Addiction and Shoplifting

September 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting5The retail industry loses billions of dollars a year due to shoplifting. And the small business owner that loses money due to shoplifting is a struggling business, without the resources the big retail chain has. Shoplifting, employee theft, organized crime, and even merchant theft, are major reasons why some small businesses close their doors for good.  Shoplifters with a drug addiction problem are also a big problem for these businesses, because they enter their store to steal big quantities of merchandise to sell for cash to keep with their addiction drugs.

Prosecuting the shoplifter is always a hard decision for the small business owner to make, specially  when they consider the financial burden attorneys’ fees will have in their business. A small quantity of small business owners choose to prosecute, but many choose to terminate the employee and deal with the loss instead.

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

It’s better to prevent addiction than cure

Addiction is powerful and destructive.

And there is no magic bullet, no magic cure.

Ask any alcoholic or drug addict in recovery and he or she will confirm that it takes perseverance and self-discipline to remain clean and sober, one day at a time, for the rest of his or her life.

What does this have to do with the American court system?

Empirically, addiction and crime go hand-in-hand. And people charged with crimes end up in court.

As a judge to whom thousands of criminal cases have been assigned, I have detected patterns when it comes to substance abuse.

A horrific crime with unspeakable allegations? Methamphetamine addiction.

Property crimes, including burglary, shoplifting and auto theft? Heroin addiction.

Domestic violence? Child abuse/neglect or animal abuse? Alcohol and methamphetamine.

DWI? Alcohol and/or drugs, both legal and illegal.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, just patterns I have noticed in my courtroom. Additionally, there is often an overlay of mental illness, sometimes specifically brought about by years of chronic substance abuse.

Shoplifter stole food for drugs

A PERSISTENT shoplifter who stole to fund his drugs habit was handed a suspended prison sentence and warned that if he committed another offence he was likely to be jailed immediately.

Christopher Page pleaded guilty to eight charges of theft from a shop – seven of them from the same One Stop shop in Pinehurst. The total value of the goods stolen was more than £200.

James Burnham, prosecuting, told Swindon Magistrates Court on Wednesday that Page went into the One Stop on August 5 and took six packs of steak without paying. He returned just before 5pm on August 7 and picked up washing liquids and gels worth £67.80, putting them down his trousers and walking out. The following day he was back to steal milkshakes valued at £3.

Then on August 9 he put more washing liquids, five packs of bacon, sausages, shower gels and a packet of hot chocolate worth £35.45 down his trousers and left without paying.

On August 14 he took washing liquids and the following day he stole fabric conditioner and washing capsules to the value of £13.65. “He sold the items to buy food and drugs if they were not food or were high value,” explained Mr Burnham. Ten days later he was back at the One Stop but this time he was seen hiding three boxes of Ferrero Rocher worth £19.50.

Good start in tackling gun violence-drug addiction problems

I attended two meetings recently that provided me with valuable information about problems in our community.

The Heroin Awareness meeting presented by the City of Myrtle Beach was excellent. I hadn’t realized the extent of the problem. My heart aches for those addicted and their families. Many try heroin because of peer pressure and become addicted. Others had been taking prescription meds for pain, became addicted, and then turned to heroin. Some overdose the first time they try it. Some go through many painful withdrawals before they are finally able to stay clean. Drug addicts are responsible for many crimes of shoplifting, burglary and prostitution in order to feed their habits.

I hope this Heroin Awareness program will be offered again to a countywide audience and especially students. Was the whole program filmed? If so, could it be shown in schools and community groups?

I also attended an Horry County Democratic Party Committee meeting on gun sense. We are seeking information so that we can understand how gun violence can be reduced. Horry County officers Wyatt and Conti were generous with their time and knowledge.

 

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Preventing Employee Theft

September 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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One of the best method to prevent shoplifting is by eliminating the opportunities the shoplifter has.  Greeting a customer and asking them if they need help is a nice way to let the customer know you are alert. Security cameras, and signs alerting the shopper that as a business you will prosecute if they are caught stealing, are great deterrents that can help you prevent shoplifting.  But, what about employee theft? The amount of money employees steal is greater than what the normal shoplifter steals.  So, how can you prevent your employees from stealing?  For more about this topic, follow the links below.

