2017 GLPS - Group LP Selfies
Your Team - Your Pride - Our Industry
Building Industry Pride - One Team Selfie at a Time

Sephora Loss Prevention Team at the
2017 LP Agent Conference in Biloxi, MS 

"Supporting the Growth"

Thank you Brent Hamlin, Director of Loss Prevention, Sephora, for this team photo submission!

Joe Schrauder promoted to Vice President Asset Protection and Safety for Walmart US
Joe was previously the Senior Director II - Asset Protection for the retailer and has been a part of the Walmart Asset Protection team since 2009. He started in the asset protection department as a Regional Asset Protection Manager and quickly worked his way up the ladder to hold such leadership positions as Director of Asset Protection, Florida and Puerto Rico Division, Director of Asset Protection - Gulf Shores Division, and Senior Director of Asset Protection. Congratulations Joe!

Stopping Shoplifters Goes High-Tech
Beacons - Face and Hand Biometrics - Smart Safes - GPS-Tagged Items
Scroll through Read Hayes' address book and you'll find a large number of criminals whose infractions range from petty theft to grand larceny. But he deals with these ex-cons strictly on a consultant basis, getting their input about flaws in store security systems and detailing the techniques they'd use to take goods, which include using foil-lined bags and tag removers to thwart alarms.

Hayes, who is a research scientist at the University of Florida and the director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, uses these findings to design theft-prevention systems in a custom-built innovation lab. "It's a relatively new concept in the retail crime and loss area and simulates a store environment, parking lot and corporate environment," he says. Hot trends right now are beacons, face and hand biometrics, smart safes and GPS-tagged items, which help law enforcement pinpoint a thief's movements.

Preventing this hit on the bottom line is key for retailers, but they don't want the tab for security to exceed the crimes. A two-person security team patrolling a typical anchor store in a suburban mall costs around $51,000 a year, according to the Department of Labor - about 12.5 percent of total operating costs. Hence the growth of lower-cost, high-tech shoplifting solutions, which include everything from face recognition of bad apples to products like BasketTrack from Carttronics, which equips baskets with radio-frequency sensors that set off alarms and capture video as a shopper tries to exit the premises without paying.

Starting this year, a number of stores across America will display signage that informs customers that management is using facial-recognition software, proudly stating they are a "certified safe zone." "Retailers want to do the right thing, to be transparent," says Peter Trepp, CEO of FaceFirst, a facial-recognition system used by retailers worldwide, including many Fortune 500 companies - he can't name names, but FaceFirst has been linked to Walmart and Saks. "[But] shoplifters have become more sophisticated."

Retailers using Trepp's product install plug-and-play cameras and populate them with biometrics of known shoplifters from their databases and police logs. Every visitor's face is automatically tracked and compared at 30 frames per second; when a match is found, an alert is sent to employees' smartphones. Trepp views this as a necessity. "It's amazing how frequently the shoplifters return to the stores, and they're not deterred by the old tech," he says. "We've reduced [shoplifting] by 91 percent in our stores."

But there's a fine line between asset protection and invading customers' personal space - too little and products vanish; too much and honest customers go elsewhere. Ahmed Beshry, co-founder of QueueHop, believes retail innovation is key to upgrading security. His startup provides stores with security tags that shoppers unlock via mobile payment, which also enables them to bypass bottlenecks at checkouts. While this type of self-service is becoming commonplace in the grocery world, it's still rare in the fashion and tech space, but Beshry says these tags simplify shopping while still sounding alarms if stolen. He says they solve something he calls "cart abandonment," the estimated $22 million a year retailers lose when impatient shoppers discard their intended purchases.

There's also a growing area of businesses utilizing biometrics; at a 7-Eleven in South Korea, vein-pattern recognition means customers can pay by scanning their palm, and with their veins on record, they're also less likely to steal. But as technology gets more sophisticated, so do the shoplifters. ozy.com

Accountability Is Key to Loss Prevention
Convenience stores with high standards succeed at reducing shrinkage, cash loss
Loss prevention and inventory control at convenience stores begin at the top, with clear rules and best practices for employees and store management, followed by accountability for missteps. Convenience Store Decisions caught up with loss prevention expert Chris McGoey, 'the Crime Doctor' and founder of McGoey Security Consulting for some tips on improving loss prevention strategies.

Convenience Store Decisions (CSD): You've said that clean, organized convenience stores with proper inventory management and accountability have lower shrinkage, theft and cash loss. Why does a well-organized and well-managed store help with loss prevention?

