ST. LOUIS — Before his eyes, Jim Whyte has access to more than 200 cameras.
Those cameras have eyes on the city of St. Louis.
The Executive Director of the Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative hopes surveillance footage can help solve crimes.
The latest incident on Sunday afternoon was captured in the Central West End.
"We were contacted by the victim of a car," Whyte said. "He saw his car at 3:30 and by 5 p.m., they saw it gone. It was a 2018 Kia Optima. We reviewed the tapes and saw the victim's car come off their street and park near Walton and McPherson at 3:58. The five men took out the baby car seat out, they took other belongings out and transferred it. They showed up in another stolen car, Hyundai, from Ferguson and they were transferring all the belongings to one car to the new car stolen."
Whyte told 5 On Your Side this footage was given to police.
The video shows the victim's car's rear window was smashed. The footage also shows some of the men wearing masks, and one man is seen with a gun.
"The most troubling of this case was one of the suspects was armed," Whyte shared.
Whyte said after this happened, other footage shows that these same men were also seen pulling on car door handles.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has not yet confirmed if these men are wanted in connection with these crimes; that's why 5 On Your Side is blurring their faces until they've been named as suspects.
Whyte doesn't know if this group is connected to other similar crimes in the area, but he's noticed patterns.
He believes many of them are looking for guns.
He added, "We tend to see their patterns. Three to five people will stand out a little and split into smaller groups on each side of the street. They are also aware of police technology for license plate detection so they want to use different cars and a need of stealing more cars."
Whyte wants people to be proactive and to keep their eyes peeled.
"The video and pictures are critical to get to police to help better understand who is responsible for these crimes," he shared.
Whyte encourages people to continue putting clubs on their steering wheel and for Kia and Hyundai car owners to upgrade the systems.
If you have any information, contact CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.