Alpha 3 Alarm — Page 31

Holiday Help

December 5, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The Help Wanted signs, advertisements, and postings are already popping up across the country. Retailers nationwide are starting the process of hiring their holiday help. By hiring them in October and Early November, retailers anticipate that these employees will be trained and ready for the big day after Thanksgiving sales, and throughout the holiday shopping season.

The plus side to hiring temporary help, whether it is during the winter holidays, or the summer garden season, is that the employees are there for the hours and days only when the store actually needs them. Hiring on a seasonal or temporary basis allows the retailers to terminate the employment at the end of the season with little future responsibility in the form of unemployment or severance benefits. This doesn’t mean that it is a one-sided employment relationship.

These temporary jobs are a great solution for people looking to make some extra money to pay for holiday gifts or toys. Teachers who have the summer off can pick up additional work that will not interfere when the school year starts back up. Many temporary workers are hard working, and enjoy the freedom that a temporary position gives them. Other temporary workers do so in the hopes of proving themselves worthy of a permanent position after the season is over.

The downside to hiring temporary help, regardless of time of year, is that many of these employees will not have a sense of ownership or loyalty for the company they are working for. In particular, near the end of their employment these disengaged employees who are about to be let go might try to take a little extra for themselves on their way out the door.

Just as with any other employee theft case where the employee steals because they feel they are owed additional compensation, temporary employees can fall into this same mentality. Perhaps it is because they were not offered a permanent position, or perhaps they feel like they gave up more of their holidays than what they realized they would working these seasonal hours, it is easy for a temporary employee to decide they want more.

With no ownership, a limited time frame of their employments, and a sense of entitlement, many seasonal employees historically end up in employee theft situations. These losses cut into very critical profits, as seasonal/ holiday sales often make or break a store’s financial success for the year. It is also problematic due to the short time frame that these crimes are executed within.

Typically, employees who steal do not want to leave their jobs. They might stay at a particular employer for years, building their safety net and refining their methods. They will usually escalate over a period of time, starting with very small thefts to see what they can get away with. This gives anyone investigating a pattern of shortages discovered over a period of time to look for and follow.

When a seasonal hire decides to steal, they know that they might only have a matter of a few months, or only a few weeks to take all that they can. They might decide to only make one large theft, or multiple small thefts that might not pop up on anyone’s radar. From an investigative standpoint, it is often too late to determine who is causing these shortages. By the time the losses are discovered, or a pattern of theft appears, the employee could have already left their employment.

One of the best ways to prevent these losses is to execute all policies and procedures at 100%, especially during these overly busy times. Any breech of policy is more likely to quickly red flag. Seasonal hires should not be given access to keys, codes, alarms, etc. Leave those to a permanent employee. Finally, conducting mini investigations during the season will help uncover any potential theft risks while they are happening, instead of waiting to find evidence after the fact.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Nano Gate, anti-theft devices, EAS Devices, Perpetual Inventory, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics

Conducting A Security Self Audit

December 1, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Part of your internal auditing process should be a section devoted specifically to your store’s safety and security measures. Some points should be audited on a daily basis, while others can be less frequently, such as once a month. When you monitor your store’s security measures consistently, you are able to respond more quickly to any malfunctions or procedural breakdowns.

One of the easiest security features to audit on a daily basis is your EAS and security tags. These are the anti theft devices put onto your merchandise that provide a visual deterrent to potential shoplifters. Ensuring 100% compliance is not only a stronger deterrent, but also reinforces the concept of operational accuracy and a check and balance system internally. Employees who are held accountable to stringent operational standards are less likely to look for opportunities to steal from their employer.

A daily audit of EAS tags consists of a department rotation and a spot check of those items. There is no need to check every single item, unless there is a pattern of under performance in those areas. The best way to do the daily audit is to only audit 20 or so items on a given day. From there, it is easy to determine the percentage of accuracy. If out of 20 items only ten have the appropriate tagging, you have 50% compliance. You can do more or less based upon your actual needs, but a similar process will be the most time efficient, with the most accurate results.

