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

Gap Inc. HQ Global Loss Prevention and
Corporate Security Teams

LP Conference Las Vegas 2017

"Doing More than Selling Clothes"

Back Row: Venus Finley, James Abney, Vance Gilbert, Craig Mueller, Fiona Kennedy, Josh Gregory, Terrence Wilkerson, Matt O'Keefe, Kathleen Johnston, Steven Klapuschak, Chris Batson, Gary Hutchinson, Robert Mirakaj, Thomas McCrindle, Alan Gontier, Mike McGuire, Will Wilson

Second Row: Bill Penn, Timothy Cervantes, Jorge Checo, Wanda Feldman-Rogers, Debbie Maples, Michelle Anderson, Will Sovern,

Front Row: Frank Honey, Matt Mattone, Sophie Mallard, Kevin Stone, Zack Crowther, Zak Kaiser, Chris Hobbs, Nelson Harrah
 

Joe McAvoy named Director of Corporate Loss Prevention for Belk
Joe was previously the Divisional Vice President of Corporate Loss Prevention and Safety for the Bon-Ton Stores since January 2016. He also held two other roles with Bon-Ton Stores over the years - Divisional Vice President of Loss Prevention & Safety and Assistant Director of Loss Prevention and Safety. Prior to that, Joe served as District Security Manager for Macy's and Director of Asset Protection for Saks Fifth Avenue. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Baltimore. Congratulations Joe!

Submit Your New Corporate Hires/Promotions or New Position
 

National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP) Supports Retailers Offering Shoplifter Education as a Voluntary Alternative to Entry into the Criminal Justice System for First-time, Low-level Offenders
Melville, NY, August 17, 2017 - Recent events in California present an opportunity to examine the concept of private industry working with the public sector to find and deliver better responses to crime in our nation, in this case, low-level and juvenile shoplifting. It is our view that it is not about any particular provider or their procedures. We believe that there is much more at stake for retailers. This is about the retailer's rights and prerogative as private citizens who are repeatedly victimized by shoplifting offenders (to the tune of $30 million annually) to seek a better solution. It is about the retail community's value in collaborating with and providing resources to the public sector to offer and establish a better response to the problem than those currently available - which are simply inadequate and therefore ineffective in reducing recidivism - a primary imperative of the criminal justice system.

"This is by no means an indictment of the underfunded and overburdened criminal justice system. Shrinking financial resources coupled with evolving and growing community concerns leaves the system unable to stretch their resources to handle every low-level crime with the full weight of the system, which is understandable," said Caroline Kochman, NASP Executive Director. Kochman points out that this leaves most low-level crime - and specifically shoplifting - unaddressed and unpunished. While this saves resources, it "sends a dangerous message to offenders that this particular crime does pay and the risk is so minimal that it is worth the reward."

Shrinking resources and an over-crowded criminal justice system is not a new problem for the public sector. To mitigate the impact on their effectiveness, many communities have successfully privatized certain aspects of the criminal justice system thus alleviating the burden on the public sector and stretching their limited resources - outsourced probation services is just one example. Read more here.

Retail Finance Executive of Starboard Cruise Services Embezzles $2.6M
From April 2010 through May 2016, Carmen Rodriguez worked in the finance and administration department of Starboard Cruise Services, which operates tax-free and duty-free retail stores aboard cruise ships. She added her own bank account information to two vendors' accounts. One of the vendors was a Chinese manufacturer of textiles and the other was a New Jersey corporation that distributed apparel.

The two vendors didn't do business with Starboard Cruise Services after 2010. However, Rodriguez created false internal invoices that inflated the price of products purchased by Starboard Cruise Services, often by overstating shipping and handling costs. In addition, Rodriguez created false internal invoices purporting to reflect product purchases by Starboard Cruise Services.

Rodriguez then fabricated false purchase orders that listed either of the two former vendors as the payee and embezzled about $2.67 million by arranging for electronic automated clearing house payments to be transmitted to her personal bank accounts.

