Retail Anti Theft Devices

Technology And Shoplifting

February 28, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Shoplifting affects everyone. As shoplifting and employee theft seem to be an unstoppable problem for the retail industry, researchers try to find different methods to prevent and combat shoplifting. Law makers across the country try to pass laws to deter shoplifters by imposing harsher sentences. Technology has for many years now helped loss prevention personnel catch shoplifters, and prevent bigger loses for stores. But as technology has improved, shoplifters ways have changed to account for the technology being used to catch them. As the technology evolves, so does the shoplifter. Are you keeping abreast of the problem? Keep reading by clicking the links below.

Why hasn’t security technology put an end to shoplifting?

As the UK crime rate falls, there is one crime that is on the rise. Recent figures show that shoplifting has consistently grown by an annual 6% against a wider backdrop of reduced crime. This statistic is surprising considering the vast amount of time, money and effort that goes into developing anti-shoplifting technology. So why isn’t it working?

How does anti-shoplifting technology work?

The vast majority of retail stores are equipped with several high tech security measures. CCTV cameras are the most common. According to the College of Policing, CCTV is more effective as a method of gaining evidence to catch and convict a criminal than as a deterrent.

Many security camera providers provide monitoring services to ensure footage is captured and analysed as efficiently as possible. However, surveillance systems require careful planning; Banham Group, security experts with more than 90 years’ industry experience, advise that CCTV installation must include guidance, particularly on data protection laws and system legalities.

Through the Eyes of a Shoplifter

In the June 1968 issue of the magazine, then-managing editor John J. Sullivan tried his hand at shoplifting from a few independent stores, just to see how easy it was to get merchandise past the sales register.

He didn’t have much trouble. With prior permission from the owners, he hit six stores in and around one city in one weekend, for a total of almost $250 worth of merchandise in about an hour—more than $1,700 today. Then-editor Bob Vereen got in on the experiment too, taking nearly $25 worth of merchandise in about 10 minutes from one store.

The point wasn’t, of course, to steal product from hardworking, honest hardware retailers. It was to show how easy it was to do so.

For a quick checklist you can share with your employees to make sure everyone is working to improve store security, click here to download our Loss Prevention Checklist.

Not all businesses on board with new shoplifting proposal

QUINCY, Ill. (WGEM) –

A new proposal by the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform has been met with multiple opponents.

Right now, any theft valuing over $300 will land you a felony charge in Illinois. An Illinois criminal justice reform group has asked lawmakers to raise that thievery threshold to $2,000, in an attempt to combat prison overcrowding.

Executive Director Amy Looten of the Quincy Chamber of Commerce said on Monday that there are many reasons to oppose it.

“For every product that walks out the door, they’re not paying sales tax on that.” Looten said. “So our local government, our state government is not getting that income from the sales tax.”

Quincy Menard’s Assistant General Manager Scott Warner added on Monday that shoplifting affects many more people than just the person stealing.

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Are You Ready To Catch A Shoplifter?

February 21, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Big retail stores across the nation rely primarily in technology to prevent shoplifting according to industry analysts. The physical loss prevention officers of long ago, are quickly being replaced by technology in the stores. The interpretation and study of the data obtained fighting shoplifting and employee theft are invaluable during these times.

While smaller stores rely on locking freezers to protect their merchandise, that is not feasible for most other stores. Smaller stores need to understand the problem, and find a solution that is reasonable for them.

For more about this and other stories, follow the links below.

Retailer forced to use bike lock on chillers to prevent shoplifting

A Coventry convenience retailer has been forced to fit a bicycle chain lock on his chiller doors to prevent shoplifting after it cost him £12,000 last year.

Paul Cheema, owner of Malcolm’s Store, said as well as the bike lock, he had put bells on the chillers. He said the store had been targeted by gangs stealing large amounts of meat and cheese.

