Grocer Uses Digital 'Wanted' Posters to Prevent Shoplifting
PITTSBURGH - Grocer Dan Serafin is trying a new method to deter shoplifters at his Food Market in Erie, Penn. - digital "wanted" posters.
The store uses an 18-camera digital video system created by ADT Security Services Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., and creates posters that show an alleged crime in progress, The Associated Press reports.
"I can show you second by second the person taking a bottle from the shelf, tell you what the product was and at every point where the bottle is going down his sleeve. Then I can show him walking out of the store without paying," Serafin told the AP.
Serafin, whose grandfather opened the grocery in Erie 76 years ago, said signs notifying the public they are being monitored didn't work.
"You don't see a simple written warning now, you see the end result," Serafin said. "There is no doubt the cameras are real and the people on the camera are busted."
Shoplifting has dropped off dramatically since the wanted posters went up, Serafin said, and he feels much safer.
"My dad is 75 and he's been punched and kicked trying to stop somebody who was shoplifting a $2 product," he said. "We're not putting our lives on the line for that stuff anymore. You can run away, but I've got your picture and somebody is going to recognize you."
The store uses an 18-camera digital video system created by ADT Security Services Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., and creates posters that show an alleged crime in progress, The Associated Press reports.
"I can show you second by second the person taking a bottle from the shelf, tell you what the product was and at every point where the bottle is going down his sleeve. Then I can show him walking out of the store without paying," Serafin told the AP.
Serafin, whose grandfather opened the grocery in Erie 76 years ago, said signs notifying the public they are being monitored didn't work.
"You don't see a simple written warning now, you see the end result," Serafin said. "There is no doubt the cameras are real and the people on the camera are busted."
Shoplifting has dropped off dramatically since the wanted posters went up, Serafin said, and he feels much safer.
"My dad is 75 and he's been punched and kicked trying to stop somebody who was shoplifting a $2 product," he said. "We're not putting our lives on the line for that stuff anymore. You can run away, but I've got your picture and somebody is going to recognize you."