| Intrepid Security report success with MetalGuard, a new system for detecting foil lined bags |
The vast majority of people who might be tempted to walk out of a store without paying for merchandise are deterred from doing so because of the risk of being detected by an EAS system. Determined professional criminals will, however, go to great lengths to steal and that includes defeating tagging systems by placing stolen but still tagged items in foiled lined bags.
An example of this occurred recently when the ringleader of a national criminal gang, was caught and convicted. They had been stealing merchandise using a foil lined Argos shopping bag to defeat stores' security systems.
"Systems to combat this kind of criminal activity have been around for some years but whilst being effective at detecting foil lined bags, these systems have not always been 100% reliable", said Noel Verbruggen, Managing Director of Hounslow based Intrepid Security.
"Earlier this year we took on the new upgraded MetalGuard system and the improvement in results so far have been impressive. MetalGuard takes advantage of the latest advances in technology to offer a high rate of detection with the minimum of false alarms. Trials in a number of locations including a major West London department store and several leading retail fashion chains have already proved the effectiveness of the system in deterring professional criminals without clients reporting that Metal Guard's false alarm rate is almost non-existent."
Sitting adjacent to any existing tagging system, MetalGuard will trigger an alarm when unusual large metal objects are detected. The system can be linked to a remote alarm pager and can also be configured to send an alarm to a store's CCTV system. As there is no indication of the alarm at the store entrance any potential thief will be unaware that their attempt to defeat the anti-shoplifting system has been detected.
Noel Verbruggen added: "MetalGuard is proving to be a very powerful deterrent encouraging the majority of professional thieves from even attempting to enter a store as they know they are likely to be detected."