The Employee Investigation: Does It Pass the Smell Test? Part 1

Red flags during an employee theft investigation usually confirm that “the milk is spoiled.”

When it comes to an employee investigation, sometimes the “smell test” will just not let you rest. You know, those situations when you listen to a story or a business practice and something just plain stinks. On the surface nothing appears to be wrong, but there is a smell just below the surface that makes you think, “This is spoiled milk.” We don’t have to taste it to know that it’s bad. A quick sniff, a glance at the label on the side of the bottle, the floating lumps, and our decision is made.

Our last several cases failed the smell test because there were so many red flags. There were problems and circumstances that should have been further explored, yet they were overlooked. Occasionally, the smell test is wrong. But over the years we have seen that when the red flags appear, they consistently confirm that the milk is spoiled.

Let’s take a look at the red flags we have found to be most useful in ferreting out the dishonest employee. When reflecting on our interview and interrogation techniques, we should note that there are great differences between an employee who is a thief, and one who is a fraudster or embezzler. While both types may be stealing from the organization, their methods are often very different, as are the red flags indicating dishonesty. Part 1 of this article series focuses on the employee suspected of fraud.

Reduce employee theft

Loss prevention and theft experts weigh in on a thorny topic.

According to statistics from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 75 percent of employees steal from work. And most do so repeatedly. If that’s not enough to get you to pay attention, that same U.S. Chamber of Commerce study, 30 percent of corporate bankruptcies are a result of employee theft. The FBI calls employee theft the fastest growing crime in America.

The employee is key

King Rogers has helped companies with loss prevention and security for nearly half a century. After helming his own company for many years, Rogers now is business leader, security management services for Master Technology Group. He says the first step to preventing employee theft begins with the hiring process.

“It starts with recruiting the employee,” Rogers says. “The orientation should include a clear communication of expectations.”

Part of this orientation should include disclosing any initiatives that exemplify how much the business owner values his or her company and all the people working there.

“This let the employees know management cares very much about this business and about the employees,” Rogers says. “As a result, management is going to keep an eye on the business as well as the employees.”

Former Bothell PD employee charged with theft from agency

The evidence technician is accused of taking cash for himself from the evidence room.

A former Bothell Police Department employee is accused of taking more than $50,000 from the agency’s evidence room.

William Kenney, 62, is charged with first-degree theft after police say he admitted to pilfering money from the evidence room for his own benefit.

The missing money was discovered during a regularly scheduled audit of the evidence room in January 2015. Kenney, an evidence technician, had called in sick that day and employees claimed he had been acting strangely in recent months, according to court records.

Employees conducting the audit were unable to find money that records indicated was in a safe, according to the Washington State Patrol, which conducted the independent investigation.

When Kenney was asked to call the department about the safe, he replied with a personal email with an apology, reports say. The email allegedly detailed a “nasty divorce,” financial woes and an admission that, “I found myself borrowing from the property room …”

 

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Retail Burglary and Robbery – How To Train Employees To Prevent, React and Recove

September 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment

As a Loss Prevention Manager for nearly 14 years, I was involved with training employees on robbery response.  It is an unfortunate fact that store robberies do happen and it can be difficult to prevent them.  We can do little to influence the choice of someone who wants to commit the crime other than to make a business an uninviting target.  Public View monitors and signage indicating closed circuit television is in use can be deterrents to robbery; however a determined criminal may still choose to try to commit the crime.  It is our responsibility to prepare employees on steps they can take to prevent a robbery and how to react and recover should a robbery take place.    

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https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/browse-by/national-data

It is important that employees are taught:

  • To make eye contact with and greet customers.  Criminals don’t want undo attention.
  • If robbed, don’t panic.  It is easier said than done but, panic makes it more difficult to comply with the robber’s demands and can make him/her more nervous.
  • Do whatever the robber demands. Give them what they want and get them out of the store.   
  • During the event, pay attention to as many details as possible about the robber; what were they wearing? How tall are they? What color is their hair? Did they have an accent? Could you tell an approximate age of the subject?
  • If possible, watch the direction of travel when the robber leaves the store.  Did they go to the right or left? Was there a vehicle waiting for them?  NEVER try to follow the robber outside.  Whatever you see should be done from inside the store.
  • Don’t touch ANYTHING once the robber leaves.  This includes the cash register, the checkout counter, doors and anything else the robber may have touched.

