Bunny Trails

[mike]

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.

Yes this kind of thing has been available for a long time actually. 15 or more years ago I saw a Panasonic system for supermarkets where you could tag a face as a shoplifter, and receive audible security alerts whenever that particular person entered the store. The same system created heat maps of how traffic flows in the store so you could use that as marketing guidance.

[Ken]

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.

Yes this kind of thing has been available for a long time actually. 15 or more years ago I saw a Panasonic system for supermarkets where you could tag a face as a shoplifter, and receive audible security alerts whenever that particular person entered the store. The same system created heat maps of how traffic flows in the store so you could use that as marketing guidance.

Technological change can happen fast. Look at how fast barcode scanners were adopted. That was revolutionary technology. I’m old enough to remember the days when grocery store staff had to use price label machines to mark every single item in the store. And it didn’t take very long for self checkout machines to become widely adopted. If the current pandemic-related crime waves don’t quickly abate I expect we will see technology increasingly used to limit shoplifting and other types of crime.

Another trend that is happening in many suburban areas is open-air private communities with shops, apartments, offices, etc. but all on private property. So they can control who is there and expel people using private security and things like facial recognition that downtown areas are unable to legally do. That sort of thing is already happening around here. Huge new lifestyle developments are popping up that are on private property so they can do things that the police cannot.

[ohio jones]

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.

I have Global Entry to expedite passport control when entering the US. It used to be that you went to a kiosk and scanned your passport, put your hand on the fingerprint reader, answered several questions on the screen, looked at the camera for a photo, and took a printed receipt to the officer who looked at it and might or might not ask another question or two. The last time I returned from an international trip, as I was walking up to the kiosk, it displayed a green check mark and a message to proceed to the exit. As I approached the desk the officer said "Welcome home, Mr. Jones, you may go." Actually that's not precisely what he said, but close enough for our purposes.

Also in beta testing at airports is a visual display system that personalizes messages for individual viewers. Each person sees their own gate information, wayfinding directions, and flight status -- up to 100 people looking at the same screen and seeing different messages.

Fascinating in some ways, a little scary in others.

[Ken]

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.

I have Global Entry to expedite passport control when entering the US. It used to be that you went to a kiosk and scanned your passport, put your hand on the fingerprint reader, answered several questions on the screen, looked at the camera for a photo, and took a printed receipt to the officer who looked at it and might or might not ask another question or two. The last time I returned from an international trip, as I was walking up to the kiosk, it displayed a green check mark and a message to proceed to the exit. As I approached the desk the officer said "Welcome home, Mr. Jones, you may go." Actually that's not precisely what he said, but close enough for our purposes.

Also in beta testing at airports is a visual display system that personalizes messages for individual viewers. Each person sees their own gate information, wayfinding directions, and flight status -- up to 100 people looking at the same screen and seeing different messages.

Fascinating in some ways, a little scary in others.

Another example is toll roads. I can’t remember the last time I stopped the car to pay a toll. It may be different in the east coast, but in Texas and Washington you never even slow down and there aren’t even toll booths on many roads.

Yes, I expect a lot of us sort of just shrug at this sort of thing because we are law abiding and it doesn’t really constrain us. But I do understand how it does freak some people out. Especially after seeing how such technologies were employed in China to enforce lockdowns and also just general population control even during non-pandemic times.

[Josh]

I’ll repeat: cameras don’t do anything about crime. Punishing criminals does.

So if you’re in an area with a stated goal not to punish criminals, cameras don’t accomplish anything.

[Valerie]

I’ll repeat: cameras don’t do anything about crime. Punishing criminals does.

So if you’re in an area with a stated goal not to punish criminals, cameras don’t accomplish anything.

That is true in certain places. Like where my family lives in California you can steal an awful lot right in front of employees there without getting prosecuted! I think that has spread because we've been dealing with more theft but it really has not been our cameras that have prevented it may be deter some people-

[mike]

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.

I'm going to give a recent example of the utility of security cameras at my business and also how I dealt with a shoplifter, and you can tell me how you would have done it differently if you were me.

A customer reported to management that he was watching another customer load pumpkins and flowers and other outdoor items from my store into her vehicle and was suspicious she had not paid for them. So we investigated using our security footage and POS records and learned that she had paid for a few items, but proceed to take many times more than what she had paid for.

Using the POS records I found that this was the fourth time she had visited the store in several weeks' time, and from a combination of the footage and records I found she did the same thing each time. She would come inside and pay for several items, then go outside and load up her car with unpaid for items. I was able to document the items stolen and their approximate value.

This was reported to the police who then charged the customer with four counts of retail theft. This is a known person in the community who within the past six years, scammed a boyfriend out of $40,000 for fake cancer treatments and also attempted to scam an auto insurance company, and who served prison time for the first of those, and probation for the second.

When summoned to court, I was informed that a third count of retail theft becomes a felony, so she could be charged with two misdemeanors and two felonies. Felonies mean prison time. I chose to offer to drop two of the charges in exchange for a guilty plea, with no restitution asked for. This would place two misdemeanors on her record, and any future retail theft would be a felony. Her only costs would be the fines paid to the state, amounting to 4 or 5 hundred dollars.

The woman and her attorney accepted the offer on the spot as expected. I felt good about being able to show some degree of mercy while having taken steps that should hopefully stop the behavior. I don't know whether I really want to see her again in my store but let her know through channels that she is welcome to come back.

Without the video footage there would have been no evidence of any of this other than someone potentially testifying to what they may have seen. I was able to partially overhear the discussion between the trooper and the woman and her attorney and as soon as they heard there was video evidence the discussion was over.

[Josh]

Given the kind of poor quality work the FBI is doing lately, I'd much rather have the Secret Service continue to be doing what they've been doing for over a century as opposed to J. Edgar Hoover's ridiculous organisation which was mostly formed to harass his political opponents.

[temporal1]

Yes! Your wife! Please.
Maybe MN could begin a (monthly?) wives’ day?

I call them hen parties

You might be a good topic-starter?
If so, in my imagination, it wouldn’t be to stop any topics, or any interaction, but just to invite wives (and females) (to any topic) who might not have registered?

Like, Soloist, he shares his wife’s input now+then. That is, he quotes her. i’m not sure if she’s registered. Either way!

MD had a rule that each one posting should be registered, with some exceptions for quotes.
On MD, central family computers were often used, sometimes family members would “insert themselves” into topics without logging in separately, which could be comical!

In MD days, wives and family members were often reading, even if not posting.
That was easy with centrally located family desktop computers. i miss that.

It encouraged a family atmosphere, AND, there was always more going on “than met the eye.”

[Soloist]

Like, Soloist, he shares his wife’s input now+then. That is, he quotes her. i’m not sure if she’s registered. Either way!

She posts under my account. She certainly could make her own but generally she has better things to occupy her time with.