Shoplifting Prevention

Safety First

August 10, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

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

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 tags, EAS Devices, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, mobile POS loss prevention, Perpetual Inventory, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Could Good Training Help Prevent Deaths In The Retail Industry?

August 4, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

It is not rare when the news report another death from a shoplifting incident. Organized crime is a global and national problem affecting millions of people, and the retail industry loses billions of dollars every year due to shoplifting. LP personnel deal with highly strenuous situations every single day they try to apprehend shoplifters, and their safety is not always guaranteed. What are you doing as a retailer to ensure the safety of your employees? Are you doing enough? Is their training subpar, or are you enlisting the best possible training for them to do their job?

To read more, click on the links below.

Employees charged with fatally crushing shoplifting suspect

It was the middle of the night on Feb. 7, at a Florida Walmart Supercenter, when Kenneth E. Wisham, 64, allegedly decided to steal $380.74 worth of DVDs.

Pushing a shopping cart stacked high with them, Wisham tried to leave the store without employees noticing, but when they did — and then confronted him — the man ran, police said, tugging at his falling pants along the way.

At some time Wisham fell, the initial police report said, and three Walmart employees detained him.

Twelve hours later, Wisham was dead.

Reports from police at the time hinted at a medical mystery that had overtaken the 64-year-old man, who stopped breathing while he was being detained. Wisham never regained consciousness, despite lifesaving efforts at Walmart and the hospital, and died later that afternoon.

Two days later, the Polk County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy.

The cause of death, officials determined, was mechanical asphyxia by restraint, meaning his airwaves were suppressed during a struggle. Wisham also had 15 broken ribs.

INVESTIGATION: Female shoplifting on the rise at some Cleveland-area malls

A string of shoplifting incidents at several local malls have one thing in common — predominantly female suspects.

Strongsville police tell newsnet5.com that women have made up the majority of shoplifting arrests at the South Park Mall for several years. But the number of female arrests is on the rise.

In 2014, 66 percent of shoplifting arrests were female suspects. In 2015, 68 percent of shoplifting arrests were women. And so far this year, 71 percent all shoplifting arrests have been female suspects.

Beachwood had nine reports of shoplifting involving female suspects at Beachwood Place over the last two weeks, according to police reports.

A $5200 Chanel purse was stolen from Saks Fifth Avenue, along with clothing from H&M, jewelry from Claire’s and six different incidents at Sephora, racking up several hundred dollars worth of pocketed cosmetics.

GPS anti-theft device leads deputies to Saks shoplifting suspects

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL (WFLA) – Three woman suspected in a retail theft at the Tampa Premium Outlet Mall are in custody, each facing multiple theft charges.

Pasco County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Toccara Huff, Ayanna Palacio and Sharhonda Pedroso Tuesday. Deputies said the women entered Saks Fifth Avenue and ran out with $1,539.78 worth of merchandise. Investigators caught up with the woman 15 minutes later, about 8 miles away.

The arrest was recorded on a deputy’s body camera.

“You’re going to be going to jail for felony retail theft, OK, because the clothes you stole from the store had a GPS tracker on them,” the deputy says.

“I ain’t did nothing,” one of the suspects said.

Deputies used an anti-theft tracking device that was attached to merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue.

“It was a complete surprise to them,” Sgt. Richard Jones said.

Deputies said this is the first time they’ve caught suspects using a GPS tracker. “Obviously criminals will be more creative in committing crimes, so obviously, law enforcement, loss prevention have to be just as creative in catching those criminals,” Jones said.

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Sometimes We Simply Do Not See The Obvious

August 3, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Sometimes we simply do not see the obvious even when it is right in front of us. For many years we have worked really hard to hide or disguise Checkpoint Labels. The thought being that the shoplifter will not be able to locate and possibly defeat the label.

But new studies show that although that is still a great strategy, you should also look at the opposite. Putting a clearly identified label in plain sight with a warning on it.

Here is a good example using one of the newer clear, Checkpoint Systems stock labels. The trademarked “lock” and wording has been tested extensively.

