Mitigating retail violence

By Scott Thomas - National Director, Signature Brands at Genetec

Rising retail violence is top of mind for retailers worldwide. Since re-opening after pandemic lockdowns, retailers have seen incidents of aggression increase across the board. This includes violence related to theft or other crimes such as active shooter events. In some parts of the country, the danger has increased so dramatically some major retail and hospitality chains are closing locations.

Major municipalities have also seen a reduction in law enforcement personnel. With reduced officer availability, response to property crimes often decreases. With little or no deterrence, criminals may feel emboldened and the number and frequency of theft incidents increases significantly.

2022 was the most violent year on record for retail (confirmed here by D&D Daily) While companies continue to combat organized retail crime (ORC) theft and cybersecurity, it’s workplace violence that is impacting operations and staffing the most.

Recently, Loss Prevention Magazine found that 60 percent of respondents had witnessed an incident of workplace violence within their company in the past year.

Types of retail violence

Many kinds of violent incidents impact retailers. Three of the most common are violence that escalates from theft, spontaneous violence (often linked to mental health issues), and violent crimes occurring in the surrounding neighborhood.

No customer issue is worth putting an employee’s safety at risk. Many retailers are now instructing staff not to intervene personally if they see shoplifters pushing a cart full of unpaid merchandise out the door. While these thefts may lead to significant losses, they can escalate quickly with worse consequences. If the thief has a gun or another weapon on their person, they can be deadly.

In certain neighborhoods, violent crimes such as assault, robbery, shootings, or carjackings have also increased in recent years. Though the retailer may not be directly targeted or even implicated, these incidents have an impact. If employees don’t feel safe, they will seek other employment. When customers are concerned about violence in the neighborhood, they won’t visit the store.

Impacts to retailers

The most obvious impact of rising retail violence is the potential for injuries to staff and customers. There are also financial losses, including both the cost of goods that may be broken or taken as well as damage to the property. But there are also less tangible considerations.

The first is staff turnover. This is a major consideration, especially given the staffing shortages that many businesses already struggle with today. The average employee starting work in a retail chain or a quick service restaurant is young, often a first-time employee. Their parents may encourage them to leave for safety reasons, or they simply don’t feel comfortable continuing to work in an environment where they feel that they are at risk.

There’s also the potential for negative publicity that impacts the reputation of the brand. This could include negative comments on social media or videos that become viral. These can affect more than a single store location as customers start associating that brand with a violent incident.

Practical solutions to improve safety and security

Keeping employees and customers safe is a retailer's top priority. To that end, many stores are implementing training programs to empower staff to identify early warning signs of violence and de-escalate threats.

Tactics include coaching on how to talk to irate customers and what to do to prevent incidents from escalating. Stores are developing policies and procedures for how to manage a situation if a customer is behaving erratically.

Retailers are also taking steps to improve response coordination. Internally, this could include introducing a panic button or intercom that connects to a security operations center. To improve coordination with local authorities, retailers are implementing automated standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure that employees know when and how to contact law enforcement.

Some chains have expanded the presence of uniformed guards to decrease attempted thefts and unruly customer behavior. However, there is a balancing act. You want to create a perception that your business is a safe place, but the presence of uniformed guards may also raise questions for some customers.

Environmental design can have a powerful effect. Increasing lighting and visibility within stores improves the perception of safety and can also deter troublemakers. One simple but effective step is to add signage that informs patrons that the area is under surveillance. The end goal of all these measures is to deter wrongdoing and to help shoppers and patrons feel secure and at ease.

Leveraging technology to improve safety

Complementing the above measures with a modern unified security platform and other technologies empowers retailers to detect and respond to potential threats efficiently and effectively.

For example, the classic panic button can be wired to an intrusion alarm or video monitoring within a unified system. When the button is pressed, automated SOPs can immediately alert the security operations center and guide the next steps to follow based on the level of apparent threat. The security operations center can quickly bring up the video, map out a threat level as defined in the SOP, and then follow a flow chart to guide their next steps.

A few retailers are even testing body-worn cameras. While this is still in an early proof-of-concept stage, retailers are finding that these video and audio recordings are helpful for post-incident analysis as well as training aids later. The interaction with the customer can be reviewed to glean what does and doesn’t work in real-life de-escalation scenarios. Security teams can review how the event was handled, identify when the inflection point happened, and reflect on what the team could have done differently. The results of this analysis can reveal new insights to help refine training programs and SOPs.

Finally, collaboration with other retailers and restaurants is critical. Sharing descriptions, videos, and photos of problem individuals can help others respond more proactively to potential threats. This is greatly aided by the help of a unified security platform that includes secure evidence sharing features to help law enforcement access data from private cameras without compromising privacy.

By combining technologies with enhanced training, SOPs, and even environmental design tactics, retail stores can enhance their ability to combat the rise in retail violence. While there will always be criminal activity, retail stores can take a multi-layered approach to protect their brand, their inventory, and most importantly, their employees and customers.

Scott Thomas is National Director, Signature Brands at Genetec.

Come see Genetec at NRF Protect 2023 to learn more about mitigating retail violence and loss prevention (booth #1205).