Speaking to Radio 4’s You and Yours, Cheema said: “One man took 32 packs of bacon and 20 packs of cheese. We put bicycle chains and doorbells on our fridges so every time a door opens an alarm sounds.”

He added that he was using social media to post pictures of suspects.

Eyes open: Catching shoplifters takes vigilance, prevention

When a retailer sees someone suspicious wandering the aisles, they can’t just call police.

Acting shady in a store isn’t illegal. Neither is putting an item in your pocket.

Under North Dakota law, an item must be taken past the last point of sale before it is considered stolen.

Jerry Cox, a regional manager for Valley Dairy in Grand Forks, said employees at their nine area convenience stores are trained to watch for shoplifters.

Often, he said, a shoplifter will pocket some items and purchase others. If an employee sees someone tuck something away between the aisles, they have to give the person every chance to pay. The clerk often will ask if there’s anything else they want.

“You have to assume they’re honest,” Cox said.

Using technology in today’s loss prevention career environment

“You don’t have to be an IT guy to understand cyber security, and it’s critical that you have enough of an understanding to know what questions to ask”

As an adjunct professor for AMU’s Center for Applied Learning, Dr. Robert Pittman imparts wisdom to next-generation loss prevention leaders, for whom he has the following warning—you can never “complete” your education. The world, risks, and business are always changing and loss prevention practitioners, and the loss prevention industry as a whole, must continually adapt. If not, individuals will find their career paths limited and the industry itself—just now gaining a seat at the management table—could be pushed to the background.

Today’s major retail operations are driven by technology, and entire supply chains rely on how effectively it is managed. Loss prevention practitioners need to have the skills to effectively navigate this tech-based environment if they want to advance their careers and help the LP industry thrive, Pittman believes. “Loss prevention used to be about focusing on the shoplifter in the store, but that’s completely changed. Those strictly physical security guys are quickly becoming extinct,” he said.

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Tips To Prevent Shoplifting and Employee Theft

February 13, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Shrinkage and employee theft cost the retail industry an approximate $42 billion a year according to recent industry studies. Businesses around the globe lose less than merchants in the United States, but the quantity lost is still a tremendous amount that put retailers in a precarious position. In the United States, the study suggest that close to half of revenue lost is due to employee theft. The retail industry is aware that while shoplifting accounts for a lot of lost revenue, employee theft can be so much more devastating for their business.

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

Law column: Dealing with employee theft

Policies, record keeping can help protect employers.

There recently has been a spate of news articles regarding theft and embezzlement from Iowa cities. Former city clerks in Delhi, Garwin and Vining are all alleged to have embezzled or improperly spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

In another instance, a former city clerk in Casey was even indicted on charges of burning down City Hall to hide her alleged theft.

As the above stories revealed, an employer may not discover the crime until years after it has begun during an official audit or when someone follows a hunch or notices an irregularity. The Iowa State Auditor warned cities to “trust but verify” employees that handle money.

Public employers are not alone. One study by a national supermarket organization found that its employees were responsible for around 56 percent of supermarket thefts.

Such theft included shoplifting, taking cash from registers and/or providing unauthorized customer discounts. Theft should always be a terminable offense.

Top safety tips to prevent shoplifting

Despite the prevalence of security cameras and high-tech alarm systems, shoplifting continues to be a concern for retailers across the country, with well-versed thieves easily able to outwit these technological barriers.

For business owners this alarming trend is especially unnerving, given their reliance on stock and increasing competition from online retail sites. Rather than simply accepting theft as part of business ownership, it is important that storeowners remain vigilant, enforcing appropriate preventative measures and learning to identify some of the key signs that could give a criminal away.

Here are a few top tips to bear in mind to avoid falling victim to shoplifting:

1. Know the signs

While not all shoplifters employ the same modus operandi, a few key behavioural traits should raise the alarm. Shoppers trying not to be noticed or walking around nervously are obvious candidates, as are those who loiter purposefully, picking up and putting back the same items repeatedly.