She was hit with two counts of wire fraud that each carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison for her alleged scheme to embezzle funds from LVMH subsidiary Starboard Cruise Services Inc.  law360.com

The Digitization of Retail Crime
It's no secret that retail has gone through a digital evolution. This kind of evolution is only seen once every generation, like opening of the first fully enclosed mall started driving customers away from the street corner, or when the first super discount big box chains started offering products and prices that small family run businesses could not compete with.

The digitization of the traditional retail experience has forever changed consumer expectations. It has offered global competition immediate access to once loyal local customers. It has created an arms race of technology and consolidation to see who can get as many possible products to the doorstep in the fastest, most convenient way imaginable

With all new disruption, there also comes new risk. The traditional role of retail loss prevention used to be a fairly strait forward one, secure our stores, protect our products, thwart attempted theft, minimize shrink. However, with the expansion of digital retail, new expectations from the well informed, cellphone armed, I want it now consumer have created a complicated a retail landscape with points of weakness that extend well beyond the store itself. In the information age, products are also no longer the sole criminal focus. Information, in many cases, has become a far greater commodity than the very products a retailer sells, or the cash in it's cash register.

Retail loss and security are longer the sole responsibility of loss prevention professionals. IT, eCommerce and LP professionals must now all work together to ensure that any and all areas of access with a retail organization, both digital and physical, is secured, and monitored. Retail staff themselves offer digital exposure points, even without their knowledge.

As new technologies continue to be rolled out, a whole new level of exposure will be made available to creative criminal minds. Imagine a world where a hacker could hack into a wifi enabled smart refrigerator with auto replenish, tapping into the customer data of a local grocery store, or creating fraudulent transactions using the credit card of the fridge's owner. Do retailers really need to worry that fridges will be able to steal from them?

The good news, is for every new level of exposure new technology comes out that helps retailers protect themselves, their products & most importantly their data. Analytics tools & software that learns and identifies suspicious transactions, video cameras that automatically identify criminal tendencies, new levels of encryption that are near impossible to crack.

This is why the core issue of the digitization of retail crime has become a focal point of Retail Council of Canada's Loss Prevention Conference. We encourage the IT, eCommerce and Loss Prevention / Asset Protection communities to all come together to learn about the next great era of retail crime, and find solutions that will help protect their assets, information and people September 19 in Toronto, ON.

Kyle Tomlin, CMP
Vice President, Education & Events, Retail Council of Canada  linkedin.com

Do We Need a Security Standard for Trade Shows & Meetings?
"Take Charge of Meeting Security" Learning Lab at ASAE's Annual Meeting & Exposition, Hawarden, along with copresenter-Excellence Squared's CEO Paul Bridle-discussed the need for venues to adopt a universal set of international standards for safety and security.

The idea for the Secure Venue Standard first emerged after the 2015 Paris attacks. Bridle was approached by corporate meeting planners looking for a standard that would tell them what level of security venues had. "Clients started asking, 'What do we do? How do we respond to this? Because it's becoming an issue,'" he said.

The Secure Venue Standard-still a work in progress-is composed of 12 elements, including customer security, health and safety, risk management, and event security. Each element has a number of criteria to evaluate, some of them required by law. Hawarden added that the standard is being developed in coordination with the Events Industry Council and one of its committees. associationsnow.com

Straight From the CFO's
Employee Pay Raises to Hold Steady Next Year
Salary hikes for most groups of workers will remain at 3%, the same as in recent years, according to a survey of 819 employers by Willis Towers Watson.

The survey found that virtually all respondents (99%) are planning to hike compensation next year. Salaries for exempt (i.e., professional) non-management workers are forecast to be bumped up an average of 3%, the same increase they've received in each of the past three years.

Employers are also planning 3% average salary increases for management and nonexempt employees. Executives can expect marginally larger raises - 3.1% - in 2018, although that would be slightly less than they received this year and in 2016.

Employers continue to reward their best performers with significantly larger raises, in order to retain them and strengthen the company's commitment to paying for performance. The weakest performers will get "minimal increases," Sejen says.

Exempt employees who received the highest performance ratings were granted an average salary increase of 4.5% this year, about 73% larger than the 2.6% increase given to employees receiving an average rating. Companies gave average hikes of 1% to workers with below-average performance ratings.

The high performers actually are doing even better than what's reflected by their salary increases.

