Scores of major high street stores such as Tesco and Wickes use the mechanical guards to ward off robbers by shouting at them – in a Irish accent
Crime-ravaged retailers are using an army of 10,000 robot security guards to scare off crooks using an “ominous” Irish accent.
Scores of major high street stores such as Tesco and Wickes use the mechanical guards to ward off robbers by shouting at them in a menacing Belfast-inspired voice.
And workers reckon the bots, nicknamed “Daleks”, sound like fearsome Peaky Blinders character Inspector Campbell, played by Sam Neill, or Taken legend Liam Neeson.
Gary Higgins, of security firm DeterTech, told the Retail Crime Uncovered podcast: “The daleks […] deter criminality. They’re very visible, they’re in your face, they make a lot of noise, they light up and do what they are supposed to do.
“There is the best part of 10,000 units out on daily hire across the UK in different areas so you will see a lot of them.”
Tesco store chiefs have installed PID360 devices made by DeterTech across Manchester, Bristol, and Newcastle. Higgins added: “We have the PID360. A lot of people call it the “Dalek”. You will see them everywhere. They are across a wide range of industries.
“They essentially provide video verified solutions in mobile CCTV units which are then reviewed by our own in house ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre) and then they are escalated depending on where they need to go depending on what the monitors see.”
The gizmos trigger alerts to store managers in 47 seconds and helps to prevent “80 percent of intrusions”. Writing on a blog for Tesco staff, one employee said: “That’s a rather ominous northern Irish accent.”
Another added: “I’m from NI and never seen one of these things, but I’m not surprised they’d get a guy from here to do the voice, supposed to be one of most aggressive accents in the English-speaking world.”