Police roll out video surveillance truck called The Peacemaker to help catch criminals on tape

Instead of using stealth undercover surveillance trucks to catch criminals, Florida police have taken the more brazen route and dispatched a renovated armored bank truck problem neighborhoods of Fort Lauderdale in hopes of scaring the would-be thieves and felons.

The truck, which has been dubbed ‘The Peacemaker’, even has the boldfaced message ‘Warning: you are under video surveillance’.

‘This is a tool in our toolbelt,’ Detective Travis Mandell told MailOnline.

Essentially the Peacemaker is the technologically advanced version of putting a security system sign in your front lawn: by simply parking the truck on the street, it will scare off criminals.

Police say that the truck- which was a retired armored bank truck that the department purchased from Brinks for $10- has been wildly popular with many residents. They feel it has served as a deterrent for criminals and have seen a dramatic drop in home burglary rates.

The truck has been deployed throughout Fort Lauderdale since August, and has been used to prevent daytime burglaries, bust up gambling rings at juvenile football games, and now is being used to thwart alleged prostitution.

‘We had all sorts of people walking up and down this street at all hours. Prostitutes, junkies, everyone,’ area resident Anthony Lucicero told the Sun Sentinel.

‘I wish they had another one out here. I have an empty lot right there they can use!’ he said enthusiastically.

While there are a number of enthusiastic neighbors, some business owners in the area say that the truck is scaring off customers as well.

Tania Ouaknine, 60, owns the Parisian Motel on 23rd Avenue directly opposite the truck. Ms Ouaknine believes that she and her customers are being targeted by police because they believe she rents her room out to prostitutes, and she has pending charges against her.

‘The main crime of that neighbourhood is that the people are poor, they don’t have the money to defend themselves. Money is power and that’s something that no one here has,’ Ouaknine told MailOnline.

Ouaknine is a Russian-born immigrant who has lived in Florida for five years since coming from California, and she said that the truck is hurting her business dramatically by intimidating her customers.

While she would not go into the details of the charges of rent for prostitution that are being held against her, she said that the police are just overcompensating in a poor area.

‘People get intimidated by the police here to begin with. When someone like me- I’m paying my taxes, I am a decent person- and if something is going to happen here, God forbid, I am going to be the last one to call the police,’ she said.

Understandably, the police see the positive outcomes of The Peacemaker more readily, but do empathize with people’s concerns about an invasion of privacy.

‘People walk down the street nowadays and are on film 20-30 times a day without even knowing it,’ Mr Mandell told MailOnline.

‘We’re not trying to create some kind of underground surveillance world.

‘I understand peoples’ concerns about worry about “Big Brother is watching you,” but this isn’t the book 1984.

‘Their Homeowners Association loved it. The residential burglaries dropped dramatically. People weren’t afraid to go to work- everyone seems to be extremely happy to see this.’