"Companies are relying more on variable pay, such as annual incentives and discretionary bonuses, to recognize and reward their best performers," says Sejen.

Overall, though, annual performance bonuses, which are generally tied to company and employee performance goals, are projected to hold steady or decline slightly in 2018 for most employee groups. Exempt employees are projected to receive bonuses that average 10.5% of salary, roughly the same amount companies budgeted for this year. cfo.com

New Jersey Bill Limits Use Of Driver's License Information By Retailers
The New Jersey legislature recently passed a bill that places restrictions on retailers' ability to collect and use personal information gleaned from driver's licenses. The bill, known as the Personal Information and Privacy Protection Act, is intended to give consumers more control and security over their personal information. A copy of the bill can be found here. mondaq.com

How A Bad Storm Could Endanger New England's Food Supply
If a major storm like Hurricane Sandy were to hit Greater Boston, New England's food supply could take a major hit. That's because the facility responsible for getting produce out to almost 8 million people across the region and parts of Canada sits in a flood zone in Chelsea, just less than a mile away from the Mystic River. The New England Produce Center (NEPC) is made up of four buildings that total almost 3,000 feet in length, making it the third-largest food distribution center in the country. wbur.org

Retail Foot Traffic Tiptoes Back
After a long retail drought, shoppers seem to be starting to return. And while no one's looking for that trickle to turn into a monsoon, there are some hopes that the declines hitting stores hard over the past year are starting to level out.

The most distinct signs of life amid what some have sought to dramatize as a retail apocalypse came from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Kohl's Corp. and perennially strong TJX Cos. Inc., all of which singled out traffic momentum when they reported second-quarter results this week.

RetailNext, which tracks footfall in thousands of stores, said traffic showed its smallest decline since January 2016 last month - but still slipped 5.5 percent.

"We're still seeing the need for customers to touch and feel the product," she said. "Even for companies that are digital leaders, they're starting to open their own locations because customer acquisition, the costs of it are lower than online business and provide margins that are higher. The storefront is the new homepage for retailers."

Simple mathematics might also be driving traffic gains: There are fewer stores. wwd.com

WBA and Rite Aid withdraw deal for 2,000-plus stores, to refile Friday

Con Job: Hackers Target Millennials Looking for Work
Employment scams on the rise as applications and interviews become more digital

Coming Monday
Special Report
Q2 & Half Year Retail Violent Death Report
See the Shocking Results


Quarterly Same Store Sales Results

Ross Stores Q2 comp's up 4%, sales up 8%
Walmart Canada Q2 comp's up 2.5%, net sales up 3.4%
Gap Q2 consolidated comp's up 1%, sales down 1.3%
     Old Navy Global up 5%
     Gap Global down 1%
     Banana Republic down 5%
New York & Company Q2 comp's down 1.1%, net sales down 3.7%
Stage Stores Q2 comp's down 3.6%, sales up 11.4%
Foot Locker Q2 comp's down 6%, sales down 4.4%
The Buckle Q2 comp's down 7.7%, net sales down 7.8%, half yr. comp's down 10.3%, net sales down 10.5%
Hibbet Sports Q2 comp's down 11.7%, net sales down 9.2%
Cato Q2 comp's down 14%, sales down 13%
 

WG's RFID Sentinel System
Tracking Your High-Risk Merchandise

Looking to secure your merchandise? The answer is Sentinel, a robust security and tracking system that secures all your high-risk items without the use of pedestals.

Sentinel is designed to contain all tagged merchandise within a specified area without the use of cables or lock-ups. Using sophisticated tags that communicate with overhead-mounted readers, tagged products can move freely within the Sentinel readers' detection range. The Sentinel will alarm only if the tags are tampered with or illicitely removed, or if the tags exit their area.

Sentinel works as a discreet standalone system, or can work in conjunction with your current EAS system as an added protective measure. The Sentinel comes with software which displays movement of each tag. This allows for stockroom, dressing room, and other sensitive area monitoring. Sentinel can prevent any type of good from leaving an area.

Contact WG for more information about this revolutionary technology

The Problems With Online Oversharing
Is your staff directory accessible online? Maybe it shouldn't be
According to a cybersecurity expert speaking over the weekend at the ASAE Annual Meeting. The issue comes down to security-and the fact that hackers may be savvy enough to connect the dots.

