Security increasing at Armory STL after recent car break-ins nearby

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- Workers spent Tuesday setting poles in concrete around the east parking lot at Armory STL. The poles are part of an 8-foot fence that will surround the perimeter of the lot. When completed by Friday, both the venue’s east and west lots will be fenced.

Jake Miller is one of the co-owners. He said the venue is making a big investment in security.

“Collectively, we’re spending right now well over $1 million a year.”

Saturday night, several customers’ cars were broken into. But the victims had parked in an unsecured parking lot for Goodwill and not one of the Armory lots.

After a couple of incidents of car break-ins in January, Miller said he increased the number of off-duty St. Louis police officers who patrol the parking lots. And he’s installing new cameras to record every vehicle that parks at the Armory parking lots.

“At every entrance and exit, we have four cameras that will get an image of every car on the way in and every car on the way out. And it also scans license plates. And by indexing that license plate, you can see how long someone was in that lot,” he said.

Miller recommends customers park in one of the fenced parking lots or at the Ikea parking lot and use the shuttle. He also encourages customers to use a rideshare service like Uber or Lyft.

Inside the Armory, a new and discrete type of metal detector is being installed. Since opening in mid-December, 230,000 people have visited the venue.

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