There are also tips for managers and supervisors following a robbery:

  • Call 911 and report the robbery and provide any information they ask.  Stay calm.  The dispatcher will have specific questions to ask and needs clear responses.
  • If you have a supervisor or supervisors to assist, ask witnesses to stay to speak to the police and separate them from other people and each other.  Information sharing tends to change a person’s perception of events.  If possible, provide pens and paper and ask them to write down their recollection of events.
  • The building is now a crime scene and needs to be secure.  If you have rope, chairs, wet floor signs, use them to block off areas where the robber was believed to have been.  Locking doors is discouraged since customers may want to leave.  You also don’t want to touch areas on the door where the suspect may have touched.  Prop a door open, pushing it from the bottom of the door (an unlikely place for a suspect to touch) and use it for entry and exit.  Have someone stay at the door to turn away new customers and ensure no one touches the doors. This person will also direct police to a manager when they arrive.
  • You can’t force people to stay, but you can ask them to stay to talk to police.  If they are reluctant, ask if they will leave their name and contact information for police follow-up.
  • Be prepared and have a counseling service number in your emergency contacts.  Employees and customers may experience trauma and need to talk to a professional who can help them recover from the event.
  • If you have video recording in your store, let the recorders run.  Do not try to stop them or playback and review until the police ask for access to the recordings. Usually a Crime Scene Investigator will have the ability to retrieve the videos stored on a recorder or computer.  If they need your assistance they will ask for it.

Recovery and getting back to “Business as Usual” is the final step.  It is important to restore a sense of normalcy as soon as possible.  Owners and managers must be sensitive to the needs of their employees.  Everyone will have a different reaction to a traumatic situation.  Be patient and allow for people to take some time off if necessary.  There will be those employees who are ready to get back to work.  For them it is their way of handling stress, so let them work.  You may also have employees who were not working so they will not be affected in the same way as those who were present at the time.  Rely on them to get the store back in business. 

Have a robbery plan and review it regularly with employees.  Being prepared will help you get through a crisis and back on your feet quickly.

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3 No-brainer Ways to Decrease Theft

September 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting1If you work in retail then you know theft is a big problem.  The theft of supplies, merchandise, time and money are just a few of the things managers have to deal with daily.  They have to address it on many fronts (i.e., impulse and professional shoplifters, employees and their friends and families, vendors).

Unfortunately, these concerns aren’t going to go away.  At this time, no one has a solution for stopping all forms of stealing.  You can’t change human nature and some people are just going to be dishonest.  That’s the bad news. 

However, there’s some good news too.  While you can’t completely stop it, there are ways you can prevent or minimize a lot of your loss due to theft.  Loss – caused both externally and internally — can be decreased by making a few operational changes. 

Here are 3 operational areas where you can make some headway in your on-going struggle against theft.  If they seem like they’re “just common sense” you’re right, they are.  But, there are a lot of managers and organizations out there who don’t do them — you probably know some. 

Put the right person in the right job.  We all do some things better than others; everyone has strengths and weaknesses.  Putting people in positions they’re not trained to do or aren’t capable of doing affects the way they’re able to perform their job.  Sink or swim is a destructive way to manage and it rarely works. 

If a person is good with organization think about making them responsible for keeping a tight rein on your high-risk inventory.  How about putting the out-going person in charge of greeting, engaging and monitoring customers on the floor?

Everyone is accountable for their job duties.  Lack of accountability is one the biggest complaints people have with their jobs.  Consequences for poor performance and behavior are some of the most effective deterrents to theft.  Honest, responsible, motivated employees want to work in fair and equitable workplaces.

Prioritize effective communication.  This is a simple, smart fix.  Yet, most companies struggle with it.  Billions of dollars have disappeared in a pocket or walked out a door because somebody didn’t: pass on important information, talk over a problem, speak up with a concern, get enough training, get the memo or listen well enough. 

There are other operational ways to decrease internal and external theft.  But, these 3 are a good place to start.  If they are done well and consistently they might be all you need.  If not, they’ll give you a good base on which to build further.

