electronic counter measures?

[JohnRoberts]

I suspect big retailers are already thinking about this...

Can they soup up RDIF tags to reports where the looters took the loot? It seems looting smart phones might have to disable GPS in the booty.

Don't they have strong IR cameras that can do facial recognition through masks.

JR

 

[cyrano]

RFID tags as anti-theft measure have been around for decades. One of the latest I've seen records BlueTooth ids from phones if it's long enough in the vicinity. That"s because it doesn't want to register passers-by, but only the thief, I guess.

I'm not aware of any of these systems that are being fed into the marketing system. That doesn't mean somebody isn't doing that, of course. It's just not mainstream.

Smartphones aren't too often on the thief's shopping list, as most can be traced and disabled remotely.

Dunno about the camera's. Technically it seems possible, but AFAIK they're not in use broadly, yet. Maybe airports and such, but not supermarkets.

In supermarkets, you might encounter "beacons". These register all phone ids from passers-by and could fire a personal promo or ad to your phone. Market acceptance has been low because of privacy issues. I think these are created by Apple.

The major difference is, RFID tags in general contain no battery, they are powered by an RF transmitter nearby. Beacons are powered by mains or rechargeable battery.

 

[Tubetec]

Here some retail products carry an Rfid tag . generally higher end merch , like fillet steaks and bottles of whiskey .
I think I did hear about Tesco ,while not tracking the people to their home via the ID tags , were able to use it as evidence later in court . Pre face masks some supermarkets did gather facial recognition data on everyone coming through the door . I know a guy , came up out of hell ,but is a throughly reformed charachter at this stage of his life , security took a dislike to him on camera , flagged him on the biometric system , next time he came in he was removed from the premesis by a pair of Goomba's , last I heard he was going to take a case against the store. Hand and neck tattoos from his wild early days must have rang alarm bells with security .

 

[JohnRoberts]

I saw one article that said some vendors like home depot or lowes figured out how to disable electrical tools so they don't work unless properly purchased. Probably hard to do that with clothing or designer bags.

I noticed some of flash mob thieves were stealing sledge hammers to use later in jewelry store smash and grabs.

JR

 

[shabtek]

what are flash mob thieves? are they in MS? I know Milwaukee has some kind of rf protection scheme now for higher end tools. I don't know how it works but won't be testing the system. likely not available on sledges.

what about tracking electronics' to be sure they don't go to the landfill? an impetus for more durable goods?

 

[JohnRoberts]

what are flash mob thieves?

coordinated shoplifters with cars and drivers to help them escape

are they in MS?

no, mainly in large west coast cities.

I know Milwaukee has some kind of rf protection scheme now for higher end tools. I don't know how it works but won't be testing the system. likely not available on sledges.

I heard a report that a hardware chain store figured out how to disable power tools that were not purchased and checked out.

I saw at least one security video of thieves using stolen sledgehammers to bust up hardened glass jewelry display cases.

what about tracking electronics' to be sure they don't go to the landfill? an impetus for more durable goods?

sadly when I tried to search for the way shop owners could disable stolen goods I found multiple links to how shoplifters could disable anti-theft security tags, apparently a more popular search topic.

JR

 

[volker]

what are flash mob thieves? are they in MS? I know Milwaukee has some kind of rf protection scheme now for higher end tools. I don't know how it works but won't be testing the system. likely not available on sledges.

what about tracking electronics' to be sure they don't go to the landfill? an impetus for more durable goods?

 

[okgb]

Every province in Canada handles things differently but the government run liquor stores in Manitoba Employees were instructed to not attempt stopping thieves and potentially harming themselves. The general public picked up on this and people were casually walking in and walking out with bottles. It reached a peak when some weren't satisfied with free booze and would assault employees for no reason. So now the doors are locked and a security person lets people into a vestibule one at a time, checks id and then unlocks a second door into the store

 

[JohnRoberts]

Of course this is all manageable but the justice system has recently (last several years) dropped the ball on being an effective crime deterrent. It is hard to discuss this without questioning the motives of prosecutors and politicians, but to give them the benefit of the doubt they are trying to support people in bad situations.

Now it appears citizens and store operators are the people in bad situations.

There used to be a 3 strikes rule, where 3 successive felony(?) prosecutions would result in a significant mandatory jail sentence. This was considered harsh because often the 3rd strike offense did not seem commensurate with the long prison sentence. Now we have the pendulum swung too far the other way with criminals committing new crimes after being released without bail for a recent former crime. Surely some consideration for repeat offenders should escalate severity of treatment with concurrent repeat offenses.

I will be watching the new mayor elect in NYC, a former police officer, to see how he deals with the new normal.

JR