Chris McGoey (CM): After four decades working with convenience store chains about inventory shrinkage and cash loss solutions, I've found that daily accountability is a top priority for loss control. The best c-store operators have high standards and demand good accountability practices from the moment inventory enters the store until it's processed out though sale or transfer transactions.

I've audited thousands of high-shrink, high-cash loss stores, and I always find a corresponding lack of organization, attention to detail and clutter. A sloppy, disorganized store is a sign that management doesn't have high standards for inventory and cash control and doesn't require it from store employees. Dishonest employees see this as an opportunity to take advantage of disorganized management because they know they can blame former employees or shoplifters for unexplained inventory losses.  cstoredecisions.com

RLPSA: Phone Scams Continue to Target Restaurants
Suspects have recently called numerous restaurants claiming to be a company executive or a Federal Law Enforcement agent. The callers have been aggressive and convincing, and some calls had gone directly to manager cell phones. In some cases, the suspects named other company regional and area managers as a way to build rapport and credibility. In some instances, the callers were successful in persuading key restaurant employees to take large amounts of cash to local financial institutions and convert them to money orders. These calls usually occurred at night or on weekends.

Please consider sharing this information within your restaurant organization to prevent future losses from occurring: Phone Scam Quick Tips - Federal Trade Commission

Waterloo, IA: City Leaders Unanimously Reject Ordinance Requiring In-Store Camera Systems
City Council members voted unanimously Monday to reject an ordinance that would have expanded in-store video surveillance systems - now required in convenience and liquor stores - to a much larger mix of businesses. The ordinance, modeled after a similar program in Cedar Rapids, drew increasing opposition from business owners concerned about the cost of installing the cameras. wcfcourier.com

New Report Reveals the Safest and Most Dangerous States in the U.S.
A new report by WalletHub reveals the safest and most dangerous states in America. The website says analysts compared the 50 states across 37 key safety indicators grouped into five different categories: personal & residential safety, financial safety, road safety, workplace safety and emergency preparedness. You can view the full details of the report and metrics on WalletHub's website.

5th Circ. Revives Kroger Employee's Slip And Fall Suit
The Fifth Circuit on Friday determined that a former Kroger Texas LP employee should be allowed to pursue his suit against the supermarket chain over injuries he suffered when he slipped while cleaning a spill, ruling that the lower court had abused its discretion when it threw the suit out. Randy J. Austin, who has accused Kroger of not providing him with necessary tools to clean up a spill, resulting in a fall that caused him serious injuries, raised enough questions of fact to proceed in his case, the panel ruled. law360.com

Target shoots for retail comeback, and Chicago area is on front line
Beleaguered retailer Target Corp. is counting on the Chicago area to help trigger its revival and rescue the company. Under attack from giants Amazon and Walmart, Target is fighting back by opening a raft of mini-stores in area neighborhoods. Each is no larger than 40,000 square feet, compared with Target's 175,000-square-foot superstores.

By 2018 the chain is expected to have at least 10 mini-stores, about 7 percent of the company's expected 130 small-store network, operating throughout select Chicago-area neighborhoods and more densely populated suburbs. chicagotribune.com

Foreign Travel to the U.S. Slows Down
A blow to the $1.6 trillion tourism industry and flagship NYC stores
Signs are emerging that the $1.6 trillion U.S. tourism industry could suffer this summer as overseas travelers stay away. The potential slowdown comes months after President Trump tried to ban travel from some countries and just as hotels, restaurants and resorts gear up for peak tourist season. Travel consultant ForwardKeys reported Thursday that bookings for air travel to the U.S. for June through August are down 3.5%, while rising for other major travel destinations.

New York City tourism officials are forecasting the first drop-off in foreign visitors this year since the financial crisis. Foreigners account for half of tourism spending even though they amount to just a fifth of tourists to New York, city officials say. Retailers such as jeweler Tiffany, which gets a significant percentage of annual sales from its flagship store on New York's tourist-trafficked Fifth Avenue, could also feel the pain. wsj.com

Going Out for Lunch Is a Dying Tradition
Restaurants suffer as people eat at their desks; no more 3-martini sit-down meals
The U.S. restaurant industry is in a funk. Blame it on lunch. Americans made 433 million fewer trips to restaurants at lunchtime last year, resulting in roughly $3.2 billion in lost business, according to market-research firm NPD Group Inc. It was the lowest level of lunch traffic in at least four decades. While that loss in traffic is a 2% decline from 2015, it is a significant one-year drop for an industry that has traditionally relied on lunch and has had little or no growth for a decade. wsj.com

Walmart Senior Director Compliance, Safety and AP - Logistics job posting has expired or has been filled

