Alpha Security — Page 19

Ideas to Decrease Employee Theft

April 18, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Employee theft continues to rise. In some retail settings it’s surpassed customer theft. There are a variety of reasons for the increase. One of them is that many managers have a hard time believing that “My people would do such a thing”. And because they have a hard time believing it they don’t take steps to combat it.

Here are some of the things they say: “It’s not in my personality to believe the worst of people.” “I try to promote a family atmosphere.” “I don’t want to offend the honest employees by punishing everybody for the few bad apples”. “I don’t want to be a security guard.” “I want my store to be a place where people like to come to work.”

But, whether you want to believe it or not, chances are your staff has, is and will steal from the store. So, what do you do? How do you balance stopping the thieves, while not alienating the honest people? Conscientious managers struggle with these questions. Here are a few answers.

Do surprise register checks – Random cash drawer reconciliations let everyone know you’re paying attention, while not singling anyone out. It’s business, not personal.

Highlight inventory control – Have all staff members take turns helping you spot check inventory records with actual product. Let them know you take missing items and incomplete records seriously. Employee theft thrives on a manager’s inattention to detail.

Check the tapes – Tell and show your employees that you check the tapes. Are the z-tape’s numbers sequential? If not, why not and who’s responsible? What are the average “no-sale” numbers (x-tapes)? Do they go up on a certain shift or day? If so, why and who was working? Asking for explanations is not the same as making accusations.

Promote anonymous tips – We all have ideas about “narcing, snitching and tattling,” many of them negative. But, it’s one of the most effective ways to stop workplace fraud. It gives people the chance to step forward without fear of retaliation.

However, a tip is not a fact and shouldn’t be seen as one. It’s a starting place for you to carefully look into the accusation. A tip can’t be used to get back at someone or unfairly accuse them if you are thoughtful and cautious about pursuing it.

There isn’t a way to completely stop employee theft. But, if you make it difficult most won’t try it and others will get caught quickly, which increases staff morale. Honest, hard working people don’t want to work in a store where management turns a blind or incompetent eye on dishonesty. They want a store that’s fair, openhanded and safe for everyone.

Nicole Abbott is a professional writer who’s had over 150 articles published. She’s a business consultant and former psycho-therapist with over 20 years of experience in mental health, business and addiction. She’s a coach, lecturer, trainer and facilitator. She has conducted over 200 workshops, trainings, presentations, seminars and college classes.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, Periodic inventory, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Preventing Shoplifting In Your Business

April 13, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Many people steal because they need the rush of the theft. Some steal because they have a mental illness, and many others steal out of necessity. The reasons of why they steal are many and varied, but the fact is that retailers big and small and consumers like you and I have to pay for the theft. Retailers make you pay a bigger price for the things you buy to counteract the money they are loosing with the shoplifting. The fact is that as a society, everybody looses. What kind of protection can you have as a store owner to prevent shoplifting in your store? Are all systems equally effective? If you have questions about loss prevention systems and what are the best ones for your business, contact us and we will be happy to talk to you.

To read more about this topics, follow the links below.

Kids used as distraction for stealing

By Victoria White

Shoplifting continues to be problematic for retailers with some people even using their children to get away with stealing goods.

Retailers said a group of adults and children went into optometrist stores in the Napier CBD last week, with adults taking items while the children were used to distract staff.

The stores realised the connection when stolen goods from one store were left at the next one hit.

At Specsavers Optometrists the group got away with three pairs of glasses.

Co-owner Mark Blades said there had been “a bit of theft of late”.

“It happens all day everyday,” he said, “it’s nothing new to me, I’ve been in retail for a long time.

“It’s unfortunate but it happens in all societies.”

Another retailer, who did not want the name of her store reported, said the group had taken $500 worth of goods from her shop.

“It was a gang of four adults and four children,” she said. “They used distracting tactics … the four kids were running around the shop and the adults were taking things, one was trying to get behind the counter.

“It was four adults using their young kids as part of the crime which is really sad.”

Staff were able to get the group’s car registration number, and identify the people for police.