4 Home Depot workers in Palm Coast fired after helping nab suspected shoplifter

PALM COAST — Four Home Depot employees in Palm Coast say they are shocked, saddened, and left wondering why they were fired this week after helping to recover almost $1,000 in stolen store merchandise.

Jeffrey Miller, 59, of Palm Coast said he’d been working at the store on Garden Street for 10 years when he was fired Wednesday over a November incident in which he tried to help other employees stop a suspected shoplifter.

He said his help landed an already-wanted thief in jail, but a company spokesman said the interference was against national corporate policy.

“I was really shocked,” Miller said Thursday about being fired. “I never confronted this individual. Even if I saw him in a lineup I wouldn’t be able to show you what he looked like. All I was doing is getting a license plate (number).”

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Starting A Better Year

February 6, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention-NASP-there are 27 million people that shoplift in the United States today. That is 1 in 11 people, and 75% of those people are adults. Women shoplift as much as men, and in case you were getting ready to profile an individual, there is no such thing as a profile of a typical shoplifter.

The busiest shopping season has passed, and if you haven’t taken inventory or are in the process of conducting one, you will realized the losses you suffered. For many stores across the country, the holiday season is the busiest season for sales and hopefully profits, but is also the busiest time for shoplifters. One will hope that shoplifting stops when the holiday season ends, but as always, shoplifting is a year long crime that never ends.

What is there to do then? Vigilance and preparation can help you prevent some of the shoplifting that happens at your store.

Did you know that good customer service can help you prevent some of the shoplifting at your store?

Greet every customer that enters your store and ask them if they need any help
Place high value items behind registers or locked up. If they want the item, they need to have a person helping them unlock it.
Have visible signs alerting the customer you will prosecute in case of shoplifting.
Make the promise of prosecuting true. Believe it or not, shoplifters know which stores are easy target. Which stores have poor security, and which stores cannot really prosecute the shoplifter.
If you check social media platforms, you will realize that there are groups of individuals that ask advice about which store they should target. The help from other shoplifters is amazing, but you can learn whether your store is targeted and how they go about it.

Prevention, trained personnel, and clear policies and procedures can help your store and profits stay afloat. The policies and procedures from store to store will change, but the underlying goal is the same. Prevent losses or at least minimize the amount your store losses to shoplifting and employee theft by having clear goals and exceptionally well trained employees.

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How Businesses Are Combating Shoplifting

February 1, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Inventory, policies and procedures, and every aspect of how you run your store should be checked regularly. Implementing policies, or business procedures in your store and never checking whether they are working or not is not profitable. Is your return policy being carried out as it was implemented? Are you letting employees go unsupervised when it comes to returns? There are many employees that are exceptional workers and work diligently and honestly, but it’s always better to maintain an atmosphere where they know the owner or management of the store are on top of things.

For more news about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Businesses rally to prevent shoplifting

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – Serial shoplifters cost business owners in Pima County $5.91 million a year. On Wednesday, the Pima County Attorney, law enforcement, and local retailers partnered together for the new “We Watch, We Prosecute” campaign to stop thieves.

2016 was the first year ever that 100% of retailers say they were victims of organized retail theft, according to a study by the National Retail Federation.

Police say 80% of organized shoplifters steal because of drug addiction.

The Tucson Metro Chamber brought together retailers, law enforcement and prosecutors to form the Coalition Against Retail Theft (CART).

CART’s “We Watch, We Prosecute” campaign will:

Educate retailers and consumers on protecting themselves from organized theft through workshops.

Increase tools for retailers to identify and help prosecute organized retail thieves by working more with law enforcement.

Westport police capture serial shoplifter

Detectives from the Westport Police Department have arrested a man they say is responsible for a number of shoplifting incidents at Lee’s Supermarket.

Police arrested Gutemberg Freitas of Westport for allegedly shoplifting more than $150 during a number of visits to the supermarket. Freitas was dubbed the “gassy bandit” after taking a package of Beano food enzyme supplements out of its packaging and leaving the store without paying for the supplements.