Along the same lines is auditing the EAS alarms at your doors. These alarm activations should be reviewed by CCTV whenever possible. You need to understand why you are having alarm activations, and how your employees are responding to them. You can bet that the shoplifters coming into your store are watching for this, so don’t give them the advantage by being oblivious to what is going on in your stores.

If an EAS alarm is activated, your employees should respond to the person going out the door and offer their assistance to deactivate any tags that were missed during checkout. You should look to see if you have a specific employee who is not deactivating tags properly, causing unnecessary alarms. You should also review to see if you have the same person setting off alarms, they might be a shoplifter to watch out for. These audits can be done weekly rather than daily and still prove effective.

One area in particular to audit at 100% is alarm activations before and after your store closes. While most of the alarms are likely to be dismissed by stock/ freight movement to replenish selling shelves, you want to watch out for that one that is not. The alarm activation you are looking for is caused by an employee stealing. It is not unheard of for an employee who is stealing from their store to try and take the merchandise out after hours. Fewer people are around to notice, and the employee can take more merchandise out at a time, without arousing suspicion. If no one goes back to review these after hours alarms, the employee can go undetected for months or sometimes even years.

Any reputable alarm company, such as Checkpoint, will give you a daily and weekly listing of alarm activations. The report should include the time and the date, allowing you to cross reference with your CCTV recordings. By looking at the times, you can quickly determine which alarms are after hours. After hours alarms should be conducted as soon as the report is received. If an employee actually is stealing, it needs to be swiftly investigated and dealt with to prevent further financial losses.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, EAS Devices, Loss Prevention Training, prevent shrinkage, shoplifting

Prevent Shoplifting During This Holiday Season

November 21, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The security of your retail store during this holiday season is an important part of your business. Shoplifting prevention and employee theft are more critical during this time of year, and having your store prepared for this can be the difference between profits and losses. To read more about this follow the links below.

5 Quick and Low-Tech Tips To Prevent Shoplifting in Your Retail Store

As a small business retailer, it’s not always easy to just throw money at problems like shoplifting and take advantage of all the technology that big box retailers may be privy to. Whether it’s cameras, door scanners, or facial-recognition software, sometimes their big-ticket cost just doesn’t fit with your small business security budget.

But when you recognize facts like shoplifting costing retailers upwards of $13 billion each year, it’s important to identify it as a problem that needs to be dealt with.

So, what’s a boutique owner to do? In this post, I’ll be looking at cost-effective and low-tech tactics that you can start implementing right away.

Let’s dive in.

1. Keep Your Store Organized and Products Well-Placed

How easy should it be to identify whether something has gone “missing” from your store? Empty space on your shelves should be enough of a visual cue to signal something has gone wrong.

Holiday Shopping: More Shoppers, More Theft — Prepare Your Business

The holiday season can be a stressful time for most people, not to mention retailers. With the seasonal shopping season starting earlier and earlier each year, many small businesses are scrambling to order inventory, ensure their shelves are stocked, all the while decorating their storefront in a way that will entice customers to come in and shop local.

While some may complain about the commercialization of the holiday season, there is proof in the “figgy pudding.” According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales represent approximately 19.2 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. And that’s not just for the big box stores and e-commerce giants, the upcoming holiday season is extremely important for small business owners. It’s the biggest revenue driver of the year, and can keep a business afloat or sink it. However, the increase in potential shoppers, brings an increase in potential theft. Seasonal shoplifting can be detrimental for small businesses owners, who are trying keep their doors open for another year.

Opiate epidemic

The message, delivered Thursday night to a standing-room-only crowd at the Wood County Educational Service Center, was clear: the opiate epidemic in Ohio, and Wood County, is a community problem.

And the problem must be solved by a community-wide effort.

The Opiate Epidemic Town Hall meeting, presented by the Wood County Opiate Task Force, featured a panel of experts on the subject from a variety of fields.

