Walmart security cameras - who are they looking for?

Sheesh next time you're at a Home Depot count the cameras inside and out. Typically 10-12 per isle not to mention 1 every 5 feet at the front of the store. Then there's the receiving bays and loading docks...and a multitude on the outside of the stores.

To be honest my guess is that the cameras aren't so much to catch customers shoplifting as it is to catch employees. Employee theft is a real problem in many businesses.

It's the norm it seems. But with any business doing high volume sales, boy they gotta protect their interests.

Yes I work at a Depot You get used to the cams. Not too used to them though.

nothing sinister going on here, this is purely a corporate liability and profit shrink reduction tool.

My hubby does loss prevention for major retail stores, (back of the house not the uniformed security type guys ) and according to him a store the size of a super walmart could easily have anywhere from 40 to over a hundred cameras both fixed and movable.

Larger retail stores have more cameras then most people imagine.

Parking lots are closely monitored to try to prevent car theft and break ins, to ensure a clear shot of the shoplifter leaving the store, and to protect from muggings and attacks.

be glad for loss prevention, they dont just catch shoplifters and he comes home with some seriously scary stories.

Like the guy who walking around, ahem... tooting his own horn, so to speak, and then finishing the job on the womens jeans. Then headed to the junior girls dressing room to do goodness knows what.



[edit on 7-10-2008 by gluetrap]

Some of those cameras are probably fake. In high school (in the US) a friend of mine worked at Walmart, and before the store moved into the supercenter ALL of the cameras on the exterior of the store were fake. In the new location a few of them were fake.

I wish there were more cameras at walmart. I had an $800 pressure washer stolen out of my truck at walmart in Concord, ON. There were about 5 cameras covering the entire parking lot, and they moved to cover different areas at different times leaving minutes long blind spots. Some spots of the lot weren't covered at all...like the place I was parked. Thanks for letting me know that in advance Walmart!

I've noticed that Walmarts in Canada don't have the little security car driving around the parking lot either. WalmartCanada needs to stop pretending it doesn't need security the way Walmart in the US does.

Originally posted by poll5984
Well, i work for Walmart. The reasoning behind the numbers of cameras is 1. loss prevention. It might not be possible to get tag numbers, facial shots from one camera so they have others at different angles to get the information. 2. To protect against frivolous lawsuits. Lots of people (more than i thought) like to try and stage accidents. One camera shows a guy tripping and falling over a box behind a car, other camera from different angle show box didn't get there till after he fell.

I work for "hell" too and have been told most of the cameras arent even real or operational (both inside and outside the store).

Walmart security is a joke though.

Dont feel to safe.. I'v worked with wal mart for 20 years... NOT EVEN HALF THE CAMERAS WORK!! The cams are just a Scare Tactics

reply to post by Montana

I used to do consulting for loss prevention at large corporations like this. You don't have to worry to much, quite a few of the cameras are fake. I will say that in my experience in WA state, Wally World had a pretty darn good surveillance system. They generally had more PTZ (pan tilt zoom) cameras than other retailers, and the clarity was usually better. Police do generally need to submit a subpoena for any tapes. A lot of loss prevention guys skirt this rule though, and will give them tapes they need. The cameras are invaluable for identifying theft groups, and sharing pictures of suspects with other locations. I will say that the camera system do get a little high tech. Just enter in a drivers license or credit card and you can see any transaction the person has made. That kind of creeped me out..

I've worked for Walmart too. Most of the time the cameras are not even on! When they are they are not looking for criminals. They are spying on the employees....looking for qroups that could be talking about forming a union!! Walmart has a van in each parking lot too...for the same reason.

I find it difficult to believe the executives of walmart are at all concerned whether or not your car is broken into, or if you are raped within the reach of their cameras. Loss prevention... possibly, they usually have certain merchandise stocked in the parking lot itself. Employee monitoring... no doubt they have an interest in that.

I do know that you can barely walk outside of your home these days without being on someone's camera. The government doesn't need to spy on you. They have the corporations doing it for them.

Few corporations are going to deny government access to surveillance in the war against terrorism.

Anybody know if there are any tax breaks for businesses that install "security surveillance systems"?

the answer is simple, the more cameras the better chance for the video to appear on youtube.com

How long does wal-mart keep the security footage from the parking lot cameras.