ECSO starts neighborhood watch for businesses

Having alarms, locks and security grates are a good way to protect a business, but there are other ways to increase security.

One of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office’s suggestions is involving friends and neighbors.

The ECSO has launched a free crime-prevention program for local entrepreneurs called the Business Watch. The concept is simple. It’s like a neighborhood watch, only for businesses.

Lynnea McCray of the Sheriff’s Office’s Community Services Unit said that the goal of the program is to facilitate better communication between businesses and the Sheriff’s Office, as well as share information that can help prevent and solve crimes.

“A lot of times in a neighborhood, you don’t know your neighbor but you should,” McCray should. “It’s the same with businesses. They should definitely look out for each other.”

Through the program, the Sheriff’s Office plans to create contact lists of businesses based on types and regions. So if a store owner notices someone passing counterfeit bills or shoplifting, they can quickly send out an email the Sheriff’s Office will use to notify investigators and the employers’ peers.

Police ID Walmart worker killed by shoplifting suspect; gunman on the loose

Authorities have identified the Walmart worker who they say was shot and killed by a suspected shoplifter outside of Atlanta.

Lilburn police Capt. Thomas Bardugon tells news outlets that 25-year-old Jaseramie Dion “JD” Ferguson was shot Sunday night when he and another guard approached a man who was attempting to steal three televisions from the Lilburn store.

Police released a photo of the suspect from surveillance video. They say the man fled in a red or dark red four-door sedan, leaving the TVs behind.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Ferguson was a married father of three and had worked at the store seven months when he was shot.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the probe.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Training, POS ROI, Prevent Shoplifting, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Are You Confused ?

April 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Are you confused about how to stop shoplifters? Many Retailers are. Often I hear something like “I have a CCTV camera system to stop shoplifters”. The reality is that shoplifters couldn’t care less. Cameras are a very tiny deterrent to a shoplifter. They know you do not have the time or payroll dollars to actively watch. And it is easy enough to create a diversion or simply take your merchandise and move to another location in your store that does not have camera coverage.

Keep in mind that Loss Prevention Systems also sells and installs cameras. So I have quite a bit of experience with this subject. Cameras are great tools but they have their limits. They are great for employee theft prevention and investigation, robbery prevention, burglary prevention and so on. But cameras are NOT proactive (passive)in the case of shoplifting. The shoplifter will be long gone by the time you figure out what is going on if at all.

However, a Checkpoint EAS system is PROACTIVE. It is working 24/7 even when you or your staff are not paying attention. Checkpoint Systems labels and hard tags are applied to your merchandise and if the thief tries to steal you products the Checkpoint System at the doors goes into alarm. We can even send an instant message to your cell phone or other mobile device at that time.

A Checkpoint System never takes a day off, is never sick, doesn’t want a pay raise, and doesn’t want a $15/hour minimum wage. Don’t you wish your staffing was that simple?

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

NON-TRADITIONAL USES FOR EAS DEVICES

April 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

EAS is great isn’t it? For the most part, if someone is stealing product “X,” you slap on a quick tag or label and you see a pretty substantial reduction in shrink (for the most part.… Live in the real world). As my LP career has progressed over the years, I’ve seen EAS change drastically. I’ve also seen what retailers apply EAS tags to change as well. Often times, I scratch my head in disbelief at the ideas that come out sometimes and others, I pull my hair out because we could have been more proactive with tag placement. I’ve also seen some fantastic ideas from my store teams on some not so standard tagging procedures.

I had a store a few years ago that were consistently losing their register keys. We later learned that an employee was stealing them and was coming into the store during busy times and just helping themselves to cash in the unattended registers. It took a few months and over $7,500 to put the pieces together before we had an idea of what was happening. That’s a very expensive lesson to learn; especially when there is quite literally, a $0.5 solution.

All of our register keys have a small hole in the top, so they can be hooked to a lanyard for the cashier supervisor to carry around. After our theft incident, we used a pencil tag through that hole to make it less appealing to try and steal the key. Granted, the thief could take it to the service desk and remove the EAS device, but that requires a few more steps that most are not willing to take. As a matter of fact, since taking this one proactive measure, we’ve never had to replace a “lost” register key. For us, it seems to be a great way to maintain a solid key control procedure.