The issue of opiate addiction has ramped up in Wood County, and nationwide, in recent years. In the U.S., someone dies from an opiate-related overdose every 15 minutes. Some addicts begin with an addiction to prescription painkillers like Oxycontin and Vicodin, obtained legally or illegally, and then move on to heroin – which has become cheaper and easier to obtain.

Heidi Riggs, of the Ohio Attorney General’s Heroin Unit, shared the story of her daughter, Marin, who died in 2012 at age 20 of a heroin overdose. Marin, despite a variety of gifts, dealt with a self-esteem problem that led to her addiction.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Workshop, Shoplifting Prevention

Preventing Theft This Holiday Season

November 12, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Theft this holiday season is not something out of the ordinary. Shoplifting happens daily all across the globe. The United States alone loses billions of dollars each year due to this crime. Authorities and the retail industry collaborate with each other to prevent or ameliorate the amount they lose due to this crime. During the holiday season, stores are busy and management and employees have less time to keep an eye on the customer, making it easier for shoplifters to get into the store and snatch something. Prevention can save you thousands of dollars; protect your store, your profits and your employees this holiday season.

Holiday theft season approaching

Every year as the holiday season approaches, thefts and other related crimes begin to trend upward, more so as the Christmas holiday looms closer.

Misdemeanor shoplifting thefts are not the only crimes that climb during the holidays. Residential and business burglaries also rise significantly.

Preventive policing by the Harker Heights Police Department helps to lessen these property crimes. Preventive measures include neighborhood and business patrols.

The Harker Heights Police Department has in the recent past positioned the city’s public safety command vehicle in the parking lot of Market Heights during the holiday shopping period, providing a police presence and rapid response for business owners and the shopping public.

Such a strategic move not only serves to provide the public with an immediate crime reporting station, but it also serves as a deterrent to criminals who would seek to victimize businesses and the shoppers they serve.

Season’s thievings

With the Christmas season just around the corner, police in Maury County are preparing for one of the most common holiday crimes: shoplifting.

So far in 2014, shoplifting incidents in Columbia have been reduced by 20 percent compared to last year, Columbia police Lt. Joey Gideon said Friday.

But, he said, shoplifting does tend to occur more often during the holiday season than during any other time of the year.

“After Black Friday, the stores start getting more crowded, and it’s easier for shoplifters to go unnoticed,” Gideon said.

Must-do identity theft protection tips for holiday shoppers

As you race hither and yon to the mall, to the grocery store or to grandma’s house while spreading holiday cheer, that jingling sound you hear is probably not sleigh bells. If you’re not careful, that might be the sound of money flying out of your pockets and into the hands of the crooks that target holiday shoppers.

Identity theft doesn’t just happen online. Crooks can pilfer your personal information right out of your wallet or cellphone unless you take some steps to be extra vigilant during the holiday shopping season.

Here are some simple, must-do measures to keep in mind over the next few months:

Streamline your wallet. Leave anything you don’t need, such as your Social Security card (you should never carry it in your wallet), your library or wholesale club card, and excess credit cards at home. Only take the credit cards you know you will use.

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, anti-thefts devices

Retail Shoplifting Rings

October 28, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Shoplifting according to research can begin early in your teens and become a dangerous criminal habit into your adult life. Shoplifting rings across the nation are becoming a way of life for the people involved without thinking anything serious can happened to them. Many of these people began when teenagers, and as more people become involved, the amount they can and will steal from a store can be in the thousands of dollars. For more information about this and other stories follow the links below.

Kelly’s Stupid Criminals of the week!

Featuring this week a “British fraudster who pretended to be quadriplegic and sometimes comatose for two years to avoid prosecution has been convicted after police caught him on camera driving and strolling around supermarkets.”

CLICK HERE

And a 30 year old woman was arrested Sunday morning after police say she spent a few hours stuck in a chimney of a home of a man who had recently ended a relationship with her. Not the best way to win back his heart..

