Supreme Court declines to hear 'Making a Murderer' case
Interviewing Technique Stands Up in Courts
Wisconsin officials had urged the Supreme Court not to take the case, telling the court it shouldn't second-guess Wisconsin courts' determination that Dassey's confession was voluntary. Prosecutors noted that Dassey's mother gave investigators permission to speak with him, that Dassey agreed as well and that during the interview investigators used only standard techniques such as adopting a sympathetic tone and encouraging honesty.

Dassey's attorneys, however, say he's borderline intellectually disabled and was pressured into a false confession. They wanted his confession thrown out and a new trial.

While Wisconsin courts ruled Dassey's confession was voluntary, a federal magistrate judge and a three-judge appeals court panel disagreed, saying he should be retried or released from prison. Then, in late 2017, the full appeals court ruled 4-3 that the state courts' determination that Dassey's confession was voluntary was reasonable, meaning no release or retrial. The Supreme Court's announcement it wouldn't take the case left that decision in place.

Editor's Note: The case that put industry-wide and globally taught interviewing techniques under the legal microscope shows the courts supporting the technique by virtue of the full state appeals court ruling the confession was voluntary and reasonable and the Supreme Court declining to hear the case. That legitimizes the technique and process. clickondetroit.com

Leveraging Loss Prevention Solutions to Boost the Bottom Line
How C-stores Can Leverage Loss Prevention Solutions
By Catherine Walsh, Tyco Retail Solutions - 06/25/2018
The implementation of an integrated security approach can help c-stores reduce shrink with more actionable insights into the sources of shrink.

The cornerstone of current convenience store security, video surveillance, can have a lot more functionality and improve operational efficiencies when connected to other new or existing systems, including fire and intrusion security systems, remote monitoring, and traffic-counting analytics.

Digital video technology allows retailers to recognize and record shelf-sweep activity, while identifying facial images of suspects to provide superior image quality in real-time. Following theft incidents, the video can be used in forensic analysis while dealing with incidents and investigations big or small, like a late-night armed robbery at a store located on a dimly lit street. The technology can connect with exception-based reporting and case management systems to collect data on committed crimes and further assist law enforcement. Read full article  csnews.com

The New Blue Light Zone
LPRC in the News & Making a Difference
Retailers experimenting with blue lights to deter drug use
Colored bulbs cast an eerie blue glow in the restroom of a convenience store where people who inject heroin and other drugs have been seeking the relative privacy of the stalls to shoot up.

The blue lights are meant to discourage drug users from shooting up in store bathrooms because the blue glow from the light bulbs makes it harder for someone to see their veins when trying to inject a drug.

Read Hayes is a University of Florida researcher and director of the Loss Prevention Research Council (LRRC), a retail industry-supported group. The LRRC conducts research to develop crime and loss control solutions for the industry. LRRC is now looking at the lights' effectiveness.

"The hardest-core opiate user still wants to be accurate. They want to make sure the needle goes in the right spot," said Hayes. The whole purpose of the blue light bulbs is to "disrupt that process" and force drug users to go somewhere else to use their drugs, he added.

One retailer participating in the experiment is Turkey Hill Minit Market, a 260-store chain based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's one of two convenience stores and a supermarket chain working with LRRC to field-test the blue bulbs. Hayes says the while the field-testing is still in its infancy, the initial feedback from stores has been very positive, reports ABC News.

Questions over the use of blue light bulbs
According to CNBC, some earlier studies questioned the deterrent effect of blue light bulbs. People who use opioids told researchers they'd shoot up in blue light if it meant avoiding withdrawal symptoms.

Early results of experiment are encouraging
Since Turkey Hill began using the blue light bulbs in 20 of its stores six months ago, "we're not finding hardly anything anymore," said Matt Dorgan, the chain's asset protection manager. "It's a pretty dramatic reduction. We haven't had a single overdose." digitaljournal.com abcnews.go.com

Lack of Testing Hampers Crisis Preparedness
Companies that think they are prepared to respond to a crisis may not be as ready as they believe, according to a survey released Wednesday by Deloitte Global.

While 90% of the respondents expressed confidence in their organization’s ability to address major trouble, the survey of 523 senior executives involved in risk, crisis management and business continuity found just 17% said their organization tested its crisis planning. Sixty percent said their organization faces more crises today than 10 years ago.

Lack of testing could be a matter of resources, management focus or a failure by the board to ask management whether they examined the assumptions made in their crisis planning.

