Loss Prevention Workshop

Why Employees Steal In Retail Loss Prevention, Atlanta

June 3, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Over the 30 plus years the thousands of employees I caught during retail loss prevention theft investigations told me the reasons why they stole from their employers. One of the very most common reasons has been something like: “as a favor to help a friend out”. All of us refer to this as peer pressure. What still amazes me to this day is that an employee commits a serious felony that will potentially cause the loss of their freedom and civil penalties to help someone else out.

Many of us loss prevention and security professionals have heard this same reason over and over so many times. Why do they do it? There are several interesting factors. The main one being their age. We hear this a lot from 16 to 22 year olds. I feel this is because they think that fitting in with these so-called “buddies” is more important to them. That thought process is pretty strange to the rest of us until you think back to your own life when you were at that age. You may have started drinking or did something else that you now look back and say, “What in the world was I thinking?” All of this in order to “be friends”.

People in that age bracket also seem to feel like they are immune and they will not get caught. In that situation I always chuckle about the loss prevention investigations I conducted where a younger employee thought that they were the only one that ever thought of void or refund fraud, cash theft or some other retail theft that I had already put 500 people prior to them in jail for.

One retail loss prevention investigation I conducted is a particularly good example. Two 18 year old employees, female and male who had were girlfriend and boyfriend made the decision to steal cash and merchandise in the thousands of dollars. Their belief was that no one knew what they were doing. They thought that they were smarter that the rest of us including the manager.

The manager contacted me to start a loss prevention investigation after she noticed discrepancies in both merchandise and cash. I put the evidence together and it became very clear that it was the girlfriend/boyfriend. During the interviews with each of them I discovered the reason, they were stealing for each other (isn’t love great?) and they didn’t think anyone else would figure it out. They got to spend the next several years on probation paying back the retailer with interest and many hours of community service. They were put into separate community service programs since the Judge thought their love needed a little break.

Your loss prevention program should take these types of reasons into account if you want to keep your merchandise, assets and cash on YOUR bottom line. Make it clear to ALL employees that you will not tolerate any loss or theft. 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 does not belong to them.

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

Narcissistic Behaviors

June 2, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Employee theft is probably one of the hardest forms of theft to detect and resolve. The problem is that these employees have an advantage over you. They know your systems, they know who is observant, and they know when the best times to steal are. Employees also have access to different processes and assets that shoplifters do not have.

An employee who is embezzling money, instead of stealing merchandise, typically will not show indicators that would make you initially suspicious. What we have found over years of investigations and interviews is that these employees do show other behavioral patterns. When combined with certain access to accounts, billing, and cash processing, the behavior should be a red flag to their employers.

The first warning sign is the employee displaying any overtly narcissistic behaviors. The textbook definition is that a narcissistic personality is a person who is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and to others in the process.

Typically these employees will build themselves, their position and their responsibilities up. They withdraw other employee access to their jobs, saying the other employees simply cannot perform the job functions satisfactorily. The other employees are under qualified, and the employee is the only one who can do the job right.

They will then validate and secure their positions by saying they are the only ones who can do their job. What would you do if I left? No one else can do this, I have to be here. They will often change the way processes are done, or have their own filing system. They will do anything they can to simultaneously confuse anyone who attempts to look in on what they are doing, and validate how complicated their job is; in essence creating their own job security.

What they are actually doing is finding ways to keep everyone else out of their paperwork. If they are embezzling, they are siphoning money by creating false invoices or payments, they can be creating write offs, even when a customer pays in full. They can be floating money from one account to another to cover up the cash they are taking.

The solution is to be wary of any employee who is displaying these narcissistic behaviors. They are building themselves up, while pushing blame onto those around them in an attempt to derail you from becoming suspicious of them. Next, make sure you have a check and balance system in place. There should be a standard way to handle all accounting practices. No one should create their own system. This system should also have a periodic audit to ensure compliance and integrity of your books.

Even though it makes more sense financially to hire only one person to do all of your paperwork and accounting, have a second person split the responsibilities. Accounts payable and accounts receivable (sales, receiving, cash management) functions should be split to lessen the likely hood of an employee embezzling money from you.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

Catch All The Steps- Loss Prevention Seminars

June 2, 2014 by Staff Editor

Loss prevention seminars are extremely important if you are going to make shoplifting apprehensions in your store. The elimination of even one step can create a huge lawsuit and liability for your business.