8 accused in Polk retail theft ring

POLK COUNTY, FL (WFLA) –

Polk County Sheriff’s detectives say eight people suspected of participating in a retail theft ring are accused of stealing $6,500 worth of merchandise from local stores.

The suspects are 17 to 26 years old. Most were arrested last week.

Detectives say the suspects worked together as a group and stole items from several retail locations including Bealls Outlet, Sports Authority, Hot Topic, Footlocker, Rainbow, Crush, Dillard’s, Kohl’s, Toys R Us, Cotton On, and the Burlington Coat Factory.

The group primarily stole clothing by concealing the merchandise and walking out of the stores without paying for the items, according to investigators. Approximately $6,500 in stolen property has been identified, but suspects are believed to have been responsible for stealing merchandise worth thousands’ more.

“Retail theft is a serious problem in Florida. It drives up the cost of goods and we all suffer through higher prices. We often find that these thieves are stealing every day. I applaud the hard work of our detectives—we will work hard to make sure these suspects are held accountable,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Seeking Safety: A blueprint for reducing youth crime that works

Almost every time a teenager was gunned down in Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak took to the street corners to console family and friends of the victim and to search for answers.

More often than not, Rybak said, people in those neighborhoods told him they could see it coming. The victims almost always led lives marked by violence. Most were young gangbangers with guns and little hope, teens who seemed predestined to die in a city that Time magazine dubbed Murderopolis in 1996.

With every killing, Rybak wondered the same thing about the people who knew the victim was on the wrong path: “Why the hell didn’t they do anything?”

That thought remained with Rybak when Minneapolis – like so many other cities across America – had a defining moment that brought the city to action.

Woman accused of shoplifting over $500 in clothing arrested

$660 worth of clothing was recovered by a loss prevention worker at the JC Penny store located in Stones River Mall on Sunday. According to a Police Incident Report, a shoplifting suspect by the name of Maria Fernandez entered the store and stuffed over $600 worth of clothing into her purse. The woman then passed every point of purchase.

The 54-year old woman is being charged with theft over $500.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention

Shoplifting Policies and Procedures

October 23, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Every business is different, and their policies and procedures varied from store to store or office to office. In a retail store, the policies and procedures concerning a shoplifting accident have to concise and known by every employee in the store. Knowing what to do and how to react to those kind of situations is important and financially responsible to the business. If your policy is to prosecute every shoplifter regardless of age, or the amount of merchandise they steal, your employees should be aware of it. If your policy is to get the merchandise back without prosecuting, they should be aware of that too. Avoiding a lawsuit against your store regarding a shoplifting accident should be an important subject to discuss with your employees and your management team.

Follow the links for more news about shoplifting.

NM shoplifters as early risers

EDGEWOOD — Five-thirty in the morning might be an odd time for a shopping spree, but it’s a common time of day for shoplifters.

Combatting shoplifting, especially in those wee hours of the morning, is a common struggle for operators of 24-hour stores, and Wal-Marts throughout the area have been experiencing individuals pushing fully loaded shopping carts out the doors without paying a dime. Edgewood Police Chief Fred Radosevich said his department received a call two weeks ago reporting four suspected shoplifters attempting to leave the premises, with what later turned out to be nearly $2,000 worth of goods.

“It happened on Oct. 8 at about 5:30 in the morning,” he said. “We got a report of people possibly shoplifting. Officer (David) Lovato responded. Through the investigation two people were arrested.”

Lovato identified four people on the scene as suspects – three females and one male. He arrested Joyce Newman, 50, of Bernalillo and Jacee York, 19, of Rio Rancho. The pair both have extensive records, including past charges for shoplifting.

The remaining two suspects had not exited the store when they were stopped so they have not been arrested, but they will be issued a summons, Radosevich added.

Armed Kingsport shoplifter assaults employees, flees police

An attempt to swipe $72 in Walmart merchandise escalated to felony charges, according to Kingsport police, as the suspect pulled a knife on store employees and was Tasered by a responding officer, then briefly escaped across a parking lot after being handcuffed.
At approximately 6:20 p.m. Wednesday, police were alerted to the incident at 2500 W. Stone Drive. It was reported a shoplifter had been detained by loss prevention officers but was resisting.