Sometimes, the smallest disclosure of information can become a cybersecurity risk in the wrong hands.

And not just because your organization's technology-whether software, hardware, or external infrastructure-has built-in security holes. Naturally, it will, and it may not be possible to avoid those problems. But the real issue may be that your company, team, or group is allowing an outsider to connect the dots, and those connections could be used in a cyberattack, a case of identity theft, or something that could be best described as the "big kill."

Attacks generally happen not because of lax security standards (though certainly that's one cause) but because hackers are adept at taking advantage of publicly available personal information and using it to dive deeper into someone's personal data. associationsnow.com

For cybercriminals, IoT devices are big business, part two
Security isn't just a good idea - it may soon be the law
Because many of these manufacturers have failed to implement necessary security into their devices, it's like we have handed the cybercriminal community our ATM cards and PINs because they don't have to figure out how to bypass security or crack open a hardened operating system. Instead, in the rush to push out new technologies to enterprises and consumers - and even critical infrastructure systems - with little to no security attached, that job has been done for them.

While security devices and strategies can go a long way towards protecting organizations and individuals, security developers can't solve this problem alone. IoT manufacturers have a role to play, and unfortunately, many have traded responsibility for expediency. The clock is ticking, however. The next step will be to hold manufacturers accountable for selling solutions that can be easily exploited.

Recently, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), co-chairs of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, introduced a new bipartisan bill known as the "Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017." for government devices.

California's recent Senate Bill 327 would go much further by codifying the State of California's ability to bring enforcement complaints against companies that do not build adequate security safeguards into their devices. This law has teeth, and because California is such a massive economy, its passage could significantly impact the entire IoT industry.

Such regulatory scrutiny and legislative action targeting the data security of IoT devices is likely to continue to grow, because the alternative is to continue to feed the growing cybercriminal economy. IoT device manufacturers need to prepare now to either develop security standards or conform to legislation in order to avoid massive market disruptions and consumer mutinies. Because the digital economy will continue to move forward, with or without them. techtarget.com

Governor Carney Signs Legislation Extending Cybersecurity Protections for Delawareans
Governor John Carney on Thursday signed into law House Substitute 1 for House Bill 180, legislation that requires additional protections for Delawareans whose personal information may be compromised in a computer breach, including additional notifications and free credit monitoring services. delaware.gov

Microsoft Report: User Account Attacks Jumped 300% Since 2016

Alibaba's Struggle For E-Commerce Legitimacy Is Undermined By Fake Gucci And Refugee Boats
Last week, Alibaba unveiled major upgrades to its Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) platform, an online channel for brands to file intellectual property infringement complaints. The announcement came after Alibaba scored a big win in the fight against counterfeit products earlier this month, when French luxury goods group Kering dropped its lawsuit against the company, agreeing instead to counter fakes together through a joint task force.

These moves reflect Alibaba's increasingly urgent need to shed its reputation as a safe haven for cheap knock-offs. To sustain growth of the $390 billion Alibaba empire, the company is expanding overseas, seeking to convince foreign companies that it is serious in protecting their intellectual property. It is also trying to improve relationships with luxury brands, as the company launched a new luxury goods shopping portal to fend off rising competition from China's JD.com.

The scale of fake and problematic goods, however, is still big on Alibaba's shopping sites.

Although the company has stepped up surveillance on its Taobao Bazaar and high-end Tmall online mall, fake goods sellers are simply migrating to other Alibaba platforms. On the company's digital flea market Xianyu, which means "spare fish" in Mandarin Chinese, a search for Gucci turned up plenty of listings under 300 yuan ($45) - about 1/100th of the price of the real thing.

To evade Alibaba's policing, such sellers often direct buyers to external social media platforms to complete the transaction. One seller of a $50 Gucci handbag told FORBES in recent online chatting that he was peddling yuan dan, or products produced by the same factories using raw materials from the original brands but without obtaining their authorization. The seller could no longer market them on Taobao because Alibaba was watching more closely, but eager buyers can order on Tencent's instant-messaging app WeChat, and there are still workarounds on Taobao, for example using a special link that can "hide" the deal from Alibaba's big data tracking.