Nicole Abbott is a professional writer who’s had over 200 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.

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Employee Theft is NEVER Funny, Or Is It? That May Depend On Your Perspective

September 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment

theft (12)What can make life miserable for a Human Resources or Hiring Manager?  In the right circumstances, a Loss Prevention Manager can be the cause of much consternation for a Human Resources Manager.  When more than one employee is being apprehended or fired for theft at the same time it requires shifting schedules, moving people around and hiring new people to take the place of the employees being removed.  What makes it even more difficult for a retail H.R. Manager is if the employees work in a specialized job function.  I confess (with a smile on my face as I write this) that I was responsible more than once for putting a Human Resource Manager in this predicament during my Loss Prevention Manager career.  Don’t misunderstand, I was not taking pleasure in the misery of the Human Resource Manager or the Department Manager, for that matter; I was enjoying closing an investigation that netted around five employees in total, three who worked in the one area.

     So what was this particular case and why was it funny to me?  The case started out as a cash shortage investigation in our food service area.  We had multiple departments in our store but the food services employees tended to be more specialized in their duties. Unlike other departments, there were not always employees in the store who could provide what we called back-ups to assist in food/drink preparations.  For example, when the front lanes got busy, a call for back-up cashiers would result in employees from all areas of the store responding since everyone was trained as a cashier.  The same thing could not be said for our food service area.  We simply did not have the same number of trained people who could respond.

     As I began developing my case, I conducted live camera surveillances of our food service area.  Now a good investigator remains open to the possibility that there is always the chance that one “type” of case can lead to other activity and he/she is prepared to expand an investigation if necessary.  Rushing to close a case simply to get a quick statistics is poor investigative technique, but I have seen it happen.  It didn’t take long to identify the person I suspected was causing the cash losses, but I also found there was a second person causing shortages.  That led me to conduct additional surveillances and watching all transactions that took place.  Soon I was noticing drinks and food were being given at reduced prices or for free to other employees and even some customers.  The passing of food and under-ringing became so routine it was comical to watch.  There were customers I identified as “regulars” coming to the counter to get special deals that weren’t on the menu.

     Eventually I identified three food service employees and two or three other store employees regularly getting free meals, in addition to the primary cash theft that instigated the investigation.  There were several more employees who received a free drink or two but not on a regular basis.   With the prior approval of my District Manager, I involved the Human Resource Manager since it was going to make a significant dent in her ability to staff food services for a little while. Needless to say, she was taken back by the amount of theft and fraud that had been taking place.  She was absolutely shocked when it dawned on her that she was about to lose almost a third of her food service staff.  To ease her pain a bit I let her know I was not going to go after the employees who received one or two free drinks.  With her assistance, we would issue written warnings to those employees. 

     Because we had a good relationship, our H.R. Manager worked with me to schedule the employees at staggered times during the day so I could conduct individual interviews without one person having time to alert anyone else to what was happening.  The day came when I conducted all interviews and a couple of people were prosecuted for cash theft and three or four were terminated for theft of food and policy violations.  A couple of employees received final warnings for policy violations but were allowed to continue their employment with the company. 

   Coverage for the food service area was difficult for a few weeks, but we made it happen.  I also had to chuckle because some of our “regular” customers stopped coming for food. A final word of advice to those in LP and management; build strong partnerships with each other, it is mutually beneficial for you and the store.    

    

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Preventing Shoplifting With Training

September 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting6A woman is fired by a grocery store chain after merging with another chain, and changing their shoplifting policy because she chased a shoplifter. Employees at the biggest retail store chased and killed a shoplifting man and now they faced murder charges.  Employees at retail stores, grocery stores, and specialty stores all over the country chase and try to stop shoplifters, when even the store policy where they work says “No chase, No Touch.”  When hiring a new employee, management should be absolutely clear about the policies regarding shoplifting, and the store in general.  Remind older employees about the policies as well, so they can have a clear understanding of what it is expected of them when a situation of this nature occurs.  The safety of your employees and customers is a paramount responsibility you cannot ignore.

To read more bout shoplifting news, follow the links below.

