ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170018
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: marketplace
SOURCE: MEGAN SCNABEL
Next time you're in a department or discount store, take a look at one of the security cameras mounted on the ceiling.
(Don't make faces, your eyes will stick that way.)
Looks official, doesn't it? But is it real, or is it a decoy? If you were a shoplifter, would you take the chance?
Dan Krahling doesn't think you would. He owns a Maryland-based company called 1-800-DUMMY CAmera. The name - which also incorporates the company's phone number - says it all: He offers fake security cameras that sell for a fraction of the cost of a real security system and, he says, deter would-be shoplifters who don't know they're being fooled.
And there's certainly a market for anti-theft paraphernalia. According to a study conducted by the University of Florida and Loss Prevention Specialists Inc. of Winter Park, Fla., retailers reported losing $14.29 billion worth of merchandise to shoplifting and another $15.97 billion to employee theft in 1994.
So far, Krahling has sold about 6,000 fake cameras to both national corporations and mom-and-pop retailers.
Any in Southwest Virginia? He won't say.
Krahling said he would love to talk about his customers, to share their success stories, but "as a professional courtesy, I can't tell you who's using our products."
He can talk about the products, though. A basic wall- or ceiling-mounted dummy camera costs $39. Cameras with red lights are $10 to $20 higher. Compare that with the $1,000 or more it costs to outfit an average-size strip mall retail store with a real security system, and you can see the attraction.
But dummies can only do so much. They aren't intended to provide personal safety, for one thing; businesses should still install real cameras in parking lots and other places where shoppers might be in danger, Krahling said.
"We don't claim to be able to stop armed robbery," he said. "But we can stop some of the pilfering."
And, because they're stationary, such dummy cameras may not be fancy enough to deter the most sophisticated criminals, said Sgt. J.E. Castleman of the Roanoke Police Department. A practiced shoplifter might notice that the camera wasn't rotating and would simply move to another angle where the lens couldn't pick him up, he said.
Krahling said he had considered offering a motorized version of the dummy camera but decided equipping a decoy with a motor would cost more than it was worth. If shopkeepers think they need more protection that just fake cameras, he said, they could install real cameras near the cash register and dummies everywhere else.
Most department and discount stores have gone high-tech, with in-house security guards - or, as they're called at Sears, "asset protection" teams - and plenty of hidden cameras.
"We are live on camera, believe me," said Norma Carlisle, manager of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. store at Valley View Mall in Roanoke. "We have no dummies. And we fully prosecute shoplifters."
Malls also have their own security guards. Bill Tyree, who heads up security at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke County, holds seminars to teach merchants what to look for and how to respond to shoplifters.
The bad news is that shoplifters seem to be getting more sophisticated, Castleman said. Shoplifters who are too well-known to steal locally have been known to drive to neighboring states to lift merchandise, he said. And we get our share of imports, too; groups of known shoplifters from Danville and Martinsville show up in Roanoke from time to time.
The goods they steal sometimes defy common sense. Door knobs and lock assemblies, for instance, are hot items for shoplifters at home-supply stores. Baby clothes are high on the shoplifting list, too, Castleman said.
Other shoplifters may opt for instant cash. Instead of taking a blouse out of the store to resell later, Tyree said, a thief may drop it into an empty shopping bag and take it up to the counter for a refund. Large department stores often will give money back without receipts, just to keep customers happy.
"The crook is learning that where they'll get a certain percentage when they sell on the street, they'll get 100 percent in the store," he said.
The good news is that store owners don't necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars to combat shoplifting. One of the most important weapons retailers have, Tyree said, is good, old-fashioned customer service. Shoplifters have told him they often will leave a store if they're greeted by a salesperson at the door.
And inexpensive dummy cameras similar to Krahling's are gaining in popularity. Loss-prevention consultants don't usually promote one security-supply company or method over another, but many recommend using such decoys in conjunction with actual security systems.
So stick out your tongue at those security cameras at your own risk.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: A fake surveilance camera: It looks like thereal thingby CNBfor a fraction of the cost. color. Graphic: Chart: Shoplifting.
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