Using a Tried & True Approach to Fight Retail Theft in NY
'More street policing, more police surveillance, more prosecutors, and tougher penalties.'

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's Copy-and-Paste Crime-Fighting Formula

This year, the governor's budget contains an agenda to combat retail theft. It looks a lot like last year's plan to curb gun violence.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul pushed through a tough-on-crime crackdown on gun violence: more street policing, more police surveillance, more prosecutors, and tougher penalties. Now, she's using the same playbook against retail theft.

To combat gun violence two years ago, Hochul launched information-sharing initiatives between federal, state, and local police. This year, she wants a federal-state-local "Law Enforcement Joint Operation on Retail Theft."

That joint operation would be "anchored" around the state's Crime Analysis Center Network, a series of local police headquarters modeled after so-called "fusion centers," the secretive intelligence hubs created during the post-September 11, 2001, expansion in domestic surveillance.

Building on those efforts this year, she has proposed creating a clearinghouse within the Crime Analysis Center Network to gather and sift through information from retailers and disseminate it among the newly shoplifting-focused cops.

Hochul has argued that the intense surveillance is necessary because retail crime is increasingly "driven by organized retail theft networks." New York City saw a 64 percent increase in reported shoplifting between 2019 and 2023, even as most major cities saw retail theft go down. Statewide, incidents have risen at about a third of that pace.

Beyond surveillance for organized crime, Hochul's anti-retail theft efforts focus on the same street policing initiatives she used to tackle gun violence. She wants to spend $25 million to create and deploy a new State Police team dedicated to building cases against shoplifting rings, as well as a new "Smash and Grab Enforcement Unit." She also wants to increase the use of so-called "trespass affidavits," or agreements between law enforcement and businesses that allow police to arrest people who return to a store after the business accuses them of stealing.

She wants $5 million to help local law enforcement build out their retail theft policing initiatives. Once the cops wrangle shoplifters, Hochul wants district attorneys ready to prosecute them. Last year, she disseminated tens of millions to hire "hundreds of new prosecutors." This year, she wants to send DAs $10 million specifically to prosecute property crime cases. nysfocus.com
 

Shoplifters Pilfering D.C. Stores, Then Selling the Goods Just Up the Street?
'The result has been complete chaos on the streets of the nation's capital.'

Washington D.C. Democrats' Latest Criminal Justice "Reform" Failure
After the Washington, D.C. City Council decriminalized street vending without a license last year, shoplifters began ransacking stores and then setting up stands to sell the stolen goods - sometimes mere feet away from the businesses they just robbed. But while even far-left Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser has called on the council to reverse the decision, councilmembers are incredibly blaming police for rising theft.

In April of last year, the D.C. City Council unanimously passed the Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act, billed as an "overhaul" of street vendor laws that would "remove red tape" and allow more people to sell food and other items to make a living or earn extra income. Democrats on the council complained that police were "harassing" street vendors and argued that someone should not have to have a special license to be a street vendor.

Less than a year later, the result has been complete chaos on the streets of the nation's capital.

As one local D.C. news outlet reported on January 5, dozens of stores around the city have been completely emptied by thieves. A Target in Columbia Heights now requires anyone under 18 to be accompanied by an adult. Many drugstores and corner markets have entirely bare shelves.

Thanks to the city council's decision to decriminalize street vending, many are simply walking a few blocks and setting up open-air black markets to sell the stolen goods at a heavy markdown - cash only, of course.

Overall, theft was up 23 percent in D.C. in 2023 over 2022 numbers, with a grand total of 3,470 robberies and 13,349 other instances of theft last year. The problem has gotten so bad that Mayor Muriel Bowser - an avowed leftist who signed the Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act last year - has called on the council to reverse the legislation. amac.us

 
Theft Increases By 16% in LA
Los Angeles sees a drop in homicides, but property crime is up

Preliminary police data reveals a mixed picture in the city in 2023

A preliminary look at publicly available Los Angeles Police Department data reveals results that sometimes go in opposite directions. In 2023, violent crime fell by 3.2%, with drops in categories such as murder, robbery and rape.

"In regards to property crime, it was a different picture," Police Chief Michel Moore said during the Jan. 9 meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission. "We saw a 3.5% increase."

Fewer murders

The most notable decline involved homicides, which began soaring at the onset of the pandemic. The peak was the 402 murders in 2021. Numbers declined slightly in 2022, and at the Police Commission meeting Moore stated that last year there were "65 fewer homicides, which is a more than 16% reduction."

Preliminary data puts the 2023 count at 327 killings. Numerous major U.S. cities also saw murders fall last year.  The initial crime figures also show an 8.6% reduction in gun violence. Moore said there were 127 fewer shooting victims in 2023 than the previous year.