Rather than bore you with all the details of the study, I will simply tell you that it works and works well. Visible tagging can increase sales and reduce loss. The last study found:

As many of you know I, Bill Bregar have been in the loss prevention field most of my career. So now putting that hat on let’s look at this from another view. We know that shoplifters are broken into three distinct groups; Impulse, Amateur and Professional.

The bulk of shoplifters you encounter are Impulse. I teach this in my shoplifting classes, which by the way I conduct live, in person or by webinar and are FREE of charge to Loss Prevention Systems customers. I always explain that Impulse shoplifters are easily deterred with employee contact. In other words if you greet the Impulse shoplifter with eye contact, a simple hello and “can I help you”, many studies show that the Impulse shoplifter will most likely NOT shoplift during that visit.

Well if we now apply the thought of a Checkpoint Systems visual deterrence label it makes sense. Given the same circumstances where the Impulse shoplifter has not been greeted but is faced with a visual deterrence label it casts enough doubt into their minds that they do not steal.

Well if that is the case then why doesn’t a sign like this work?

Besides being funny to us I have learned that signs do very little. Probably because of sign “pollution”. They either don’t see it or it is really not a threat. But a specific label on the merchandise they are considering stealing, casts doubt. They do not know what other element may be protecting that merchandise.

Something to consider! If you would like some samples of these labels just reach out to us. We will get them in the mail to you at no charge.

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PROSECUTING A SHOPLIFTER – 101

August 2, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

How do I approach a shoplifting incident? This question is asked of me almost on a daily basis by store managers and owners. We always give advice and best practices on how to deter a shoplifter by using EAS devices, but what should you actually do if you are faced with a shoplifting incident that you personally witness? When should you call the police? When can you legally detain someone? While not every situation is the same, there are some basic best practices to follow. Here’s what I train my managers and can be a great starting point for you.

Establishing probable cause

Before you detain anyone for theft, you have to establish probable cause to do so. The best way to do that is to follow the LP industry’s “5 steps” to an apprehension. By following these steps, you always ensure that a detention is within the legal limits, which protects you and your store from any potential civil liability. Those steps are:

SELECTION

You need to witness the suspect select something from your display shelf/rack or peg. This lets you know that the product is yours, and that the customer did not come into the store.

DISPLAY INTENT

Displaying intent to commit a crime is a pretty big umbrella. A customer can display intent to permanently deprive you of merchandise is dozens of ways. Some of the most common are removing the item from its packaging, concealing it on their person, altering the pricing indicator, or even consuming the merchandise.

MAINTAIN POSSESSION

The most common way a shoplifter will display intent is to conceal the item on their person, or maybe in a shopping bag or purse. It’s vital that they maintain possession of your product at the point in which you detain them. You can get yourself into some legal trouble if you detain someone that doesn’t possess any stolen property, so it’s imperative that you keep constant, unbroken observation on the suspect.

FAILED TO PAY

This one is obvious. They have to not pay for the item. Pretty straightforward and simple.

EXIT THE STORE

Once you witness that shoplifter select your property, conceal it in their pants and then walk all the way up front, past the registers and out the door, you have now established probable cause to detain that individual.

There are obviously various scenarios that can throw a monkey wrench in the gears, so it’s also very important for retailers to know and understand your state laws regarding shoplifting. These can usually be very easily found by going to your Secretary of State’s website and searching for the statutes governing theft. Even though I’m well versed in my state’s laws and have been doing this job for a very long time, I still keep printed copies of the law in my bag that I carry at all times. I also encourage you to reach out to your local law enforcement agency for help. Most departments have a retail liaison or similar position that can help you to understand exactly when a crime is considered to have been committed and what they expect from you as the retailer when responding to calls at your store.

Lastly, I implore everyone to always prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Don’t give one person a pass. Show that your store will not be a soft target and that you are committed to keeping prices low for your customers. By prosecuting each shoplifter, you’re also committing to keeping your store safe for your customers and your employees. There’s a theory in law enforcement called “broken windows”. It goes something like this:

You walk past a house or building with a few broken windows. The windows go unrepaired and that leads to other window breaking. Before long, the building is covered in graffiti and squatters may take up residence. Drug use inside proliferates and it attracts others with ill-intent. Fires could be set inside. This “moth to flame” action starts trickling down to other buildings and houses in the neighborhood and soon the area is a criminal hot bed.

