security and loss prevention

Saving the Profit – Security and Loss Prevention within your business – Atlanta

October 21, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Security and loss prevention are important to businesses. A business owner shouldn’t have to go to extreme measures to protect their own assets, but in today’s world it is a necessary factor in operating a business. Especially if you hope to make a profit.

Retail loss prevention is very important for a business to be successful and maximize profits. Shoplifters are extremely bold, and can take more merchandise at one time than a business may profit in one day. I have apprehended a shoplifter that was in the process of stealing $1100 worth of merchandise at one time. Imagine what several of those thefts could do to your bottom line.

Worse yet, it has been proven that employee theft can cost a business more than an external, or customer theft. This is why a good retail loss prevention program must also include procedures that prevent and deter employee theft. I personally investigated a case that involved eight employees, and a roughly $8000 loss of merchandise. While it was good to shut down the employee theft operation, it is frightening to consider the extent of the loss.

Security and loss prevention can be as simple as having good controls in place to protect your merchandise. Proper training of your employees is also part of a good program. Security and loss prevention have to be a part of your business plan if a business wants to succeed in today’s market.

For more information on security and loss prevention contact us at: retail loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta

The Difference Between Security and Loss Prevention – Atlanta Georgia

October 19, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The key difference between security and loss prevention is in the roles each one plays within any given organization. For instance, a security guard is someone, normally in uniform, who guards a post and/ or patrols an area. His/ her charge is to provide for the general safety and security of the establishment, its workers and patrons; and to establish physical deterrence to any would-be criminals. A loss prevention detective (or agent, as they are often referred to) is charged with the task of identifying and investigating shrinkage, whether it is from shoplifters, internal theft or paperwork errors. They normally operate covertly, and their goal is to maximize the profits of the company.

Security and loss prevention are similar in some areas as well. Both may be called upon to detain suspects, coordinate and interact with police and other law enforcement entities, taking witness statements, observing the questioning of a suspect and testifying in a court of law. However, in addition to these things, loss prevention also investigates numerous kinds of check and credit card fraud, identity theft, corporate fraud and white collar crimes. They investigate internal theft, interview or interrogate employees as necessary, training and make recommendations on improving the physical security of an establishment.

There is a time, a place and a use for both security and loss prevention . However, if you want my opinion (and who doesn’t?), hiring a security guard to watch your business is like buying a German shepherd to guard your home. Sure, he’ll be loyal as long as you keep him fed, but you won’t know anything is wrong until it’s too late. Loss prevention is a proactive approach to shrink reduction. In the end the difference between security and loss prevention is scope; so ask yourself, do you want to save a little bit of your profit or all of it?

For more information about loss prevention or retail loss prevention contact us: security and loss prevention or call: 1.770.426.0547

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Armed Robbery Survival, Loss Prevention Security – Atlanta

October 13, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Why would an armed robber choose your retail location? Because money is available.

Loss prevention security in a robbery situation must be treated very serious. Your security and loss prevention program should always include preparation for a robbery.

Most robberies only take one to two minutes to complete.

IF A ROBBERY OCCURS IN YOUR STORE OR AT THE NIGHT DEPOSIT, REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING:

* The safety of associates, customers and you is always top priority.

* Be completely cooperative.

* Be observant.

DO’S AND DON’TS DURING A ROBBERY

* Do not resist–heroics are uncalled for.

* Keep it short–the sooner it’s over, the better.

* Do give up the money when demanded.

* Do not argue.

* Do not over-react, do not attempt to grab the weapon or call out for help.

* Make every effort to remain calm. Set the example for your fellow associates.

* Be attentive. Listen to the robber and do exactly what you are asked.

* Do not make any sudden movements. Warn the robber of any surprises or unexpected noises.

* Expect strong/foul language. Expect to be told to lay on the floor or ground.

* Be alert. Try to remember details of the robber’s appearance, clothing and/or speech.

* Keep any holdup note, but do not allow people to handle it.

* If possible, watch the robber’s method and direction of escape. Do not go with the robber!