Ross Stores - Director Supply Chain LP and Safety looks to have been taken down

J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler Steps Down

CVS acquires regional Illinois chain Doc's Drugs

RILA: 'Fast or Free' delivery escalating supply chain costs


Quarterly Same Store Sales Results
Casey's General Stores Q4 comps up 1.5%, full year comp's up 2.9%, total sales up 5.7%
Michaels Q1 comp's down 1.2%, net sales flat
Fred's Q1 comp's down 1.2%, net sales down 3.1%
Conn's Q1 comp's down 15.2%, net sales down 12.3%

What C-Store Retailers Need to Know About EMV 2020
Chargebacks could hit businesses before the new forecourt deadline
Earlier this year, it was announced that Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. pushed back the deadline for installing EMV chip-card readers at gas pumps in the United States to 2020, following discussions with retailers who stated that they did not have adequate time to complete the multibillion-dollar upgrades.

However, presenters at Gilbarco Veeder-Root's 2017 Retail Technology Conference, held recently in Myrtle Beach, urged retailers not to delay in upgrading their automatic fuel dispenser systems to EMV, and offered several reasons why they should act now despite the later deadline.

Under EMV liability shift deadlines, c-store retailers needed to upgrade their POS to EMV-ready readers by Oct. 1, 2015; at the ATM on Oct. 1 of this year; and at the forecourt by Oct. 1, 2017 in order to avoid being held financially responsible for fraudulent transactions. Merchants now have until October 1, 2020 to adopt the technology. csnews.com

Cybersecurity Considerations To Minimize Director & Officer Exposure
Courts have historically set a high threshold for finding directors and officers personally liable for breaches of fiduciary duties. However, because of high stakes and increased publicity, standards with respect to director and officer liability for damages resulting from cyberattacks and data breaches are evolving, and the personal exposure of directors and officers will increase.

To wit, in September 2015, following Home Depot's high-profile data-breach, a shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Georgia against 12 Home Depot directors and officers. The suit broadly alleged breaches of the "fiduciary duties of loyalty, good faith, and due care" because the officers and directors "knowingly and in conscious disregard of their duties [failed] to ensure that Home Depot took reasonable measures to protect its customers' personal and financial information" in advance of Home Depot's data breach. On April 28, 2017, the parties filed a proposed settlement to resolve the matter, which, if approved, would require Home Depot to change its governance structure, reorganize risk management entities, and pay the shareholders' attorneys more than $1 million, among other things.

While case law might suggest that personal liability findings against officers and directors are unlikely, the reputational risk and indirect financial implications of losing a job or board seat cannot be quantified.

How Can Officers and Directors Reduce Their Risks?

Board- and officer-level cyber preparedness is the only way to ensure that cybersecurity issues do not disrupt business continuity, decrease business valuation, and adversely affect the business reputation of the company and its officers and directors. Protecting against personal exposure resulting from potential cyberrisk requires a shift of traditional fiduciary analysis from questions of liability and defense to questions of offensive and proactive stewardship. To this end, companies, at the direction of the board, and preferably led by counsel, to ensure maximum protection, should:

● Deliberately and consistently educate directors about industry best practices and, more importantly, the company's cybersecurity policies, controls and procedures, including: Critical cyber assets and threats; Existing controls and programs; Third-party vendor management; Development and implementation of a cyber incident response protocol; Insurance coverage; Business continuity plans; Appointing officers and directors with expertise in cybersecurity issues

● Create company departments and/or board committees to be primarily responsible for data privacy and cybersecurity issues

● Conduct regular officer and director meetings to ensure that the company's expectations and processes are being diligently followed

● Investigate possible violations once the board has actual or constructive notice of compliance and risk management issues (through whistleblowers, formal and informal complaints, regulatory inquiries, etc.) law360.com

Online Terrorist Propaganda Still a Challenge for Tech Companies
Terrorists are still successfully using the internet to communicate with and recruit followers, despite progress by big tech companies in cracking down on the activity in recent years. Online terrorist propaganda is attracting fresh criticism in the wake of Saturday's deadly terror attack in London. Prime Minister Theresa May and others have singled out Silicon Valley for criticism, saying Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google and others need to do a better job policing content. It is unclear if the U.K. government has determined any link between online extremist content and the attack. wsj.com

Hack Back law would create cyber vigilantes
Tom Graves (R-GA) released an update to the initial Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act (ACDC) that intends to exempt victims of cyber attacks from being prosecuted for attempting to hack back at their attackers under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). If enacted, the law allows organizations that are the victims of hacks to conduct their own hacks to identify the assailants, stop the attacks or retrieve stolen files. csoonline.com

87% of Retail CIOs say insider threats are a blind spot for mainframe security

Cybersecurity labor crunch to hit 3.5 million unfilled jobs by 2021

MVMT Watches fights counterfeiters and fake retailers
Since MVMT started using technology from Spain-based Red Points in November 2016, the vendor has removed 25,000 listings of counterfeit MVMT products. In the year prior to hiring Red Points, Spallone and his team were able to take down about 1,000.

