Retail crime intelligence for shopping centres and town centres · Ireland
Fight back against shop theft. Together.
Most shop theft is never reported, so on paper it isn't happening. Lookout gives every shop in a centre one shared log. Staff record a theft on their own phone in under a minute, every shop and security are alerted while the thieves are still in the building, and every Monday the Gardaí get the full picture, reported or not.
Already on Lookout? Sign in. Built and operated by Paul Blanche (sole trader), Ireland.
Your centre
FeedHappening now
Two in grey hoodies, foil-lined bag, heading for the car park exit
Two males in menswear checking tags, no purchase
Our mission
Stop shop theft being invisible. Every theft logged, every shop alerted, and the Gardaí handed the evidence, even when nobody rang them. Without ever building a file on a person.
Shops lose stock every week and most of it is never reported. Staff don't want the aggro, don't have the time, or don't believe anything will come of it. With no reports, the Gardaí see no problem, so shop theft drops down their list. Shops keep getting hit and nobody outside the shop knows.
Thieves don't stop at one shop. A gang works its way through a centre, store by store. Lookout turns every shop's staff into one lookout: the first shop to spot them alerts security and every other shop, so the centre can act while they are still in the building.
Every incident, reported or not, goes into the centre's weekly brief for the Garda liaison: when, where, what was taken, descriptions, vehicles and CCTV references. The Gardaí get the evidence and the pattern; identifying people is their job, not ours. Shops still make their own complaints, and Lookout records the PULSE number when they do.
How it works
Under a minute to log. Seconds to alert. One Monday brief.
Log it on your own phone
Type, shop, what happened, is it still going on. Optional detail after: appearance, vehicle, a photo of the goods or the scene. Staff can only log for their own shop.
Everyone knows now
If it is happening, security and every other shop get a push alert and the incident pins to the top of the live feed. Red means live and nothing else.
The Monday brief
Totals, patterns, repeat descriptions and vehicles, and the week's log, including the thefts nobody rang in. Sent to the Garda liaison by private link. It writes itself from what staff logged.
Identity-light by design
Built so a solicitor, a data-protection officer and a shop floor can all say yes.
These are rules in the code, not a policy page. A feature that breaks one does not get built.
Names, faces or watch lists
Incidents describe events and appearance. There is no field for a name, no face matching, no “known shoplifter” list. Photos are of goods or the scene.
Shop per member
Shop staff log for their own shop only. Security and management see the whole centre. Nobody sees another centre.
Then it is gone
Unflagged incidents purge automatically after 90 days, photos and descriptions included. Kept for a Garda complaint: 24 months, then the same.
Hosted in the EU (Ireland)
Incident records and files are hosted in the EU (Ireland). A DPIA, a tenant agreement and a privacy notice are being prepared and will be provided before go-live.
Who it's for
Centres and towns run it. Head offices see their own stores in it.
Shopping centres
The centre manager's Monday, solved
- Live feed and push alerts for every shop, security and management
- Dashboard by shop and type, printable for the board
- Weekly Garda brief, generated and emailed to the liaison
- Units, tenancies and members managed by the centre; one invite code for staff, one for the manager
- DPIA, tenant agreement and privacy notice being prepared, provided before go-live
Town centres and retail parks
The same log, run by a committee
- Run by a town centre committee, traders' association, chamber or BID in the centre manager's seat
- Every shop taking part alerted when a group is working its way up the street
- One weekly brief for the local Garda station, reported or not
- Shops listed by name and address; no security team needed
- Same rules: no names, no faces, no watch list, 90-day deletion
Retail head offices
Your stores, across every Lookout centre
- Every incident your own staff logged, at every centre, read-only
- How often each store is hit, when, what it costs, how much reaches the Gardaí
- Vehicles and similar descriptions seen at more than one centre, as a signal for the Garda liaison
- CSV export for loss-prevention reporting
- Never other retailers' records, never photos or CCTV, never a watch list
Questions
The things a centre manager asks in the first ten minutes.
Straight answers, same as you would get on the phone.
What is Lookout?
Lookout helps a shopping centre fight back against shop theft. Every shop records thefts, attempted thefts, suspicious behaviour, aggression, refund fraud and damage on one shared log from their own phones. Security and every other shop see it straight away, and the centre manager sends the Gardaí one weekly brief of everything that was logged. It is licensed per centre.