Police say Freitas, on a number of occasions, removed the Universal Product Code (UPC) labels from items then swapped them out with less expensive items. His thefts trace back as far as November 2016.

Diebold Nixdorf debuts world’s smallest self-checkout at National Retail Federation’s BIG show

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Imagine heading to your favorite supermarket and having the store know not only that you’re coming in, but what you plan to buy. Then as you walk through the aisles putting items in your cart, you’re also scanning them with your phone, which keeps a running tally of how much you’re spending as you go.

When you’re ready to check out, you bypass the lines at the registers and head straight to the self-checkout terminal, where you pay for your purchases with cash or a credit card swipe, and walk out.

That’s the kind of scenario that Diebold Nixdorf, the Summit County-based ATM and bank security company, envisions as it unveils what it calls “the world’s smallest self-checkout concept” at the National Retail Federation’s NRF BIG Show in New York on Jan. 15-17.

Diebold Nixdorf’s latest innovation lets customers withdraw cash or pay for their purchases at a kiosk that’s less than 10-inches wide, or the length of one and a half dollar bills. The kiosks take up a fraction of the floor-space of current ATMs and self-checkout registers and combines those abilities within a single unit that can fit almost anywhere, the company said.

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Set The Tone For Your Business In 2017

January 31, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

How did your retail business do in 2016? Face it, regardless of how well you did or did not do, you could have done much better. The key is to keep your cash, assets and merchandise on YOUR bottom line not someone else’s. Thieves take the money you could have had away, easily in some cases.

The problem is that thieves like shoplifters and employees that steal from you, are attracted to you like flies to honey. Only your assets are the honey. And once one finds you and your weakness, then here they come. Shoplifters talk to each other. They are no different from anyone else. Shoplifters associate with, well other like-minded people… other shoplifters. They share ideas, techniques and discuss the best places to score. If you make their list, then you become the honeycomb not just the honey.

The key is to set the right tone. For example, with shoplifters you must have a two prong attack. First, excellent customer interaction; every customer must be recognized when they enter your store. One out of ten people that walk through your doors is there to shoplift. That is an established fact, yes, even in YOUR store. It is also well established that over 50% of those shoplifters will not shoplift during that visit if greeted.

But what about the other nine people? They are your legitimate customers that you depend on. Greeting them is also critical. It lets them you know you appreciate them and their very presence. This type of interaction also tends to close more and better sales. Why are they in YOUR store as opposed to a big box retailer? You may even sell some of the same merchandise. For the most part they are looking for that interaction, give it to them!

The second piece is electronic protection. You and your staff cannot be everywhere, with every customer all the time. Shoplifters seek out this situation and in many cases will create it. An Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) system such as a Checkpoint System is actively working 24/7 and tells the one out of ten shoplifters “go away” even as they enter your store. Shoplifters know what a Checkpoint System is and will shy away. They will go down the street to someone who is “easier”. Your other 9 customers will not care or in most cases even know what the system is for.

2017 is time to kick butt in sales. By all indications the economy will start to pick up. Let that work for you, not the shoplifter. Contact us today. We can help you with BOTH pieces, customer interaction and a Checkpoint Systems solution and help you make ALL of 2017 a great retail sales and profit year.

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Look At Your Policies, Cash Flow, Deposits, Cash Drawers. Are You Setting Yourself Up For Theft? Either By A shoplifter Or An Employee?

January 31, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

What policies do you have in place concerning cash handling, deposits, cash flow and preventing theft by a shoplifter or employee? If you have policies when did you last review them? If you don’t have set procedures and policies you are putting your store at risk for theft and potential robbery. Below are a few suggestions that can be used to create policies or strengthen polices already in place.