The problem also reflects the scale of fakery in China. Globally, imports of counterfeits and pirated products stand at nearly half a trillion dollars every year, and mainland China produces more than 60% of them, according to a 2016 report by the European Union and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"There is no denying that counterfeiters are moving to other Alibaba sites," said Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communications Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. "Alibaba is going after Taobao first because it has the biggest social impact, and applying lessons learned to other sites later."

In the meantime, some merchants are exploiting Alibaba's loopholes to sell not just fake bags, but products aimed at attracting illegal businesses- further hurting the company's desire to be seen as a legitimate marketplace. forbes.com

E-Commerce Retailers Using VOIP Take Note
Russian cybercriminals using VOIP services to bypass fraud verifications
Flashpoint researchers spotted Russian speaking cyber-criminals using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services to bypass phone call transaction verifications.

Researchers spotted three VOIP services Narayana, SIP24, and SIP Killer being sold in cyber-criminal forums and used to make online purchases using compromised bank or online retail accounts, according to a 15August  blog post.

Researchers said it's important that financial institutions and e-commerce retailers, who may be unable to differentiate between legitimate transaction confirmation calls and fraudulent ones made and/or received by criminals using VOIP services, take note.  scmagazineuk.com

Too Much Security? There's No Such Thing
It goes without saying that eCommerce security is paramount as cybercriminals get smarter and more creative. Between account takeovers, business logic abuse, loyalty and reward points fraud and other cybersecurity attack methods, companies are not only suffering financial damages but brand image damages too.

Yet surely there is a line - a point where the bell curve peaks and begins its downward plunge - a point where there's simply too much of a good thing, and the friction introduced on the consumer side is no longer paying off in terms of revenue.

Not according to Angel Grant, director of Global Product Marketing and Strategy for cybersecurity firm RSA. "There's never 'too much' security," Grant said. "But there can be too-intrusive security. It's not too much security; it's focusing on the right security."

So how does a merchant focus on the right security and prevent their customers from abandoning shopping carts? Grant said they must understand what they are fighting in a world of changing threats and changing defenses.

That's why cybersecurity firm RSA recently teamed up with 451 Research to produce a white paper outlining how merchants can balance good business with good security and focus on what they really care about: making customers happy. Here are a few of the top things every eTailer should know about fraud in 2017.  pymnts.com

The Download: Web Threat Detection

Worldwide IT Security Spending To Hit $86.4B This Year
Worldwide spending on information security products and services will reach $86.4 billion in 2017, marking a seven percent increase over 2016. That's according to market research firm Gartner, which said in its latest forecast that spending will grow to $93 billion in 2018. pymnts.com

Wal-Mart's Online Business is Booming - Up 60% in Q2

Homestead, FL: $100,000 in Lawn and Garden item stolen from a Hardware store
Police are searching for two people of interest who they believe may have been involved with an overnight burglary at a hardware store. The burglary was reported Monday morning at Berry's Hardware Store. Police released surveillance video Thursday that shows two men inside the store, looking at lawn equipment. Detectives believe they may have been involved in the burglary. Authorities said about $100,000 worth of lawn equipment was stolen from the store. local10.com


(Sentencing) Salem, MA: Man pleads guilty to ATM Burglaries in 3 states and $120,000 Apple store theft
David Baker Barker was part of a "organized retail crime" operation with a "breaking-and-entering crew" that scouted locations and disabled surveillance cameras, he pleaded guilty to a multitude of crimes Thursday in Salem Superior Court. In all, David Barker pleaded guilty to 36 criminal counts including conspiracy, larceny of property valued over $250, malicious destruction of property, illegal possession of burglarious tools, breaking into a bank, receiving a stolen vehicle and more. Also, for probation violations, Barker was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison to run concurrently with another four- to five-year sentence. eagletribune.com



Boiling Springs, SC: Man fled Walmart with over $2,000 in merchandise
The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office is trying to identify a man who they are accusing of more than $2,000 worth of shoplifting. Sheriff Check Wright posted the photo on Facebook of the suspect in a shoplifting case on Tuesday. It happened at Walmart in Boiling Springs. wspa.com



