LPRC IMPACT: Chomping at Results One Lab at a Time

by Amber Bradley, Owner & Brand Strategist, Calibration Group, LLC

IMPACT day two tackled critical topics such as active shooter from a presentation by Cathy Langley, Vice President of Asset Protection at Rite Aid and Tom Arigi, Director of Corporate Asset Protection at Kroger, and Jenn Jarrett, Research Scientist at LPRC. The session began educating the audience on the difference between commonly confused definitions of mass shooters, mass murderers and active shooters. It also reported statistics and trends surrounding these rare, but emotionally salient events. Langley and Arigi brought real-world retail the conversation by providing actual photos and descriptions of actions each retailer is taking to keep their employees safe.

Another crowd favorite is always the offender interviews, which certainly took a lively turn when one of LPRC MC‘s got into a heated exchange with one of the panelists over an audience member question. Of course, the host diffused the situation with an impromptu real-life display of empathy and de-escalation techniques! The 2018 offender interview session was structured a bit differently than this year’s and it will be interesting to see which format was most popular with attendees.

Next, attendees visited the solution provider exhibit hall one last time before the conference wrapped. Attendees made their way around to more than 30 solution providers exhibiting their latest and greatest technologies.

Next up were more learning lab breakouts. The learning labs is certainly where the true core of the research content is covered at the IMPACT conference. This is where attendees learn the results of actual research studies LPRC has conducted over the last year. Some of the day-two topics included:

- Feature Matching and Retail: Where we are and where do we go from here?
- Reducing Robberies with Technology: Exploring the Effectiveness of Time-Delay Safes
- Reducing the Theft of C.R.A.V.E.D. Items Using ePVMs (concealable, valuable, and easy to resell)
- Cutting Down the Noise with Two-Way Radios: A Randomized Control Trial

Attendees really enjoyed having concurrent learning lab sessions so they didn’t have to miss any research content. After the learning labs lunch was served and closing remarks were given. Attendees then departed to their own Working Group Breakouts that included:

- ORC/Violent Crime
- Retail Fraud / Supply Chain Protection
- Data Analytics / Product Protection
- LP Innovation: Ideation & Simulation Lab

Attending the LPRC IMPACT conference feels very similar to its setting: a buzzing, energetic campus of young fresh faces trying to make a scientific impact on the loss prevention industry. It definitely seems like there is a lot to tackle…more angles to study, more technologies to trial, and more offenders to interview. But the LPRC team definitely has the skill, resources, and supporters to make, well… an IMPACT. It will be exciting to see the documented results of the more than 60 research projects they currently have underway! See you next year in Gainesville. Go Gators!

Read the LPRC IMPACT Day 1 Recap here