Minorities in Loss Prevention
25% Increase in Retail
But Trailing the Overall Industry
According to the National Retail Security Survey over the last ten years, the number of minorities, African American, Hispanic/Latino & Asians, in LP management has grown by 25%. While that number seems impressive and does show that we've made gains, the actual population of 18.2% certainly indicates that the industry has a long way to go if it is to reflect our overall population and the communities we serve.

The industry needs to be aware of this and needs to focus on it during the recruitment processes on a national level.

LP Industry Veteran John Velke Publishes New Book:
"Prove 'Em Innocent: The Art & Science of Workplace Investigations"
Widespread interest in corporate corruption and the public's insatiable appetite for information about investigative techniques, as evidenced by the popularity of television shows like CSI and Law & Order, makes Prove 'Em Innocent: The Art & Science of Workplace Investigations a captivating read by all true crime buffs. Those who work for a public or private company will be fascinated by the tactics used by "company cops," and those who actually work in private sector investigations will benefit from the many examples and exercises contained within this authoritative narrative on investigative techniques. Every aspiring investigator and those already in the field, will find this book useful, educational, and entertaining. Unlike other books on investigations, this book concentrates on concepts and skills taught with real life examples and exercises designed to be fun and entertaining. Here you will find answers to questions like: "What are the identifiable attributes shared by the most successful investigators?"; "Can a good investigator be taught to be a great investigator?"; "Are some people more likely to be dishonest than others?"; and "Can you predict who is likely to be dishonest?"

John Velke is a 40+ year veteran of workplace investigations beginning as a store detective at Lord & Taylor and working his way up to a Divisional Vice President there by the age of 29. He served as the Vice President of Loss Prevention at Fred Meyer and later assumed the same role for Parisian, Proffitt's, and McRae's stores, then owned by Saks Incorporated. In 2008 he went to Total Wine & More as their Vice President of Loss Prevention & Safety. Read more here.

John's book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and www.proveeminnocent.com.

An Open Letter... from Award Winner Jeff Levitt, LPC, CPP

An open letter to RLPSA members and 2016 conference attendees:

On Tuesday night, July 27, at the Restaurant Loss Prevention Security Association (RLPSA) networking event at the Pearl stable, I was honored to receive the 2016 RLPSA Salute To Excellence Award. This is the highest honor a current practitioner in the restaurant loss prevention field can receive. I was and am both honored and humbled by being this year's recipient. At the time, I gave an impromptu thank you speech - certainly not my strong suit. I want to take a moment here to put into better words exactly how honored I am with this.

I have been a member and strong supporter of RLPSA for 11 years. As a Charter member and board member of the Loss Prevention Foundation, I represent the restaurant industry and specifically RLPSA to that organization. As Vice chairman of the ASIS retail council, I am also constantly discussing the values of RLPSA there as well. In RLPSA President Rob Holms' speech about why I was selected he stated that I was a great brand ambassador and that I had a dedication to elevating the LP industry with QSR. I try to accomplish this by merging people and ideas together. That is a great strength of all of RLPSA's members and vendor partners. We are colleagues, not competitors, as Emil Monda pointed out in his acceptance of the well-deserved lifetime achievement award. I truly believe this. Practitioners in the Loss Prevention field share like those in marketing or finance might not. We have common goals and priorities, life safety being at the forefront, followed in my mind by brand protection, company profitability, and identifying and resolving internal theft issues. This focus is mutually beneficial for all involved.

I know there are many other LP practitioners equally or more deserving of this award. I must mostly attribute my success, and ability to even be considered, to the people around me. The other members of the Panera Loss Prevention team that are my co-workers help make me who I am today, both professionally and personally. Mike Keller, LPC, our Manager of Loss Prevention Analytics, accepted me into the department 11 years ago and has been my go to resource for all that I have not understood about Panera, analytics and exception reporting since that time. Mary Krieger, LPQ, our Loss Prevention Manager, is new to the industry and now is W-Z trained and is becoming quite skilled at interviewing. She is also excelling at case identification and analysis. She will clearly be a future LP industry leader. The three of us report to Cindy Drury, Director of Risk Management. Cindy is a great supporter of our department objectives. She helps drive us all to be a better strategically focused department supporting the company's key initiatives.

