Cop Cam By Angel Abcede CSP Magazine March 19, 2004

MAPCO fortifies in-store police substation with camera links

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Think Batcave. For Memphis-area police, stopping by a MAPCO Express store also means the opportunity to see what’s going on at any of the convenience chain’s city locations.

That’s because MAPCO recently installed a wide-area network (WAN), which allowed for high-speed links and the ability to access real-time images from store security cameras.

Scotty Creason, one of the Franklin, Tenn.-based MAPCO staffers in charge of the WAN program, said the company had established a police substation at one of their Memphis stores some time ago. It provided a place for officers to sit and complete paperwork over a cup of coffee or snack.

But after the 243-store MAPCO chain completed the WAN rollout as of the first of this year, the technology allowed police visiting the substation access to the chain’s security cameras on a real-time basis. All MAPCO had to do was set up a PC and a viewing monitor at the c-store housing the substation. Then staff showed officials with the police department how to access store surveillance equipment and suddenly area law enforcement had an instant citywide presence.

The capability allows access not only to incidents occurring at MAPCO locations, but also in the areas nearby those stores. “If … a robbery occurred at a Krispy Kreme [doughnut store] across from a MAPCO site and [the camera spots] a suspect walking into that store, you can get that clip and burn it onto a CD,” Creason said.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Cybera provided the communications services for MAPCO’s WAN. Cybera officials said new, cost-effective ways of setting up such networks are now becoming available to retailers like MAPCO.