CASH FLOW

Starting with your cash office, there are things your cash counter, managers/supervisors and you can do to maintain cash flow integrity. At the start of the day the cash office employee should set up your money bags for registers with a set starting amount for each one. A manager should put the money in the tills and verify the tills are correct. I prefer money bags be used to move cash from the cash office to the registers with each bag being numbered to match a corresponding register. Some locations have the cash counter set up the tills and the tills are carried to the check-lanes. A rolling cash cart with a drop slot and locking door can be used to move the money bags to and from the cash office keeping cash secure. When a cashier is done for the day the money from their register can be placed in a money bag and dropped into the cart and rolled back to the cash office by a front end supervisor. A log should be kept requiring each person entering the cash office to write the time they entered, the date and their name and the time they exit. Money should always be locked in a safe and never left out on a counter in the cash office.

DEPOSITS

Deposits can be done in one of two ways. Some small stores have a manager take deposits to the bank or get change from the bank when the need arises. The second method is to contract with an armored car company to pick up deposits and bring change orders. This is the safest method and my recommended method for deposits. However, it is an expense and may not be in the budget for a small business. IF your managers are making the deposits, there are several safety precautions to take. NEVER go at the same time of day, it establishes a pattern for a criminal who may be looking for an opportunity to rob the manager. Likewise, NEVER take the same route to the bank every time, change up the direction even if there are only a couple of ways to get there. Always have someone watch the manager from the exit doors as the manager walks to their car and be ready with a cell phone to call 911 if a robbery takes place.

CASH DRAWERS

Train cashiers to never allow a customer to reach over the counter and get near the register drawer. IF someone reaches towards the drawer the register should be shut. Registers should be closed immediately following a transaction. If a cashier is sorting through the money or “straightening” they could be slipping money out and pocketing it or dropping money, then putting it in their pocket. Don’t “exchange” bills for patrons, there are some shoplifters who also engage in short changing and confusing cashiers and steal money using this method. Others will argue they did not get the right amount of change and start reaching in the till. If there is a dispute over change a manager needs to conduct a till audit with a partner, in the cash office. If there are enough registers in the store, limit one cashier to one register, when the cashier is done for the day, their money goes in their bag with a supervisor present and the supervisor drops it in the cash cart and rolls it to the cash office. Keep large bills under the till, if they are on top they are easy to see and easier for a grab and run. Consider purchasing locking till covers for registers that have money in them but are not currently in use. There are traveling shoplifting rings and till tap rings that have register keys and will open drawers if no one is paying attention. Till covers prevent someone from getting to the cash even if they open the drawer. Finally, when a register has too many large bills or excessive amounts of money, do a skim and take the excess to the cash office.

Cash handling policies can make your business safer and more profitable. Establish them and then periodically review them to ensure they are being followed.

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Protecting Your Business From Theft…Are You Doing Enough?

January 25, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The retail industry has been facing many changes for the last few years. And although the nay sayers believe Amazon will eventually destroyed the retail industry, some experts believe the retail shops are here to stay.

The issues that are affecting the retail industry are numerous though. Shoplifting and employee theft are costing the industry millions of dollars every day. Under-staffed stores, poor customer service and poorly trained employees, are bigger issues for the retail industry than Amazon is.

For more about this and other stories, follow the links below.

Are shoplifters getting it too easy?

Shoppers blissfully ignored a sign that only four garments could be taken into a department store dressing room. With armfuls of clothes and bags from other stores, customers entered and exited the fitting area, without supervision. It was a shoplifter’s paradise.

Two shop attendants frantically organised returns and refunds in a holiday-sale blur. Nobody enforced the dressing room policy, which is designed to reduce shoplifting risks, or watched customers to ensure goods were returned.

Whatever happened to department stores having a specialist assistant who manages the fitting rooms and is paid out of the security budget?

Visible signs of extra security – or much security at all, for that matter – were hard to find at this store. The main exit did not have a uniformed security guard. The handful of staff on the floor made no obvious effort to watch for thieves.

Protect your profits

Garden center owners share their stories of recovery and new strategies after thefts and break-ins. J.R. Pandy, a retailer in Ohio, explains how he’s continuing to fight for his business.

