Bunny Trails

[steve-in-kville]

I think our school already has cameras in the buses.

[justme]

Four Star Coins and Jewelry has a very prominent sign. Masks are prohibited for your safety and ours. This was in the middle of the pandemic and continues even now.

[Ken]

I think our school already has cameras in the buses.

Is that a pointless odd affection of modern life or do they serve a purpose?

[Josh]

Cameras do nothing to stop crime. Prosecution and punishment of offenders does. If cameras help mete out punishment, it can make a difference, but we currently live in a regime when criminals are not punished harshly enough.

[steve-in-kville]

I think our school already has cameras in the buses.

Is that a pointless odd affection of modern life or do they serve a purpose?

I'm pretty sure they serve a purpose.

My employer has cameras everywhere. The footage was only ever looked at if something happened. Now a few key areas are monitored quite heavily, largely due to safety concerns. I really don't mind it any more.

[Ken]

Cameras do nothing to stop crime. Prosecution and punishment of offenders does. If cameras help mete out punishment, it can make a difference, but we currently live in a regime when criminals are not punished harshly enough.

Every study ever done on the subject by criminology researchers and retail corporations who collect data would disagree with you.

Of course they do not magically eliminate crime. Nothing does. But they do reduce it.

[Josh]

Cameras do nothing to stop crime. Prosecution and punishment of offenders does. If cameras help mete out punishment, it can make a difference, but we currently live in a regime when criminals are not punished harshly enough.

Every study ever done on the subject by criminology researchers and retail corporations who collect data would disagree with you.

Of course they do not magically eliminate crime. Nothing does. But they do reduce it.

Cameras and alarms have no impact at all without enforcement and punishment.

Back before we had widespread cameras, we had less crime.

[Valerie]

Cameras do nothing to stop crime. Prosecution and punishment of offenders does. If cameras help mete out punishment, it can make a difference, but we currently live in a regime when criminals are not punished harshly enough.

Every study ever done on the subject by criminology researchers and retail corporations who collect data would disagree with you.

Of course they do not magically eliminate crime. Nothing does. But they do reduce it.

We have cameras in our store but it is extremely rare they would prevent crime. Somebody would already have to bring it to a manager's attention that they suspect somebody where the managers could run back and watch the camera of the entire store. We have theft and the main way to stop it is sensor tags but we still have a lot of loss in our chain stores. The cameras are potentially useful to go back and see if there was theft but by then it was already too late.

[mike]

Cameras do nothing to stop crime. Prosecution and punishment of offenders does. If cameras help mete out punishment, it can make a difference, but we currently live in a regime when criminals are not punished harshly enough.

Every study ever done on the subject by criminology researchers and retail corporations who collect data would disagree with you.

Of course they do not magically eliminate crime. Nothing does. But they do reduce it.

We have cameras in our store but it is extremely rare they would prevent crime. Somebody would already have to bring it to a manager's attention that they suspect somebody where the managers could run back and watch the camera of the entire store. We have theft and the main way to stop it is sensor tags but we still have a lot of loss in our chain stores. The cameras are potentially useful to go back and see if there was theft but by then it was already too late.

I have cameras in my store but they are most useful for going back and getting evidence when you know or suspect a theft or other crime has taken place. They can't eliminate theft. But I would think they are useful in at least decreasing it.

[Ken]

Cameras do nothing to stop crime. Prosecution and punishment of offenders does. If cameras help mete out punishment, it can make a difference, but we currently live in a regime when criminals are not punished harshly enough.

Every study ever done on the subject by criminology researchers and retail corporations who collect data would disagree with you.

Of course they do not magically eliminate crime. Nothing does. But they do reduce it.

We have cameras in our store but it is extremely rare they would prevent crime. Somebody would already have to bring it to a manager's attention that they suspect somebody where the managers could run back and watch the camera of the entire store. We have theft and the main way to stop it is sensor tags but we still have a lot of loss in our chain stores. The cameras are potentially useful to go back and see if there was theft but by then it was already too late.

Camera footage is commonly used by the police to catch criminals and even more commonly used in trials as evidence to convict criminals (or get them to plea since they are caught on camera).

Criminals also pick and choose targets based on the level of security (and their chances of getting caught). If your store is the only one in your region with no security cameras it will tend to attract more thieves and shoplifters when that fact becomes known. Because they will be less likely to be caught in your store than in another store that has cameras on every aisle and checkout line.

It is like the old adage about the bear. If you are in a group and encounter a bear. You don’t have to be able to outrun the bear. You only have to be able to outrun your slowest companion.

In any event, the technology is rapidly advancing. School security systems are now starting to use facial recognition so they can track the moments of individual students around the school over time if they want. I expect that same technology is seeping into other areas as well. Such that one person doesn’t have to look at thousands of hours of security footage. They can just search it instantly for every time a particular person entered the screen just like you would do a google search. So, for example, if a store catches one particular thief they could theoretically go back through their last 6 months of footage at that store or other stores and every single instance in which that person ever entered any of their stores. And they could also use the same technology to ban that person from their stores and be alerted any time he/she ever enters one of their stores.

I’m not saying all these advancements are necessarily a good thing. But we are rapidly approaching the point where a store like Wal-Mart can ban a particular individual from their stores (with or without a conviction) and their store security will get an instant alert any time that person tries to enter any Wal-Mart anywhere in the nation. We are close to the point where a big chain like Wal-Mart could easily set up screening at the entry to their stores similar to how Costco screens at their entry for Costco Cards. And then simply bar entry to anyone who pops up in their facial recognition system. Which would be a very effective way to prevent shoplifting.