While this is only a theory and is a matter of great debate in the world of criminology, it should get you thinking. If shoplifters know they can get away with stealing from you, they’ll come back. Eventually, they will get brazen enough to physically assault a store clerk that may intervene. If you’re not prosecuting these individuals, word gets out that your store is an easy mark. You may eventually get robbed and ultimately shut your doors because your customers refuse to shop at a store they feel is unsafe. You can stop this snowball effect by taking pro-active measures to prevent those from shoplifting as well as taking the necessary action to hold those accountable to the law that do take from your store.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Security, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Georgia shoplifting systems, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

LP Personnel And Safety

July 28, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The billions of dollars the retail industry loses every year due to shoplifting and employee theft have not decreased, but rather will likely continue to increase every year. Deaths due to shoplifting are not rare anymore. News about managers and employees getting shot while trying to stop a shoplifter is commonplace now. Training your LP staff to follow strict regulations when approaching a shoplifter should be a top priority for your business.

Read more about this topic by following 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.

RETAIL INVENTORY SHRINKAGE INCREASED TO $45.2 BILLION IN 2015

The 2016 National Retail Security Survey, conducted in collaboration by the National Retail Federation and the University of Florida, reveals that retailers’ inventory shrink averaged 1.38 percent of retail sales, or $45.2 billion in 2015, up by $1.2 billion from 2014.

According to the report, 47 percent of retailers surveyed reported increases in overall inventory shrink in 2015, with shoplifting accounting for the greatest cause with an average loss of $377 per incident (39 percent), up nearly $60 from 2014.

Robberies continue to be a growing expense for retailers, costing an average of $8,180.17, up from $2,465. The rise in robberies in 2015 was driven by an increase in jewelry stores reporting extremely high average losses.

“With a constantly evolving retail landscape, loss prevention becomes more complex every day,” said NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention Bob Moraca. “LP professionals have been working diligently to find advancements in technology aimed at deterring crime in our industry, sometimes even before it happens – but as our techniques get more sophisticated, so too do the criminals.”

Shoplifting: Retail’s $45 Billion Problem

Retailers are struggling to keep tabs on shoplifters who are increasingly becoming their top source of loss, averaging $377 per incidence, up $60 from the year before.

At 39 percent, shoplifting was found to be the biggest contributor among factors that led to overall inventory shrinkage in 2015 causing a $45.2 billion loss across the United States, according to NRF’s 2016 National Retail Security survey. The new numbers reflect a $1.2 billion increase in losses from 2014.

The inventory shrink averaged 1.38 percent of retail sales and saw 47 percent of retailers reporting losses in 2015.

Another factor adding to inventory shrinkage was a rise in robberies that exclusively targeted jewelry stores. The average loss reported by robbed stores increased from $2,465 per incidence in 2014 to $8,180.17 last year.

“Loss prevention professionals continue to do an exceptional job at locating the issues and finding solutions to prevent additional loss in their retail stores,” said Dr. Richard Hollinger, University of Florida criminology professor and lead author of the NRSS. “It is important for retailers to continue building relationships with law enforcement and leverage new technologies that can further provide protection to their assets, customers and employees.”

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Fighting Shoplifting In Your Store

July 20, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Prevention is one of the most important aspects of loss prevention. Trained personnel with the ability to respond effectively when a crisis arises, can save lives and money to the retail store. CCTV while providing a great help to loss prevention personnel, and being used by most retailers, is often viewed as dated technology that even when used is not used properly. Trained personnel on the floor can be a powerful prevention “tool” for the loss prevention team, while providing a deterrent to the possible shoplifter entering your store.

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

LP101: Commitment to Loss Prevention Training & Development

As contradictory as it might sound, the stability of our loss prevention program is largely dependent on our ability to react and respond to change; and that begins with our people. The evolution of a successful and productive team is an ongoing process. Every member of our team has both personal and professional objectives and agendas, all of which will impact their approaches, their performance, their outlook and their potential.

Most managers understand the importance of getting the right players on their team, and putting those players in the right roles. We attempt to hire talented individuals, place them in positions where we feel they can be most successful, and provide them with the appropriate loss prevention training to meet the needs and expectations of the job.

