‘You are under surveillance’: Noisy parking lot security turning heads in downtown Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A property owner downtown is turning heads with a new security system trying to stop crime.

A motion-detected speaker announces “you are under surveillance,” when someone walks or drives into two parking lots off 17th & Main Street.

“It’s like something out of the Hunger Games; it’s so dystopian,” said Mikayla Moody, who parked in the lot. “Especially as we first drove in, that’s the first thing it said, and it was really creepy.”

Moody believes that while it’s loud, it will help keep the area safe.

“I guess the volume helps serve its purpose. If it’s going to be here, yeah, be loud,” Moody said.

Meanwhile, some business owners, like David Epstein at Tom’s Town Distilling, said the loudness is a problem.

“We have seen our weekday sales go down, and I attribute that 100% to that,” Epstein said. “We have a lot of weddings here, so in between saying I do, they have to hear ‘you’re under surveillance.’”

They even named one of their drinks on the menu ‘under surveillance.’

KCTV5 talked to the property owner about the security system, which he put into place eight months ago.

“Kansas City is experiencing unprecedented levels of crime, including a surge in property crimes such as car thefts and break-ins—with little to no repercussions for the perpetrators. Downtown is no exception, with cars being stolen from our lots and break-ins occurring in broad daylight.

While spending six figures to improve security was not something we wanted to do, we felt we had no choice. Since installing these systems, we’ve seen a major reduction in property crimes on these two lots, with no cars stolen. Our tenants and the businesses that use these lots have expressed their appreciation for the investment we’ve made in security.

In conversations with our tenants, they’ve told us they don’t feel the messaging is hurting their business—in fact, quite the opposite. The lot is often at capacity, even when others are not, which speaks for itself. In the end, we are tackling the issue head-on, while others are just complaining. We don’t have the luxury of inaction,” said Brad Nicholson.

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