Is Lookout only for shopping centres?
No. The same system runs a town centre, a main street or a retail park. A town centre committee, traders’ association, chamber of commerce or Business Improvement District takes the place of the centre manager: it adds the shops taking part, names the Garda liaison and gets the dashboard and the weekly brief. Pricing is the same, by the number of shops taking part.
Why do centres need it if shops can ring the Gardaí?
Because most shop theft is never reported. Staff don’t want the aggro, don’t have the time, or don’t think anything will come of it. With no reports, the Gardaí have no reason to think there is a problem, and shop theft falls down their list. Lookout closes that gap: a theft takes under a minute to log, and it counts whether or not anyone rang it in.
What happens to thefts that nobody reports to the Gardaí?
They still go into the centre’s weekly brief. The Garda liaison sees every incident logged that week, with how many were reported and how many weren’t, so the true scale of theft in the centre is on record. Incidents the centre keeps on file for the Gardaí are held for 24 months, so the evidence is there when a case is being built.
Can the centre act while thieves are still in the building?
Yes. When staff log a theft as happening now, security and every other shop in the centre get a push alert with the description, and it pins to the top of the live feed. When a group moves from store to store, the next shop knows before they walk in.
Does Lookout replace calling 999?
No. If anyone is in danger, or you need the Gardaí to attend, ring 999 or 112 first. Lookout alerts the rest of the centre and keeps the record; it does not call the Gardaí for you.
Does Lookout store names, faces or a watch list?
No. An incident describes what happened and what people looked like, never who they are. There is no field for a name, no facial recognition and no “known shoplifter” list, and photos taken by shop staff are of goods or the scene. Centre security can attach a CCTV still to an incident for a Garda file; shop staff never see it and it is deleted with the incident. Lookout gives the Gardaí the evidence and the pattern; identifying people is their job.
Does Lookout report to the Gardaí on a shop’s behalf?
No. The shop makes its own complaint, as it does today. Lookout records whether it did and the PULSE reference if there is one. The centre’s job is the weekly brief — totals, patterns, repeat descriptions and vehicles, reported or not — which goes to the Garda liaison by private link.
Who can see what?
Shop staff log incidents for their own shop and see the centre’s live feed. Security and centre management see the whole centre and are the only ones who can resolve, keep on file or delete. No centre can ever see another centre’s data — that is enforced by row-level security in the database, not just hidden in the interface.
How long is an incident kept?
Ninety days. After that an ordinary incident purges automatically, photos and descriptions included. An incident kept on file for the Gardaí is held for 24 months and then purged the same way. The deletion runs on a nightly schedule, not on request.
Do staff need to install an app from an app store?
No. Lookout is a web app that installs to the home screen straight from the browser, so there is nothing to get approved, nothing to update and nothing to expense. It runs on whatever phone a staff member already has, and push alerts work once they allow notifications.
What does Lookout cost?
Centres pay per centre, billed annually after a 90-day trial: €195 a month up to 25 shops, €395 a month for 26 to 60 shops, and €695 a month for 61 shops and more. Retail head offices pay per store per month — €40, €30 or €20 depending on how many of their stores are on Lookout — with a €100 monthly minimum.
Where is the data stored, and what paperwork comes with it?
Incident records and files are hosted in the EU (Ireland). A DPIA, a tenant data-processing agreement and a plain-English privacy notice are being prepared and reviewed, and will be provided before go-live. Lookout is built and operated by Paul Blanche (sole trader).
Pricing
Priced so the service charge barely notices.
Centres pay per centre and recover it through the service charge. A town centre pays the same, by the number of shops taking part. Head offices pay per store. Neither line discounts the other.
For shopping centres and town centres · billed annually · 90-day trial
For head offices · per store per month
| Stores on Lookout | Per store | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | €40 | Overview, incident detail, CSV export, cross-centre signal |
| 11 to 50 | €30 | Everything above |
| 51 and more | €20 | Everything above |
Get started
See it working
A 30-minute walkthrough of Lookout: the feed, an alert, the dashboard and a Monday brief. Then a 90-day trial on your own centre.