Store Security Technologies Continue To Improve
By Cheryl Ursin
Mountain, GA. "I don't think you can find a liquor store owner who hasn't had something happen." Wilson is talking about retail crime: robberies, burglaries, smash 'n' grabs, shoplifting, employee theft. "We have products people want and we have money in our stores. That brings the bad guys out," he said.
"S
Retail crime – shoplifting, employee theft, vendor theft, rob- beries and burglaries – affects retail- ers of all types and sizes and always has. "And the percentages [between the different types] don't vary that much," said Bill Bregar, president of Loss Prevention Systems, a retail security consulting firm. According to the Global Retail Theft Barometer, an annual report produced by the Centre for Retail Research (with funding from Checkpoint Systems), the over- all "shrink rate" – losses from shoplifting, employee theft and administrative error – for United States retailers overall was 6% in 2011, with over 44% of it coming
from employee theft and over 43% coming from shoplifting.
But when, six years ago, Wilson's store began suf- fering from even more crime than usual, he redoubled his security efforts. He moved his store to its present location, in a neighborhood with less crime, and he beefed up his security – big time.
Upgraded Camera System Last year, he upgraded his camera system again. He now has 12 color cameras, set to record when motion is detected and linked to a digital video recorder (DVR) that can store three months worth of
omething is going to happen," declared Greg Wilson, president and owner of Smoke Rise Bottle Shoppe in Stone
Greg Wilson, president and owner of Smoke Rise Bottle Shoppe in Stone Mountain, GA, has upgraded his store's camera system, installed infrared sensors around his store, and taken other steps to beef up the store's security.
images. The cameras are trained on everything from the parking lot to the checkout lanes. And the images of the checkout lanes are integrated with the store's point-of-sale (POS) system so that Wilson sees – on 40- inch flat-screen in his office – what is being rung up on the system as
well as the interaction between cashier and customer itself.
The quality of security camera systems continues to improve, even as prices for the technology continue to drop. "The quality of cameras, even from five years ago, has really improved – and they are much cheaper. There's been a huge race to the bottom, when it comes to price," said Loss Prevention's Bregar. That said, he warned, "There is a lot of junk out there, though. You want to stick with reputable brands." Smoke Rise's cam- era system, installed for Wilson by a local company called Digital Technology Integrators, cost about $6,000.
8 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • July/August 2012
