Milestone: Combatting the Retail Crime Epidemic With Next-Gen Video Tech

As the Chair of the John Lewis Partnership, Dame Sharon White, said, shoplifting has become an epidemic that’s plaguing many retailers at a time when every pound and penny counts. Organized crime isn’t just petty shoplifting. It involves criminals stealing trolleys and truckloads of products that they then sell via the black market. Everything is a target, including food, clothing, shoes, luxury items, beauty items, and small electronics. Criminals may even steal to order, especially if the requested product can attract a premium on the black market. Organised theft rarely happens in isolation, particularly when organized criminals are involved.

By: Borislava Kenarova, Regional Sales Manager Eastern Europe, CIS and Israel, Milestone Systems

Now, retailers are fighting back with creative and proactive technologies to identify repeat offenders, share evidence with the police and courts for prosecution, and identify and remove vulnerabilities in store. With a host of advances in AI-powered video analytics, video management software (VMS), the Internet of Things (IoT) and other cutting-edge technologies, it’s time for retailers to win the battle against organized retail crime.

How Milestone’s VMS works

Video management software (VMS) can be customized to meet all your needs, from keeping people and property safe to running a more efficient operation—and helping you with cybersecurity, too. Experience Milestone’s VMS features with an exclusive demo trail that provides hands-on experience with state-of-the-art camera management solutions.

Open VMS, AI, machine learning

Core to all loss prevention efforts is the VMS, a single place that consolidates all of the data coming in from cameras in stores, body-worn cameras, sensors, and more. An open VMS is able to integrate with the different sensors (notably, from different vendors as there’s no lock-in) and cameras in a security system to make it easier for security teams to keep updated with the different data feeds coming from stores.

With advanced video analytics powered by AI, the VMS can automatically scan for potentially unusual or threatening behavior such as someone walking against the normal traffic flow, loitering, trespassing behind a counter or in a stock room, or (with an audio integration) shouting and screaming. It can then alert security teams to investigate further. The insights delivered to control rooms can even be shared in real-time with ground patrols to inform their approach and help with identifying people of interest, via their clothing or other visual attributes like eyeglasses wearing.

AI in video is now advanced enough to detect items being carried into a store like a knife or chain that can be used to rip out cabinets or ATMs. Delivering such insights quickly to ground teams is vital for their, and customers’ protection.

Crucially, thanks to machine learning that improves with every interaction, AI models are able to get better and identifying potentially criminal patterns over time. These insights aren’t just helpful for retailers but can be shared with others to improve collective threat intelligence across stores and with local authorities.

Groundbreaking technology

Some of the different sensors that a VMS can integrate with include mobile tracking devices that work using WiFi and Bluetooth. As shoppers move through the store, their phones and devices constantly interact with WiFi access points and Bluetooth beacons placed strategically throughout the location. Retailers can passively collect these device IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) to detect repeat offender devices entering stores. If a device was present during a known prior theft, then an alert can be shared with security teams with cameras automatically panning to the person of interest for monitoring.

Digital tags using RFID (radio frequency identification) can be placed on items so retailers can document when something is purchased and ready to leave the store. If an item leaves without being detected as scanned, security personnel can be informed so they can take action. Likewise, GPS sensors on goods can also tell retailers where stolen goods are being kept, helping law enforcement identify criminal stockpile locations. Knowing where large inventories of stolen goods are kept provides critical intelligence for preventing black market sales and recovering stolen property.

Anonymous facial recognition is another emerging technology, now being used in special locked “smart” cabinets to control access to high-value merchandise like designer goods or premium spirits. Cabinets with built-in cameras and AI-powered recognition software can geometrically map a shopper’s facial features upon first use, allowing entry to the cabinet if no issues occur. But if the shopper has previously stolen merchandise from the cabinet, their facial map will be flagged, and they will be denied access to the cabinet.

Strengthening your security foundation

With many exciting advances, retailers can be forgiven for forgetting to strengthen their security basics to deter criminals. The VMS, of course, is a foundational element needed for basic and innovative strategies. It not only supports emerging technologies and integrates these seamlessly with existing security infrastructure, but it can provide valuable insights to inform your long-term plans.  For instance, having enough staff in-store will help to combat shoplifting as a visual deterrent but also in monitoring goods and checking receipts. But how can you determine what the best staffing level is? Video data can tell you about the busiest times in-store when you need more people on the rota. It can even track criminal events over time so you can determine if there are specific times of day when it will help to have more security staff on site.

Benefits beyond retail security

The insights delivered by a VMS can also help to improve the in-store shopping experience by alerting management to potential overcrowding or queues forming. Additional store counters can be opened to reduce queues and customers encouraged to travel through other aisles to avoid busy areas. AI can detect an employee smoking in the wrong area or taking cash from tills. It can also monitor backroom areas to ensure staff aren’t put at risk by moving forklifts, that only authorized individuals are in restricted areas, and to monitor the entry and exit of vehicles.

About Milestone Systems

Milestone Systems is a leading provider of software for data-driven video technologies, both in security and beyond. Milestone’s VMS helps ensure security, protect assets and increase business efficiency with a scalable solution proven in more than 500,000 customer installations worldwide. Milestone was founded in 1998 and is now part of the Canon group. For more information visit: www.milestonesys.com. For news and other press releases, visit our Newsroom.