Low Prices, High Crime: Inside Walmart’s Plan to Crack Down on Shoplifting

The nation’s largest retailer is taking justice into its own hands.

The Walmart Supercenter in Camden, S.C., is a 24/7 retail oasis in an area with few options. There are Walmarts in nearby counties, but some of them aren’t open 24 hours a day. Camden’s location—close to Lake Watertree and a nearby river with few bridges—makes it difficult for residents to go anywhere other than the sprawling complex for everything from bread to tires to electronics. And it’s a place the Camden Police Department knows well. In the first six months of 2016, 14% of the department’s police reports originated at Walmart, most for shoplifting—a figure that could be much higher if you ask the town’s police chief.

“Sometimes they don’t call us,” says Camden Police Chief Joe Floyd. “They call us when they make an apprehension of a shoplifter. But they don’t call us every time something happens there.”

Woman works at Ballard Safeway for 12 years, fired for trying to stop vandal, shoplifter

After 12 years of working for Safeway, Samira Othman, 48, never thought she would be fired for trying to prevent a shoplifter and vandal from taking liberties while on her watch, but that’s just what happened last May.

Othman told the Ballard News-Tribune that she has been a merchandise stocker at the store for years. She moved here from Jerusalem back in 2001 and got a job at a Capital Hill Safeway, but after a year she moved back to Jerusalem to care for her mother. She later returned in 2004 and asked her previous manager for a reference in order to get hired at the Ballard Safeway (1423 NW Market St.). She said she was hired immediately and stocked the shelves for over a decade.

“I’m very hard working, and I worked like a dog for them for years,” said Othman.

But she was known for doing much more than stocking the shelves; she also busted shoplifters. For years Othman said she saved the store thousands of dollars by catching thieves and retrieving store products. She said she was rewarded for her efforts with gift cards from the corporate office.

Dear CEO: How Immune Is Your Business To The Risk Of Fraud?

Dear CEO: How Immune Is Your Business To The Risk Of Fraud? – Adeniyi Bamgboye

The success of every businessman depends on his ability to make a decent return on investment and make reasonable profit while the hallmark of every professional lies in his or her ability to commercial his skills, knowledge and expertise. We all know how challenging doing business in our clime can be. Not to mention issues such as unstable electricity, poor transportation system and lack of infrastructural facilities plaguing our economic growth and development as a nation. Adding the risk of fraud which is the subject matter of this article would be tantamount to adding salt to injury of a typical Nigerian entrepreneur because he already has enough giants to contend with.

This piece was written by Adeniyi Bamgboye Emmanuel. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

Fraudulent activities within an organisation will not only serve as a clog to the wheel of progress of such an entity in terms of causing a drastic reduction in its profitability on the short term, and its ability to continue to operate as a going concern in the  long term.

 

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How To Fight Organized Crime and Employee Theft

August 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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Many new initiatives to prevent shoplifting have been put into effect at the state level, and around the world in hopes that police enforcement and retailers work together to fight this crime.  The different methods, and the technology they use is up to the people involved,  and in some cases the results are pretty optimistic.  Fighting crime needs the collaboration of law enforcement and the management of the stores to have some success.

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

A Formula for Fighting Organized Retail Theft

A Texas task force successfully challenged a criminal enterprise of shoplifters and fences through teamwork and communication.

What started out as a small meeting in Houston to discuss the problem of infant formula theft led to arguably one of the most significant positive examples of teamwork between private sector loss prevention, law enforcement, and government officials in the fight against organized retail theft. The lessons from these collaborative efforts in the early 2000s are still applicable in today’s loss prevention industry.

In the fall of 2002, several grocery loss prevention representatives met with Joe Williams, then president of the Gulf Coast Retailers Association, to discuss the growing problem. The standard deterrence and apprehension techniques used in the industry were having little effect on slowing the theft of formula. CCTV, electronic article surveillance (EAS), and even undercover shoplift agents proved to be of little value in significantly slowing the losses. In many locations, retailers were locking up formula just to keep it in supply for their customers. While this helped to slow the theft, it also was an inconvenience for legitimate customers and was damaging sales.

The Scope of the Organized Retail Theft Problem

By comparing notes on the apprehensions made in their stores, the loss prevention representatives found that in many of the cases the suspects detained for the formula thefts were primarily from South and Central American countries, specifically El Salvador and Honduras.

