A new product is on the market and it was reported in the papers this week. The CCTV based system will watch shoppers at self-service tills and take note of any actions which might indicate they are stealing items. Rather than having a CCTV trained security guard trying to watch all the cameras at once, the system will notifying the security staff of any suspicious behaviour.

It is true that watching people at all times is almost impossible and that if people believe they can get away with theft, they might just have a go. take Antony Worrall Thompson as the perfect example of someone who didn’t need to steal but did it anyway – he thought he could get away with it and had on several occasions before he was caught.

But is it really a good thing to rely on a computer which is trying to decipher human behaviour, when another security guard might be a much better option. CCTV training offers security staff an insight into human behaviour which can never be taught to a computer.

CCTV operators can read body language, facial expressions, slight of hand and they are remarkably accurate and intuitive when it comes to knowing who to watch. This comes from good CCTV training such as that offered by SIA accredited security training companies. Not only do trainees learn how to operate CCTV equipment, they also learn to understand when and how incidents happen. In the case of supermarket theft, the criminal could be identified before they have even reached the self-serve tills.

People give themselves away long before they commit the crime. They look uncomfortable, they move too quickly or too slowly or the glance around looking for cameras or staff. All too often the criminals are known to CCTV operators already and will be watched from the moment they enter the store. Could a computer based system really be expected to carry out these types of functions? It is doubtful that a computer program has completed many hours of security training and years of human interaction.

This isn’t to say that computers can’t be a helpful tool in the fight against crime. Security staff cannot be everywhere at once and having the back-up of a good CCTV system and more importantly, the evidence to convict, is essential for fighting crime these days.But don’t let the human resource become a thing of the past. Individuals with excellent security training whether it is CCTV training, door supervisor training or security guard training, will always be needed and it is always a worthwhile investment to get one of these hard-working individuals on your team.

Tags: cctv monitoring, cctv operators, checkout security, supermarket security

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 at 10:41 pm and is filed under CCTV Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.