The security week that was: 11/14/08

Nov. 14, 2008
A weekly surveillance of news shaping your profession

Retail crimes report

Our Security2LP blogger Curtis Baillie -- a top retail security consultant -- tells our forum members that retail crime appears to be on the uptick as the U.S. economy falters. Fortunately, according to Mark Doyle, president of LP research firm Jack Hayes International, it seems that our nation's retail loss prevention departments are doing a better job than ever.

Doyle issued a snapshot of his recent research in a column titled "The State of the Loss Prevention Industry: 2008 Update" for SecurityInfoWatch, and he noted that shoplifting apprehensions were up 9.16 percent and shoplifting recovery values were at $83.2 million. Of course, that's just the bad guys on the outside. Doyle also found one out of every 28.2 employees was apprehended for theft in 2007. Want more numbers? Read Doyle's column.

With a downturn in sales, you might find it tougher to convince company owners that they need to spend more on internal theft and shoplifting. But with numbers like these, and early anecdotal information from resident experts like Curtis Baillie that crimes are up for stores, don't lose your focus on retail security -- whether you're a store owner, an LP employee or a company involved in delivering electronic security solutions to retailers.

Join us for a webinar
Designing video surveillance during rough economic times

I'd like to invite you to join us for a webinar on Wednesday of next week. Hosted by SecurityInfoWatch.com and sponsored by Intransa, we're going to have Bud Broomhead, CEO of Intransa, and Jason Oakley, CEO of systems integration company North American Video talk about designing video surveillance during rough economic times. Register for free; live event is Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. ET.

In the forums:
Central station receivers, addressable fire panel systems, more

There's a lot of reader activity in our discussion forums. One poster is looking for "the best central station receiver currently on the market". Another discussion looks at addressable fire systems. Members can weigh in on how the economic downturn will affect crime in our poll. Our resident expert offers tips on reading material for those seeking to make the transition from physical security to retail loss prevention. Members memorialized Veterans' Day with touching memories and thoughts.

As always, membership is free, but you have to register.

In other news
Embedded analytics offering, remote video monitoring, more

Envysion has announced restructured video surveillance solutions. ... A UK firm called StreamScale is the latest among companies to announce roll-outs of analytics-embedded video surveillance devices. The company's first product will be a hybrid DVR-NVR using ObjectVideo's intelligent video system. ... GVI Security Solutions announced a seventh consecutive quarter of profitability. ... Alarm.com rolled out the "Alarm.com Video" remote video surveillance offering this week through its dealer channel. ... A German judge found in favor of Sensormatic, which had sued WG Security Products' Sensorsense for EAS technology infringement. ... MI6 (British intelligence) secrets were sold on eBay inside a consumer digital camera. No word on if the agent involved is flipping burgers or still has his job.

Finally, we close with a look at our most read stories of the week: