BlinklessRetail store security after hours(212) 470-2511

For owners and managers of a shop or a few stores

After you lock up, who’s watching your store?

At 2 a.m., the alarm usually calls you out of bed. With Blinkless, an operator is watching the store live on camera in the hours your plan sets.

Request the free planSee who can watch at night

A free remote assessment from satellite imagery and the cameras already up. No site visit.

What changes at 2 a.m. when someone is watching?

Most stores at 2 a.m.

When the alarm goes off, the call usually goes to you or your keyholder, and someone drives in to meet the police. Cameras that only record show what happened the next morning.

With Blinkless watching

An operator sees what is going on, live on camera, in the hours your plan sets. They speak to whoever is there over two-way audio and tell the people your plan names as it happens; the footage and an incident report follow.

Stores are broken into at night

In the FBI’s 2019 figures, burglaries of stores, offices and other nonresidential property happened more often at night (157,327) than by day (125,554). Homes ran the other way: daytime burglaries were the larger group. The FBI put the average loss per burglary that year at $2,661.

Police guidance for stores reads the night the same way. The police page of Marshall, Texas, on business security says most store burglaries occur at night, when it is dark, which makes lighting every side of the building, the alleys and the parking lot one of the most important deterrents, and it advises leaving an interior light on that can be seen from the street.

Source: City of Marshall, Texas, Police Business Security Tips. Accessed 6 October 2026.

Burglaries by time of day, United States, 2019 (FBI)

Stores, offices and other nonresidential property

Night
157,327
Day
125,554

Homes

Night
195,884
Day
290,909

Unknown time of day: another 57,976 nonresidential burglaries. Average loss per burglary, 2019: $2,661. ‘Nonresidential’ is the FBI’s category (store, office, etc.), not a count of stores alone.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2019, Table 23: Offense Analysis and Burglary. Accessed 6 October 2026.

When a store’s alarm goes off at night, who goes, and what does it cost if it was nothing?

When a store’s alarm goes off at night, the monitoring company usually calls the owner or a keyholder first, who drives in to meet the police. Cities charge for false alarms: Dallas allows a permitted business three free false burglar alarms a year, then charges from $50 each. Portland suspends police response after a fourth false alarm in a permit year until, among other conditions, audio or video verification monitoring is added.

The 2 a.m. alarm, as store staff describe it. One chain-store employee, in a public discussion, puts it simply: the keyholder who set the alarm is the first person the security company calls, which means getting out of bed and going to the store to meet the police.

  1. The alarm goes offThe store is empty and locked.
  2. The keyholder is calledThe monitoring company usually calls the owner, or the keyholder who set the alarm, first.
  3. They drive inOut of bed, and to the store.
  4. They meet the policeAt the store, in the middle of the night.

Across four public conversations among business owners and store staff, the business’s own people take the night alarm: chain-store keyholders are called first and go to the store to meet the police; an owner of two shops keeps the phone ringer on at night; an owner drove in because police required a person on site, private response having been quoted in the thousands a month; and an office worker who lives opposite is the alarm company’s designated contact.

What a false alarm costs: two cities’ rules

Dallas

Dallas requires a permit for any alarm monitored to provide police response: $100 a year for a business. A permitted business has three free false burglar alarms in twelve months; from the fourth, each costs $50 or more.

Source: City of Dallas, Online Security Alarm Permit Registrations, accessed 5 October 2026. More in Dallas’s entry in our US alarm permit database.

Portland, Oregon

Under Portland City Code 14B.10.090, police response to an alarm is suspended after the fourth false alarm in a permit year. It resumes only when audio or video verification monitoring, or multiple-device triggers, are added and the City’s other conditions are met.

Source: Portland City Code 14B.10.090, No Response to Excessive Alarms, accessed 5 October 2026. More in Portland’s entry in our US alarm permit database.

The full Dallas fee ladder, and Portland’s conditions for restoring response
Dallas, business alarm permit and false burglar alarm fees
Permit$100 a year
1st to 3rd false alarm in 12 monthsFree
4th to 6th$50 each
7th and 8th$75 each
9th and after$100 each

Portland: police response to the alarm resumes only when

  • audio and/or video verification monitoring, or multiple-device trigger systems, are added;
  • every outstanding fee and fine is paid; and
  • the alarm user agrees in writing to the terms that apply to a fifth false alarm.

Closing the store: what police advise

Police guidance for businesses gives a closing routine: lock up as soon as you close, with two people; leave the register open and empty; bring in anything that could break a window; leave lights on where police can see inside; keep windows clear of signs and protect the glass; move valuables away from the windows; and make sure cameras cover every door and window and work. If you find a break-in, call 911 and do not go in.

In the order you close. Each line is the advice of the police department named under it, not ours.

  1. Lock up as soon as you close

    Lock the doors at closing time, and close with more than one person, or with a neighbouring business owner.

    Philadelphia

  2. Register open and empty

    Empty the cash drawer and leave it open overnight, so nobody breaks in for it. Don’t count money where people outside can see.

    Philadelphia · Murrieta

  3. Nothing outside that could break a window

    Bring in movable objects from outside the store.

    Philadelphia

  4. Lights on where police can see inside

    Leave lights on overnight in the parts of the store visible from outside, with an interior light visible from the street. Keep shelving no higher than five feet, and lower in front of the windows.

    Philadelphia · Murrieta · Marshall

  5. Windows clear, glass protected

    Keep windows free of signs and advertising. Protect the glass with shatter-resistant film, see-through grills or roll-down panels.