USPS Employees Theft: Suspects Include Ex-Postal Union Head

USPS employee theft has led to charges against 33 post office workers in the Los Angeles area, including embezzlement and failure to deliver 50,000 pieces of mail. One of the suspects is the former president of the mail workers union.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the suspects were connected to 28 cases involving mail theft and/or possession of stolen mail. Other charges included conspiracy,  bank fraud, and making false statements.

“Arrest warrants were issued for six of the 33 defendants, who were recently charged as a result of investigations by the USPS’s Office of Inspector General,” said prosecutors. “Most of the defendants were charged in indictments that were returned by federal grand juries …”City News Service said one of those nabbed, Jarol Garcia, 33, is the former president of the local Mail Handlers Union. He was charged with conspiracy and possession of stolen mail. Garcia had worked at the Moreno Valley Delivery Distribution Center as a mail handler.

Forgery May Not Constitute “Theft” Under an Employee Dishonesty Coverage

Ruling in favor of the insurer on a motion for summary judgment, on July 29, 2016 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that under the terms of a commercial crime policy, proof of a forgery by the insured’s employee in extending $90 million of credit to a customer did not establish an unlawful taking as required by the policy terms. Tesoro Refining and Marketing Co, LLC v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 2016 U.S. App. Lexis 13838 (5th Cir. 2016).

Tesoro, a refiner and marketer of petroleum products sold fuel on credit to petroleum distributor Enmex. On several occasions the credit director for Tesoro, for unknown reasons, falsified and forged signatures on numerous letters of credit purportedly issued to Enmex. These acts enabled the Enmex debt to Tesoro to grow to $90 million before the forgery was detected. Once the forgery was discovered, Tesoro filed suit against Enmex for breach of contract and fraud, which lawsuit was settled. Tesoro also filed a claim with its insurer National Union under its crime policy. Tesoro claimed the loss fell under the “forgery and alteration” section of the policy (which section did not cover employee forgeries) and then amended its claim to proceed under the “employee theft” portion of the insuring agreement.  National Union denied coverage under both provisions. After suit was brought by Tesoro against National Union for breach of contract and bad faith, cross motions for summary judgment were filed. Ruling in favor of National Union, the federal district court in Western Texas reasoned that the employee theft coverage could include theft that was facilitated by a forgery, but that it did not cover forgery losses independent of a theft, which always required an unlawful taking in order to trigger coverage. Tesoro did not demonstrate that any unlawful taking had occurred and, therefore, the district court granted National Union’s motion for summary judgment. On appeal the Fifth Circuit agreed.

 

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Tips To Stop Shoplifting In Your Store

August 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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Some of the advice security and loss prevention personnel give to retailers and small businesses is that greeting a customer and asking if they need help, are some of the easiest and cheapest methods to prevent shoplifting in their stores.  Having a clean, well lit store is helpful and can help employees keep track of customers entering and leaving the premises.  If your store is dealing with shoplifting cases in a regular basis, invest in having security cameras installed,  anti-theft tags on the merchandise, or anti-theft devices at the entrances.  Preventing shoplifting is a necessity that most retailers have to take seriously, and take adequate measures to mitigate their loses.

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

Juneau police give retailers tips on stopping shoplifters

“Greet your customer.”

That’s the most important piece of advice Juneau police Officer Ken Colon wanted his audience to remember at the end of his presentation on Friday. He was meeting with nearly 20 people in the backroom of Alaskan Dames, a consignment shop in the Mendenhall Valley.

“Shoplifters, they do not like being greeted. It hinders their ability, it takes away the opportunity and it reduces the desire to commit the crime,” Colon said.

Juneau police have reported burglary and theft rates significantly higher last year than in previous years, and they’re stepping up efforts to help residents discourage thieves before a crime is committed.

Colon has been on the Juneau police force for almost 11 years. He’s experienced the increase in property crime firsthand. He said when he responds to a theft, he looks for holes in the victim’s security so he can explain ways they can prevent the same thing from happening again. Now he’s taking the next step.