Thieves hit stores and cars

Even as violent crime fell, the city was shaken by a wave of retail theft. This included a summer string of high-profile smash-and-grab or group thefts from department stores

The LAPD's category of personal/other theft, which includes retail crimes, increased by 16% last year, Moore stated. The LAPD responded by partnering with regional law enforcement organizations to form a new Organized Retail Theft Task Force. xtown.la
 

Same Story Across the Nation

Does More Police Mean Safer Streets? Fewer Property Crimes Get Solved
In Minneapolis, police staffing levels continued to drop in 2023. So did crime.
Criminologists say police staffing is only one factor in a vast and complicated universe of what drives crime trends in the U.S.

Minneapolis is entering 2024 with a grim outlook for its police force, but what that bodes for crime rates remains to be seen.

The number of active officers in the Minneapolis Police Department has fallen to 565 - down 35% from nearly 900 in 2019 - an exodus that is exacerbating what the chief repeatedly warns is an unsustainable long-term calculus for public safety in Minnesota's largest city.

But while violent crime remains above pre-pandemic levels, it dropped in Minneapolis for the second consecutive year in 2023, more evidence that the latest wave of murders, shootings and carjackings is receding.

In 2021, Chalfin set out to measure what role police staffing plays. Through 38 years of data from 242 law enforcement agencies, he and others concluded that every 10 to 17 additional hires translated to one life saved. But more officers also created "collateral costs," such as a disproportionate jump in low-level arrests in minority neighborhoods that bred distrust and hurt safety perceptions, according to the study published in American Economic Review: Insights. The researchers also cited evidence that more police can lead to a rise in discriminatory practices, including the use of force on Black suspects.

When violent crime surges in American cities, calls to beef up police resources generally follow, based on conventional wisdom that more officers mean safer streets. But it can be difficult to disentangle the role of cops vs. other deterrents, like additional funding for youth programs or drug treatment. Adversely, a drop in police ranks can affect residents' perception of safety as depleted resources are reallocated. Fewer property crimes go investigated and solved, while more serious cases may take even longer.

Phelps said residents and police must be realistic about what law enforcement can accomplish. Police chiefs control where and how to deploy officers - but they have no authority over greater societal factors driving crime.

Staffing crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic upended society by displacing children from school, economically destabilizing their parents and fueling a sense of despair that drove spikes in overdoses and suicides. George Floyd's murder inflamed tensions in a community already on edge.

What followed were three of the bloodiest years in the city's history - as homicides surged to the worst in a generation - and officers left the force in droves. The wave of resignations, retirements and disability claims by police, mostly related to post-traumatic stress disorder, shrunk the department by nearly 40%.

MPD now has among the lowest ratio of officers to residents in the nation, fundamentally changing how the department operates. Top brass leaned on state and county law enforcement partners to fill the gaps and hired part-time civilian analysts to review video evidence. startribune.com


Cleaning Up Urban America - Who Gets the Bill & Where Do They Go?
Supreme Court to decide whether cities can ban homeless from public areas
The US Supreme Court announced Friday it will rule on a case challenging this new normal of squalor, disease and shouting schizophrenics invading our neighborhoods.

The town of Grants Pass, Ore., about 250 miles south of Portland, is challenging a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that goes back to 2018, shielding the homeless from any punishment for camping on public property.

The Ninth Circuit, known for its left-wing jurisprudence, says penalties for sleeping on public property amount to "cruel and unusual punishment."

Courts in the rest of the United States have cited it as a reason to tolerate homeless encampments.

What the justices decide this spring will affect the entire country.

Advocates for the homeless say cities are unwilling to spend the money to take care of the indigent.

Don't fall for that. All across the nation, municipalities have been increasing shelter accommodations, but many homeless flatly refuse to come in off the streets.

A Portland survey showed that 75% turned down offers for shelter accommodations. In San Francisco, 54% did in 2023, according to city data.

"The consequences of inaction are dire," they say, citing: "crime, fires, the re-emergence of medieval diseases, environmental harm, and record levels of drug overdoses and deaths on public streets."

Even California's governor, Gavin Newsom, is warning the justices that homeless encampments "are dangerous" and pose "immediate threats to health and safety."

Expect the justices to overturn the Ninth Circuit's loony decision and free municipalities to restore order and safety to their streets.

But the court can't command them to do it.

Ultimately it will depend on local officials to act on behalf of the quiet, law-abiding majority. nypost.com


Police & Retailers in Cities Nationwide Build Partnerships to Fight ORC
Seal Beach Police Partner With Businesses to Combat Organized Theft
According to the Seal Beach Police Department, several targeted enforcement operations during the 2023 holiday season resulted in multiple suspects being arrested and the recovery of stolen vehicles and merchandise.