Establishing and maintaining the expertise necessary to perform our required function demands that we develop the knowledge, skills, proficiencies and abilities of our team. Strong loss prevention training practices help build success. We train to cover the bases—the rules and guidelines, the fundamental competencies of the job, the essential ground rules that help to make people better at the position that they are in.

IN LOSS PREVENTION, DATA — AND YOUR GUT — IS KEY FOR DECISION MAKING

Have you ever experienced a nagging feeling before you’re about to finally make a big decision? You’ve weighed all the data, you’ve considered every angle, but something is keeping you from moving forward. Rather than ignore that nagging feeling and forge ahead, Shelley Row says we need to get to the bottom of it.

Row, an author and expert on executive decision-making, addressed a group of loss prevention professionals gathered for the NRF PROTECT Loss Prevention Conference and Expo — a group that faces difficult decisions on a daily basis, be it combating shrink, performing interrogations, investigating organized retail crime rings or responding to active shooter situations. In researching and interviewing executives about their decision-making process, Row related what she heard to neuroscience and the mechanics of how we use different parts of our brain to make different kinds of decisions.

Loss Prevention: Research Findings from Professor Martin Gill

I recently led a study looking at the future of loss prevention.

Supported by Marks and Spencer but involving representatives from loss prevention in leading retailers, the study posed questions on the scope of loss prevention work; how budgets are set and influenced and how expenditure and on going work is justified; and the perceived effectiveness of a different measures used to mitigate loss. A full copy of the report is available here.

What did the study find?

Sometimes technology is presented as an unqualified good, but this is to oversimplify the position. Sure, it offers real opportunities to better understand threats and therefore to improve the response.

But getting the right technology is tricky. There is a lot out there and determining what is best is one problem, and things change quickly; it can be difficult to keep up.

And offenders use technology too, and rather effectively, committing offences from afar. These people can be difficult to detect and even more difficult to prosecute.

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, prevent shrinkage, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Local Police and Their Communities

July 15, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

shopliftingdollarsign The amount of calls reported by Walmart stores to the local police are staggering. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Walmart stores in Tampa report an outstanding 16,800 calls in only one year and in only 4 counties. That’s 2 calls per hour, every hour, 24 hours a day. That’s your taxes working for Walmart. While the lack of police surveillance of other neighborhoods can affect those communities, Walmart monopolization of the police force should be analyze, and stopped for good.

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

Retail Loss Prevention and Law Enforcement – Can They Work Together?

Law enforcement and LP should work together on retail theft prevention.

For years, there have been those that have questioned whether retail loss prevention and law enforcement can effectively work in partnership with one another. For example retail loss prevention professionals have often felt frustrated that law enforcement wasn’t concerned about helping them with their business. In reality, detectives may have been focusing on other pressing crimes, such as a rash of burglaries, sexual assaults, or other crimes against people.

Consider the aftermath of a “grab and run” incident. From a law enforcement perspective, the number of people who had access to a particular area when a loss occurs may be very high, with little or no available means to identify who the perpetrators might be. Some believe that law enforcement has the ability to further clarify and zoom in on video already recorded to extract a better image.

Walmart

Thousands of police calls.

You paid the bill.

Police come to shoo away panhandlers, referee parking disputes and check on foul-mouthed teenagers.

They are called to arrest the man who drinks a 98-cent iced tea without paying and capture the customer who joyrides on a motorized shopping cart.

The calls eat up hours of officers’ time. They all start at one place:

Walmart.

Law enforcement logged nearly 16,800 calls in one year to Walmarts in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties, according to a Tampa Bay Timesanalysis. That’s two calls an hour, every hour, every day.

Local Walmarts, on average, generated four times as many calls as nearby Targets, the Times found. Many individual supercenters attracted more calls than the much larger WestShore Plaza mall.

When it comes to calling the cops, Walmart is such an outlier compared with its competitors that experts criticized the corporate giant for shifting too much of its security burden onto taxpayers. Several local law enforcement officers also emphasized that all the hours spent at Walmart cut into how often they can patrol other neighborhoods and prevent other crimes.