AFTER A ROBBERY, TAKE THE FOLLOWING STEPS:

* Lock the front door or gate. Robbers have been known to return to the store.

* Call the police immediately.

* Close off the area in which the robbery took place.

* Write down everything you can recall about the robbery. Provide this information to the police upon their arrival.

* Do not give the police an exact count of the money stolen. Tell them you will make an exact count and get back to them. You do not want this amount to show up in a police report, then the newspaper.

* Give the police any holdup note.

* Notify your supervisor immediately.

* Fill out a company security and loss prevention report. Forward a copy to your supervisor.

* Refer any media questions to your corporate office or loss prevention security department.

For more information about robbery or loss prevention security contact us at security and loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta

The Fine Print – DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY

The information provided is for informational purposes only. It is important that you follow your company’s policies and procedures. The techniques presented although conservative should still be compared with individual state and local laws before proceeding. You should consult your own legal counsel before adopting or using any of the recommendations made. Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever, which may arise as a result of adhering to or failing to implement procedures discussed in this material.

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Security and Loss Prevention similar but not the same

September 28, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

If you are or work for a small to medium sized retailer with less than ten locations you may be thinking security and loss prevention are one in the same. Most retailers that size do not have a loss prevention staff or even a program in place. Many that I run into will respond, “I have a security system” when I ask about their loss prevention situation. What they mean to say is “I have a burglar alarm.”

A burglar alarm, known as a security system, is armed when the facility is closed and no one is in the location. Just stating the obvious, when a protected point such as a door or window is breached it sets of the burglar alarm which triggers a string of events that will result in the police being dispatched to the location.

Retail loss prevention will include a burglar alarm to protect assests when the facility is closed; however, most retail losses accur when the store is open. Taking a look at other security and loss prevention solutions are CCTV (surveillance cameras). CCTV systems are great for recording events where loss occurs so that you can retrieve the evidence for use in court etc…

An active loss prevention security solution is an EAS (Electronic Article Security) system such as Checkpoint Systems. Checkpoint systems involve installing antennas at doors that detect anti theft devices that are placed on merchandise. These anti theft devices are either pinned on or are labels that are stuck on. When a shoplifter approaches an exit with merchandise that has not been paid for the Checkpoint system will alarm alerting staff of the issue. This catches the shoplifting in the act, thus a Checkpoint system is considered an active loss prevention security method.

For more information and or to learn about your options for protecting your merchandise visit: security and loss prevention

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Why Employees Steal In Retail Loss Prevention, Atlanta

September 25, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Over the years many of the employees caught in retail loss prevention theft investigations that I have conducted have given me a lot of reasons why they did it. The most common is “as a favor to help friends out” or commonly called peer pressure. Think of it, an employee commits a felony that will land them in serious trouble to help out a buddy.

My fellow loss prevention and security professionals have heard this so many times. Why does the employee do it? There are several factors. One being age. We mostly hear this from 17 to 22 year olds. I believe that this is because they think that fitting in with so-called “friends” is more important than anything else. This thought process is pretty alien to the rest of us until you start thinking back to your own life at that age. You may have started smoking or did something else that you now look back and say, “what was I thinking?”. All of this in order to “fit in”.

Employees in that age group also tend to feel like they are bullet proof and that they wont get caught. In that situation I always laugh about the security and loss prevention investigations I conducted where a 19 year old cashier thought that she was the only one that ever thought up refund fraud, cash theft, void fraud or some other retail loss prevention theft that I had already put 600 people prior to her in jail for.

There was one retail loss prevention investigation in particular that I think is a good example. Two 18 year olds, male and female who were boyfriend/girlfriend decided that they would steal merchandise and cash to the tune of several thousand dollars. They thought that no one knew what they were doing. Clearly they believed that they were smarter that the rest of us including the store manager.

The manager contacted me to start a retail loss prevention investigation after he noticed variances in both cash and merchandise. In a very short time I had the evidence pulled together and narrowed it down to the two eighteen year olds. The interviews with each of them revealed the reason, they were stealing for each other (isn’t love grand?) and they didn’t think anyone would notice. They got to spend the next two years on probation paying back the business with interest and 50 hours of community service each (separate community service details as the Judge thought the love needed a break).