However, the city continues to experience a noticeable increase in retail crime, including "pushout" thefts, in which offenders exit a store with loaded merchandise without purchase, along with return scams and grab-and-runs.

"To address this growing problem, the Seal Beach Police Department has partnered with local retailers to deploy proactive enforcement operations to gather intelligence, identify suspects, and arrest all offenders," police said in a statement.

Seal Beach police detectives conducted six organized retail crime-directed enforcement operations during October, November and December 2023. The operations consisted of investigators conducting surveillance at retail establishments and making arrests as crimes occurred. mynewsla.com


Shoppers sue Target, saying they were rammed by kids on scooters in Cherry Hill
The Philadelphia women suffered "lifelong" back and leg injuries as a result of the incident, according to their attorney, Michael van der Veen.

Two Philadelphia women say they were seriously injured after children rammed them with electric scooters while they shopped at the Cherry Hill Target.

"Target allowed a number of youths into the store without really monitoring them or figuring out what they were doing," said van der Veen, a Philadelphia lawyer who defended President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial. "They hopped on scooters that were there and were just zipping around the store."

Target "did nothing" to prevent the injuries, van der Veen said, or to remedy the situation afterward. And it was all preventable. It's really a gross negligence that Target was displaying."

Target spokespeople did not return requests for comment. In court documents, the corporation denies that it was careless or negligent, saying that the store was adequately supervised. Employees had no notice that the scooters were being misused, according to Target, and any injuries to the women were caused by other customers over whom the company "had no control nor right of control."  inquirer.com


Councilmember plans to increase LAPD foot patrols for Eagle Rock retail theft prevention

New Zealand Lawmaker Resigns After Shoplifting Allegations

Workplace Safety & Robots
Can Robots Improve Workplace Safety?

NSC found that remote-controlled robots offer high-value for confined entry inspections, working from height and hazardous material handling.

While the answer to this question is generally yes, there are drawbacks. In a white paper, Improving Workplace Safety with Robots, the National Safety Council looked at how robots can reduce the risk of serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs).

The report reached five key findings:

1. Robots are available in various control configurations - remote-controlled, pre-programmed or autonomous - as well as in various forms.

2. AGVs and AMRs are available as off-the-shelf solutions for small and large industrial warehousing and factory facilities, requiring approximately one week of mapping and route planning.

3. Remote-controlled robots offer high-value use cases for confined entry inspections, working from height and hazardous material handling, reducing the risk of human exposure to toxic gases, high temperatures, electric shock hazards and falls from height.

4. Cobots and robotic arms are well established for repetitive manual tasks, such as machine tending, parts repositioning and pick-and-place - and implementation and return-on-investment (ROI) can be seen quickly enough for organizations of all sizes.

5. Deployment of safety-related robotics in more complex and dynamic environments require longer development and testing times.

6. Pre-built, easy-to-use robotics hardware and software packages are being continuously developed for additional common safety-related use cases - meaning the real ROI concerning safety will be seen in the near future for both large and small industrial organizations.

To review the entire analysis of the report, click here. ehstoday.com


Self-Checkout Backlash Continues
'It hasn't delivered': The spectacular failure of self-checkout technology

Unstaffed tills were supposed to revolutionise shopping. Now, both retailers and customers are bagging many self-checkout kiosks.

For shoppers, self-checkout was supposed to provide convenience and speed. Retailers hoped it would usher in a new age of cost savings. Their thinking: why pay six employees when you could pay one to oversee customers at self-service registers, as they do their own labour of scanning and bagging for free?

While self-checkout technology has its theoretical selling points for both consumers and businesses, it mostly isn't living up to expectations. Customers are still queueing. They need store employees to help clear kiosk errors or check their identifications for age-restricted items. Stores still need to have workers on-hand to help them, and to service the machines.

The technology is, in some cases, more trouble than it's worth.

"It hasn't delivered anything that it promises," says Christopher Andrews, associate professor and chair of sociology at Drew University, US, and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy. "Stores saw this as the next frontier... If they could get the consumer to think that [self-checkout] was a preferable way to shop, then they could cut labour costs. But they're finding that people need help doing it, or that they'll steal stuff. They ended up realising that they're not saving money, they're losing money."  bbc.com


Strict Return Policies Aren't Stopping the Flood of Returns
Study: Consumers undeterred by stricter policies as returns continue to increase
Higher restocking and shipping fees and shorter windows aren't stopping customers from making returns, which are eating into retailers' profitability.

