An image pickup apparatus which is capable of identifying a criminal e.g. when the image pickup apparatus has been broken, without additionally providing a dedicated sensor for detecting an abnormality. A panhead unit supports a camera unit and rotates the same. A rotary encoder detects a rotating state of the panhead unit. A motor control circuit controls the rotating state of the panhead unit based on the rotating state detected by the rotary encoder. A system control circuit stores an image periodically picked up by the camera unit in the controlled rotating state of the panhead unit in a buffer memory. When the rotating state of the panhead unit is not being controlled based on the rotating state detected by the rotary encoder, a memory control circuit reads out images picked up, respectively, before and after a detection time at which the rotary encoder detected the rotating state, and stores the images in an auxiliary memory.