After using some EAS tags on these keys, it really got me thinking about what else is a potential risk in our stores that we don’t secure, but should. The list is virtually endless if you think about it. The next big item that we began securing with EAS hard tags was our handheld units (Symbols/Telxons). A few of our stores fell victim to an eBay thief a few years back, in part due to the ease of removing them from ours store. Since running an Alpha tag with a lanyard through them, we hadn’t lost a single one to theft.

We also have a lot of in-store use only type items (think step-ladders, folding carts, dollies…). As part of our risk mitigation efforts, we utilize EAS tags on all of these items. While they often have to be used outside of the store; the idea that when they do go out, our greeter becomes aware that they are going outside and can better keep track of our in store equipment. You wouldn’t believe how many times someone has stolen a hand truck, or pallet jack from me…

The bottom line is that EAS can be used to protect much more than just your inventory. There are dozens of items inside your four walls that cost you money that dishonest people would just love to take. Why go out and spend any more money that you have to in order to protect your supplies when the answer is already in your store? I’m all about leveraging available resources to accomplish your goals and this is just another item in a skilled LP manager’s tool belt.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

DO YOU NEED A BURGLAR ALARM?

April 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Often overlooked for small businesses is the dire need for a suitable burglar alarm system. I talk about EAS placement and CCTV all the time. Those are rendered absolutely useless is someone busts in through the back door. If your burglar system isn’t up to standards, you run the risk of losing everything.

I think (and hope) that all of you have at least a basic intruder alarm system set up with a reputable monitoring service. I want to go a little further than that and give you some insight on what I’ve seen that works and what really doesn’t. I’ve seen plenty systems over the course of my career and while I’m not an expert on alarm systems, I have common sense (something that seems to be lacking the higher you progress on the retail ladder).

Every store, no matter the size should at the minimum have motion detection and depending on your assortment, shock sensors. If you’re not familiar with the latter, they are generally designed for placement on solid walls (think a firearms cage in a sporting goods store, or the cement wall surrounding the vault at the local bank). These alarms trigger if there is a significant shockwave, i.e explosion, or perhaps a vehicle ramming through. Very important to consider depending on your particular assortment and layout. Motion sensors on the other hand are far more common and should definitely be part of your security system. As the name implies, they detect motion.

One thing my company struggled with for years was false alarms. We were actually paying thousands of dollars in false alarm fines to our local police department one year at this one particular store. Almost every night, the motion sensor would trip, police would be dispatched and we’d find no evidence of a breach. We eventually discovered that we had a cat that was taking up residence and wandering the aisle at night. We eventually changed the trigger to dispatch police from one motion activation to no less than 4 before we would dispatch police. This helped out tremendously and we’ve since implemented that practice to all of our stores.

One other thing we found that didn’t quite work with the motion sensors was our outdoor storage yards. If the wind blew a little too hard, or if animals would slip in, they would trigger a police dispatch. What we did was configure the dispatch to only trigger if there was an outside motion trigger coupled with a breach of gate. By a little trial and error, we found the best solution to keep our store protected, all while eliminating any false alarms to our local police department.

Usually attached to any burglary alarm system is the fire alarm system. I bring this up as I want to talk about a technology that we’ve just begun implementing in our stores over the past 6 months that I think is definitely worth the investment. That being delayed egress fire exits. We had stores in this one market that were being just absolutely hammered with fire exit run outs. We had groups of people that would load up shopping carts full of buggies and push out of the fire exits where an idling pickup truck is waiting. We struggled to stop this trend and were hit with a brick wall; until we tested out the delayed egress.

If you’ve never seen these in action before, they’re pretty awesome. What happens is pretty simple. If someone attempts to open a fire exit, the door has a 10 second delay; meaning the alarm sounds, but the door cannot be physically opened for that time period. The only way this is circumvented is if the fire alarm is activated; then the door opens immediately. The first time our fire exit bandits hit a store with the new doors was priceless. The look of sheer terror and panic on their face as they tried to get out the store, but couldn’t was pure awesomeness. This install, while an investment, has already shown to have not only great potential, but has already given us results.

