IQinVision and Milestone Improve Security at MAXI ICA

115 IQeye HD megapixel cameras watch over one of Sweden’s largest supermarket chains .

IQinVision, market leader in high-performance HD megapixel network cameras, smart IP cameras, and network video recording systems, today announced that the largest supermarket chain in Sweden ensures personnel safety with video surveillance from more than 100 IQeye HD megapixel cameras managed by Milestone XProtect™ open platform IP video management software.

MAXI ICA Superstore in the Swedish city of Umeå has invested in a security system with 115 IQeye HD megapixel cameras. In the autumn of 2009 there were on average three store robberies every day in Sweden, but MAXI ICA in the city of Umeå has thus far been spared major incidents.

“Word got around quickly that we had installed a tough new system. According to the guards, the usual mischief disappeared at once,” said Joakim Lindgren, MAXI ICA Superstore Umeå. “But it’s a question of preventing robberies. Otherwise, personnel risk both threats with weapons and actual assaults. The main reason for camera monitoring is so that personnel can feel safe. The problem is with drug and alcohol-influenced people who sometimes come into the store and become aggressive.”

The guards still discover shoplifting with every inspection, in general. Attempted fraud in the store is also recorded. For example, customers who claim they have received change for a hundred kronor note instead of a five hundred, or who try to cheat at the betting counter.

A security concept developed by ICA Group’s central security unit sets minimum security levels for the stores. For example, the checkout lines, entries, and exits are monitored by cameras, and an analog system had been installed in 1998 when MAXI ICA Superstore Umeå opened. Unfortunately, that fell far short of present-day needs.

“We couldn’t really expand on the analog system, so it was natural to take the next step. The future lies in megapixel technology with IP software. This is where developments are taking place with astonishing speed,” observed Lindgren. A total of 115 IQinvision IQ-711 1.3 megapixel cameras were installed.

“The reason MAXI ICA doesn’t need to have even more cameras per square meter is explained by our choice of IQeye megapixel cameras, which can cover a greater area than cameras with conventional resolution. It is quite simply a more efficient solution, thus more economical than installing conventional cameras. Although the unit price is higher for megapixel cameras, we don’t need as many,” explained Fredrik Westin, Managing Director at InSupport, the integrator who implemented the solution.

Private guards hired from Securitas are always on duty, but they can “be made” if they show themselves too often out among the customers. Previously, it was also hard for the guards to prove that someone had taken merchandise. One of the Securitas guards commented, “The new surveillance system makes our job easier! I hope that more clients will get such systems—it is easy to use and we can monitor everything that happens in the store.”