Theft is erasing some of self-checkout’s benefits

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A study of self-checkout kiosks in Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US found that self-service checkout technology likely increases shoplifting, according to The New York Times.

The study, which was conducted by the University of Leicester, audited one million shopping trips between December 2013 and February 2015 in detail, and found that out of 6 million items, 850,000 were not scanned. That represents a loss of 4% of total purchase value.

Some of self-checkout’s benefits could be reversed because of the increase in petty theft they might cause.

  • Retailers may turn to self-checkout because they want to save labor costs and boost sales. By substituting self-checkout for regular checkout lanes, stores hope to limit staff they need working and save on personnel expenses, though this isn’t always the case. These kiosks can also allow for easier implementation of loyalty programs and give stores access to consumer data. These devices can also increase average ticket size —  at Cinemark movie theaters, self-checkout helped drive 32 consecutive quarters of increases in per-person concession orders, according to Kiosk Marketplace. That might be because without direct human interaction, consumers are more likely to purchase items that are hard to pronounce or that they’re embarrassed about, according to data from Kiosk Marketplace and the Harvard Business Review.

Springfield Police, Wal-Mart Cooperate In Attempt To Reduce Theft At Stores

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Police departments across the country are getting a little annoyed about how often they have to respond to calls at Wal-Mart.

According to an analysis by Bloomberg, a violent crime has taken place on a Wal-Mart property in the U.S. almost every day this year.

In 2013, Springfield Police responded to more than 900 shoplifting incidents at the city’s supercenters.

That accounted for about two-thirds of all shoplifting calls that year, and prompted police to ask the world’s largest retailer to take action.

After taking a closer look at where property crime occurs in Springfield, Major Kirk Manlove decided police needed a rollback on time spent at Wal-Mart.

“We’ve recognized since 2013 that the 5 Wal-Mart Supercenters were taking an enormous toll on police services,” Manlove said.

In 2013, Manlove sat down with corporate reps and asked them to do more to either prevent shoplifting, or catch thieves on their way out the door.

For about a year, he did not get the response he was looking for.

“It’s a huge corporation, no secret there and so to get decisions made down at the asset protection level is probably difficult, and budget driven,” Manlove said.

Manlove now meets with Wal-Mart quarterly, and feels the company is trying to address the concerns of local law enforcement.

 

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Stopping Shoplifting In Your Store

August 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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Retailers around the world lose billions a dollars every year due to shoplifting and employee theft.  And while the big retail chains can financially deal with the problem, there are many small businesses that cannot afford it, nor can they fight it for long.

The laws concerning shoplifting vary by state, and therefore you have to be aware of the steps you need to do while apprehending a shoplifter or an employee caught stealing. Prevention and safety should be some of the most important steps when dealing with shoplifting in your business.

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

To stop a thief: Shoplifting is a daily battle for retailers

On any given day, more than $35 million worth of merchandise is stolen from retail stores across the country by shoplifters – amateurs and professionals alike – who steal clothing, jewelry, electronics and a host of other items, including food.

Some sneak quickly and quietly with the merchandise, others make bold getaway attempts.

In Tupelo, the retail and financial hub of Northeast Mississippi, the Tupelo Police Department gets hundreds of reports each year.

In 2014, TPD took 483 reports related to shoplifting, according to TPD Public Information Officer Chuck McDougald. Last year, that number fell to 260. So far this year, the department has taken 162 calls.

“Higher shopping volume days correspond to more shoplifting calls,” he said. “Those include weekends and holidays.”

As for the timing of when shoplifters are busiest, apparently they’re not early risers.

The nation’s largest retailer is taking justice into its own hands.

The Walmart Supercenter in Camden, S.C., is a 24/7 retail oasis in an area with few options. There are Walmarts in nearby counties, but some of them aren’t open 24 hours a day. Camden’s location—close to Lake Watertree and a nearby river with few bridges—makes it difficult for residents to go anywhere other than the sprawling complex for everything from bread to tires to electronics. And it’s a place the Camden Police Department knows well. In the first six months of 2016, 14% of the department’s police reports originated at Walmart, most for shoplifting—a figure that could be much higher if you ask the town’s police chief.

“Sometimes they don’t call us,” says Camden Police Chief Joe Floyd. “They call us when they make an apprehension of a shoplifter. But they don’t call us every time something happens there.”