As with any system, there isn’t a “one size fits all” plan. I encourage everyone to do their own homework when it comes to protecting your store when you’re not there. I guarantee that you can find a balance between your store needs and your budget. While with any new system, there is always an investment to be made, think of this as an investment that you can’t afford not to take.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Workshop, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Retail Security

April 5, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Retail security is a big concern for retailers. Billions of dollars are lost yearly due to employe theft and shoplifting. But having the security in place is not necessarily enough, training personnel-Management and hourly employees-is as vital to the success of the effectiveness of the security system as the security system itself. It is true that many of the big retailers across the United States spend millions of dollars a year in security systems for their stores, but they also spend millions of dollars in cybersecurity as well. The threat is real and the cost of a security breach is all too present.

For more about this topic follow the links below.

Retail Security: How Can Biometrics, Video Analytics and Other Innovation Cut Record Theft Losses and Boost Commercial Performance?

Retail crime hit a 10-year high in the 2013-14 financial year, with the £603m losses recorded by UK retailers 18% higher than those racked up in the previous 12 months.

Despite this, the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime survey also revealed that the volume of theft offences actually fell 4%. While conventional security technology – primarily CCTV and electronic product tags – has been effective at reducing petty shoplifting, a surge in gang-related bulk theft is soaring.

The average value of goods, money or services stolen now averages £241 per incident.

Clearly, the security industry must evolve its approach to tackle this growing threat.

As Retail week Live packs up for another year, we asked several security experts how the industry is harnessing – and could harness – the latest cutting-edge technology to improve not only retail security, but commercial performance too.

RBTE 2016: Data security must be retail’s priority in 2016

Essential Retail caught up with PCI Security Standards Council international director, Jeremy King, to talk all things related to data security in retail. King is speaking at RBTE in London, this afternoon.

Essential Retail (ER): What should be key data security priorities for organisations in 2016?

Jeremy King (JK): Simply put, reducing risk and making data security business-as-usual. Organisations cannot afford to do anything less -not with 90% of large organisations and 74% of small organisations suffering data breaches, and the average cost of a breach reaching well over £3 million.

The European government is introducing new regulations to protect customer data this year, which puts added pressure on organisations to demonstrate their data security efforts. Even though these regulations will not come into effect until late 2017 or early 2018, good data security takes time and effort, so organisations need to make this a priority now.

ER: What about top threats or areas of concern for retailers?

JK: Phishing continues to be an easy way for attackers to get into merchant systems – but it’s something that can be prevented. Retailers need to be aware of these attacks and others and train their employees on how to spot them and protect against them. This is where incidence response comes in. If we take the example of phishing, on average it still takes an organisation 23.7 days to resolve a cyberattack caused by phishing or social engineering! Improving security controls and processes to identify and detect attacks quickly, using the PCI Data Security Standards, and establishing an incidence response should also be a key concern for organisations in 2016.

The DIY Approach To Retail Data Security

As retailers tend to have more pressing day-to-day concerns than security — namely, selling their products to customers — it can be tempting for them to regularly presume, in acknowledging the endlessly escalating battle between cybercriminals and protective measure technologists, that the experts in the latter group will develop something to counteract whatever the bad guys come up with in short time.

Sometimes, that assumption is accurate.

In the recent instance of the XSS security vulnerabilities that befell the online shopping cart Zen Cart, for example, the company acted quickly to solve its own problem.

When researchers from Trustwave’s SpiderLabs Research team sussed out weaknesses in the Zen Cart application that could allow malicious actors to gain access to cookies, sensitive information and site defacement of online merchants that used the shopping cart, they informed Zen Cart of the situation and immediately began working with the company to develop a fix.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Investing In A Security System For Your Store

March 31, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Many big retailers do not think twice about investing in CCTV systems for their stores. Among other theft preventive measures, CCTV systems’s cost is minuscule when compared to the theft these retailers face. Many small retail shops forego the use of CCTV systems or other preventive measures due to the cost involved initially, although the losses they suffer are more substantial than those associated with the cost of a loss prevention system. If you are thinking the investment you are doing to prevent theft is not worth the cost, think again. The retail industry loses billions of dollars yearly due to employee theft and shoplifting. Acquiring a security system for your store regardless of the size is worth the investment.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Loss Prevention Essentials: Electronic Article Surveillance Technology Helps Enhance Sales and Protect Profits

Systems must be properly managed in order to be effective.

Electronic article surveillance, or EAS, systems have long been a staple in the battle to curb shoplifting. Retailers over the years have collectively spent millions of dollars to protect their merchandise from shoplifters and, in some cases, their own employees. Like many major expenses, when the technology is first purchased and installed a concentrated effort is made by the loss prevention teams to train store associates on the proper processes and procedures that need to be performed in order to realize the most benefits that the technologies deliver. But like other big purchases one makes, time and in-attention to details takes their toll. Liken to the shining new toy that you got as a child for Christmas long ago, as time goes on and the allure of the toy begins to diminish, it all too often starts to be ignored. Technology investments like EAS often suffer the same situation, exit alarms start are dismissed without action, proper tag placement on merchandise begins to stray and even the simple process of testing the systems to ensure they are working are overlooked.

HBC settles race complaint from shopper, agrees to educate staff on profiling

HALIFAX – The Hudson’s Bay Company has agreed to educate its staff on racial profiling as part of a settlement in the case of a now-deceased Nova Scotia grandmother allegedly accused of shoplifting a rug.

African Canadian Kathleen Viner filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission alleging that two employees discriminated against her at a now-closed Zellers store in Greenwood, N.S., in 2008.

Viner, then a 77-year-old grandmother of 13, was stopped by a security guard “and made to feel she had stolen a rug,” according to an affidavit from her daughters, Shelley and Donna.

Viner provided proof she had bought the rug, but the incident left her shaken, her daughters said.

OBPD attempts to help local businesses prevent shoplifting

Osage Beach
Retail loss is one of the most challenging aspects of doing business.
According to the National Retail Federation, shoplifting accounts for 38 percent of an estimated $44 billion in retail losses each year. Inventory shrinkage includes shoplifting, employee/internal theft, administrative errors and vendor fraud or error.
The Osage Beach Police Department wants to help area merchants slow that retail loss, a loss that ultimately is passed along to consumers.
The OBPD hosted a Meet and Greet Partnership Meeting recently with nine retailers to discuss retail theft issues, to give pointers and allow retailers to share tips and trends. Several area businesses, law enforcement, financial institutions and prosecuting attorneys were invited.
Sgt. Arlyne Page, communications officer with OBPD, said the department began a crime prevention program in 1981, and more recently has held meetings with Osage Beach Premium Outlet managers to coordinate prevention efforts among retailers. Target store management encouraged meetings last spring, and a month ago asked the OBPD to host a meeting on shoplifting and retail and digital fraud.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Retail Stores Fighting Shoplifters

March 24, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

In the UK the number of women apprehended for shoplifting has increased, and has been linked to the fact that they do no longer get government benefits. In the United States shoplifting has increased with millions of dollars lost due to shoplifting every year, and the increase in prices has led many thieves to shoplift items that were unthinkable not too long ago. With the increase of beef prices for example, the number of thieves stealing package meat has reached an all time high. Stores across the country are even considering putting anti-theft packaging on their meat products to prevent thieves from shoplifting it.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Retailers Fight Theft at Every Turn

As workplace theft remains a constant issue for retail operations, c-stores continue to look for new means to complement tried-and-true theft prevention strategies, as 2016 progresses.

Theft by employees, of both stock and cash, is now among retailers’ top three areas of concern, according to the “US Retail Fraud Survey 2015” conducted by Retail Knowledge, a retail fraud and loss prevention firm. Cash theft, which grew 2% in 2015 is the second biggest concern followed by administrative loss (23%) and shoplifting (11%).

