from satellite imagery and the list of cameras already up: the entries and exits, the levels or rows, the pay stations and the stairwells. Nobody needs to come out.
Then we write down the places and hours to watch, what happens when someone is seen and who is told. The plan is yours to keep whether or not you go further.
- Send the address and your camera list. The cameras already up, and where they point.
- We look at it remotely. From satellite imagery and your list.
- You get the written plan. The places and hours to watch, what happens when someone is seen, and who is told.
Request the plan for your facility
The address and the cameras already up are enough to start.