The Dumbest Criminals On Earth

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Oct 15, 2010

What’s the first thing you think of when going to a security tradeshow? Maybe cameras, recorders and the ability to burn a CD of what’s taking place. You probably thought the same thing, but it never cross the mind of an alleged ring of criminals.

As with many booths and exhibits, Milestone Systems displayed a ring of cameras, pointing in all directions. One direction was across the walkway at the Moog Quickset booth.

Here’s where it gets a little bit fishy.

Seems the Dallas Convention Center cleaning crew shows up after the first night of the show and begins a sweep of the floor space. Two thieves -- I know they are innocent until proven guilty -- make a sweep of a different kind. Apparently, they had been casing the show floor, and had been doing the same from previous tradeshows.

Milestone Systems’ security display caught the theft in progress and BriefCam's Video Synopsis technology embedded in the Milestone XProtect Smart Client was used to review hours of overnight footage in minutes, after which the Rimage digital publishing solution exported the original video of the crime directly to DVD. View the video here.

Law enforcement entered the scene the next evening, bringing the thieves to task. Apparently, they issued an ultimatum of returning the stolen laptop. I think everyone was a little surprised when they returned to the convention center at the appointment hour with more laptops and other items taken from ASIS and previous shows.

Security planning and deployment pays. If you customers are having a hard time believing the necessity of a good security system, take them to our home page and watch the video.

Hope you have a great ASIS show. I did, and it was great to make new friends and renew old associations.