“In many cases boards focus on what management tells them to focus on,” said Mr. Dent. “The board may not be spending sufficient time evaluating or even asking questions around crisis preparedness.”

“It’s not the plan itself that is important, it’s the process of planning that is important because it educates the management team in how to respond to a crisis no matter what that crisis is,” said Mr. Dent. wsj.com

The boycott-Trump movement has resurged
An anti-Trump movement is calling for the boycott of these 24 retailers
More than two years into Trump's presidency, the movement to boycott retailers that do business with the president's family is going strong.

Retailers such as Nordstrom and Gilt dropped Ivanka Trump's fashion line as the movement to boycott gained momentum last year.

However, 24 companies - including Macy's, Amazon, and TJ Maxx - still sell Trump-branded products.

Shannon Coulter, a brand and digital strategist, started the #GrabYourWallet hashtag in October 2016 to encourage people seeking a way to take concrete action against Donald Trump to boycott companies - large and small - that do business with his family.

While Coulter has remained steadfast in her quest to encourage the other 62 retailers, nonprofits, and even a movie produced by Harvey Weinstein to ditch Trump products, the issue has peaked once more among consumers and activists.

In June, the shoe retailer DSW sent an email to a shopper that claimed it would end its partnership with Ivanka Trump shoes, Racked reported. The Ivanka Trump brand denied this.

Now, 24 retailers remain, spanning from huge names like Amazon and Macy's to smaller companies like Wegmans and Filene's Basement. businessinsider.com

Here's the list:

NRF's Global SmartBrief Today & U.S. Smart Brief Friday
"What the world could be with facial recognition technology"
The Key: Setting Best Practices
Technology experts say facial recognition could someday replace the chip in credit cards, likes and dislikes could be analysed by complex biometric algorithms and individualised pricing would be the norm. That's also a world where the system could go wrong, identifying even Mother Teresa as part of a vast criminal conspiracy. Read best practices. stores.org

Editor's Note: It's critical for LP/AP and IT Security executives to be aware of what the various media outlets, especially the NRF and RILA, are publishing for their industry-wide and global readers. Understanding their position and how they're presenting a particular subject or technology and how often, is vital to know during the adaptation phase of any technology industry-wide. And while facial recognition is the hot topic right now, we're very much in the infancy stages of its acceptance and possible wide usage. Stay informed and use every piece of evidence you can find. Just a thought GD.

Police in 31 Sates - Use Facial Recognition With License Databases - Spurring Privacy Concerns
Thirty-one states now allow law-enforcement officials to access license photos to help identify potential suspects.

Police in the small Maryland city of Hagerstown used a cutting edge, facial recognition program last week to track down a robbery suspect, marking one of the first such instances of the tactic to be made public.

In the process of identifying a possible suspect, investigators said they fed an Instagram photo into the state’s vast facial recognition system, which quickly spit out the driver’s license photo of an individual who was then arrested.

This digital-age crime-solving technique is at the center of a debate between privacy advocates and law-enforcement officials: Should police be able to use facial recognition software to search troves of driver’s license photos, many of which are images of people who have never been convicted of a crime?

Thirty-one states now allow police to access driver’s license photos in facial-recognition searches in addition to mug shots, according to the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center. Roughly one in every two American adults—117 million people—are in the facial-recognition networks used by law enforcement, according to a 2016 report by the center. wsj.com

Amazon Contractors Pay $1.9M - Settles Warehouse Conditions Lawsuit in Los Angeles
Employees at a Los Angeles-area facility used by several retailers alleged unpaid work, unsafe conditions and retaliation.

A leading logistics contractor and a group of staffing companies agreed to pay as much as $1.9 million to resolve allegations of wage-and-hour violations and retaliation at a Los Angeles-owned storage facility that houses Amazon.com products, among others. bloomberg.com

DG GO in 10 Stores Going to 100 in Q2
Dollar General Pilots Mobile Checkout App
Reducing Labor Costs - Add-On Purchases - Real-Time Interaction
DG Go, according to its description on the Google Play store, is a shopping app that lets users scan and pay for products they select directly from their phone, allowing them to skip the checkout line altogether. It's available for both Android and iOS devices.

Although multiple grocers have introduced or expanded mobile checkout within the past year, reaction from consumers has been a mixed bag. While both Kroger and Meijer have rolled out scan-as-you-shop technology in stores, Walmart has pulled back: Following launch and expansion of its Scan & Shop technology earlier this year, the Bentonville, Ark.-based mega-retailer pulled the plug on the initiative last month.