Your loss prevention security program must take this type of reason in to account if you want to keep your money on the bottom line. You must make clear to employees of all ages that you will not tolerate any theft of any type. The only thing they are allowed to leave the store with that they did not bring in is the air in their lungs. The rest is hands off.

Security and loss prevention professionals help you to balance loss prevention with sales, operations and human resource issues and concerns.

For more information on loss prevention security , retail loss prevention or loss prevention in general please contact us in Atlanta at: security and loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547

LPSI is the Atlanta area loss prevention security experts.

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Loss Prevention Security Policy And Procedure

September 23, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Loss prevention security is achieved with many programs and concepts running at the same time. However, the foundation of all of this is the company policy and procedure manual. Is it a living-breathing document that is emphasized daily by upper and middle management? Or is it used only and a means to prop open the office door?

Your P & P should clearly spell out how the company operates and when someone asks a question the first source that the person should be referred to is that manual. You must create a loss prevention security culture when employees automatically start with the P & P manual. This accomplishes several goals.

One of the biggest time and profit wastes in a company is reinventing the same wheel over and over. A policy and procedure manual creates a standard. Do it that way. Another issue that a P & P manual solves is the constant interruptions for information that should be readily available to employees.

For example, you have a procedure for receiving. Everyone that touches that area should know the correct way to receive product. It should be the same way and not open to interpretation. Security and loss prevention is only achieved when everyone is doing the same things the same way.

Of course all of this is only possible if you keep the manual up to date with relevant and current information that has changed with your business changes. Loss prevention security personnel should be involved along with all other areas to review and insure that changes are made as business changes.

Security and loss prevention personal can then focus more on prevention and go after the money that is leaking off the bottom line in more complex areas. Loss prevention security should be a profit center. You will never achieve that until you have a stable foundation.

Make your policy and procedure manual and loss prevention a corner stone in your companies profit model.

For more information about security and loss prevention in Atlanta contact us at: loss prevention security or call 1.770.426.0547

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Security and Loss Prevention – Providing the same outcome thru different tasks

September 21, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Security and Loss Prevention have, throughout their history, been lumped together as one in the same. Some call Loss Prevention, Security, some call Security, Loss Prevention.

I personally believe they are different, here’s why.

Security is, as its name indicates, a position of securing, keeping secure or providing a secure environment for people, places and things. When you hear the name security, you automatically think of a person in a uniform, assigned to patrol or monitor a particular area.

When you hear the name of Loss Prevention, you think of a plain clothes store detective or undercover loss prevention agent. Both working to protect the assets of the company through a pro-active approach, one is overt the other is covert.

Security and Loss Prevention, different or not, should have the same goal. Provide the retailer or business with a safe, secure and profitable environment.

Through shared responsibilities, Security and Loss Prevention offer a great partnership.

Retailers must have their fingers on the pulse of the business to truly identify what is needed. Is it a uniformed security program, or should they develop a full blown loss prevention program? What is the environment? What is the business? What do the stores or business look like? Large box or smaller boutique styles? The demographic can also dictate when and where a uniformed security presence is best suited versus the undercover loss prevention personnel working to apprehend would-be thieves. Having uniformed security personnel at the front of a business can sometimes deter customers. Having a poorly trained and uneducated loss prevention program can lead to bad business practice. It’s no easy task. Security and Loss Prevention are two business needs that should be address by every retailer, business owner and manager alike.

Consult a Loss Prevention professional to asses your specific situation and recommend the security a loss prevention services that best fit your goals.

For more information visit us at security and loss prevention or call us 1.770.426.0547

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Loss Prevention Security, Hiring Procedures, Atlanta

September 20, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Loss prevention security professionals that have been in the business for some time understand that simply conducting employee theft investigation after investigation is not the primary solution to company profitability.

