With new security technology operating in its 68 stores, Myer - Australia’s largest department store group - has declared to shoplifters that their game’s now up. The use of radio frequency tags and a new Geutebruck digital CCTV system operated by well-trained staff has been proving extremely successful in enabling security staff to identify and report known shoplifters, suspicious behaviour and co-ordinated activity among groups of individuals on their premises. The result being that most shoplifting suspects are now apprehended before leaving the premises.
Myer is delighted with this success. The retailer’s previous video system had suffered from high fault levels and lower than expected performance, so this time Myer was determined to find one which would deliver on all its promises. Following several pilot installations, a number of technical shoot-outs and a great deal of evidence-gathering Myer’s final choice was a system using GeViScope-IP/SE platforms and around 6000 Sony 1.3 megapixel cameras. Myer judged the Geutebruck solution to excel particularly in its fast and responsive video management and its user functionality, with its quick search and edit tools such as the ‘cut list’ and ‘motion search’ being particularly impressive.
In operation around the country the new system has convinced in practice too. Its high quality images enable security staff to identify individuals, and it makes easy work of spotting unusual behaviour - people handling lots of different goods, hanging round for long periods, unplugging items or acting in concert – so that this can be reported to store guards who then shadow at close quarters, making their presence felt before offences are committed.
Much of the help which the store security staff experience in their everyday duties is due to a handful of standard system and plug-in functions. One of these is activity detection which triggers alarms and changes the recording parameters to predetermined settings when movement is detected in unexpected locations. Another much used facility is the ‘Follow me’ function which allows operators to quickly ‘drag and drop’ video of suspicious behaviour from the monitor where it is first spotted, to the central monitor of three on their console. There it is automatically recorded at high resolution for evidential purposes and retained for reference on a separate database. It is this ability to freely select and group multiple video streams from cameras all round the store which makes it so easy for Myer staff to see interaction or collusion taking place between individuals in different locations.
Besides loss prevention, the system provides other useful services too. Video recordings which provide crucial evidence against unjustified accident claims, cut the company’s legal bill; and live images from one set of cameras in each store, enable marketing staff to check display compliance from head office - saving them considerable travelling time and expense.
