SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE

SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE CEC

Reforming Generations through Education Worldwide Dilemma

By Jeff Powers

Shoplifting is a worldwide dilemma. National retail theft in the United States is at an all-time high of $44 billion. At the local level, communities are affected in numerous ways, from the rising cost of retail prices to offset shrinkage, to the rising tax rates to cope with increased thefts. At the retail level, a loss prevention associate loses valuable time on the floor responding to low-risk, first-time offender situations that could easily be resolved with the CEC Restorative Education™ program.

How It Works for Retailers

Based on rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), CEC’s Restorative Education proprietary course utilizes a highly successful approach of providing low-risk offenders second chances to right their wrongs. The CEC program holds the offender accountable throughout the duration of the course, while allowing the retailer to offer an alternative to the criminal justice system.

CEC provides the loss prevention professional with a software-enabled iPad to use in the retail setting. This allows for quick reporting, tracking, and processing of detainees at the retail location in approximately twelve minutes per offender. If the detainee is a low-risk or first-time offender, they will likely qualify for the CEC curriculum.

To further expedite the process, the CEC software determines offender qualification with a simple image capture of a state ID or driver’s license using the iPad camera and CEC software. This feature helps the retailer mitigate any subjectivity from the detainee process.

D.A.R.E. America Partners with CEC

D.A.R.E. has created a partnership with CEC to strengthen their shared beliefs in recognizing that impulsiveness of youth can lead to bad choices, and behavior modification will lead young people toward positive lives. Many first-time offenders are juveniles, according to the Global Youth Justice Organization—“The number one crime committed by juveniles is shoplifting.” This understanding of the first-time offender profile allows D.A.R.E. and CEC to offer juveniles a second chance for offenses “often regarded as an entry crime, from which juveniles graduate to more serious crimes,” according to the US Department of Justice. The new and improved juvenile-based curriculum is known as D.A.R.E. to Make the Right Choices™ .

Strengthening Community Partnerships

“CEC has sown together ideas from societal sciences with practical wisdom to develop and implement a program with the potential to not only reduce recidivism, but also improve lives. I think students who put time and effort into this program will enjoy it, learn from it, and see the benefits from applying it,” says BYU Professor of Psychology Sam Hardy. CEC’s Restorative Education Program gives all participants the chance to make a bigger, broader impact on society by altering the path of as many as 250,000 annual first-time offenders in the US alone. This volume of offenders crowds legal dockets, distracts police from more serious crime prevention, and creates a cycle of crime that is avoidable with an alternative solution. In addition to the societal impact, the average cost to process a shoplifter through the criminal justice system is in the $2,000 to $3,000 range. “Positively identified, low-risk offenders may opt into the diversion program at the store locations, freeing store-level loss prevention officers, police officers, and criminal intake prosecuting attorneys for other duties,” states a participating chief of police where the CEC platform is being utilized by the local retailers of that jurisdiction. The CEC Restorative Education Program is the right application to offer a second chance.

About the Author

Jeff Powers is chief customer acquisition officer for CEC. Leading an incredible team of professionals dedicated to promoting restorative justice, Powers focuses on building partnerships with corporations, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors. He has over thirty years of experience in sales and sales leadership serving the retail loss prevention industry, including relationship development, hiring, and training of highly successful sales executives. He has extensive experience in To learn more about CEC’s solution and solution selling hardware, the impact it can have, watch his latest video. https://www.youtube.com/watc loss prevention h?v=8dVkImGwe8I&feature=youtu.be. software, and services.

Overcoming the Top Five Objections to Video in the Cloud

SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE AXIS COMMUNICATIONS

The video surveillance market is a constantly evolving ecosystem and is not immune to scrutiny. It wasn’t long ago that skeptics questioned the feasibility and even need for video surveillance. They saved it for niche or boutique applications, but trailblazers forged ahead, and a multibillion dollar industry was born. In the ‘90s IP security cameras were introduced to the market, and though it took longer than expected, more IP security cameras are now purchased and installed than analog. And the market isn’t looking back. There is again an intersection in the video surveillance market—to cloud or not to cloud. Here we will explore the most common objections, the facts, and what’s on the horizon.

1. Security

Any system’s security, whether cloud-based or locally stored, is reliant on adherence to best practices like secure firewall management and password protection. The data being transmitted is encrypted using standard encryption methods like symmetric and asymmetric. The data is then stored by the cloud provider in a datacenter that follows strict security classifications. By following these guidelines, a cloud-stored video system is just as secure as a local system, but offers the additional benefits of redundancy and remote accessibility.

2. Bandwidth

Resource utilization will always be a key focus area, regardless of the resource type. Fortunately, bandwidth availability has improved exponentially in recent years. Still, it is coveted in a network environment due to the many systems that require it in order to function and create operational efficiencies. Camera technology lends itself to this very paradigm, as cameras offer multiple streams in order to flexibly and easily implement systems in any environment. A video stream storing data in the cloud can be configured with a lower resolution and frame rate, while a full resolution and frame rate stream can store data on the camera itself, using SD card edge storage. Furthermore, recent compression technologies allow full resolution video to be transmitted and stored with less impact to the network and storage size.

3. Complexity

Although camera technology is capable of being highly sophisticated, that doesn’t have to mean complex. In a cloud-based deployment using cameras, installers can pre-configure hardware so that there is less interaction needed at the retailer’s site, simplifying the process and saving time. What’s more, the supporting technology allows the system to connect to the cloud without forwarding ports or requiring static IP addresses, so there is less or no involvement of IT staff.

4. Reliability

There is an opportunity in video surveillance for redundancy and adapted access to systems when using the cloud. Consider the ability to mitigate the risk of lost or destroyed video evidence onsite with even just a few specific cameras in high-risk environments, such as cash rooms, high-end jewelry, or server closets recording to the cloud as backup. If desired, multiple entities can easily access the stored and live video using a smartphone or browser, agnostic to the phone or browser type. Even corporate headquarters or law enforcement teams can participate at the local branch level, which is particularly relevant in video verification for intruder detection, robberies, or emergencies as the remote video creates early situational awareness for loss prevention teams or first responders to take the most appropriate action.

5. Readiness of Retailers

It is not uncommon to have perceived objections to cloud solutions. However, think about ourselves as consumers who utilize cloud on a daily basis for our personal email accounts, social media, and even mobile banking. Other departments may even be turning to cloud commercial applications like salesforce.com and HR personnel management databases. All of those instances require that highly sensitive data be transmitted securely, following the same security principles mentioned above. As a result, security and loss prevention departments are now turning to cloud-based solutions and seeking opportunities to have video systems and functionalities in the palms of their hands. Literally.

The adoption of cloud-stored video systems has been under way for some time, with early adopters pioneering the effort and preparing the market. The next phase of technology will see a more homogenous system that is integrated in the cloud, incorporating video, intrusion alarms, access control, and other edge devices. Analytics providers are bringing cloud-based solutions to the market, and the combination creates a true managed-services platform that will offer more than simply the hardware’s capabilities; it will introduce statistics, trends, and business intelligence. Concepts like the Internet of Things (IoT) and “connected home” indicate that we have only seen the beginning. As a culture of open technology and connected devices converge, what better place to do that than the cloud.