“We can see from consecutive surveys that the amount spent by companies on loss prevention offline has dropped over 30% in the last two years,” said Mark Emmott, director of Retail Knowledge. Meanwhile, money spent on online loss prevention has doubled. “It may be that cutting budgets on loss prevention in some areas have made it easier, in a tough economic environment, for good people to make bad choices,” he added.

NOVEL STRATEGY
This past January, Crime Stoppers and Canada-based Mac’s Convenience Stores joined popular Canadian comic book hero, Captain Canuck, as part of the comic’s 40th Anniversary edition. The issue is being distributed exclusively and free of charge at Mac’s, and through local Crime Stopper programs across Canada.

Retail Security: How Can Biometrics, Video Analytics and Other Innovation Cut Record Theft Losses and Boost Commercial Performance?

Retail crime hit a 10-year high in the 2013-14 financial year, with the £603m losses recorded by UK retailers 18% higher than those racked up in the previous 12 months.

The average value of goods, money or services stolen now averages £241 per incident.

Clearly, the security industry must evolve its approach to tackle this growing threat.

Operation Molten Iron targets retail theft

JEFFERSON COUNTY — The Jefferson County D.A.’s office says it’s spent several weeks working with Vestavia Hills and Birmingham police to investigate a retail crime ring. During the operation, about $55,000 worth of merchandise was stolen from stores. To stop thefts, the agencies worked with retail chains operating around the county. Those retailers donated merchandise, and offered help from their workers.

The efforts resulted in three arrests- and the D.A. says more are on the way. Law enforcement officers also recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in vehicles and store merchandise. They also found 15 pounds of marijuana in one location.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, employee background checks, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, Prevent Shoplifting, prevent shrinkage, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Bottle Locks Could Have Prevented Alcohol Haul

March 23, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Bottle security-3 WC blog 53

Bottle Locks-5

Alpha Security-3

Bottle Locks Could Have Prevented Alcohol Haul

I’ve just been reading several online news reports about liquor theft rings. There are some extremely high dollar thefts that have taken place. Some involve the theft of an entire delivery trailer load and others are rings hitting grocery stores and liquor stores. In A New York Post report about a liquor store heist, the owner estimated that the robbers ultimately made off with “between $45,000 and $50,000,” “nearly 100 cases, in high-end booze,” (Kevin Sheehan, January 28, 2014). In a 2013 article from King 5 titled, “Grocery stores go undercover to bust liquor store thieves” they discussed the problems faced by a grocery store from liquor theft. It also discussed how the merchandise is stolen by boosters and how it is resold. A part of the article that I found compelling and I want to address is a statement made by a member of the store security team investigating theft rings in his store. The article says, “…and some may wonder why grocery stores don’t just lock their liquor up or keep bottles in a separate, more secure part of the store where workers can watch it more closely.” The Security Officer or representative states, “It is a difficult balance…You can remove it from the shelf and turn customers away. You put too much product on the shelf and you are exposing yourself to theft.” (This story aired on Nov. 4, 2013). This is where I would like to take issue and address bottle security. Grocery stores and liquor stores can prevent a significant amount of the theft that is taking place by using bottle locks on their products.

The Loss Prevention representative seems to give an either/or solution to the problem. As I read the article, the response to the posed question seems to be one that would either limit product and quantity on the shelf or it would remove it altogether. I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt that the interviewee was not giving the same full response that he might have under different circumstances. Regardless, the answer is there, and I would like to offer an alternate solution. I believe stores could use bottle locks on their product to secure them from theft. Bottle locks come in a number of options and styles. For example, Alpha security offers everything from an adjustable collar lock which fits around the neck of a bottle to a bottle lock that covers the entire cap and prevents tampering with the seal and the cap. All of these bottle locks will activate an electronic article surveillance antenna at the exits and entrances of a store. Generally, boosters do not tend to intentionally steal product that is obviously protected with anti-theft devices. They are in it for the fast buck, so they prefer to get away without being noticed. This allows the booster to hit a store multiple times.

