It's not just homicides that have increased in Baltimore
Commercial robberies are up 88 percent
While the three-year spike in violent crime in Baltimore draws most of the attention, business owners across the city have suffered a similar increase in commercial robberies. Such crime has risen 88 percent in the last five years, from 560 commercial robberies in 2013 to more than 1,000 last year.

Business owners are also complaining of threats outside their stores: drug dealing, intimidation, stabbings and shootings.

They're fighting back with security measures - guards, surveillance cameras, door buzzer systems - moving out of the city or, in some cases, shutting down altogether.

"Our members are very concerned," said Cailey Locklair Tolle, president of the Maryland Retailers Association. "Unfortunately, a lot of our members don't relocate. It's a massive endeavor. A lot of times they just go out of business."

Police have taken notice - and say recent arrests should make a dent. "It's a small group of people responsible for these," police spokesman T.J. Smith said.

Smith said police are increasing checks on stores and are monitoring CitiWatch cameras more closely. baltimoresun.com

Former Walmart US CEO:
Gun regulation is the responsibility of the government, not retailers
Former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said gun sales should be regulated by state and federal legislators, not by retailers.

"[Gun violence] is a crisis and needs to be dealt with," Simon said Tuesday on CNBC's Power Lunch. "Businesses can be part of the solution. But simply not selling guns anymore would not solve the problem, he argued.

"In fact, it would probably make it more dangerous," said Simon, who now serves on the board of Darden Restaurants, an American multibrand restaurant operator.

"If they are legal, and they are today, you want responsible retailers selling [guns] so they can be documented and videotaped and tracked," he said. "Responsible retailers help the police in the event something happens." cnbc.com

Bump Stock Prices Soar After Trump Proposes Ban
Bump stocks are worth a lot more thanks to an announcement from President Trump. The devices, which increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic gun to mimic that of a fully automatic firearm, may become the subject of a ban proposed by Trump Tuesday afternoon. On Gun Broker, a firearms auction platform, bump stock prices quickly rose. bloomberg.com

Hotels Now Doing Daily Security Checks of 'Do Not Disturb' Rooms
Caesars Entertainment Corp. security guards to conduct daily room checks
One of the world's largest casino companies will check its guests' hotel rooms every 24 hours, even if they have a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the doorknob.

Caesars Entertainment told The Associated Press Friday it also is considering giving panic buttons to its employees to enable them to quickly summon help if they are in danger or feel threatened. The company will implement the new policy soon at all its properties worldwide, spokeswoman Noel Stevenson said.

The company, which owns 47 casinos in five countries, becomes the latest hospitality firm to adopt new room-check policies after a gunman broke windows in his Las Vegas hotel room and rained bullets on an outdoor concert in October, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds before killing himself.

The room checks will be conducted by security guards. The company had proposed having housekeepers do the checks, but changed its mind after opposition from a casino workers' union.

Caesars joins other gambling and hospitality companies who have adopted similar policies requiring guest rooms to be checked periodically, even if a "Do Not Disturb" sign is in use, including Disney, Hilton, Wynn Resorts, and Boyd Gaming. The frequency of checks ranges from 12 hours to two days. courierpostonline.com

Sonitrol Donates Training Weapons to Dade City, Florida PD
Sonitrol, a verified electronic security company, donated several training weapons to the Dade City Police Department in Dade City, Florida. The training weapons will be used for the next new hire class taking place in March.

"The training weapons donated will be used to train new hires on fire arms, beyond their basic police training," says newly appointed Lieutenant William Rowe of Dade City Police Department. "The main use will be training for building searches and how to quickly draw a fire arm from its holster."

Sonitrol and law enforcement have been supporting each other for over 55 years. With over 178,000 criminal apprehensions since 1977, law enforcement truly relies on the Sonitrol Verified Electronic Security businesses to help them get criminals off the streets. In addition to donating training weapons, Sonitrol also shows appreciation to law enforcement by donating K-9's, participating in national Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and assists in lunch & education classes across the country. sonitrol.com

New Checkpoint Antennas to Bring RFID to Wide-Open Store Entryways
As brick-and-mortar stores compete with online shopping trends, they are becoming more creative in building open, inviting entrances with eye-catching merchandise to capture the interest of passing shoppers. But that design poses challenges for electronic article surveillance (EAS) and radio frequency identification (RFID), which are designed to protect stores from shrinkage, as well as track inventory.