Red Points software finds counterfeits by using image recognition technology that scans sites looking for the retailer's copyrighted or trademarked brand name, logo or product images, Red Points CEO Laura Urquizu says.

The vendor even found 11 websites that were pretending to be MVMT Watches and selling its products.

The pretend MVMT websites were slick and done well, so it was easy to fool consumers, Spallone says. The unauthorized seller would list MVMT watches in that country's local currency, whereas MVMT at the time listed all of its products in U.S. dollars.

Though the websites didn't sell counterfeit goods and MVMT still made a profit from the sales, the sites were an infringement on the retailer's trademark and brand. Red Points is in the process of getting all the fake websites shut down, Spallone says.

Red Points has software that scrapes thousands of websites to find counterfeits and then works to get them removed. A retailer client sets up rules to expedite the screening process. With the vendor's services, retailers have a dashboard to see where products are removed, which removals are pending and which ones need retailer approval. digitalcommerce360.com

Bitcoin Scam Fighters - Fight Cryptocurrency Related Scams and Frauds
BitcoinScamFighters.com is the first legal services offering and against Bitcoin-related scams and frauds that are increasingly taking place worldwide with the emergence of the cryptocurrency. They are also collaborating with global law firms to increase improper digital asset management and trading cases success cases. Moreover, the company has an active social community with traders, investors, entrepreneurs and businesses worldwide.

Through BitcoinScamFighters.com, his intent is the cracking down of scams and fraud for new types of cryptocurrency. "Many investors and traders got hurt because of frozen accounts and the downtimes of these websites. And the government did (almost) nothing or take actions against these groups or companies." With new online cryptocurrencies being unknown and not always governed consistently, Grosser and many others see the need, and a place for this platform as cryptocurrencies are currently being accepted more and more as suitable payment for services or items. themerkle.com

65% of online shoppers store payment info with retailers
40% of online shoppers always or sometimes save their payment information on a retailer's website or in an app, according to a new CreditCards.com report.

The survey found that about 62% of 235.6 million U.S. adults shop online and of them, 65% of consumers, or 94 million, have their payment information saved on a website. 10% say they always saved their credit or debit card information on the website or in app to make future purchase, 30% say they sometimes do, 25% say rarely and 34% said never. The remaining consumers didn't know or refused to answer the question. digitalcommerce360.com

Hagerstown, MD: Man charged with stealing $10K in grocery items from Wegmans
A Hagerstown man is being held at the Washington County Detention Center after he allegedly stole more than $10,000 worth of food, paper towels, laundry detergent and other items from a supermarket in Frederick, Md. Craig M. Ricketts, 50, is charged with one count of theft-scheme in connection with stealing the items over a four-month period from the Wegmans supermarket on Wormans Mill Road. A conviction on the charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Authorities allege in court documents that Ricketts stole the items over the course of 21 visits to the store between Dec. 28 and March 11. heraldmailmedia.com


Houston, TX: Man accused of stealing 75 saw blades from The Home Depot
Larry Wayne Hines, who is considered a fugitive, has an extensive criminal history, investigators said. Hines, 50, is most recently sought in the felony theft case out of Harris County, which took place March 15. Loss-prevention workers at Home Depot, said they saw Hines passing the saw blades through a fence in the garden section. He was committing the crime with a woman The blades are worth $1,050. click2houston.com


Lakeland, FL: Shoplifter tries to stuff 15 quarts of oil down pants at 7-Eleven
Police say a Florida man didn't make a slick get-away when he tried to steal 15 quarts of motor oil from a convenience store. Officers say the suspect's pants were stretched to the limit when he came out of a 7-Eleven. What he didn't know, was that an undercover police detective was in the parking lot and saw the man with his packed pants waddle out the door. The detective stopped him and caught him practically with his pants down. Police say they found 15 bottles of Pennzoil and several DVDs. Since this is the 38-year-old suspect's third shoplifting charge, police slapped him with a felony crime. fox13news.com

Queensbury, NY: Three charged in $1,000 shoplifting case at outlets
Three people were charged with felonies Saturday after a shoplifting complaint at the Million Dollar Half-Mile outlets. The three suspects face felony counts of criminal possession of stolen property after complaints from an unspecified store in French Mountain Commons. The charges allege they had more than $1,000 worth of stolen items. poststar.com

