Big box retail

[mp170.6]

Has anyone noticed the increasing number of security cameras in big box retail stores?

 

I was in Target today and from my vantage point in the back of store, on the shower curtain isle no less, I counted 12 different cameras on the ceiling. A conservative guess on my part would be 150+ cameras for the entire store.  

 

Do these stores have employees monitoring them live? 

 

 

[Chimi]

Target does, I'm pretty sure of it.  I used to work in Loss Prevention for Mervyn's back in the day when they were owned by Target.  There was a Target across the street from us so I used to go back and forth frequently.  I also worked Loss Prevention for Best Buy and we monitored the cameras there also.

 

Back then, all those black orbs you see on the ceiling, some of them were just dummy orbs and had no cameras in them.  They were there just to give people the impression they were being recorded.  But cameras are probably much more inexpensive now so they can probably afford to have more in the stores.

[CaliAngel]

There are a lot of cameras at some of the bigger stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, Best Buy), there are most definitely people watching them, and you most definitely won't get away with stealing stuff. Usually they won't just come up and get you right away if they see what you're doing, they'll let you cruise around think you're getting away with it and steal a couple more things, and wait until you're on your way out the door.

[Brandon]

I know Target has them and Wal-mart.

 

Met a guy once at my attorneys office that was in there because he used to do something along the lines of taping discount barcodes on top of package barcodes at regular price....something like that where he was getting shaving razors for a few bucks instead of the regular $20. Not only did they monitor him, but they let him keep doing it and recording him in different Target stores building a case against him. Dude was from SD but in OC because he hit so many Target stores that he hit something like 3-4 counties which meant cases in each jurisdiction.

 

Most that have them are active. It's cheaper to higher someone in loss prevention to look at cameras than constantly have merchandise stolen and cut into profit margins and price adjustments.

[gotbeer]

Not only big box retail stores.  But even mom and pop stores and restaurants.  

[Vegas Halo Fan]

There are a lot of cameras at some of the bigger stores (Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, Best Buy), there are most definitely people watching them, and you most definitely won't get away with stealing stuff. Usually they won't just come up and get you right away if they see what you're doing, they'll let you cruise around think you're getting away with it and steal a couple more things, and wait until you're on your way out the door.

 

I saw this happen at a Wal Mart in Buena Park during one of my trips to SoCal. The woman tried to play the mentally ill card after she was caught (I saw her earlier and she wasn't acting like this), lying in the floor and screaming like she was being abused, even though no one was touching her. The cop handled it very well. They finally got her loaded in the back of the cruiser.

[mp170.6]

I guess the question I have is how they effectively monitor so many cameras.

 

For instance, in the example I gave, how would Target monitor 150+ cameras at once -- unless some (or most) are decoys like Chimi mentioned?  Do they really have ten or more employees stationed in front of video screens watching every person's every move?  I say ten because it seems impossible that one person could keep tabs on more than 10-15 cameras at once.  Even if the number were much less, say five employees monitoring the video, that's still a lot of manpower...

[Brandon]

Not really. It's what, 10-20 aisles.

 

If you want to see some real fun look into casino cameras and monitoring.

[Pbonetheman]

The cameras are not fool-proof. As mentioned before, just knowing they are around is a deterrent. I used to work at a store in south coast plaza and they would only have one person doing loss prevention. He would partially rely on employee tips or hunches on suspicious people or groups of people. You can't catch them all, but when you do you prosecute the hell out of them.

[gotbeer]

yeah, I think you might have one person manning the "security".  But overall, I think the cameras are in place for after the fact.  

 

A lot may be in place to monitor employees, and review footage if an employee is suspected of anything.  After the fact robbery.  And as phone stated, real time may only be for suspicious activity or people.  

[Brandon]

Plus, logistically speaking, you probably really only need to watch a few select areas....or concentrate your efforts there. I doubt there is an influx of tupperware thefts.

[Chimi]

Like Brandon said, they mainly watch a select few areas. They also watch certain people. The employees on the floor would usually contact us when they had someone in heir department they felt were up to no good. So we would sit and watch them.

I'm sure it hasn't changed but the number one thing stolen at Target by a large margin was cosmetics. So we'd always been watching that. Second was electronics, mainly CDs and video games. It's why most video games are locked now and I know Best Buy doesn't even keep them on the shelf anymore. Another big thing people stole we're memory cards for cameras.

So there are certain items you know people steal every day so you tend to watch the people looking at those items rather than the people buying greeting cards or dog food.