Supermarket Surveillance How to counter internal theft at supermarket checkouts

Problem

The industry-leading loss prevention solutions provider “Sensormatic Retail Solutions” was tasked by two of their major retail customers to reduce theft from their stores. In particular, Sensormatic was asked to look at the issue of internal staff assisting customers in theft by not scanning expensive products correctly or by scanning and cancelling transactions at the point of sale.

Solution

To solve this problem, Heber developed a system that analyses the data stream sent from the point-of-sale PCs to a printer and flags up suspicious transactions. This then instructs a video camera to monitor the identified cash register personnel and allow it to catch future transgressions on film.

Conclusion

After installation of the Heber-designed control box, the retailers reported back to Sensormatic that the number of thefts occurring that involved collaboration of internal staff reduced dramatically. Culprits had been identified on camera, which acted as a deterrent to other potential thieves. The project was deemed a complete success.