N.C. law enforcement, retailers to combat organized retail crime.

CORCA is aimed at bringing together local law enforcement agencies and the N.C. Retail Merchants Association to better communication retail theft that is more complex than shoplifting.

At Thursday’s press conference, the alliance leaders stressed the difference between organized retail crime and shoplifting. Organized retail crime usually involves complex schemes and is organized to convert illegally obtained merchandise or cash into financial gain by theft or fraud.

“These are criminals,” Steve Walker, the asset protection director at Walgreens, said. “They are not shoplifters.”

Raleigh Police Department Detective Scott Womack added that often these thefts are connected to drug abuse, street crime and even terrorism.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: Alpha 2 Alarm, Alpha 3 Alarm, Alpha High Theft Solutions, Alpha Jewel Lok, Alpha Nano Gate, Alpha Spider Wrap, Anti-shoplifting training, anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Background checks, employee background checks, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, Prevent Shoplifting, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

Motivated Employees are Vigilant Employees

July 12, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

If you’re in retail management, and if you’ve been paying attention, you know your employees are the first line of defense against both internal and external fraud. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are much more likely to care about co-worker and customer theft. They’re more vigilant and report it more often than those who are unhappy with their jobs.

And yet, most managers don’t know how to motivate others. They don’t understand that effective motivation skills need to be learned and practiced, just like other valuable management skills. Supervisors who are interested in creating a productive work environment will learn the helpful techniques.

There’s no “one size fits all” magic process – below are 5 of the most common ways people are motivated. Employees can be motivated by a combination of these approaches; none of them are better or worse than the others, they’re just different. Everyone has a preferred way of being motivated and they respond more positively to their way.

Words – People motivated by language need to hear or read words of affirmation. Link the words of appreciation to a specific task – “Thank you for being so attentive to that customer” or “I appreciate the creativity you put into that display”.

Time – The opportunity to spend time with and talk to management, one on one or in a small group, is important to these types of employees. They need a meaningful way (quality time) to interact and feel listened to.

Deeds – These are people who are motivated by actions showing appreciation or interest: actual pats on the back, getting them a cup of coffee, letting them leave early on a bad weather day, point out their favorite donut is in the box, etc. Be careful about this one, at all times be professional.

Need for Community – Employees who have a need for community want to be part of the group. They organize the softball game, Secret Santa and birthday parties. They’re motivated by being part of a team and respond to activities that support teamwork.

Monetary Rewards – Contrary to popular thought this is one of the weakest motivational tools; most people are motivated by non-monetary methods. Employees who are motivated in this manner respond to raises, sales contests, gifts tied to quotas, bonuses for performance, etc.

It’s important to note that some workers will reject positive management intervention, but they’re the minority. Most employees will respond to one or more of these techniques. Mangers that put time and effort into developing motivational skills will make their jobs, and personal relationships, easier and more rewarding.

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.

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-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Georgia shoplifting prevention, Prevent Shoplifting, racial profiling, Retail Anti Theft Devices, retail security, retail security and monitoring, security, security devices, shoplifting, Shoplifting Prevention, shoplifting statistics, shoplifting violence, surveillance

What Shoplifting Costs The Taxpayer

July 7, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

The financial damage shoplifting does to the retail industry is measured in billions of dollars every year. For the tax payer, the financial burden that they have to endure due to the constant calls made by retailers to the police due to shoplifting is equally damaging. Walmart is one of the retailers with the most call to the police due to shoplifting incidents, and it is unlikely things will get any better.

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

Macy’s barred from detaining, fining New York shoplifting suspects

An injunction was granted this week barring Macy’s stores in New York from detaining and fining suspected shoplifters in response to a class action lawsuit, according to court records from the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

The lawsuit filed by Cinthia Orellana and later joined by Samya Moftah claims the loss prevention units in some Macy’s stores in New York operate “like a typical jail, equipped with holding cells.”

The women claim they were detained, coerced into signing confessions and forced to pay to be released, all before law enforcement involvement, according to court documents.

Officials for Macy’s, headquartered in Cincinnati, have told multiple media outlets that its loss prevention practices have changed since the women’s alleged incidents.