    Philadelphia · Murrieta · Marshall

  6. Valuables away from the glass

    Move valuable merchandise and equipment away from windows and doors, against smash-and-grab theft.

    Marshall

  7. Cameras on every door and window

    Cameras covering every access point and in working order, with storage, and staff who know how to share the footage with police.

    Philadelphia · Murrieta

  8. A monitored alarm

    An alarm monitored so that it contacts law enforcement.

    Murrieta

If you find a break-in

Call 911, and do not go in without an officer. And each morning, before opening, check the locks, doors and windows for tampering.

Philadelphia

Sources: City of Philadelphia, Department of Commerce with the Philadelphia Police Department, Crime prevention tips for your business and employees, published 6 March 2023, accessed 6 October 2026. City of Murrieta, California, Burglary Prevention for Businesses, accessed 6 October 2026. City of Marshall, Texas, Police Business Security Tips, accessed 6 October 2026.

Can someone watch my store’s cameras at night, and what does each way of doing it give me?

Store owners describe several ways the night is covered: recording cameras read the next morning, the owner watching the feed, an alarm company that calls a keyholder, a camera maker’s monitoring service capped at a number of events a month, or a replacement monitored system. A live operator watching the cameras can speak to someone on site and call the police while it is happening. Which cameras the store has decides what an outside watcher can reach.

The keyholder’s night

  1. The alarm goes offThe store is empty and locked.
  2. The keyholder is calledThe monitoring company usually calls the owner, or the keyholder who set the alarm, first.
  3. They drive inOut of bed, and to the store.
  4. They meet the policeAt the store, in the middle of the night.

With someone watching live: what Blinkless does

  1. Someone is seenOn the store’s cameras, in the hours the plan sets.
  2. An operator looksAt the live video, while it is happening.
  3. The operator speaksTo the person on site, over two-way audio.
  4. The plan’s people are toldWhile it is happening; the footage and an incident report follow.
The ways a store is covered at night, as owners have met them
OptionDoes a person see it while it happens?What happens nextWhich cameras it needs
Cameras that record, read the next morningNo. Nobody sees it while it happens.The footage is looked at afterwards.The store’s own.
The owner watching the feedIn one public conversation, a shop owner broken into twice in two weeks describes watching the cameras overnight themselves, asking police on the non-emergency line to drive by, and weighing patrolling the shop in person if hired security cost too much.Only while the owner is awake and watching.Whatever the owner does at that hour.The store’s own, viewable by the owner.In one public conversation, a shop owner broken into twice in two weeks describes watching the cameras overnight themselves, asking police on the non-emergency line to drive by, and weighing patrolling the shop in person if hired security cost too much.
The alarm companyIn one public thread among retailers, replies disagreed on whether anyone will watch cameras they did not sell: one said many alarm monitoring companies will look at them to verify an alarm, if there is an alarm; others doubted security companies touch equipment they do not sell.No. Some may look at the cameras, but only to verify an alarm.The keyholder is called, and drives in to meet the police.An alarm. Cameras only to check an alarm, if at all.In one public thread among retailers, replies disagreed on whether anyone will watch cameras they did not sell: one said many alarm monitoring companies will look at them to verify an alarm, if there is an alarm; others doubted security companies touch equipment they do not sell.
A camera maker’s own monitoring serviceOne consumer camera maker’s published terms for its service state trained professionals monitoring enrolled cameras at a home or business, 175 monitored events a month per location, for a monthly subscription. In public discussions, one shop owner on such a service describes holding off arming it until about 11 p.m. so as not to run past the cap.Yes, for monitored events: up to 175 a month per location.Trained professionals monitor the enrolled cameras’ events, up to the cap.At least one of the maker’s own cameras, and good wifi at the store.One consumer camera maker’s published terms for its service state trained professionals monitoring enrolled cameras at a home or business, 175 monitored events a month per location, for a monthly subscription. In public discussions, one shop owner on such a service describes holding off arming it until about 11 p.m. so as not to run past the cap.
A replacement monitored systemIn public discussions, store owners describe asking their alarm company to watch the cameras they already had, being refused, and being offered a new monitored system at about $450 a month instead.Depends on the system sold.Whatever that system provides.New equipment, in place of the cameras already up.In public discussions, store owners describe asking their alarm company to watch the cameras they already had, being refused, and being offered a new monitored system at about $450 a month instead.
Someone watching the cameras liveWhat Blinkless doesYes. An operator looks at the live video.The operator speaks to the person on site over two-way audio. The people your plan names are told while it is happening, and the footage and an incident report follow.Cameras an outside watcher can reach. The assessment starts from the ones already up.

Many consumer cameras cannot be reached by an outside watcher at all. A video platform sold to monitoring companies lists several popular consumer camera brands as not working with it, and others as working or working but not recommended; another brand’s standard stream needs a compatible recorder. That is why the assessment below starts from the cameras already up.

Free · no site visit

A free remote assessment of your store

We assess your store, or your few stores, remotely: from satellite imagery and the list of cameras already up. Nobody needs to come out.

You get it back as a written plan: what gets watched (the front, the glass, the rear door, the lot), in which hours, what happens when someone is seen, and who is told. The plan is yours to keep whether or not you go further.

  1. Send the address and your camera list. The cameras already up, and where they point.
  2. We look at it remotely. From satellite imagery and your list.
  3. You get the written plan. What gets watched and in which hours, what happens when someone is seen, and who is told.

Request the plan for your store

The address and the cameras already up are enough to start.

Or call (212) 470-2511.