Retail loss-prevention and merchandise-visibility technology company Checkpoint Systems has released two new products that it says will provide improved EAS functionality. The new offerings employ UHF RFID tag reads to help retailers manage inventory and shrinkage, while accommodating attractive, wide-open entrances. rfidjournal.com

New analysis picks Washington, D.C., as frontrunner for Amazon's HQ2
Another day, another Amazon HQ2 analysis. This time, researchers at Hamilton Place Strategies, an analytic PR consultancy, crunched the numbers and found Washington, D.C. the most likely city to land Amazon's massive second headquarters.

HPS looked at 11 metrics in four categories - transportation; education; business, lifestyle, and culture; connectivity - for 19 of the 20 cities on Amazon's short list. HPS did not include Toronto in its analysis due to a lack of uniform data between the U.S. and Canada.

(See GeekWire's own data-driven analysis here.)

Washington, D.C., earned the top spot on HPS's report because of its mass transit system, educated workforce, above average livability and diversity, and network connectivity.

Boston came in second, buoyed by its universities and educated workforce. HPS picked North Virginia third based on the same metrics. geekwire.com

Walmart's Catch-Up Game With Amazon Is Crushing Its Bottom Line
Walmart Inc.'s battle with Amazon.com Inc. is hitting its bottom line like never before -- and testing the patience of investors. The retail giant's push to expand online operations and cut prices contributed to a record-low operating margin last quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The profit measure narrowed to 3.3 percent, sparking concerns that Walmart's long-enviable financial cushion is under pressure.

Transportation and theft also contributed to its shrinking margin, but it's the e-commerce investments that loom largest for shareholders -- especially as those efforts show signs of diminished returns. Walmart's online sales grew at less than half the pace last quarter as in the previous three months. bloomberg.com

Walmart's Own Studies Support 'Suitable Seating', Cashiers Claim in Lawsuit
A group of 80,000 cashiers claiming Wal-Mart Stores Inc. failed to provide them with California state law-required seating defended its class certification in federal court Friday, arguing that Walmart's own studies show that cashiers can safely and efficiently use stools while completing their work.

In January, Walmart had asked a California federal judge to decertify the class after a California Supreme Court decision on the Golden State's so-called suitable seating rule, saying the ruling required the court to take into account the tasks "actually performed" by workers before allowing certification, court records show. law360.com

'L.L. Bean needs a return policy that separates the lifers from the fraudsters'
L.L. Bean has eliminated its famous 100-percent satisfaction guarantee, under which the company promised to repair or replace its products for life, no questions asked. Now, returns must be made within a year (except for defective products), and require proof of purchase.

In a letter on Facebook, L.L. Bean Executive Chairman Shawn O. Gorman explained that some customers had used the guarantee to replace "heavily worn products used over many years" and sought "refunds for products that have been purchased through third parties, such as at yard sales."

But if that's the concern, then L.L. Bean's move was shortsighted. Gorman conflated two very different types of customers. Let's call one the lifer, the person who bought products and then renewed them far past their natural lifetimes. The other is the fraudster, a scavenger of L.L. Bean products looking for a quick buck.

Fraudsters are a real problem. They're not using L.L. Bean products themselves, and they're not buying them for family members. They work at scale, sometimes returning, perhaps, 20 pairs of shoes or more. Those costs add up quickly, and there are no new sales to counterbalance them.

What L.L. Bean really needs is a return policy that separates the lifers from the fraudsters. That's not particularly hard to do. The company could, for example, introduce product registration, and only promise to repair or replace items returned by their registered owners. Or it could require original receipts with all returns. bloomberg.com

Most retail employees receive no real training
Most retail employees say training does not make them more effective at their job or any more engaged, according to a new "State of Workplace Training" survey from Axonify, a provider of training software, emailed to Retail Dive.

Of retail employees surveyed, 35% said training is "very effective" in helping them do their job well, and only 31% said that training makes them feel "extremely engaged," the study found.

The study also found that 32% of retail employees said they don't receive any formal training - higher than any other industry surveyed, an Axonify spokesperson said in an email to Retail Dive. Only 22% receive online training, and a mere 11% receive only classroom training. retaildive.com

Developer: Albertsons-Rite Aid deal is good for future of retail
Kimco Realty Corp., which holds an ownership stake in Albertsons, is of the opinion that the grocer's merger with Rite Aid is a positive one for brick-and-mortar retail.