While en route, officers were told that the suspect had brandished a knife and fled the store, running toward the adjacent Lowe’s. A Kingsport Police Department incident report states an officer spotted the described suspect crossing Deneen Lane. When the officer exited his patrol car and ordered the man to stop, he allegedly began “running faster.”

The suspect, later identified as Joseph B. Hall, 25, reportedly ignored additional commands during the ensuing foot pursuit, prompting the officer to deploy a Taser. It immediately halted Hall’s flight, with a second officer then attempting to bring him into custody.

Hall allegedly resisted by “violently kicking” and holding his arms beneath his body. At that point police observed a knife in his pocket, with concerns that he would attempt to stab police prompting a second deployment from a Taser.

Gabriel Brothers Protects Prices by Standing Up to Shoplifting with CAP

SALT LAKE CITY – Sept. 30, 2014 – Loss prevention cloud technology company Turning Point Justice and the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) today announced that Gabriel Brothers (Gabe’s), fashion retailer and first choice destination for savvy shoppers, has adopted the CAP for Shoplifting crime accountability program. A collaborative retail theft solution created by TPJ and NASP, CAP is based upon the principle that cooperation between retailers, law enforcement and the justice system saves time and money for everyone while improving offender accountability and reducing recidivism.

“Shoplifting prevention is essential to keeping prices low for customers, and CAP provides an innovative approach to holding more offenders accountable for retail theft,” said Mark Stovich, Gabriel Brothers Inc. Director of Asset Protection. “Gabe’s customers know they can count on us for great prices, and with CAP, we can meet those expectations while helping our communities fight shoplifting and support positive values.”

Profile of A Shoplifter

October 14, 2014 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It doesn’t matter if you make 20,000 thousand or a half million dollars a year. It doesn’t matter if you are Caucasian, black, Hispanic or any other race. Shoplifters come from all types of life. Some shoplifters have college degrees while some others did not finish high school. Men, women and children shoplift from all types of stores, and the amounts they steal can vary dramatically. If you think you can spot a shoplifter right away, think again. For more news about shoplifting, follow the links below.

Cowboys RB arrested for shoplifting cologne and underwear
Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle was arrested by police in Frisco, Texas on Monday night on charges of shoplifting a bottle of cologne and underwear from a Dillard’s store at the Stonebriar Centre shopping complex.

Lt. Jason Jenkins of the Frisco Police Department told For The Win that Randle was arrested for stealing a tester bottle of Gucci Guilty Black cologne and a two-pack of Polo underwear.Frisco PD released a statement Tuesday morning with further details:

“Upon arrival at the location, Frisco police officers made contact with Joseph Randle who had been detained by in-store loss prevention. Upon further investigation it was found that Randle had removed items from Dillard’s without purchasing them. Randle was subsequently arrested for theft 50/500, which is a class B misdemeanor. Randle was transported to the Frisco City Jail where he was booked in. Randle was released from custody at 1:20 a.m. after a bond was posted.”

Man charged with habitual shoplifting

HICKORY, N.C. – A man charged with shoplifting – police say he committed the offense at Rugged Warehouse on Monday – was charged with habitual shoplifting Thursday afternoon.

James Maurice Wilson, 44, of Taylorsville, was charged with one count of felony habitual shoplifting, according to an arrest report. He was given a $5,000 secured bond.

Wilson was charged with misdemeanor shoplifting Monday after officers said they found items stolen from Rugged Warehouse on him in a search.

Wilson was convicted on nine larceny charges – five felonies, four misdemeanors – between 1987 and 2003, according to the North Carolina Public Offenders website.

Amanda Bynes allegedly tries stealing from NYC boutique 1 hour before being accused of shoplifting at Barneys

The actress has returned to New York City and supposedly tried to swipe merchandise from Pookie & Sebastian before heading to the high-end department store where she attempted to leave wearing a $200 hat.

