Attention, Shoplifters
Digg.com posts: “With $30 billion in theft, there’s a revolution in surveillance systems.”
Retailers are installing video cameras at a rate of 20% increase per year. In many cases, the video cameras are not for security persons, but for security surveillance systems. These systems are being used to detect patterns of criminal behavior in customers and employees.
Video surveillance software can now detect unusual behavior and alert security personnel to take action. Types of patterns these systems can detect include a customer removing 10 items from a shelf at once or detecting a open a case that is normally kept closed and locked. The surveillance software can also detect unusual behavior at the cash register such too many product returns at one cash register or items in the shopping cart that did not get scanned.
New lost prevention technology is not just limited to video surveillance. Shopping carts are now being equipped with RFID technology that can lock shopping cart wheels when a shopper attempts to leave a grocery store without paying for the items. Also, lost prevention RFID tags are being placed in the labels of clothes where they are undetected by thieves. If someone attempts to leave the store with an RFID-equipped product that has not been paid for, an alarm sounds.
With all this new lost prevention gear being deployed in stores, it appears shoplifting as we know it today will soon be a thing of the past. You will soon need to have extensive technical knowledge to successfully steal something from a store. I would assume people with that type of knowledge will have no desire or need to go shoplifting.