For as long as J.R. Pandy can remember, he’s been involved with the day-to-day operations of Pandy’s Garden Center in Elyria, Ohio, a business his parents founded around 1961.

“I think I was born here,” Pandy says of the grower/retailer he’s worked at since he was 12 years old.

Unfortunately, Pandy can also scarcely remember a time his family business wasn’t victimized by burglars, thieves, arsonists and other intruders and criminals. He says the garden center has been broken into and stolen from so many times throughout the years that the individual incidents tend to run together.

“I can’t even fathom to count that many times,” Pandy says. “It’s just an old hat — ‘Hey, we’ve been broken into, oh, great.’”

One of the most costly and recent burglaries at Pandy’s Garden Center came in May of 2015, when thieves entered the store grounds at night and made off with tools, trees, bulbs and other green goods. The thieves even took the store’s van, which was hotwired and driven off the premises.

Are You Doing Enough to Secure Your Stores?

Theft and robbery continue to rise, but new technology and planning can deter.

NATIONAL REPORT — Whether it’s violent crime, robberies, shoplifting or employee theft, convenience stores have been dealing with store security issues for years. New technology is allowing operators to amp up prevention and react faster to incidents, but in many cases — in c-stores and the entire retail industry — the situation continues to worsen.

“I’ve been involved in the convenience store industry for 40-plus years and the risk of loss has not changed. The most worrisome is robbery, and as c-stores evolved into 24 hours, the violence level increased,” Chris McGoey of McGoey Security Consulting told Convenience Store News.

Robberies are up all-around, specifically in convenience stores, as the latest released FBI statistics show robbery up 16.8 percent in c-stores/gas stations from 2014 to 2015. Rosemary Erickson, researcher, forensic sociologist and president of Athena Research Corp., based in Sioux Falls, S.D., says this is the largest increase she can remember in all the years she has been studying crime. Erickson has helped NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing, develop many of its security resources.

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Is Your Store Protected From Employee Theft and Shoplifters?

January 18, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

According to the National association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) shoplifting cost the United States more than $35 million per day. There are more than half a million incidents concerning shoplifting every day, and the issue does not seem to be abating. Security systems across the United States seem to be implemented in every retail store you encounter, but the problem of employee theft and shoplifting are very much huge issues with no solutions. Is it misinformation the issue? Do your employees know you will prosecute if caught stealing? Is it poor personnel training the issue? Here are three articles with information to prevent your business becoming a heaven for shoplifters and employee theft.

6 Security Lessons for Preventing Employee Theft of High-Value Property

How do you stop employee theft of high-value assets?

The harm from employee theft grows as the value of property increases. For example, the FBI says a vice president of product development at Tiffany & Co. systematically stole $1.3 million worth of jewelry from the company, checking out jewelry to show to potential buyers or for other marketing purposes and never returning the items.

That case pales in comparison with a theft that came to light in 2009. A vault manager at Jacmel Jewelry in Queens, NY, stole $12 million in gold over six years—500 pounds worth, one piece at a time—by hiding it in the lining of her pocketbook.

To the extent possible, it’s good to keep high-value assets and critical material separate from employees, but that’s not always practical. In casinos, for example, line workers need access to huge chunks of cash. In such situations, what security measures are effective for preventing employee theft? It’s a complicated issue that demands the evaluation of a range of issues, including:

how employees are screened and monitored;
how materials are accounted for;
how investigations are conducted;
how staff is trained and motivated; and
how security is tested, assessed, and improved.

Are You Doing Enough to Secure Your Stores?

Theft and robbery continue to rise, but new technology and planning can deter.

Arden Fair Mall Store Employees Accused Of Stealing Thousands From Registers

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Two alleged Christmas-time criminals are under arrest after each was caught stealing thousands of dollars from their own employer’s cash registers at the Arden Fair Mall.