Police Officer Found Guilty Of Manslaughter In Shooting Of Unarmed Black Man

Stephen Rankin becomes one of the rare officers convicted of murder or manslaughter for on-duty conduct.

A white Virginia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old accused of shoplifting.

A circuit court jury found former Portsmouth police officer Stephen Rankin guilty for the killing of William Chapman in April of last year. It was the second time Rankin had killed an unarmed man while on duty. He now faces up to 10 years in prison, although the jury recommended just 2 1/2 years.

Earlier on Thursday, lawyers for Rankin had unsuccessfully urged the judge to declare a mistrial, citing video evidence showing a friend of Chapman’s family speaking to a juror. Rankin’s defense described this as a deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of the trial ― a charge that the friend denied.

Rankin, who was fired while he awaited trial, had originally been charged with first-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony.

 

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Safety First

August 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment

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3 Walmart Employees in Florida Face Charges in Death of Shoplifter -This is one of the many cases where employees or shoplifters die when a shoplifting incident occurs.  It is not news anymore.  It is too common to surprise people, and shoplifting as a social problem is not getting any better.  As a retail owner or LP officer, what are some of the solutions that we need to be aware to mitigate these incidents in our store?  Is the store layout  a solution?  More greeters at the door? More LP personnel? The billions of dollars lost due to shoplifting increases every year, and the loss of lives doesn’t seem to get any less.  Do you need personnel training for your store?  System solutions to help you with shoplifting?  Contact us to help you reduce your loses and increase your profits.

The Mobile Side of Retail Loss Prevention

Today, retail loss prevention’s focus has grown from preventing the loss of inventory within a retailer’s stores to a variety of other activities ranging from HR challenges, crisis management, emergency situations and disaster recovery. However, the process for communicating emergency preparedness procedures with employees has remained stagnant. This could result in a tremendous loss in operations and profit for retailers. With brick-and-mortar retailers fighting for every dollar against growing online and mobile sales, empowering employees at each store location to protect assets has now reached a critical level.
Working with associations like the National Retail Federation, which recently addressed these issues at their loss prevention event NRF Protect, most retailers build robust loss prevention, risk mitigation, and emergency preparedness plans.

While corporate management makes a concerted effort to distribute these guidelines to each store manager, nine times out of ten, these plans are extensive paper-based manuals, posters, flip books, building diagrams, and websites that are too cumbersome to access quickly. Even worse, they are often lost or filed away in a drawer and not available when an issue arises.

LP101: Embezzlement in the Retail Environment

Embezzlement is a crime that involves a breach of trust.

Embezzlement is a type of theft involving a person or persons entrusted to property owned by someone else (such as an employee) who then uses fraudulent means to illegally misappropriate the property or cash entrusted to them.

Embezzlement is a breach of the fiduciary responsibilities placed upon a person. In this type of fraud the assets are originally under the control of the person lawfully, but the person then uses the assets for unintended purposes.

For example, a Cash Office Manager would be authorized to have control over cash in the cash office for business purposes and management. However, if the Cash Office Manager took possession of cash and illegally removed it from the cash office for their own personal use, this would constitute a form of embezzlement. If an attorney has control of an individual’s assets in order to manage their financial affairs, but misappropriates some or all of their client’s money into the attorney’s personal bank account, this would constitute embezzlement.

Elements common to embezzlement would include:

  • The assets must belong to someone other than the accused (such as an employer)

Store Worker Fatally Shot Trying To Prevent Shoplifting

CHICAGO (CBS) — An employee was shot and killed while trying to stop a person from shoplifting on the South Side.

The victim was working at a Family Dollar store in the 7900 block of South Ashland in Auburn Gresham when he was shot around 5 p.m. Tuesday.

When confronted, the shoplifter pulled out a gun and opened fire, hitting the worker in the chest, police said.

The 30-year-old man was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Customers said the victim was Jquinn McCune, the store’s manager.

“I’m so sorry this happened to him,” said Matthew Hobson. “I mean, he was a great, great inspiration to the young people in the neighborhood. He tried to get along with everybody, looked out for everybody.”

The man who fired the shots fled on foot in unknown direction

 

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