I believe it depends on the value of the object and the chances of getting caught. If you steal a macbook in an office full of cameras is a bad deal. If you steal a macbook every other day in an office without any camera is a good deal.

And the second option is exactly what happened in an office I worked on, at some point enough people complained that their macbook was stolen and they installed cameras.

Funny thing in the same office my lunch was stolen once a week and that just became a joke during stand-ups "did they stole your lunch today?"