How long does wal-mart keep the security footage from the parking lot cameras.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


AnonymousATS- This could have happened anywhere- in the grocery store, in the gas station, ANYWHERE. First of all, your mother was not thinking by keeping her purse in the open especially in the front of the cart. Plenty of women (and men with bags also) lose a lot of money or personal items this way, and it is nobody's fault but their own.

I highly doubt the cashier would be "in on it", as wal-mart highly monitors their front end cash registers. Ever notice the camera above every single register? it can zoom in on a credit card number clear as day. It's used to monitor the transactions, to catch errors in counting change, and to make sure no one is sifting the cash drawer while they are working. I've personally been involved in prosecuting employees from a large department store who i observed on camera stealing from their register.

I don't see the larger conspiracy in this. The company wants to protect their assets, and the cameras aid in the protection of them. You don't grow to be a multi-billion dollar corporation by letting your merchandise and your money walk out the door.

As evil as wal-mart may be with putting mom and pop stores out of business, the cameras really are there for your protection, as well as to protect the companies assets. Nothing more, nothing less.

reply to post by ATSGUY

Look up Honeywell Security and March Systems, The loss prevention software watches all the movements of the objects in every camera, the software then selects out behavior patterns that are known to be conducive to losses, it then only shows those camera scenes to a security guard , although the security guard doesn't see every camera, they are all being recorded on a 50 TeraByte hard drive that stores IP video for 60 days.

Car Theft, Car jacking, Injury, Accident, Shop lifter running, Child abduction,
Drug dealing and so on.

I hear ya though. I have seen a new Wal-Mart go up near me and noticed
all the cameras. But if something were to happen. The store needs to respond
quickly and sometimes whatever visual evidence there is could help convict
someone.

Unless you are up to some shady behavior at the store, I would say you have
nothing to worry about.

If they want you, They will get you.

Anyone can hack security cameras, even i can. but to be safe use the library's computer lol, then they get in trouble not u.

I don't shop at Wal-Mart out of sheer hatred for the store, but I do know the cameras are working quite well in my area. A month ago my teenaged daughter and a friend went shopping there for some make-up. The friend obviously was either clueless that the store had cameras or is as dumb as I think she is and decided to simply slip her chosen items into her purse. My daughter, on the other hand, who has been raised very aware that big brother is watching paid for her fingernail polish. Next thing she knows she is being escorted into the security office along with her quilty friend and instructed to call me to come get her. She argued with the security officer that she hadn't done anything wrong; he didn't care.

Guilt by association, I presume. Anyway, she is now banned from all Wal-Marts and all the other stores in the strip mall for a year. They took her mug shot and told her if she is caught on camera in their store she will be fined $4000.00. I told her she'd better follow their orders or she could pretty much forget about a semester of college being paid for by me.

I saw a video regarding cameras in parking lots at Walmart. The video was on the Starz channel and was basically a documentary on the history of Walmart. The cameras are actually used as an anti-union tool. When word of a potential union is heard, a Walmart gets a $100,000.00 anti-union package including extra cameras for the parking lot. This is to find out who is initiating the union talks and to find out who they are speaking with.

There was a DVD about Wal-mart and it's attrocaties that stated that they use the vidoe cameras only for thier own securtie of protecting themselves and have nothing to do with the patron. Also, they are continuiously paranoid of Unions starting in their stores. Again, this was acording to the DVD. I believe it was called Wal-Mart Terror of Main Street or something like that...

I don't know if this was stated yet but the parking lot is THEIR property...they can point as many camera's into it as they please....there is no big brother conspiracy here...just paranoia!

Many people have been glad for those camera's...they have helped catch a ton of entering auto suspects, accidents, etc...and were solid proof for law enforcement to arrest the right people.

If anyone owns a business or is part of being responsible for a business you need cameras these days - it is a sad sign of the times.

a) protect against theft & crime - deterrent value
b) proof of what actually happened should there be a dispute or legal action or a crime
c) Save a lot of running about - becuase security staff etc can focus where there maybe something of "interest" going on
d) Also spot other things, like fires quickly and easily
e) Spot delivery drivers etc doing dangerous things and intercept before an accident happens
f) Spot the government official such as "health and safety" or whatever before they get in the door and intercept them on their way in !

It is illegal to deliberately film outside of one's own area, or deliberately monitor staff (unless considered for their own safety) -- "right to privacy" etc - if it is unavoidable (e.g. car park camera also catches a road or other building) no problem, but if it is deliberate - can get into loads of trouble !