Z Energy going high tech to beat crime

Z Energy going high tech to beat crime

Z Energy expects to deter would-be service station robbers with crystal clear, live footage of themselves on big screen TV in a nationwide high-tech rollout costing $8 million.

The $8 million investment could have bought up to three new service stations, but Z says it won’t skimp on staff and customer safety.

According to police figures, there have been 38 service stations robberies investigated across New Zealand this year, including five Z stations.

Z already has security cameras across all of its sites but it expects the new, state of the art CCTV systems to be a major deterrent for criminals – with about 13 digital, high definition cameras filming the forecourt, pumps, entrance and inside of each site and footage instantly displayed on big screens.

Mark Forsyth, General Manager Retail at Z, says the CCTV rollout is one of the biggest investments Z will make on its existing sites over the next couple of years.

“Clearly we don’t get the financial returns we would from spending $8 million on new service stations, but we don’t see it as one or the other. We’re continuing to invest in expanding our retail network and at the same time we’re absolutely committed to investing in the safety of our site teams and customers,” Mark said.

“Robberies don’t cost us a lot from a pure financial perspective because we keep virtually no cash on site, but every robbery is one too many when we consider the stress and potential physical or psychological harm to staff and customers.

“The big screen footage will be a highly visible deterrent and the quality of the footage is what you’d expect from a modern high definition TV. If anyone does try to rob a Z service station with this technology, their chances of going unrecognised when the image is released will be pretty close to zero.”

“An offender won’t be able to approach a site now without being picked up on at least one camera. Everyone entering the site will also see themselves on the big screen as a reminder that it’s a safe site. We reckon that sends a pretty powerful message to our staff, customers and any would-be criminals,” Mark Forsyth said.

The new CCTV technology also gives Z the capability to use licence plate recognition to help it stop petrol thefts through drive-offs, and it will be trialling the licence plate recognition in Auckland over the next few months.

The CCTV rollout is the third step in a triple-whammy for any would-be robbers setting their sights on Z service stations – with Z’s network recently installing maximum security intelligent safes that take in and instantly lock away cash like an automatic teller machine, together with trialling an invisible liquid DNA spray that enables robbers to be invisibly tagged as they leave the scene.

Z has begun installing the high-definition CCTV in all newly built and rebuilt service stations and the feedback from the site teams and customers has been very positive. This month it starts the $8 million rollout across its other existing sites.

ENDS

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