When a store uses Alpha security products customers will not “turn away” as the Loss Prevention officer indicates, because shelves don’t have to be empty. Bottle locks give the store the flexibility to allow customers access to product and ability to select the item(s) they want and continue to shop. Hiding bottles in purses, backpacks or even luggage will not prevent the activation of EAS alarm systems. The flip side of his argument is also negated if bottle security is employed on liquor and wine. Because a bottle has a lock on it, I would argue the shelf can be fully stocked. The deterrence value of the lock and the alarm capability will send the thieves to other stores. One additional quasi-question was posed by the writer or interviewer, asking why the alcohol could not be put in a more secure part of the store. My response would have to be that keeping merchandise in a specific area that is a “secured” environment turns off customers and also requires more manpower. Bottle security allows the free movement of merchandise in the store and the design makes it very difficult to defeat.

There is no need for keeping shelves bare or locking up wines and spirits in some cabinet or remote area of your store. Alpha security has the necessary products to secure your bottles so that you can keep your customers happy and deter the thieves who would steal your profits.

For more information on Bottle Security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Security Tagged With: Alpha Security, bottle lock, bottle locks, bottle security

Why EAS Makes Sense For Your Business

March 22, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Video surveillance is big business. From law enforcement using closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to protect the citizens of this country to retail stores protecting their merchandise, video surveillance has become the main choice for many big and small businesses to use in their businesses. For retail stores to prevent shoplifting the use of EAS systems have become the norm, and among other anti theft devices, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are a must for every retail business around the world.

Police: Nun caught on camera shoplifting

BRIAR CREEK, Pa. — A 78-year-old nun in Pennsylvania was arrested for shoplifting $23 worth of toiletries and snacks from a store.

Surveillance video taken Monday at 3:45 p.m. reportedly shows the woman, named Agnes Pennino, taking snacks from a Surplus Outlet supermarket in Briar Creek, Pennsylvania.

Store manager Zane Kishbach said a customer alerted him to the woman.

“Another customer came to me in aisle 5 and said, ‘I’m not sure what I’m seeing, but I think a woman is stealing,’ and she had already left the store by that time, and I went out to pursue her,” Kishbach said.

Salem finance director charged 2nd time for shoplifting

SALEM — The town’s finance director allegedly shoplifted an assortment of clothing at Macy’s a week before she was arrested at the store in a similar case, according to a newly filed court complaint.

Prosecutors have filed charges against Jane Savastano, 48, for allegedly taking numerous pieces of clothing on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19.
She waived arraignment in 10th Circuit Court, Salem Division, and entered a not guilty plea to all charges, according to court papers filed by her lawyer, Patrick Donovan.
Prosecutors recently notified a judge they are seeking a potential jail sentence for Savastano, who has served as the town of Salem’s finance director since March 2005.
Each of the three charges are punishable by up to a year in county jail.
Savastano is on administrative leave from her job and is expected to face a personnel review by the town.
The new charge against Savastano provided few details about the Feb. 12 incident that happened a week before her arrest. She allegedly entered the store on Friday, Feb. 12, around 3:30 p.m., took a number of clothing items “valued more than $1 and less than $1,000” and left without paying.

Police: Dollar General employee theft ring stole $56k worth of merchandise

ELLOREE, SC (WIS) –

An investigation by the Elloree Police Department uncovered an employee theft ring at the Dollar General store on Old Number 6 Highway.

Police say the store’s management reported a loss of merchandise costing more than $56,000 over eight months.

Seven employees have been arrested on charges of felony criminal conspiracy and breach of trust involving more than $10,000. They were booked into the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Center where they have posted bail.

According to the arrest warrants, the employees, “while utilizing a scheme, did knowingly, with intent to permanently deprive the owner, remove, carry away or allowed to be carried away, retail merchandise without payment.”

“They would wait until the close of business at the end of the day and they would already pre-load buggies or shopping carts and right when it time to close the business, they would pull those buggies up, pretend to scan the items, and the buggies would be completely full,” Elloree Police Chief Joseph Avinger said. “Then we went back with the video and checked it along with the register tape to see how much money was spent at the register and it would be only a few dollars — $10 to $15 from buggies filled with merchandise.”