First, you need to see the subject enter the store. The point is to see what they have, what they are wearing or carrying, so you can conversely know what merchandise they are stealing from you.

Secondly, you need to see them enter the area where the merchandise is sold. You absolutely need to see them select (pick up) the merchandise in question.

Again, this ensures you can verify the merchandise is absolutely your property and not theirs.

At this point you need to see them conceal the product or otherwise demonstrate that they are intending to steal.

Maintain constant observation of the merchandise. If you loose contact, can you be sure they did not discard the merchandise somewhere along the way? Some shoplifters do get spooked and drop the product.

Finally they need to exit the store and pass the last point of sales.

Loss prevention training is designed to assist retailers with making decisions to stop shoplifting or not. These loss prevention seminars are out there to further expound on these steps, and explain the subtle nuances that can arise during an actual shoplifting stop. That way the retailer can make a better determination if shoplifting apprehensions would be beneficial to their stores.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

First, you need to see the subject enter the store. The point is to see what they have, what they are wearing or carrying, so you can conversely know what merchandise they are stealing from you.

Secondly, you need to see them enter the area where the merchandise is sold. You absolutely need to see them select (pick up) the merchandise in question.

Again, this ensures you can verify the merchandise is absolutely your property and not theirs.

At this point you need to see them conceal the product or otherwise demonstrate that they are intending to steal.

Finally they need to exit the store and pass the last point of sales.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

Working On The Ground Level

May 31, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

In spite of all of my years of experience in catching shoplifters, I am always worried that they will spot me watching them. It’s not that it would be the worst thing that could possibly happen, mind you. More than likely the shoplifter will discard the merchandise before they make any attempts to walk out the door with it. It prevents the loss of product, which is ultimately what retail theft prevention is about.

What I personally don’t like is feeling like I have wasted all the time watching them, and the potential shoplifter leaves without any recourse. That means that they will probably come back in and make another attempt at stealing from my stores.

I spoke with one of my mentors about the concern and he gave me an interesting piece of advice- Get down on the ground to avoid detection. Now he wasn’t talking about sprawling down on the floor and staying there. He was talking about lowering down to avoid being in the shoplifters line of sight.

A shoplifter is trying to avoid detection at all costs. They are maintaining constant vigilance and eyesight towards anyone that comes within their line of sight. As such, they are focused primarily on the movements that are straight ahead, at their eye level.

A shoplifter is not looking down, to see if someone is kneeling down, spying on them. I have since developed my own trick to watching shoplifters closer up. I kneel down beside a table, or a rounder of clothing. So I don’t look suspicious to the shoplifter, or any other customers, I pretend to be tying my shoe. Even if my shoe doesn’t have actual laces on it, if I am fiddling with my shoe, no one is suspicious, and I am below the shoplifter’s line of sight.

Of all the cases I have watched that I have used this trick, not one shoplifter has known that I was watching them from a few feet away. I still feel like I could be noticed at any time, and I guess that feeling will never go away. I do know that my trick has been proven to work for me in the past, and will stay successful in the future.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Loss Prevention Workshop, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

A Larger Audience- Loss Prevention Seminars

May 28, 2014 by Staff Editor

When businesses take a stand against shoplifting losses within their walls, the community takes notice. Instead of going somewhere else, the community comes to you. They begin to share a positive message of your stores, thus growing your business as more customers come to you for their shopping needs.

The question is, however, how do you take that initial stand against shoplifting?

Many larger retailers are encouraging their employees to get their Loss Prevention Certification from the Loss Prevention Foundation. These retailers are ones who have the luxury of employing full time loss prevention personnel.

This formalized training and certification is expensive, too expensive for most small businesses. It would be difficult to get the return on that investment, especially if you were looking for loss prevention training that could be disseminated to your entire team of employees and managers. That doesn’t mean that it is not beneficial to have this kind of training.

By attending more affordable loss prevention seminars, you can get your entire team involved and educated. Benefits to this kind of loss prevention training include better job performance by providing awareness of methods and kinds of losses that retailer’s incur. They can improve competencies needed to resolve shrink losses and implications. They can also improve the perception of your company or business within the community.

