By Joe Johnson
Athens-Clarke County police are crediting home security devices for the arrest on Thursday of an offender they called “a prolific” thief.
Property Crimes Unit investigators identified and obtained six arrest warrants on Jeffery Bernard Foote, 56, of Hull, after he was captured on residential surveillance video entering vehicles on Bel-Air Drive and Club Drive on April 23, according to police.
Foote was identified through home surveillance video recordings and Ring Video.
“In both cases, the video evidence was instrumental in getting a prolific entering auto and theft suspect off of our streets,” police said in a Friday morning media release.
Foote was booked into the Clarke County Jail Thursday on two counts each of entering an automobile with the intent to commit a felony, criminal attempt to commit a felony and criminal trespass to property.
He has been convicted in Clarke County State and Superior courts nearly 20 times for various felony and misdemeanor offenses dating to 1993, according to court records.
FAs of Friday afternoon, Foote was being detained at the county jail in lieu of bonds totaling $3,000.
Detective Nathaniel Franco said, “The use of private, home surveillance footage systems, including Ring and other brands, are greatly increasing the ability of Property Crimes detectives to solve burglaries, entering autos, and other residential thefts.”
The Neighbors App by Ring is a free smartphone application that is designed to help community members connect and stay informed about what’s going on around them – whether they own a Ring device or not. Local police use Neighbors to share important crime and safety information with residents, and work with their communities to make neighborhoods safer. Ring is proud to work with local police across the country, through the Neighbors app, to help open the lines of communication between local police and the communities they serve. Ring believes when communities and law enforcement work together, safer neighborhoods can become a reality.
Participation in the Neighbors App does not require the purchase of any Ring branded device. Anyone interested in sharing information or video from any source is welcome to do so. It can be downloaded from the app store of your choice.
Visit https://store.ring.com/neighbors for further information or to download the app.