Car theft raises security concerns
A tour to visit a family member at Annie Penn Hospital turned into a scary practice for an elderly Reidsville man recently.
Chasity Scott said her mother has been in the hospital for about five weeks and on July 16, her 81-year-old uncle went to visit her. Her uncle lives with her mother and the two share a vehicle.
Scott said that while her uncle was at the hospital, someone swiped his car and took it for a joyride around town. Gratefully, she said, the vehicle was found undamaged, but her uncle’s keys, which contained keys to his house, were not located.
Scott said the incident was reported to security officers at the hospital and while they were sympathetic about the theft, she said they told the family that the security tapes from the parking lot would not be clear enough to pinpoint the incident.
“They said their tapes were so bad, they wouldn’t be able to see what happened,” Scott said.
Doug Allred, public relations specialist for Moses Cone Health System, which wields Annie Penn Hospital, said he doesn’t feel that security threats are truly an issue at the Reidsville facility.
“We truly don’t think we have any more security issues than any other hospital,” Allred said.
He also said the parking lot security system is effective. “We just didn’t have any photos related to that incident.”
Scott admits that her uncle made a critical mistake that she said he feels terrible about. Instead of removing the keys from the car when he parked it, he instead glided them under the front seat, something that he’s always done.
“He’s eighty one years old and that’s just what he’s always done,” she said. “You’re not going to break him of that.”
Despite that, Scott said she feels that the hospital should practice better security measures.
While Scott said the ordeal has been scaring for her uncle – he had to switch the locks on the house and is jumpy about parking at the hospital – she worries that other crimes could take place in the hospital parking lot without someone noticing.
“Somebody could get raped or mugged and nobody would even know,” she said.
Scott said the car theft isn’t the only incident she’s experienced in the parking lot of the hospital. Several weeks ago, someone hit her car there, she said. While her insurance paid for the damages, she said the security officers told her that they couldn’t see any clear pics on the tapes.
Allred said he hated what happened to Scott’s uncle, but he said that visitors to the hospital need to be proactive about securing their possessions.
“We urge everybody to lock their doors and hide their valuables,” he said, adding that a hospital employee recently had possessions stolen out of her unlocked car that were in plain view.
Allred said security is a top concern at Moses Cone facilities.
“We’re permanently looking for security gaps,” he said.