Cameras catch everything except those wearing masks

These signs telling customers not to wear masks into Kansas Retail Liquor were put there as a security measure to help identify anyone who might attempt to steal merchandise.

By Blake Spurney

Security technology has gotten so good that digital cameras cover nearly every inch of a business, making theft or robbery a risky venture at best.

Gone are the days when someone could walk out of a store after furtively putting something in a pocket. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, nullifying some of the security upgrades.

Sheldon Miller, owner of Kansas Retail Liquor at 206 S. Kansas Ave., put up a sign notifying customers not to wear a mask into his establishment. He said the sign had nothing to do with politics.

“That is a statement I’m tired of being stolen from,” he said. “People are wearing masks from out of town and walking out with stuff and you can’t identify them. If I know the person, I don’t care. If I don’t know the person, I’ll make them take down the mask, so I can identify them. Then they can put it back on.”

Miller said an unidentified woman walked out with close to $400 worth of liquor after putting it in her purse. The crime was caught on video, but she was wearing a mask. Another masked customer walked out with $300 in merchandise.

Murray Anderson, owner of Anderson Retail Liquor, said he hadn’t yet asked people to take off their masks during the pandemic, but he does have a standing rule for other types.

“We always had a sign up on Halloween because that would be a great opportunity for someone to come in and do something stupid,” he said.

Anderson said when he got into the business 41 years ago he relied on VHS tapes for security. If something went missing, he would take a tape home and watch a four-hour shift of grainy footage. He said his store only had been robbed once when a young person held up a clerk with a knife. He said the person was a college student who was trying to get home and the suspect was shaking more than the clerk.

“Today if you do that, everybody’s going to know who you are,” Anderson said. “The cameras are that good.”

Newton police Lt. Scott Powell said when he looked at surveillance footage 20 years ago, more than 99 percent of the time he couldn’t make out a suspect’s identity.

“Now it’s like they pose for the picture a lot of the times,” he said. “It’s impressive, all the technology out now and how good it is and how reliable it is.”

That is, unless a suspect is wearing a mask like the traveling group of drug-seekers who broke into Walgreens a few years ago. Powell said when crooks passed through town on their way to another state, one could have all sorts of pictures, but no one is going to know them.

Anderson said the technology changed 15-20 years ago when digital quality surveillance became affordable. He said purchasing your own system would cost several thousand dollars. He opted to lease through a company for $130 a month. He said an employee recently caught someone stealing, and five minutes later his manager had a photo sent to him on his phone.

“We had a problem a couple of months ago and got a still image and got it to the police right away,” he said. “They identified the person.”

Miller said he had more than 20 cameras in his store. He said he learned by trial and error where to place them to cover every angle.

“There’s cameras that aren’t even on that screen,” he said about his large monitor.

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