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It's no secret that retail theft has skyrocketed since the pandemic. We've all seen the alarming videos of criminal gangs attacking stores, cleaning out shelves and walking off with no apparent consequences.
This year, U.S. merchants expect to report a stunning $100 billion in losses — a big increase over pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, arrests and prosecutions for retail theft in Chicago are down sharply since 2019.
At this month's convention for Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware, exhibitor Laura Freeman of Watcher Total Protection had talked herself hoarse by the end of the opening day. Aggrieved store owners crowded her booth to quiz her about her company's security systems, which are augmented with artificial intelligence.
AI is coming to the rescue of merchants, for better or worse. "We will see a lot more AI for shoplifter protection," Freeman said. "You'll see more and more where the system does the work."
The old days of dumb cameras recording thieves in action for review after the fact have given way to smart systems that can detect illegal activity as it happens and send instant text alerts. The surveillance cameras constantly scan for a shopper taking something off a shelf and shoving it into a bag, for instance, which immediately triggers a warning so merchants can decide whether to question the suspect, call for help or otherwise intervene.
In the meantime, tags attached to high-value items not only trigger sensors on the way out of a store but also can be coded to the exact item and linked to video of the exact moment that item was removed from its spot in the store. As a result, merchants can spend much less time reviewing footage to zero in on the part they need.