Judge Manuel Mendez stated that New York law allows a business to detain suspected shoplifters for the purposes of investigation and questioning and allows businesses to fine shoplifters five times of the cost of the merchandise up to $500.

However, Mendez suggested Macy’s was pairing the laws unfairly.

Cop Quietly Pays For Family’s Essentials After Shoplifting Bust

A kindhearted cop in Redmond, Washington, came to the rescue of a family after the mother and father were allegedly caught trying to shoplift essential items for their children.

The Redmond Police Department officer stepped in after managers at a Target store decided not to press charges against the couple, reports local station KING.

He quietly took the diapers and clothing, which the parents were accused of trying to steal for their two kids, aged 8 years and 4 months, back to the checkout.

After paying for the items from his own pocket, he handed them back to the family and informed them where they could go to obtain more help.

News of his act of kindness emerged after an eagle-eyed police supervisor spotted the details in a shoplifting report. The department posted an excerpt from the account on Twitter.

“Sometimes our officers don’t tell us everything,” the post stated. “An attentive supervisor spied this in a recent shoplifting report.” It is now going viral.

Crimes at Jacksonville’s big box stores last year cost taxpayers $75K

Most calls at Walmart deal with shoplifting.

ACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police officers in Jacksonville spent 3,533 hours — the equivalent of 147 days – responding to petty crimes at Walmart stores in Jacksonville last year, I-TEAM research found.

Officers spent another 667 hours working shoplifting and other minor calls at Target stores in the city.

An analysis of data from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office found 5,298 police calls to the 15 Walmart stores in Jacksonville in 2015 – five times the number of calls to the eight Target stores in the city.

The Walmart on Normandy Boulevard had the most calls: 864. Shoplifting made up half of those calls, followed by thefts, then disputes.

The Walmart store at 103rd Street came in second and had 668 police calls for service last year, with the a similar breakdown of offenses.

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Shoplifting; A Social Problem With No Clear Answers

June 30, 2016 by Staff Editor Leave a Comment

Research for many years now, have found that the best way to prevent shoplifting is through customer service. If people are greeted by the store personnel as they enter the store, they are less likely to shoplift. The retail industry’s billions of dollars lost every year due to shoplifting and employee theft, are a social problem that they have no answer to, and regardless of how much they invest in technology, the problem seems to be getting worse not better.

For more about this topic follow the links below.

Bamboozled: The job that could get you arrested

Mystery shopping gigs are real, but they’re also a common job title you’ll see when a scammer is looking for a victim.

And now, fraudsters are giving this job scam a new twist. One that could land you in jail.

But first, the real thing.

Retailers will hire “mystery shoppers” to visit their businesses — unbeknownst to the employees — for an objective look at the shopping experience. The mystery shopper will be instructed to look at specific things about a business, and then go back to the company to report his or her experiences.

Mystery shoppers are typically paid a fee for their time, and they’re also reimbursed for items that are purchased during a store visit. These amounts are often pre-approved by the company that hires the shopper.

The fakes work differently.

Crimes at Jacksonville’s big box stores last year cost taxpayers $75K

Most calls at Walmart deal with shoplifting.

Officers spent another 667 hours working shoplifting and other minor calls at Target stores in the city.

The Walmart on Normandy Boulevard had the most calls: 864. Shoplifting made up half of those calls, followed by thefts, then disputes.

Police Cars Parked Along Admiral Wilson Boulevard In Effort To Prevent Crime

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) — For weeks, marked police cars have been stationed at businesses along Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden.

Two police cars have been parked around the clock at gas stations along Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Generally, there are no officers in the cars. Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson says it’s designed to deter crime from robberies to shoplifting to graffiti.

“It’s a reminder to those that may be up to no good — whatever it may be on that spectrum of illegal activity — that we’re nearby, and that we’re watching at all times,” he said.

Thomson says the cars are part of a wider bid to work withbusiness owners to address blight and dilapidated properties in neighborhoods.

“We were seeing an increase in the amount of graffiti, trash, broken-down cars, boards falling off of abandoned buildings,” the chief said. “And considering the fact that 80,000 cars a day travel along that route — I don’t want that to negatively define our city.”

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