East Coast Grocery Chain uses Facial Recognition Surveillance

On the East Coast of the United States, Redner’s Markets has been using facial recognition surveillance for about a year, reducing investigation times by 50 to 75%.

According to a recent press release, Redner’s Markets uses 3VR Security’s SmartRecorder searchable surveillance solution to enhance their security at its grocery and convenience stores.  The deployment of 3VR technology has in turn helped Redner’s reduce losses, improve crime investigation efficiency, and cut down theft of all kinds.

Redner’s has 38 Warehouse Markets and 13 Quick Shoppe convenience outlets throughout Eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.

“Redner’s has taken an exemplary approach to cracking down on crime in their grocery and convenience stores,” said Al Shipp, CEO, 3VR. “Oftentimes criminals feel emboldened by the thought that they can outsmart security systems or simply act faster than security personnel can react. Redner’s has taken steps to ensure that this is not the case and have been extremely successful leveraging technology to stay three steps ahead of anyone who is trying to rip them off.”

Redner’s use of 3VR’s sophisticated features, including directional and motion search functions, have cut the time spent searching through video by security personnel by 50-75% on average, drastically accelerating the turn-around time in which they can respond to incidents and submit evidence to the police.  For example, a major security problem in the grocery industry involves people entering a store, filling up a shopping cart with merchandise and then simply running out.  Rather than sifting through footage second by second, Redner’s staff uses 3VR’s directional search capabilities to immediately find the video footage of the individuals exiting the store.  Furthermore, 3VR technology makes it easy to get that information to law enforcement in a timely manner by providing the ability to quickly and easily save this video to a CD or upload it to an FTP site to make it almost instantly available.  This cuts the crime response time to half of what it would have taken with previous security systems.

“3VR has the most advanced system we have seen as far as facial recognition, video quality and the types of video searches it is able to conduct.  The combination of all the functions has proved very powerful for us,” said Cory Deily, Director of Security and Loss Prevention, Redner’s Markets, Inc.  ”On top of that, 3VR’s customer service goes the extra mile.  There are bigger companies out there, but most of them are not willing to work with you.  3VR is always willing to listen and provide suggestions on how they can help us further reduce loss.”

Redner’s has also found the 3VR facial search capabilities especially useful in searching for known criminals and alerting staff of their presence on-site. With ORC (Organized Retail Crime) as a substantial security issue facing the industry, Redner’s has been able to use 3VR to identify and tag members of local ORC groups and alert store security when they enter any Redner’s outlet.  Redner’s has successfully identified and caught shoplifters using this technique, catching thieves as they enter another store after stealing from a separate location.