Update: Buffalo, NY: 'Serial shoplifter' faces up to 7 years in Red Bull theft

UK: Leamington, England: Shoplifters targeted in Retail Crime Crack Down

Field ORC Investigator Position Posted for Gap Inc. - Houston, TX

Field ORC Investigator Position Posted for Gap Inc. - New Orleans, LA

Shootings

Midlothian, TX: A fight in the parking lot of a local Walmart led to a shooting that left two people wounded, one of them critically
Midlothian Police say the shooting happened around 11:00 p.m. Monday. According to police, a group of young men got into a fight outside the store, someone pulled a gun and started shooting, hitting one man in the chest another in the arm. One man was airlifted to Parkland Hospital and is listed in critical condition. cbslocal.com




Seattle, WA: Police looking for gunmen after shootout and crash, Starbucks and Wink Eyewear hit by bullets
Witnesses reported shots fired just after 7 p.m., in the Columbia City neighborhood. There were no reports of injuries. But, bullets did damage the windows of a nearby Starbucks store, an eyeglass business and at least one parked car. Gang detectives are now investigating. komonews.com


Las Vegas, NV: Gunshot fired inside Planet Hollywood during arrest of suspected underage gamblers
A gun went off inside a casino on the Las Vegas strip overnight, sending hotel guests into a panic. The shooting occurred just after midnight at the Planet Hollywood. Police say they were attempting to arrest two suspects for underage gambling when one of them took off. Officers caught up with the suspect and while a struggle ensued. The suspect attempted to take a handgun out of his waist. When officers tried to stop him from removing the gun, the firearm discharged, causing a round to be fired into the floor. news3lv.com

Robberies & Thefts

Oklahoma City, OK: Family Dollar Employee stays calm during Armed Robbery; customers didn't even know it was going on
A very discreet thief managed to rob a Family Dollar Store clerk without anyone around them noticing that a robbery was taking place right in front of their eyes. The thief, wearing a red jacket can be seen entering the store and walking up to the clerk at the counter with a couple of items in his hand. However, in another few seconds, he quietly pulls a gun out and aims it at the clerk, even as another clerk helps a shopper right next to them. In fact, so quiet is the thief that the three other people on camera don't notice as the clerk empties the cash register to hand the money over to the thief. Once the robbery is complete, the thief can be seen walking out of the store calmly. ndtv.com

Redding, CA: Fleeing Felon points gun at Home Depot Loss Prevention
The incident happened at about 2 p.m. outside the Home Depot store on Churn Creek Road. The "loss prevention officer" at the store tried to apprehend a man police said had stolen merchandise from the store. When the employee confronted him, the man pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at the employee. The man, later identified as Victor Luisotti, 39, then ran. Officers converged on the area and caught him in the area. Luisotti did not have the gun on him when police caught him. Officers searched the area and found a loaded semiautomatic handgun and stolen items. Luisotti, who was on post-release community supervision, was booked into jail on suspicion of robbery, felon possessing a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and related charges. redding.com

Albuquerque, NM: New "ABQ Police" app could help businesses combat crime
The free app, called "ABQ Police," allows users to file non-emergency reports, submit live crime tips and receive alerts, among other functions. While it's meant to help all citizens, Mayor Richard Berry told Albuquerque Business First it can be helpful for busy business owners who might be dealing with a theft or other crime. In 2015 Albuquerque PD's Organized Retail Crime Unit recovered $244,900 worth of stolen property from businesses, making 139 felony arrests, according to its annual report. bizjournals.com

Lebanon, PA: CVS Roof Top Burglars caught in the act

Tulsa, OK: QuikTrip Reacts Following String Of Store Armed Robberies

Hesperia, CA: Officials ID, arrest suspects in Stater Bros. Robbery

Kaufman County, TX: Dallas area Gun Store Owners on Alert Following Another Break-In

Tolden Township, PA: Cabela's shoplifter triggered area manhunt

Las Vegas, NV: Multiple suspects sought Armored Truck

Petaluma, CA: Star Wars Superfan/ Museum Owner issues plea after $200,000 theft

None to report.

Send in your picture and tell everyone about your New Job or Promotion! Click here

To apply to any of today's Featured Jobs, Click Here

Social media can be a fantastic platform for every company and executive, but it can also be a nightmare. Mixing personal with professional oftentimes sends the wrong messages and can absolutely destroy the image a professional needs to maintain in the public arena. Maintaining boundaries and separating the two can oftentimes be difficult to accomplish as corporate America searches for every piece of information they can find on executives and companies. And regardless of what anyone says, your professional image should always take precedence over your personal image in the social media world.

Just a Thought,
Gus