Harrison County, MS: Husband and wife busted stealing dozens of hats, underwear, toys and Religious Books
Tips led to the arrests of a Pascagoula husband and wife accused of shoplifting dozens of hats, T-shirts, toys and religious books from a Saucier convenience store. Items stolen from Keith's Superstore include 21 T-shirts and 43 hats, 16 of them Alabama or LSU caps, Sheriff's Lt. Coley Judy said. Investigators identified Landon Christopher Demouey, 33, and his wife, Cheryl Marie Demouey, through tips shared on social media. sunherald.com

Chicago, IL: Thieves Break Into 5 U.S. Mail Trucks In One Week On SW Side

Canfield Township, OH: Randy Pence, 34, of, Leavittsburg, was arrested for theft of $1,061.23 in merchandise at Walmart

Retail Deaths

Norton Shores, MI: Fleeing Shoplifter in a stolen car kills a 92 year old Veteran
Police say an innocent driver was killed just moments after a chase with the suspect was called off. Duane Levi Quigg, who just celebrated 92nd birthday in June, was tragically killed Thursday. Quigg was driving with his girlfriend who is hospitalized and seriously hurt.

At 11:30 a.m., Norton Shores Police Chief Jon Gale says the shoplifting suspect driving the stolen car crashed into an SUV driven by Quigg. The suspect was also hospitalized with serious injuries. The police pursuit started less than two miles from the crash scene when an officer pulled the suspect over. As the officer got out of his vehicle Gale says the suspect sped off. Officers were responding to a shoplifting complaint at Meijer and then learned the suspect vehicle was stolen. Officers discovered that a man had stolen several bottles of liquor and had been involved in several other larcenies in recent days. grandhaventribune.com

Update: Colorado Springs, CO: Walmart Shoplifter pointed pellet gun at officer before being killed
Colorado authorities say the pellet gun a man pointed at officers before being fatally shot was "almost an exact replica of a firearm." Police responded to a report of shoplifting at 11:36 p.m. at Walmart and chased the suspect, Steven James Young. The El Paso County officer who shot Young was wearing a body camera and footage is being reviewed. The officer's name has not been released and he remains on paid leave. Young was wanted on suspicion of aggravated motor vehicle theft and multiple counts of vehicular eluding. He also was wanted on a fugitive from justice warrant from the Colorado Department of Corrections. gazette.com

Dothan, AL: C-Store Robbery suspect dies following a high Speed crash fleeing from Police
Dothan Police Lieutenant Brian Smith confirmed that Robert Daniel Kelly, 49, passed away Wednesday at a hospital. Smith said investigators were notified Thursday. Kelley allegedly robbed a convenience store along Montgomery Highway early Tuesday. Officers responding to the robbery spotted the suspect's car and gave chase. The pursuit ended on West Main Street (near Brannon Stand Road) when Kelley's car allegedly sideswiped another one and flipped at least twice. wtvy.com


Robberies & Thefts

Delaware County, OH: Body cam shows deputy nearly run over by fleeing shoplifter
A week after a reported shoplifting incident led to a Delaware County chase that included a nearly run over by a pickup truck and another deputy firing shots at the suspect's vehicle, the sheriff's office has released body cam video capturing the entire sequence. Alana Hissong, 28, is accused of shoplifting from OshKosh B'Gosh at the Tanger Outlets then took them on a brief chase before crashing.

In the video, you can see an officer smashing the window of a pickup truck. Hissong then backed out and fled the scene as backpedaling Sheriff's Deputy Josh Clark stumbled and fell. Fellow Deputy Alex Richson then fired four shots trying to hit the suspect's tires as she almost ran over Clark. abc6onyourside.com


Tulsa, OK: Long term Walmart Manager Fired After Catching Shoplifters
A long-time Walmart manager says he was fired for trying to stop a pair of shoplifters. "I trailed him 20 feet behind, sir sir sir , he went straight to the car," said Tommy Hornsby. He wrote down their license plate number and police arrested the two men with a stolen television and computer. But Walmart fired Hornsby, saying he violated their policies on dealing with shoplifters. The company says a manager can reapply for a job within 60 days, but it would only be an entry level position. newson6.com


