When loss prevention directors first brought security video into their stores, an initial aim was to deter shoplifters or, if that failed, use the recorded video to make the shoplifter agree to restitution, or to fight slip and falls.
Times started changing when security started realizing that much of the shrink was from sales associates, thanks in part to sources such as the National Retail Security Survey and the National Retail Federation (NRF). So some cameras turned to cash register stations, backrooms, loading docks and back doors. When the economy went south, some loss prevention executives and law enforcement officers believed that shoplifting would increase substantially as compared to internal theft, since there are fewer associates employed and those remaining not wanting to take a chance on losing their jobs.