I began to notice early in my career that the loss prevention people are really the ones catching the sludge coming out of the end of the pipe. We deal with the most undesirable soon to be ex-employees. When you are constantly doing this you have a tendency to look up the pipe and try to figure out where all of this comes from. The answer is that it starts the moment that a person walks in to apply for a job.

If your company has poor or weak hiring policies then you are simply setting the company and yourself up for more sludge. I am not even going into the issue of what this costs the company to train and replace the bad hire let alone the cost of that a poor performer caused you in lost sales and productivity. That is for another blog.

Loss prevention is exactly that, preventing loss. In a way when we have to conduct an employee theft investigation we have lost. Whatever the employee did should have been prevented. So how do we do this?

Security and loss prevention must be involved and have input into the hiring process. We should be working directly with Human Resource management as partners to achieve the company’s goal, which is a profit.

Our company should be selecting the most desirable and best candidate for the position. Part of this should be consideration for their background and attitudes. Has this person been involved in any undesirable behavior, criminal activity, poor personal money management and poor work history? In addition what is this candidates attitude towards management, supervision and loss prevention. What is their work ethic? All of these areas affect the company and loss prevention mission, profit. Loss prevention security is not simply chasing bad guys

This is in addition to security and loss prevention involvement in other areas such as inventory control, merchandising and store layout. Loss prevention security personnel must interface with all areas of the company to insure that the profit mission is achieved. But again these are issues for another days blog.

Security and loss prevention is one of the major keys to a profitable company. Ignore it as many have done and face an unprofitable environment while catching more sludge than you should have to.

For more information contact us: security and loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547

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Don’t confuse security and loss prevention

August 19, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Many smaller to midsized retailers often confuse their definition of security and loss prevention. Just ask them what they are doing for loss prevention and they will tell you they have a security system. (Bear with me this is not a bashing article.)

Let’s define a couple things. First what most call their “security” system is technically a “burglar” system because it is only turned on after hours and will alarm if a burglar breaks in. It does nothing during business hours which is when losses occur. So with that being stated, the words security and loss prevention are in two different ball fields.

In fact, burglary doesn’t even hit the radar when measuring inventory shrinkage in the US. What does hit the radar according to the holy grail of studies in the industry, the National Retail Security Survey by The University of Florida: #1 employee theft, #2 shoplifting #3 Administrative errors, #4 Unknown, and #5 Vendor fraud.

So what is true loss prevention? Let’s look at what Wikipedia says:

Retail loss prevention (in some retailers known as asset protection) is a form of private investigation into larceny or theft. The focus of such investigations generally includes shoplifting, package pilferage, embezzlement, credit fraud and check fraud. Loss prevention” or “LP” is used to describe a number of methods used to reduce the amount of all losses and shrinkage often related to retail trade.

In other words loss prevention involves specific people using specific methods to discover sources of loss and solutions to reduce those losses. Only larger retailers employ these individuals as staff and many that have done so in the past have cut them from the payroll to cut overhead in these rough economic times.

What makes sense is to consult a loss prevention professional to review your specific issues, your current security and loss prevention methods. The next step will be to develop a custom program that will improve your operational effectiveness and reduces your losses whether shoplifting, employee theft or other.

For more info go to: security and loss prevention

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Electronic Article Surveillance

August 9, 2010 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) equipment is used to provide security and loss prevention to merchandise. However EAS is not a total solution to the shoplifting problem and will not stop shoplifting on its own. Points to consider when using EAS as a loss prevention tool include:

Certain tags can be identified by shoplifters and removed. Concealment is critical. Labels can be disguised and tags can be made extra secure depending on how and where they are attached.

Tagging merchandise costs in both tags and labor can be cost prohibitive if you attempt to tag and label all merchandise. Consider establishing a price point and up that are to be tagged. Of course you also want to tag or label any merchandise that is high theft.

Properly maintained systems and tags can be a major support to employee customer service when the ratio of customers to employees is high.

In the security and loss prevention field we know that the presence of tagging systems themselves can be a deterrent to many types of shoplifters.

Dye tags can be used on soft goods for product denial.

Want more information: security and loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547

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