That's according to a new survey from Blue Yonder which found that while 89% of retailers having changed their returns policies in the past 12 months to make them more expensive for consumers, or otherwise tightening the restrictions around returns, more than half (59%) experienced an increase in the rate of returns over that same period.

The results indicate that 63% of retailers face significant challenges with the management of returns as customers increasingly turn to online shopping options.

Retail product categories that traditionally haven't experienced high return rates for in-store purchases are now seeing increased return rates online, with significant and somewhat significant return rate increases in sports & outdoor equipment (76%), cosmetics (73%), trade tools/equipment & DIY (72%), and children's Toys (68%). Overall, only 13% of retailers reported a decline in returns over that same 12-month period. chainstoreage.com


Consumer Spending Remained Resilient in December
NRF Says Census Data Shows 2023 Holiday Sales Grew 3.8% to Record $964.4B
WASHINGTON - U.S. Census Bureau data released today shows that core retail sales during the 2023 holiday season grew 3.8% over 2022 to a record $964.4 billion, easily meeting the National Retail Federation's forecast despite continued inflation and high interest rates, NRF said. Sales for the full year grew 3.6% over 2022 to a record $5.13 trillion.

"Consumer spending was remarkably resilient throughout 2023 and finished the year with a solid pace for the holiday season," NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. "Although inflation has been the biggest concern for households, the price of goods eased notably and was helped by a healthy labor market, underscoring a successful holiday season for retailers."

The 2023 holiday sales results top the previous record of $929.5 billion spent during the 2022 holiday season. NRF had forecast that 2023 holiday sales would increase between 3% and 4% over 2022 to between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion. Despite a slower growth rate compared with the past three years, when trillions of dollars of stimulus led to unprecedented rates of retail spending during the pandemic, 2023's holiday spending was consistent with the average annual holiday increase of 3.6% from 2010 to 2019. nrf.com

  RELATED: Retail sales rose 0.6% in December, topping expectations

Sales Offer Merchants "Glimmer of Hope"
PYMNTS Data: Inflation-Adjusted Retail Sales Offer Hope for Merchants Beyond the Holiday Surge
A real spending, adjusted for inflation, is spiking upward, tracking the headline or nominal trend. In other words, the read across is that, by and large, consumers are buying more - more goods, more gifts, more food, more clothes ... name the category and the demand is there. In fact, PYMNTS has found that seasonally adjusted sales from 2022 to 2023 increased by 2.1%.

Part of the reason for the surge - and the narrowing of the gap between real and nominal sales - lies with the fact that inflation for retail items (not overall) has been near 0%, though volatility reigns.

January's just underway, and there are no guarantees of what lies ahead, but if December's any indication, merchants may see some brighter days ahead. pymnts.com


Are Retailers Keeping Up with Shopper Expectations?
IBM Study Reveals Gap Between Consumer Expectations & Retail Experiences
"IBM's 2024 Consumer Study has uncovered that only nine per cent of consumers are satisfied with their in-store experiences and 14 per cent with online shopping. However, there is a burgeoning eagerness among consumers to embrace AI throughout their shopping journey," said Luq Niazi, Global Managing Partner, Industries & Global Consumer Industry Leader, IBM Consulting.

"Roughly four in five consumers who haven't yet tried AI for shopping said they would like to use it to research products, look for deals, ask questions, and resolve issues.

"This signals a clear demand for a seamless integration of technology, like AI, in retail, moving beyond the traditional paradigms to a more dynamic, personalized shopping environment. Personalization and targeted offerings are in demand, with 52 per cent of consumers surveyed interested in receiving information, advertisements, and offerings from stores that are relevant to their specific interests. The challenge and opportunity for retailers lies in responding to this eagerness for AI, leveraging the technology to enrich consumer shopping experiences at every point, from personalized recommendations to real-time inventory updates."  retail-insider.com


More U.S. Airstrikes in Response to Houthi Vessel Attacks
Tensions Continue to Ratchet Up in the Middle East
Middle East tensions are ratcheting up after the US launched another round of strikes on Yemen's Houthis overnight. The American military targeted 14 Houthi missiles just before midnight Yemeni time. Hours later, Pakistan launched missiles against militants in Iran. Oil prices edged higher on Thursday following the strikes, with Brent rising above $78 a barrel as concern builds around the potential for interruptions to crude production and disrupted supply chains. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October, the Houthis have attacked vessels in the Red Sea, US bases have come under fire from Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, and Tehran has struck targets in neighboring countries.  bloomberg.com

   RELATED: FedEx CEO eyes Red Sea crisis, rising ocean rates


Paint retailer Kelly-Moore is going out of business days after laying off 700 workers

Costco reportedly testing membership ID card scanners at store entries