Retail Anti-Theft Devices-3 WC blog 241
Alpha Security-3
Alpha cable lock-5
Alpha Cable Locks Keep Thieves From Rolling Away With Your Merchandise
Having spent as many years as I have in Loss Prevention and retail, I have quite a few memorable cases I worked. I am certain that many others in the field have recollections of certain cases that stood out to them. Some because of the items that were stolen, some incidents stood out due to how the theft took place or the actions of the shoplifter when stopped. There were many incidents of theft that my team or I were able to effectively investigate and close, but not all of them as quickly as I would have preferred. I once had a case that was causing me much consternation and might have been avoided if I had the proper retail anti-theft device available at the time. One of the Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices I wish I had access to then was the Alpha Cable Lock.
What is an Alpha Cable Lock and how does it work? An Alpha Security cable lock uses aircraft grade cable attached through a locking mechanism to prevent criminals from shoplifting merchandise. The locking mechanism is built with radio frequency technology that causes an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) antenna to alarm if the secured product is carried into the antennas reception field. Tampering with the device activates an internal alarm in the device and the 3-alarm version of the Alpha Cable Lock sounds an internal alarm if the device is taken past EAS antennas. The cable can be run around or through softlines or hardlines merchandise to keep it safe. For example, a cable can be run through the sleeve of a coat, around the handle of a bottle of detergent or through the eyelet of a shoe. The versatility of the lock and the fact it is reusable makes it a fantastic choice among retail anti-theft devices for retailers.
The particular case I mentioned above that would have been avoided had we had access to an Alpha Cable Lock involved the theft of bicycles. As we conducted walks of our sporting goods department we began noticing empty spaces on the bike rack. As the number of empty spaces increased we began doing research and finding that high dollar bicycles seemed to be missing. We tagged the bicycles with EAS soft tags to prevent shoplifting but the tags were being removed or we were finding the hang tags we placed the EAS tags on were being left around the store. We also moved our security cameras to focus on the area and we reviewed video to try to identify a culprit. Live closed circuit television surveillances of this area of the store were conducted and we did eventually see our suspect.
This shoplifter selected a bicycle from the display rack, looked over the item while other shoppers were in the area then rolled it down a back aisle. He stopped and tore the paperwork off and the card board inserts from the spokes and walked it towards the front doors, going around the checkout lanes. He parked the bike in a little discount merchandise area near the front buggy corral and walked around ensuring no employees were paying attention. He went back to the bike and rolled it up to the electronic article surveillance antennas located at the door and my Loss Prevention Associate and I stopped the suspect as he jumped on the bike to ride it out. After a bit of resistance on his part, which included a fake seizure, we got the suspect into the security office. Don’t worry, the suspect was fine, he recovered from the “seizure” quickly when I informed him we would call him an ambulance, but it would cost him $500. The bike was recovered and our rash of thefts decreased significantly after that.
The lesson I hope the readers of this article will take away is that had the Alpha cable lock been available to us and strung through the wheels, the thefts could not have taken place in the first place. If you have hard to tag merchandise Alpha Security may have the solution you need with their cable lock products.
Need information on Alpha cable locks? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
Having spent as many years as I have in Loss Prevention and retail, I have quite a few memorable cases I worked. I am certain that many others in the field have recollections of certain cases that stood out to them. Some because of the items that were stolen, some incidents stood out due to how the theft took place or the actions of the shoplifter when stopped. There were many incidents of theft that my team or I were able to effectively investigate and close, but not all of them as quickly as I would have preferred. I once had a case that was causing me much consternation and might have been avoided if I had the proper retail anti-theft device available at the time. One of the Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices I wish I had access to then was the Alpha Cable Lock.
What is an Alpha Cable Lock and how does it work? An Alpha Security cable lock uses aircraft grade cable attached through a locking mechanism to prevent criminals from shoplifting merchandise. The locking mechanism is built with radio frequency technology that causes an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) antenna to alarm if the secured product is carried into the antennas reception field. Tampering with the device activates an internal alarm in the device and the 3-alarm version of the Alpha Cable Lock sounds an internal alarm if the device is taken past EAS antennas. The cable can be run around or through softlines or hardlines merchandise to keep it safe. For example, a cable can be run through the sleeve of a coat, around the handle of a bottle of detergent or through the eyelet of a shoe. The versatility of the lock and the fact it is reusable makes it a fantastic choice among retail anti-theft devices for retailers.
The particular case I mentioned above that would have been avoided had we had access to an Alpha Cable Lock involved the theft of bicycles. As we conducted walks of our sporting goods department we began noticing empty spaces on the bike rack. As the number of empty spaces increased we began doing research and finding that high dollar bicycles seemed to be missing. We tagged the bicycles with EAS soft tags to prevent shoplifting but the tags were being removed or we were finding the hang tags we placed the EAS tags on were being left around the store. We also moved our security cameras to focus on the area and we reviewed video to try to identify a culprit. Live closed circuit television surveillances of this area of the store were conducted and we did eventually see our suspect.
This shoplifter selected a bicycle from the display rack, looked over the item while other shoppers were in the area then rolled it down a back aisle. He stopped and tore the paperwork off and the card board inserts from the spokes and walked it towards the front doors, going around the checkout lanes. He parked the bike in a little discount merchandise area near the front buggy corral and walked around ensuring no employees were paying attention. He went back to the bike and rolled it up to the electronic article surveillance antennas located at the door and my Loss Prevention Associate and I stopped the suspect as he jumped on the bike to ride it out. After a bit of resistance on his part, which included a fake seizure, we got the suspect into the security office. Don’t worry, the suspect was fine, he recovered from the “seizure” quickly when I informed him we would call him an ambulance, but it would cost him $500. The bike was recovered and our rash of thefts decreased significantly after that.
The lesson I hope the readers of this article will take away is that had the Alpha cable lock been available to us and strung through the wheels, the thefts could not have taken place in the first place. If you have hard to tag merchandise Alpha Security may have the solution you need with their cable lock products.
Need information on Alpha cable locks? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
