Tesla’s Sentry Mode Helps Police Arrest Car Thief

In 2018, the number of break-ins Tesla cars suffered increased and, in response to that, the automaker was quick to release a dashcam feature that used all of the car’s Autopilot cameras for a ‘stand-by’ mode. This mode included an alarm in addition to a notification system that worked as a deterrent for potential thieves.

The feature eventually became known as Sentry Mode and Tesla started rolling it out via an over-the-air-software in February and, by the looks of it, it’s already working.

According to a report from ABC 7 News, Tesla Model 3 owner Jed Franklin got an alert on his Tesla app that the Sentry Mode had been triggered, while the car was parked along the Embarcadero. When he returned to his car, he noticed that his window had been broken but, thankfully, there was nothing to steal, so the thief left empty-handed.

After he drove back home, Franklin plugged in his USB drive and downloaded the video the Sentry Mode recorded and forwarded it to the police – thanks to the multiple cameras, Franklin was able to capture a clear view of the suspect that was trying to break into his car, as well as the license number of the car he drove.

“It’s unusual.” Franklin said “So for one, I was upset to see the car getting broken into but on the other side, I was like, oh my gosh I can’t believe this is actually recorded. ”

The San Francisco Police was eventually able to identify and arrest the suspect.

“It’s rare but we’re seeing more and more of these surveillance cameras all over the place now and we’re happy to see that because it’s a really effective crime-fighting tool,” San Francisco Police Public Information Officer Adam Lobsinger told ABC 7.