Los Angeles, CA: Suspected members of Robbery crew accused of striking across Orange, LA counties face trial; over $5M in jewelry and watches
Trial began Thursday for six suspected members of a crew accused of carrying out a string of mid-day smash-and-grab robberies in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Tenley told jurors during opening statements at a federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles that Keith Walton, Darrell Dent and several other members of an Inglewood-based street gang carefully planned out a series of robberies that netted more than $5 million in high-end watches and jewelry. The crew leaders sold off the property, the prosecutor said. Walton is among the six facing trial, while Dent has agreed to a plea deal and is expected to testify against the others. The crew's leaders didn't take part in the robberies themselves, the prosecutor said, instead recruiting financially strapped "foot soldiers" to carry out the jobs.  ocregister.com


Houston, TX: Police responds to reported Smash-and-Grab at Neiman Marcus and Chanel stores in Galleria
Houston police responded to reports of a smash-and-grab near the entrance to the Neiman Marcus and Chanel stores at the Galleria early Friday. Police have not commented on the situation but officers were on the scene shortly before 7:30 a.m. khou.com




Boise, ID: Detectives investigate three burglaries believed to be linked to one suspect

Lehigh County, PA: Second man charged in string of Robberies and Burglaries; the group of 5 hit KFC, a Pharmacy,2 gas stations and a gun store

Two Trucks, 20 tons of Nutella chocolate eggs & 30 tons of fruit juice, stolen last weekend in Germany

North York, Ont. CN: Police release photo of suspect in Michael Hill jewelry theft in Fairview Mall

Zale's in the Solano Mall, Fairfield, CA reported a Grab & Run on 8/17, item valued at $2,669

Piercing Pagoda in the Cottonwood Mall, Albuquerque, NM reported a Grab & Run on 8/16, items valued at $1,099

Kay Jewelers - Sunvalley Mall, Concord, CA reported a Grab & Run on 8/15, item valued at $7,299


Counterfeit

St Louis, MO: Federal Indictment handed down for trafficking Counterfeit apparel; over $250,000 in merchandise seized from Flea Market
A federal indictment handed down this week accuses a man of selling "large quantities" of fake Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and other apparel that would be worth $250,000 if real. Demba Ba was indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Wednesday on one felony count of trafficking in counterfeit goods. The indictment says that he was selling the items at an outdoor shopping area in St. Charles County on May 7. That date coincides with a raid of the Wentzville Flea Market by police and the Homeland Security agents. stltoday.com

Fair Lawn, NJ: Five Arrested at ShopRite attempting to pass counterfeit $100 bills; over $500 seized

Jamal Juma promoted to Regional Loss Prevention Manager for National Stores Inc.

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Why Frequent Feedback Conversations are Thriving (and Annual Reviews are Dying)  Feedback impacts performance and employee engagement. The more you provide feedback, the better your teams perform. Don't wait until the yearly or bi-yearly reviews to help your team grow, here's what frequent feedback can do to help them. Now, not later

Develop Better Talent with Reverse Performance Reviews  While employee performance reviews are becoming a thing of the past, there's a better way to improve productivity: use reverse performance reviews and let your employee review the organization. This will help make things better for everyone. Reveal patterns

100 Performance Review Phrases for Better Employee Feedback  Performance reviews can help employees develop new skills, strengthen ones they already have, and allow them to be more effective in their roles. The key is to making your review with them as effective as possible. Here are some phrases to include to give your team the helpful feedback they need. Get specific

Managers Can Use Appreciation to Boost Employee Performance  Every team has people that perform at different levels. While many leaders focus on high achievers or worry about those performing at low levels, they should also look at the average achievers. Showing your appreciation will help them become key players. Show your support

Passion is probably the one trait all employers look for in every search and in every candidate. It's also the one ingredient that's hard to manufacture and almost impossible to fake. Certainly, energy level has a lot to do with it and virtually everyone can pick it up a notch when they need to. But passion is something that's deep and something money can't buy and quite frankly it's worth it's weight in gold because passion motivates people and it's what separates the good from the great. If you've got passion, let it show and, if you don't, try to go find it because every employer wants it.

Just a Thought,
Gus

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