Cops arrested Sears employee Rowan Chan for stealing $2,700 from his job, and Macy’s employee Imani Randle for stealing $7,700 from her job.

Both were booked within hours of each other.

A Sacramento Police spokesperson says each retail employee was in charge of a store register and in both cases, put company cash on their own debit and credit cards for weeks by ringing up fake returns.

“Basically we call it phantom returns,” Security expert Terry Brown said.

Brown owns Armor Bearer Protective Services. He says Christmas time is a busy time for store security, monitoring their own employees, and phantom returns are an old trick.

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 Theft, Georgia Alarms systems, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Seminar, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Shoplifting Penalties, Preventing shoplifting, and Background Screening

January 13, 2017 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

How was 2016 for you? Was it a winning year or one full of loses? Were the personnel helping you during the holidays everything you expected? Many businesses forgo the employee screening process due to the cost associated with it, not knowing the cost is only a fraction of what a bad employee would cost them in a very short period of time. Read more by following the links below.

Changes in Shoplifting Penalties Make It Tougher for Retailers

Retail shoplifting penalties are undergoing changes. They aren’t all good.

Most readers of the LPM Insider are probably pretty familiar with shoplifting, its definition, its negative impact on retail operations and profitability and the shoplifting penalties for their state. It would be a lengthy process to learn the laws of every state and their shoplifting penalties because of the vast differences and constant change. Shoplifting laws have changed significantly in recent years—but rarely to the benefit of the retail industry.

Shoplifting and petty theft are criminal offenses that are frequently thought of as interchangeable, as they share common elements. Each crime requires the perpetrator to take something valued at or below a certain dollar amount, with the intent to permanently keep it, usually constituting a misdemeanor crime. The taking of something valued over that predetermined amount (as described by law) constitutes grand theft, which is a felony. State laws vary on the cutoff between petty theft and grand theft, and the shoplifting penalties assigned to those crimes vary by the amount stolen and by state. But, in general, to qualify for petty or grand theft, certain criteria must apply:

The victim of the crime had a “possessory interest” in the stolen item
The property was “taken away”
The victim did not agree to the taking

The defendant intended to permanently deprive the victim of their interest in the property.

Businesses rally to prevent shoplifting

Tucson, AZ — Serial shoplifters cost business owners in Pima County $5.91 million a year. On Wednesday, the Pima County Attorney, law enforcement, and local retailers partnered together for the new “We Watch, We Prosecute” campaign to stop thieves.

2016 was the first year ever that 100% of retailers say they were victims of organized retail theft, according to a study by the National Retail Federation.

Police say 80% of organized shoplifters steal because of drug addiction.

The Tucson Metro Chamber brought together retailers, law enforcement and prosecutors to form the Coalition Against Retail Theft (CART).

CART’s “We Watch, We Prosecute” campaign will:

Educate retailers and consumers on protecting themselves from organized theft through workshops.

Increase tools for retailers to identify and help prosecute organized retail thieves by working more with law enforcement.

Resources like signs warning thieves of surveillance cameras to deter theft.

Background Screening As a Commitment to Public Safety

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS The need to hire the most qualified candidate has never been greater. Companies that utilize background screens demonstrate their commitment to ensuring safety.

The need to hire the most qualified candidate, and the inherent risk in hiring the wrong candidate, has never been greater.

What’s at stake

Workplace violence, unethical business practices and misleading résumés are on the rise. The costs of fraud, embezzlement, theft and violence are a multibillion-dollar drain on our economy, bleeding organizations both large and small.

Furthermore, negative publicity associated with negligent hiring — especially as the result of a less than thorough background check, or worse, no background check — can devastate the very foundation of a trusted organization. Now more than ever, companies should be using regulated, professional background screeners.

Less expensive than you think

The most common reason among employers for not conducting background screens is cost. That background screen cost, however, represents a fraction of the cost involved in turnover, termination, re-recruiting, re-hiring and re-training. And that’s best-case scenario for a bad hire.

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