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These days in shops, train stations and airports across the country, CCTV cameras are keeping tabs on you, and that’s exactly how business owners want it.
After years of crime and a loss of thousands of dollars worth of stock, Macksville Mitre 10 owner, Jason Southwell, has upgraded his security system installing state-of-the-art cameras to catch criminals in the act.
“I've had the business for three years and just got to a point where we had a lot of unrecorded theft that we couldn't identify,” Jason told the Guardian.
“I spent quite a bit of money putting the latest and greatest security system in, in the way of a recording system … it’s high quality stuff and can zoom in with great clarity.”
Since the 16-camera system was installed in June, a number of shoplifting offences caught on camera have been brought to the police’s attention and are now under investigation.
“The whole idea is to stop it ... I don't want them to do it to us - or anyone. Ninety-nine per cent of the shop is covered, so we will find them - we have a certain style of doing things in the store and we know where the hot-spots are,” Jason said.
“If people want to steal from us then they're going to get whatever is coming to them.
“We're educating staff to be vigilant and we're learning who to watch and what behaviour/demeanour to look out for. It's unfortunate but it’s what you've got to do.”
He said it was obvious when people were there to “just rip something off”.
“We want to discourage people - we don't want to catch people, we want them to not do it,” he said.
“There’s no getting away from it … now we can zoom in on logos on hats or jackets, even tattoos, to possibly help identify people. I’ve even seen some thefts where people look directly at the camera before stealing something.
“We have a 3000 square metre foot print with 26,000 different lines in store. For a while we were chasing our tails, but now we have it pretty much under control.
“Everyone who gets caught will be banned from the store, and anyone seen entering will be asked to leave.”