Amanda Bynes has sticky fingers.

Back in New York City and the troubled star is already wreaking havoc.

Just one hour before trying to steal merchandise from the upscale department store Barneys on Wednesday, Bynes reportedly tried to swipe items from the clothing store Pookie & Sebastian, reports TMZ.

The “Hairspray” star was being followed by the store’s employees due to suspicious activity, sources told the gossip site.

Employee Theft

October 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The figures for employee theft are staggering. According to a report by the ACFE the loss for fraud in a typical organization is 5% of its revenues. That amount corresponds to losses of more than $3.5 trillion worldwide.

Employee theft is an ever growing social and economical issue that is affecting everyone. The retail industry alone losses are in the billions of dollars every year. Employee theft can be done by employees with seniority or low level employees that find an opportunity to commit the crime. More than three quarters of employee theft is done by employees with no previous record, or that have not been charged with a theft related incident before. To read more about employee theft, follow the links below.

Former Barnes & Noble employee accused of stealing $46,000 in merchandise from Mandeville store

A former Barnes & Noble employee was recently arrested for allegedly stealing about $46,000 in merchandise from the store over a three-year period, Mandeville Police reported Tuesday (Sept. 30). Tomas Santamaria, 32, is accused of selling more than 700 stolen items, mostly DVD’s and novels, on eBay and funneling the proceeds into his bank account, police said.

Santamaria, of 19246 Antenor St. in Mandeville, was booked Sept. 23 with money laundering, computer fraud and theft.

An investigation began July 31 of this year after the bookstore on U.S. 190 reported a suspected employee theft, the police department said in a news release. Detectives determined Santamaria stole about $46,000 in merchandise between September 2011 and July of this year, the release said.

Retail employee accused of stealing cash over time

A retail store employee was arrested Tuesday and accused of stealing thousands of dollars from her register over a period of several weeks.

Alexis W. Causey, 22, of 507 Church St., West Monroe, faces one count of theft.

An arrest report said Monroe Police were sent to Target at 4103 Pecanland Mall Drive in reference to employee theft. Once there, an officer spoke with an employee who said Causey took $2,000 from her register from the first part of September through Monday.

After being questioned, Causey reportedly said she took the money. Causey reportedly said she would remove the cash from her register and place it in a trash can. At the end of her shift, she would remove the money before emptying the can.

A&P Employee From Ossining Charged In Theft Of Meat From Store

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. — An Ossining man was charged with grand larceny on Tuesday after he was accused of stealing goods from his employer, according to State Police from the Cortlandt barracks.

Gregory Rodriguez, 46, was accused of stealing $1,200 worth of meat from the Cortlandt A&P where he worked, by hiding the meat on himself before attempting to leave, police said.

Rodriguez was arraigned before the Town of Cortlandt Court and remanded to the Westchester County Jail without bail. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday, Oct. 3, police said.

You Are in Charge

October 2, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

There is a video of a shoplifting apprehension that has been making its way across the internet. The video is not a company sanction video or even surveillance based off of CCTV coverage. It is a video that some bystander started to record on their cell phone. Within the video, you see two employees making a shoplifting apprehension. The suspect is refusing to comply, and a physical altercation is ensuing. At some point, one of the employees is stabbed, the suspect ends up on the ground and the second employee starts to hit the suspect in the face.

The video is an interesting mix of several things that were done correctly, and several things that absolutely were not. Even more interesting are the comments that were posted that very clearly showed two completely opposite line of thought around not only what the video showed, but the interpretation of the events as well.

In the video, we do not see what happened at the start. We do not see what the merchandise is, or where it’s at, or even if there actually was stolen merchandise. All we see is the apprehension taking place in the parking lot between two cars. The suspect is clearly fighting off the employees and refusing to comply. One employee verbally states that he is (company name) loss prevention and to stop fighting. He says this a few times, clear enough that it is caught on the video.

