It’s the middle of a hot Texas summer, but the young man is wearing a dark jacket with the hood pulled up on his head. For 15 minutes, he has wandered the aisles of a 7-Eleven store, but he hasn’t made a purchase.

Out of nowhere an authoritative voice comes on the store’s loud speaker system: “This is Westec Interactive speaking to the man in the black hooded jacket. Sir, you should make your purchase and leave the store.”

The surprised man looks around, but sees no one except the sales associate at the counter. He puts his hands in his pockets and his head down and quickly leaves.

Keeping Stores Safe
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is not new. It was first used in Germany in 1942 to observe the launch of V2-rockets. Over time, CCTV has been adapted for a variety of purposes, including retail security efforts. Now live, interactive monitoring is adding a new, real-time dimension to the system.

For years, 7-Eleven Inc. has had video cameras in its 5,700 U.S. locations. The stores recorded everything that went on and saved the recordings for a specified amount of time, but if security personnel needed to check on an incident, they had to review hours of VHS tapes. Now the company has installed live, interactive digital video recorder systems in many of its stores to manage security and loss prevention in a faster and more effective manner.

“The purpose was for safety and security,” said Mike Raymond, senior director of corporate security and loss prevention for 7-Eleven. “It helps with crowd control, loitering and possible shoplifting.”

Although a number of companies make and service interactive systems, 7-Eleven uses one produced by Westec Interactive, a Dallas-based company that provides technology and real-time monitoring for hundreds of businesses, including corporate-run locations of Jack in the Box, Dairy Queen, Chick-Fil-A and Hardy’s, as well as for franchised Burger King and McDonald’s outlets.

Westec monitors the stores 24/7 from a surveillance center in West Des Moines, Iowa. “Trained intervention specialists” see and hear each store’s sales associates and customers in real time and can converse with both. There is no in-store monitor to allow employees or customers to view the intervention specialist.

Today, police departments are forced to do more with fewer resources, and many law enforcement agencies require some form of video-verified response before they will answer a robbery alarm at a retail store. With an interactive monitoring system, this problem is solved. The specialist can immediately notify local police of a robbery in progress and provide a physical description of the suspect even before officers arrive at the store.

Westec claims to have reacted to millions of incidents—from robberies to loiterers—since the company began operation in 1996, with approximately 98% of all situations being resolved without dispatching police.

E-Z Security
Texarkana, Texas-based E-Z Mart began doing business with Westec in 1999 and has upgraded its original security system three times. When employees work alone at one of E-Z Mart’s 300-plus locations, the system gives them a sense of security.

“There is always someone there with them,” said Dale Sides, vice president of maintenance and construction and former vice president of loss prevention for E-Z Mart.

E-Z Mart officials can dial in and monitor staff activities from remote locations. “You can look in the store, watch the employees and then call and brag on something they did,” said Sides. “They know you’re watching, but you give them positive feedback.”

There are a number of additional high-tech benefits to the system. The latest technology can tie the point-of-sale register into the recording system. Store managers with a question about a particular transaction can pull up the audio, video and cash register information for a simultaneous review. Too many “no sale” rings on a single shift? The manager can evaluate the digital record and assess the situation.

A digital recording is also easier to transmit than a recording on a VHS tape. If local police request footage of a possible suspect, managers no longer have to comb through hours of video footage and make a duplicate of the tape. Instead, they quickly review the digital recording and then e-mail the requested portion to police.

As a bonus unrelated to store security, company merchandisers can use the tool to look into stores to review products on the shelves and to check on maintenance of point-of-purchase materials.

All Eyes on Employees
In 1997, 35% of U.S. companies kept tabs on employees by monitoring their e-mail, Internet or phone connections, according to a survey from the American Management Association (AMA). Ten years later, that figure had risen to 80%.

Almost half of the companies that responded to the AMA survey use video monitoring to counter theft, violence and sabotage, and 7% use it to track on-the-job performance. Almost 80% of those companies notify workers of anti-theft video surveillance and almost 90% tell employees about performance-related video monitoring. According to the survey, there are employees who believe video monitoring violates their personal privacy, and some have even quit their jobs when video monitoring was installed in the workplace.

Before installing any video or audio recording devices, employers should become familiar with state and local laws. Recording audio along with video violates some states’ wiretapping laws. Of course, places where employees would reasonably expect privacy, such as restrooms, are off limits to cameras, and signage should be posted in public areas to let customers know they are being recorded. Employees should be notified of the monitoring system when they are hired and asked to acknowledge that disclosure in writing.

Low-Touch Support
Despite outstanding advances in technology, human action continues to have a major impact on retail security programs. Even the latest and greatest high-tech security equipment can be ineffective without the right employee training, according to consultant Chris McGoey, who is known as “the crime doctor.”

“Technology makes tracking easier, but it doesn’t deal with the human element,” said McGoey, who worked with 7-Eleven stores when the company researched and then launched the first industry wide crime-prevention program in the mid-70s.

McGoey is an advocate of establishing inventory-control policies and then ensuring they are carried out consistently by managers and employees. For example, he said, employees should be required to enter and exit using the store’s front door. If they must use the backdoor, they should be required to phone the store’s alarm system and report when they’ve gone out and when they’ve returned.

“A lot of businesses don’t bother to do that,” McGoey said. “They say, ‘heck, that’s too much work.’”

He also advises stores to monitor tractable items by shift, such as counting cartons of cigarettes and lottery tickets. Watch for trends and patterns, “and if you see sales or transactions decrease on a particular shift, that’s a red flag,” McGoey warned. “Controlling shoplifting and employee theft is a lot of work. You have to be thorough. Even family-operated stores need to do inventory control.”

The latest trends in technology will provide retailers with more efficient and immediate ways of handling shortage issues, but a well-rounded and successful loss prevention program requires human interface. “If that breaks down,” McGoey said, “technology can be circumvented.” CSD