Retail Chains Benefit from ISS PoS and LPR Solutions

Intelligent Security Systems (ISS), a provider of video management and image analytic software, has developed PoS and LPR solutions that are designed to support loss prevention in and outside convenience store chains and other retail facilities. The combination of PoS surveillance and LPR technology is ideal for retailers that must regularly deal with cash register shrinkage, merchandise theft, and gas drive offs. The solution can also be used effectively at malls. ISS' roots in space technology and expertise with highly advanced algorithms have made possible a level of accuracy and intelligence in the civilian security sphere that was formerly only available for government and military applications.


PoS is a software based system that can link live video from checkout surveillance cameras with transaction data. It allows for search of specific transactions, review of the exact video information applying to this transaction and many other investigation options. PoS can search transaction data by a variety of individual or permutations of multiple search criteria, including date and time, employee number, terminal number, item numbers (SKUs), customer, transaction amount, payment type, credit card, merchandise returns, and voided transactions.


Highly advanced image analytic capabilities allow the software to monitor cashier movements and send alerts via phone, e-mail, or SMS when suspected activities such as shorting the register or unscanned items occur.


The company's LPR solution is noted for its ability to read characters on license plates vertically as well as horizontally, a key advantage when other information is sought than just the plate number, and to do so under the most adverse lighting and weather conditions. In cases of gas drive offs, these quick, accurate reads increase the likelihood of offenders being caught and prosecuted.


Other stores connected to the PoS server are alerted when the license plate of such a suspect enters their vicinity. For security staff at malls, such LPR technology keeps track of all vehicles entering and leaving the area, and can be a very valuable forensic tool in the event of a criminal incident. Additional features, such as facial recognition can be added and alert the staff if a known shoplifter is entering one of the connected outlets. Interfaces to loss prevention Tagging systems allow smart combinations with active and passive RFID technology.


"In challenging economic times, the need for more advanced security solutions tends to grow exponentially," said Aluisio Figueiredo, COO of ISS. "For smaller retail businesses such as convenience store chains, the double whammy of inside theft, whether by a clerk or a customer, and outside theft in the form of gas drive offs, can add up to major economic losses over time. With PoS, ISS becomes a specialized loss prevention provider for retailers, both by automating the security process with an unprecedented level of business intelligence and by providing a potential deterrent to would be offenders."