When you find loss prevention seminars that are affordable to your entire team, you will get the same information and knowledge that you would through the loss prevention certification. The difference is more employees can attend, and you can gear the loss prevention seminars to the information that you need for your stores specifically.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

The question is, however, how do you take that initial stand against shoplifting?

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

Shoplifting Videos And Funny Jokes

May 27, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

When people think shoplifting is only for poor people that cannot afford such items, they have to think twice about the facts. Millions of dollars are lost each year due to shoplifting, and it is not only poor people doing the crime. Celebrities, cops, and people in power are too often in the news for shoplifting crimes they commit, and the truth is, that is not because of lack of money. Below are videos about famous people shoplifting and other people not so famous doing the same. Follow the links below.

13 Jameis Winston Shoplifting Crab Legs Jokes in 60 Seconds

FSU Football Quarterback, Baseball Pitcher, and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston stole crab legs from Publix in Tallahass.

Surveillance Video Released Of East Bay State Senate Candidate Hayashi Shoplifting

The East Bay State Senate race heats up after surveillance tape surfaces of candidate Mary Hayashi’s 2011 shoplifting incident at a Neiman Marcus in San Francisco.

The hour long video shows the former 18th District assemblywoman picking out about $2,500 worth of clothing then going into a dressing room with shopping bags. After she paid for some of the clothing, she was met by two security guards after she walked out the door.

San Leandro Talk blog editor Margarita Lacabe posted the video to her website after obtained the in-store footage from the San Francisco police under a Freedom of Information Act request last week.

Lacabe, who’s active in Democratic politics and is supporting Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski in the race for the state Senate District 10 seat, said she was shocked at how much detail the cameras recorded. “I wasn’t surprised by the actual content because it was described on the police report,” she said. “but I was disturbed watching the security guard staring through the dressing room door.”

Shoplifting suspect rams cars while trying to escape police

Two people are behind bars after trying to shoplift from a Walmart Friday afternoon.

Officers detained Terrell Bailey as he left the store with a cart full of stolen goods, then tried to stop Sandra Jones, who was about to leave in a pick-up.

When an officer approached her vehicle, Jones backed out of the handicap space.

As the officer opened the door, Jones tried to speed away. The officer had to grab the truck to keep from being hit.

Jones hit several vehicles before stopping, with the officer pinned between the open driver’s side door and another vehicle.

Witnesses helped free the officer, and Jones, who was unconscious, was taken to St. Francis Bartlett.

She was later released and booked into the Bartlett City Jail.

The officer was also taken to the hospital as a precaution, and released with no injuries.

The 101 items Bailey and Jones tried to steal were worth $1,156.77.

Police also learned Bailey had an active warrant for theft under $500, and Jones had two active warrants, one for theft under $500 and the other for driving with a suspended license, speeding, and violation of financial law. The vehicles damaged by Jones were logged into a crash report.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, EAS Devices, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Workshop, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Which Way Would Your Employees Go? – Shoplifting

May 21, 2014 by Staff Editor

The best way is to learn the five steps retailers’ use and how to legally approach a shoplifter is to attend a loss prevention workshop. There they can walk you through the steps and answer most of the legal questions you might have when it comes to approaching and apprehending a shoplifter.

While it might seem like common sense as to how to make the approach, it is surprising how many employees make their own deviations and decide what is best at the time. I have seen the following examples happen when employees have accused customers of shoplifting.

You walk up to them, outright accuse them and demand to search their bags to find the (suspected) stolen items.

For others, the answer is to not confront them and to call the police to have them arrested.

The rest of the employees have determined that the best approach is one of denial- “He was a shoplifter? Really? I didn’t notice.”

If you accuse a shoplifter directly, you open yourself up to a variety of scenarios.

The first is an open/ aggressive confrontation can escalate into a potentially dangerous situation. The shoplifter might be armed, or prepared to fight his way out.

If you do not have any proof of the shoplifting act and are relying on your “gut feeling”, you might open yourself and your business up to a wrongful detainment/ accusation lawsuit. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars and potentially negative press. Same thing goes for calling the police without actual proof.

A passive/ non-existent approach can lead to shoplifters coming back because they do not fear getting caught.