This is a very important part of the apprehension process. The employee needs to make sure the suspect is aware that they are store employees, not random people that are assaulting him. Without a verbal identification, a shoplifting suspect can say they ran, or fought because they didn’t know who was coming after them. If an employee carries and shows some form of badge or employee identification, it only strengthens the employee’s clout during an apprehension.

This particular employee is also seen wearing a set of handcuffs, and later puts them on the shoplifting suspect. This is one of the points of confusion during the reader’s comments. Many believed that the store employee had no legal right to carry or use handcuffs. While each jurisdiction can be different, it is actually legal in most places for the use of handcuffs in a shoplifting apprehension by store employees.

The biggest part to remember is that handcuffs are used only to keep the employees and the suspect safe. There is a right and a wrong way to put the handcuffs on. They can be put on too tight or too loose, and the employee needs to execute the application correctly. Shoplifters should not be handcuffed to objects like tables or chairs. Shoplifters must also be protected from harm while they are wearing handcuffs. Needless to say, hitting a shoplifter with the cuffs, or throwing them at them is not legally or morally acceptable. All of this is the responsibility of the employee and the company if handcuffs are to be used.

Back in the video, as the suspect was finally on the ground being handcuffed, the second employee takes a few punches to the suspect’s head. What I see, based off of years of experience, is an employee who has not been properly trained, and is mentally and physically worn out from the fight and the adrenaline surge during the apprehension. This is not excusable, and the employee and the company could be held liable for assault. It is a sad reminder that employees who are to be used as a witness need to be selected carefully, and properly trained well before they act as a witness. This role should not be performed by the closest available employee as you are going out the door to make an apprehension.

Finally, it was shocking to see how many people commented about how employees and stores are not allowed to make apprehensions; that they should have let the suspect go and called the police. Again, it is important to check with your specific codes for your location. However, it is commonly acceptable for a retailer to stop a shoplifter. It falls under Merchant’s Privilege of the shopkeeper’s code. Basically, it is a citizen’s arrest.

If your stores do allow for apprehensions of shoplifters, it is important to make sure your employees are acting completely within their rights, and are well informed of what they can and cannot do. With this many people oblivious to the fact that apprehensions are legal, don’t take it for granted that your shoplifters understand they can be apprehended and prosecuted. A shoplifter who thinks that only police can stop them will be more brazen to steal, and also much more difficult to convince to surrender peacefully.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices

Let The Tides Roll In- Alpha Security

August 25, 2014 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

High Efficiency laundry detergent is a high theft item in almost any store, in any market that carries it. The soap is expensive compared to its non-efficiency counterparts, but more importantly, it is used in making drugs. Because of its necessity in this illegal activity, dealers generally are more likely to steal it than to pay for it. So how do you prevent shoplifting such an irregular product?

Laundry bottles are hard plastic, curved and relatively heavy. EAS labels can be peeled off the outside, and would damage the contents if affixed to the inside. Straight pin EAS tags have nowhere to go, and puncturing the bottle would cause it to leak- spoiling the soap inside.

There are Alpha Security retail anti theft devices that are designed more for clothing security than detergent, but work surprisingly well. The Alpha 2 Alarm and Alpha 3 Alarm Cable Loks have a secured loop that wraps around the bottle’s handle. The Alpha 2 Alarm functionality will sound when the Cable Lok is tampered with, and the Alpha 3 Alarm version sounds directly from the Cable Lok, and not just the EAS door towers.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store for Alpha 2Alarm, Alpha 3Alarm, Alpha Fashion2, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Shark Tag, Alpha Spider Wrap and other retail anti-theft devices from Alpha Security to use in conjunction with your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system that can help you prevent shoplifting in your business.

For more information on how you can use Alpha Security retail anti-theft devices and your Electronic Article Surveillance or EAS system to prevent shoplifting contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2 Alarm, 3 Alarm, Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha Fashion2, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Shark Tag, Alpha Spider Wrap, Fashion2, Jewel Lok, Nano Gate, Prevent Shoplifting, Retail Anti Theft Devices, Shark Tag, Spider Wrap