A fed-up California homeowner developed a diversion security device to prevent homeless people from camping out in his buildings carports.
Santa Monica resident Stephen McMahon, 76, invented the Blue Chirper motion-activated device that emits blue strobe lights and a cricket noise to dissuade homeless people from getting comfortable.
Security footage has captured the device successfully scaring off people who have tried to sleep in the carports when alarm system starts going off.
I call it diversion security, that is were diverting them away from our 20-block radius somewhere else, McMahon told KTLA.
Santa Monica resident Stephen McMahon (pictured) invented a device that emits blue strobe lights and a cricket noise to prevent homeless people from camping out
Security footage has captured the device successful scaring off people from his carport
McMahon said he has grown frustrated with the number of homeless people taking shelter in his carport.
He created the device after someone stole over $20,000 worth of items from locked storage in his buildings garage, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
Ive lived here for over 30 years, and Ive seen this neighborhood, which was just paradise, it was beautiful, deteriorate over the last five to six years, he said.
I want to push these people out of here and bring Santa Monica back to the way it was.
The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count showed 774 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Monica in January. It said that 479 lived outdoors.
Blue light prevents people from falling asleep because it tricks the brain into thinking it is daytime, according to Harvard Health.
The handmade device is called the Blue Chirper
McMahons neighbors have purchased their own Blue Chirpers from him and installed them in their carports (pictured)
Cameras set up on McMahons community carports have capture several instances of peopling appearing to prepare to sleep or do drugs. The motion activated sensors then go off and they end up leaving.
McMahon said he has consulted a lawyer to make sure his device is legal to use. Many of his neighbors, including local business, have inquired about getting a device of their own.
Look, as long as its a sound you hear in nature and its not louder than an actual cricket, youre going to be fine, he said. Nobody can complain about it.
Neighbors said they feel safer in their community now that they have an effective way to keep their cars safe.
It has been nothing less than a total reinvention of our life in that building by doing something as simple as being able to park and being able to go out to our car without fear, neighbor Cory Greenwell told KCAL.
McMahon said demand has been increasing near his home (pictured) because neighboring Reed Park is part of the countys needle distribution program and drug use is increasing
Blue light prevents people from falling asleep because it tricks the brain into thinking it is daytime
McMahon is currently selling the devices for around $500 a piece, but he hopes to lower the cost as demand goes up.
He told the Santa Monica Daily Press that demand has been increasing because nearby Reed Park is part of the countys needle distribution program and drug use is increasing.
I cant make them quick enough, he said. My wife and I are going on holiday next week and Ive got this landlord who desperately wants four of them.
Otherwise she says that her tenants will move out, it’s got that bad. [The landlord] was in tears. It would normally take me a couple of months to build four, but she was practically begging me.