The November issue of Security Products magazine has devoted a rather in-depth look at the theft. Sherleen Mahoney, associate editor for the magazine, starts out:

Love often drives people to do some crazy things. One man, Larry J. Hopkins, tried to steal his way into a woman’s heart. On March 14, he entered Carroll’s Jewelers in Doylestown, Penn. After more than two hours of looking at various engagement rings (i.e., waiting for the right moment), he palmed a $47,000 three-carat diamond solitaire ring in a platinum setting, one of the most expensive rings in the store, when the salesperson’s back was turned. Within two minutes, he was gone—and the salesperson didn’t realize the theft until a few minutes later.

We previously posted the frame-by-frame, digitally zoomed-in images of the actual theft here.  Ms. Mahoney continues on:

In a lucky twist of fate, a few months prior to the incident, Access Security Corp. of Warminster, Penn., a provider of integrated security systems, had upgraded the jewelry store’s legacy CCTV system, which consisted of a 10-year-old time-lapse VCR system linked to four analog cameras. The system had been replaced with an Exacq Technologies hybrid NVR and two megapixel cameras from IQinVision.

Dan Cogan, president of Access Security, was called in to bring the surveillance system up-to-date with the latest IP cameras.  The store also wanted to continue to use their analog cameras:

“Using existing infrastructure was important to the client,” Cogan said. “The exacqVision hybrid NVR system was chosen because it allowed us to integrate the existing analog cameras with the new high-resolution megapixel cameras from IQinVision.”

After realizing the theft had occurred, retrieving the video evidence and exporting it for law enforcement was easy:

A powerful feature of exacqVision is exacqReplay, which provides instant playback of video from any camera simply by right-clicking in that camera’s window panel and selecting the desired time segment, up to the last 15 minutes. This is a useful tool to assess alarms, as well as to quickly review something that just happened. The video or individual images can be easily exported for e-mailing, printing or burning to a CD or DVD.

It was the IQeye 753 that provided the critical surveillance video that led to Hopkins’ arrest. The video clearly shows a white man in his 50s with salt-and-pepper hair, wearing a navy baseball cap with a tan trim, a black leather jacket, blue jeans, a polo shirt and wireless glasses, holding the ring and quickly covering it with his fingers. Access Security exported approximately 10 minutes of video and still images to a CD for the police and media.

The thief, Larry Hopkins, was caught in two days, and was sentenced to up to 23 months in the county jail.  And he did it all for love:

According to a local newspaper, when the prosecutor asked Hopkins why he did it, Hopkins answered, “For love. I loved her so much that I went out of my mind.”

- The complete Security Products story is here.
- The original blog post with frame-by-frame images of the theft is here.

The original, high-resolution video clip is available to all exacqVision resellers.  It makes for an amazing demo of the capabilities of the product.  If you do not already have this clip, contact us here.

Butiksleverantör is the major trade fair in Sweden targeting buyers and specifiers from both national and independent retailers throughout Sweden, including security directors and loss prevention managers.  The show focuses on the latest technologies for retail operations.

Gate Security was showing their new NEXUS line of loss prevention security gates, as well as the exacqVision IP video surveillance systems.  Their demo setup included an exacqVision server connected to multiple cameras, two client stations with a number of monitors connected, and a large spot monitor.  Thomas Rasi, Marketing Manager for Gate, was very pleased at the level of interest in exacqVision from loss prevention and security managers at the show.

Congratulations to the whole crew at Gate Security for another successful trade show.  Gate Security can be reached as follows:

Web: www.gatesecurity.se
Phone: +46-5-453-6600
e-mail: info@gatesecurity.se

We recently returned from the National Retail Federation’s annual Loss Prevention Expo – this time held in the San Diego Convention Center. We were showing our exacqVision IP video surveillance solutions in the IPVS Magazine booth. The NRF-LP Expo focuses on retail loss prevention, with emphasis on everything from designing floor layouts and surveillance systems, to combating counterfeit brands and organized retail theft rings.

The attendance at NRF-LP is primarily loss prevention officers from the larger retail chains worldwide. We met with many of these key LP decision makers and had an opportunity to discuss our exacqVision IP and hybrid video solutions. Also in the IPVS booth were vendors of companion technologies to exacqVision, such as IP cameras and managed networking gear. Key issues with these LP professionals included a desire for flexible and scalable video surveillance solutions, and the ability to access all locations from a single remote interface. The ability to scale an exacqVision system to any size, the ease-of use of the user interface, the tie-in to POS systems, and the ability to seamlessly mix both IP and analog video, thereby allowing them to use existing cameras, was of significant interest. We were able to make a number of great contacts at this show.

Our thanks again to Eric and the entire crew at IPVS Magazine for once again putting together a great booth. We’ll be with IPVS Magazine in the retail market again in November when we head to Atlanta for the National Association of Convenience Stores Annual Convention.

The comments from the many integrators and retail loss prevention personnel who saw exacqVision IP focused on the following key points:

Low Cost – exacqVision IP is low-priced and simple to buy: one flat low price per video channel. Cameras can be easily added at any time. No additional server fees, enterprise fees, or charges for additional features.

Ease of Use – exacqVision IP NVR software is the most intuitive video surveillance software on the market.

True Scalability – whether you need just a couple of cameras for a convenience store, or hundreds of cameras across a chain of stores, excaqVision IP is an ideal solution.

Extensive IP Camera Support – exacqVision IP works with the most popular IP cameras on the market, including megapixel and PTZ IP cameras, from vendors such as Axis, Sony, IQeye, Panasonic, ACTi, and more.

Use of Existing Equipment – exacqVision IP can also integrate existing analog CCTV cameras seamlessly with the IP cameras, using the same user interface, with full frame rate and high quality images. No need to discard existing cameras, domes, PTZ units, etc.

POS Integration – exacqVision IP can integrate with POS systems, alarm systems, access control systems, and more.

In addition to sending all of the leads an evaluation copy of the exacqVision IP software, we’ll be forwarding the end-user leads to our dealer channel. Our thanks to Mark Bonde and the crew at IPVS Magazine for the terrific job they did with their booth at this year’s NRF show.