Macy’s expanded its program and Urban Outfitter is testing the technology at its New York City flagship. progressivegrocer.com retailwire.com

Amazon has already begun automating its white-collar jobs
"Hands Off the Wheel" & Amazon Market Place Eliminating White-Collar Jobs
The company launched a pilot project called “hands off the wheel” that automated demand forecasting and negotiating prices with vendors, and the rise of the Amazon Marketplace, where vendors can bypass Amazon’s buyers and sell their wares directly on the site on their own.

“Computers know what to buy and when to buy, when to offer a deal and when not to,” Neil Ackerman, a former Amazon executive who now manages the global supply chain at Johnson & Johnson, told Bloomberg. “These algorithms that take in thousands of inputs and are always running smarter than any human.” qz.com

Cal-OSHA Issues Warning
Flash Report: Red Flags All Over California
Summer is officially here and with it comes warnings from authorities that workers could be in danger if employers don’t take proactive steps to prevent heat illness.

The National Weather Service has issued heat warning for many parts of California starting today, and excessive heat warnings for some areas. Temperatures are expected to rise to 110ºF in some parts of the Sacramento Valley, for instance. In the desert areas of Imperial and San Diego counties, they will soar as high as 114.

NWS also has issued red flag warnings for fire danger in the East Bay hills and the North Bay mountains in the Bay Area, where memories of last October’s devastating wildfires are still fresh.

The advice to employers is simple: If you have employees working outdoors, you should have an effective heat illness prevention plan in place and train your workers on it. Make sure those toiling outside have plenty of fresh, cool water – workers need to drink at least a quart an hour. You must encourage employees to drink water.

Additionally, you must provide shade when the temperature reaches 80 degrees, or when employees request it, and if an employee is in danger of developing heat illness, they must be allowed to take a rest in the shade until their symptoms disappear.

Other important elements of the heat illness standard are having emergency procedures, including effective communication with workers in remote areas; designating employees at each worksite to call emergency medical services if someone starts to develop heat illness; and keeping a close eye on workers who have been on the job for two weeks or less. oshatoday.com

Las Vegas, NV: 24 hours no more: Some Las Vegas stores closing early
Las Vegas has always been considered a quintessential 24-hour city, a place where anything done at 3 p.m. can also be done at 3 a.m. But in recent years, some round-the-clock discount stores, supermarkets and pharmacies have been cutting back their hours and closing overnight. The reason, according to retailers and analysts: Fewer late-night customers, an increased threat of shoplifting and competition from online retailers such as Amazon. lasvegassun.com

Japan: Yahoo Auctions joins National Shoplifting Prevention Organization
Yahoo Auctions, the pioneer of inter-individuals online trade in Japan, is collaborating with non-profit national shoplifting prevention organization Manboukikou.jp to prevent transactions of stolen goods. Initially, the marketplace will glean information on burglaries of high-priced books from major bookstores, verify them against the listings on the platform and report theft incidence to the police, according to a news statement. In future, it will expand this cooperation to other products, study shoplifting tactics and conduct research on trends of theft products on the Internet. Yahoo Auctions (or Yahuoku, as it is known in Japan) is the second marketplace to join the anti-shoplifting organization after Mercari. aimgroup.com

Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, New York, is America’s favorite grocery retailer
Publix, Trader Joe's, Aldi, H-E-B round out the top five of annual survey. chainstoreage.com

The newest episode of LPRC’s CrimeScience covers investigations & interrogations
The 8th episode of the Loss Prevention Research Council's podcast, CrimeScience, is now available. This episode features co-hosts Dr. Read Hayes (LPRC) and Tom Meehan (CONTROLTEK), along with featured guest David Thompson (Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates) as they discuss investigations, interrogations, false confessions and much more!

Access all episodes so far through the "Podcasts" app on your iPhone or through Google Play Music!

iOS: https://apple.co/2GEFlvV
Android: http://bit.ly/2rWVVno

If you would like to provide feedback or get involved with the podcast, please contact kevin@lpresearch.

New VPLP to be named this week

Director of Safety & Compliance - Sam's - Walmart Division - Bentonville, AR Asset Protection

NACS State of the Industry Report of 2017 Data Now Available

Orlando airport first to use face scanners for all international flights