I want to thank the many people at RLPSA that have driven me to be better, and have become true partners in my career and more. Thank you to Amber Bradley, the RLPSA Executive Director and Chief Creative Brain of the Calibration Group LLC. Amber has helped show me that even during adversity, you must FIGHT ON!

Thank you RLPSA members and 2016 conference attendees who made receiving my award so memorable.

Active Shooter Response:
Are You Ready?

Debbie Maples, VP Global LP & Corp. Security, Gap Inc.

Active shooter events in a retail or restaurant location present unique challenges: customers are present and need to be protected, colleagues and employees may behave differently under stress, or the physical layout of the space could impact your ability to hide or escape. No single answer exists for what to do, but a survival mindset can increase the odds of surviving. Debbie Maples, VP of Global Loss Prevention & Corporate Security, Gap Inc., shares the current thinking and best practices to ensure your organization and store teams are prepared.

Episode Sponsored By:

LLPNN Quick Take #10

Jon Grander, VP, Asset and Revenue Management, Caleres, previews his upcoming LPNN session on Civil Unrest. Jon shares the lessons learned after his company's headquarters were affected by the 2014 Ferguson protests and riots.
 

Solution Providers: Have a video or commercial you want to publish? Contact us

Payment and personal data are what hackers seek most
Average sale price for a stolen credit card paired with personal information is $15
Criminals have a clear incentive to target internet retailers," says Brett McDowell, executive director of the FIDO [Fast Identity Online] Alliance, an interindustry group aimed at developing specifications for better internet security. Payment data is the prize that most thieves are seeking when they hack into networks.

Obtaining customer login credentials also can prove fruitful because of consumers' penchant for using the same usernames and passwords on multiple websites, and e-retailers' hesitation to apply more stringent authentication methods. Internet retailers "are always fighting to reduce their shopping cart abandonment rates, which historically required them to sacrifice some proven user authentication practices to reduce the number of steps required for a customer to complete a purchase.

63% of confirmed data breaches (across all industries) in 2015 involved leveraging weak, default or stolen passwords, according to the Verizon investigation report. Once these credentials are in hand, experts say the most common target for their use is to access payment information consumers store with merchants or financial institutions.  internetretailer.com

Jewelry retailer James Allen's fraud tools cut transaction times
Online orders average about $6,000 at jewelry retailer James Allen, so there's a lot of pressure to ensure transactions are secure and accurate. But the level of scrutiny required for those transactions was time-consuming and labor intensive for James Allen's customer service representatives and customers.

In the 12 months since James Allen implemented a tool from online fraud prevention technology provider Forter, the retailer has had 80% fewer "interruptions" in the purchase process, Schultz says. An interruption occurs when the jeweler requires more information, such as a phone call to confirm credit card details or obtain additional personal information to verify that the customer is who she says she is.

Being able to automate and smooth out the process through Forter's Decision-as-a-Service tool, which relies on behavioral analysis in addition to analysis of credit card information and shopper location, benefits customers because their orders are processed without delays or questions and frees James Allen employees to focus on other work, Shultz says. internetretailer.com

Walmart Q2 e-commerce sales up 11.8%

Ralphs rolls out online grocery shopping in California

Apple and Staples draw more online back-to-school shoppers this year

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The importance of staying focused and positive in your job search can't be over emphasized. Even when you're networking keep it positive and never network without asking for another contact name at the companies you're looking at. Operators, Human Resource executives, other Loss Prevention executives, anyone that is in a management position with the companies you're interested in joining. We'd also suggest visiting some stores and trying to meet the Loss Prevention team and finding out more about their LP efforts, structure, management individuals, and just plain getting to know that companies LP culture and never leave without leaving a copy of your resume. Every successful marketing campaign has a grass roots methodology and getting into some stores is just that. If done correctly I assure you the multi unit LP executives will find out who you are and respect you for doing it.

Just a Thought,
Gus