Anti-theft system

From ArticleWorld

An anti-theft system may be defined as any device or method that is used to prevent or deter unauthorized appropriation of items that are considered valuable. Since historical times theft is one of the most common and oldest criminal behaviour. The ownership of a physical possession can be changed without the rightful owner's consent and thus it becomes imperative to develop systems that can prevent theft. Problems arise especially when the ownership of the rightful owner may not be physically present. Anti-theft systems have been around since people began owning property and people began stealing other people's property. Over the years, anti-theft systems have evolved accordingly to check effectively the increasingly complex methods adopted for theft. Anti-theft systems range from the invention of the first lock and key to the introduction of modern RFID tags and biometric identification. Anti-theft systems have evolved to match the introduction of new inventions in the world and the resulting theft of them by other people. Usually theft is prevented through social acceptance of property law. Ownership is generally indicated by means of visual markings like license plates or nametags. In instances of a clear owner, identification people may be inclined to take possession of items at the expense of the original owner. Motive and opportunity are two enabling factors for theft. Most methods of theft prevention rely on reducing opportunities for theft. Items may require an anti-theft system for a variety of reasons, depending upon the type of item and its use. For example, the item may be expensive and/or has sentimental value, the item may be difficult/impossible to replace, the item may be easy to steal, the item may be left alone in a dangerous environment, wrong use of the item may cause considerable damage or may enable further unauthorized acts, the item may be desirable to others. The choice for a particular anti-theft system is dependent on several factors like financial cost of the property concerned. Anti-theft systems are designed on the basis of raising the difficulty of theft to an infeasible level. It may be noted that in practice many users of security systems may purposefully reduce the effectiveness of an anti-theft system to increase its usability.