Tesla's Sentry Mode helps police find burglar

A man breaking into a Tesla got his plans foiled by the company's new Sentry Mode, which takes a video of the car's surroundings when sensing a threat.

ABC7 News reported Tuesday that Tesla Model 3 owner Jed Franklin alerted the police after getting a notice that Sentry Mode has been triggered, along with a "full view" of a man breaking into a backseat window of his Tesla, parked in San Francisco.

With the help of the video, the San Francisco Police managed to apprehend the burglar, the 21-year old Jeremiah Jefferson, who is under arrest on second-degree burglary charges, as well as probation violation.

Tesla launched Sentry Mode in February, offering it to owners of the Model 3 as well as owners of the Model S and Model X cars built after August 2017.

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Sentry Mode is similar to a home alarm. When enabled, it first goes into Standby mode, and uses the car's external cameras to detect threats. If it detects a "minimal" threat, such as someone leaning on the car, it goes into Alert state and displays a message on the car's screen, warning that cameras are recording. If the car detects someone breaking in, it goes into Alarm state, increasing the brightness on the display and playing music on maximum volume. It also sends a message to the owner and lets them download a video recording of the incident.

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The ABC7 News' report says that Franklin got "stunningly clear video" of the incident. And while Sentry Mode didn't deter this particular burglar from breaking into the car, Franklin says he's happy that he was able to help the police catch him.

"I was upset to see the car getting broken into but on the other side, I was like, oh my gosh I can't believe this is actually recorded," he said.