Clever and inventive employees find many ways to swindle their employers. Sexton says fraudulent coupon usage and use of senior citizen or employee discounts are some of the most common ways for employees to steal. For example, Sexton says employees will ring up an order at full price and then apply a 10-percent senior citizen discount. Then the employee gives the customer the change for the full price item and pockets the difference.

Aside from those incidents, Sexton says his company has caught internally staged robberies, provided videotape to law enforcement, and used video evidence of employee theft in order to deny that employee unemployment benefits.

The camera system and central video database, because it is searchable, also allows StarSat to protect clients against illegitimate slip-and-fall lawsuits, Sexton says. If an employee says that they fell at a certain date and time, the video of the incident, providing there was a camera pointing at the spot of the alleged accident, might be able to show exactly what happened.

Furthermore, the system can be used for attendance reporting. If there is a dispute about whether an employee actually clocked in or not, the tape can show who was or was not present.

Other companies provide services similar to StarSat’s. FireKing Security Group, which primarily provides safe systems to customers, has also been using digital video recorders since as early as 1997, according to FireKing’s Steve Aronson.

After selling safes for a long period of time, FireKing found that a lot of their customers were interested in replacing their video system with a digital recorder as well. While their first digital video recorders were measured in gigabytes of memory, the company can now provide hard drives with a thousand times more recording capacity.

FireKing’s security camera system is similar to StarSat’s, featuring POS integration and the capacity for multiple cameras in order to watch all of the areas of the restaurant. Aronson, whose company works with Yum! Brands, Wendy’s, and Denny’s, says most companies turn on the motion detection system so that the camera only records when there is movement. The FireKing system can also be set to record suspicious POS transactions, like payment made with a $100 bill, no sales, refunds, and discounts. And aside from punishing thieving employees, Aronson says the benefit of a security system is that it can exonerate the innocent ones. Another added benefit is that the marketing department can see who is buying what and if certain promotions are working.

FireKing typically charges $3,000 to $6,000 for a recorder, while new cameras are roughly $1,000 each. Although FireKing is not a monitoring service like StarSat, it does provide training in use of the system, installation, and 24/7 technical support.

In terms of return on investment, Aronson says they typically see that happen in three to six months, although a certain gas station that employed FireKing made their money back in one day after multiple scams were uncovered.

Another option is a more comprehensive system that integrates cameras, POS, and other sensors into an enterprise-wide program. Westec Interactive rolled out its Remote Management System (rms) in May, which allows Westec operators at a remote location to monitor the restaurant’s security system and fix potential problems without leaving the computer monitor. Alerts can be set that incorporate door sensors and motion-on cameras, according to Larry North, vice president of product development for Westec.

For quick-service clients, RMS provides a lot more than just security features. The system allows quick-service management to determine wait times at the counter and in the drive-thru queue, staff loading and leveling, and straightforward counting of customers using one or more cameras, North says.

Even with all of these gadgets, Jim Sexton says there really isn’t any way to get rid of all cash or product loss. Even so, employees who know they are being watched by a camera and by the POS system will probably think twice about stealing from your business.