Self-Service Security Issues
Excerpt from "Self-service security issues"
Captured by camera
The type of video surveillance cameras and how and where there are deployed by retailers is also a critical element in the battel to put the brakes on crime in the POS area.
Jeff Whitney, vice president of marketing at Arecont Vision Costar, says that sweet-hearting is the most common shrinkage challenge that leads to over 30 percent of retail losses by some estimates. “This typically occurs either by scan avoidance – the employee skips processing some of the items being checked out by a friend, family member, or co-conspirator – or by tag switching.”
Whitney goes on to explain that, thankfully, today’s high resolution megapixel cameras are well place to catch sweet-hearting and other previously hard-to-detect activity in both live and forensic viewing. “Instead of a limited field of view and fuzzy images, a megapixel camera with a good quality lens and optics package can provide unmatched detail to read denominations of currency and images of clothing, labels, and faces when properly positioned.
He adds that with a dual sensor camera, it is even possible to over two POS stations. “This reduces the cabling required by half, leading to significant cost savings.” In addition, he underlines the fact that there is the potential for one multi-sensor camera – with either a fixed or adjustable field of view – to cover the Point-of-Sale area as well as the entire retail area for overall situational awareness.