Albertson's agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of the pharmacy chain "will result in a stronger, more diversified company that combines health, wellness, and convenience to deliver an enhanced customer experience, demonstrating what we believe is the future of retail," said Kimco CEO Conor Flynn in a statement reacting to the deal. chainstoreage.com

Even NYC's SoHo Neighborhood Can't Escape the Retail Property Storm
Manhattan, a retail juggernaut, hasn't escaped the market headwinds. After reaching a record in 2014, retail rents in Manhattan started sliding and then plunged 18% in 2017, according to data from real-estate consulting firm CBRE Group Inc. Even in the trendiest neighborhoods, swaths of vacant space have cropped up as tenants balk at high rents and decline to renew leases.

Retail real-estate values in other major cities are still holding firm in many cases, but pockets of weakness are emerging. Values of strip-center assets in Boston and Washington, D.C., for example, inched lower in 2017, according to Green Street Advisors. wsj.com

Florida: House Bill H0713 To Increases Threshold of Theft Offenses that constitutes Grand Theft of Third Degree; felony would go from $300 to $1,000

Iowa: Iowa House has approved language to make it easier to prosecute 'skimming' crimes; House File 2199 was approved 97-0

Arizona locks up a lot of people. Does it make us safer?

Tops Markets Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Online men's suit shop Indochino in new brick-and-mortar expansion


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UK online retailer Shop Direct outsources cyber threat detection
Shop Direct has decided to outsource its cyber threat detection to protect its eCommerce operations and streamline security operations. The online e-tailer, with over 1.9 billion pounds in annual revenues, has partnered with Vectra to deploy its Cognito threat detection and response platform.

"Every organisation at some point is subject to a breach, incident or cyber event," said Liam Fu, head of information security at Shop Direct. "The ability to quickly and accurately detect and respond to threats is paramount, and Vectra is helping us reduce business risk."

The Cognito platform speeds up incident response - the company claims threat analysis which can traditionally take hours or days can be completed in minutes. Vectra also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect threats, such as virtual workloads in data centres and the internet of things.

"AI and machine learning are transforming cybersecurity and enabling enterprises to better defend themselves," added Hitesh Sheth, president and CEO of Vectra. "Organisations like Shop Direct are augmenting their security teams with AI to protect the success of their business." essentialretail.com

Tesla investigates claims of crypto-currency hack
Tesla has confirmed that its cloud computing platform has been compromised by hackers. RedLock, the company that alerted it to the breach, believes the attackers may have done this to mine crypto-currency - an attack known as crypto-jacking.

Tesla said it had addressed the vulnerability "within hours" and that no customer data had been stolen. A spokeswoman added that the effects of the hack seemed to be limited to internally used engineering test cars. RedLock said that Tesla's log-in credentials were stored on a system that was not password-protected. bbc.com

Spiders Crawling Over Your Retail Site?
Over 1 billion account takeover attempts against retailers in one month
Spiders make up the largest part of bot traffic. While the majority of their impact is positive, once you start getting away from the search engines, things get murky. Other systems might be spidering your retail site, but are they partners using approved tools to download the latest price sheet, or a competitor looking to undercut your prices by a few cents? Airlines have long had to deal with this problem, with aggressive competitors occasionally taking down sites. I've even seen over-eager partners take down a business site when they tried to crawl the entire content of a site every hour on the hour.

Which brings the conversation back to the worst of the bots, the credential abusers. Sometimes called account takeover bots, these are the bots that login to sites using lists of usernames and passwords easily found throughout the Internet. Basically, if you have an account with any site that's been compromised, you have to assume your login and password exists in these files and is being checked against sites across the Internet. If you want to see for yourself, you can try Troy Hunt's "have I been pwned" site. My own email shows up in at least seven different breaches, for example.

Our own research shows that 43 percent of all login attempts we see are credential abuse bots. In November alone, we saw over 1 billion account takeover attempts against retailers and almost as many against hotels and travel sites. Attackers are hitting the companies with large caches of credit card numbers. Organizations need to take these attacks against their front door seriously and constantly update their protections as the attackers change their tactics. csoonline.com

Vulnerabilities Broke Records Yet Again in 2017
Last year was another one for the record books when it came to software vulnerabilities: published security flaws jumped by 31% in 2017. The number shot up to 20,832 for the year, with nearly 40% of them with CVSSv2 severity scores of 7.0 and higher, according to new data from Risk Based Security.

"Organizations that track and triage vulnerability patching saw no relief in 2017, as it was yet another record-breaking year for vulnerability disclosures," said Brian Martin, vice president of vulnerability intelligence for Risk Based Security, which published its findings last week in a new report. "The increasingly difficult task of protecting digital assets has never been so critical to businesses as we continue to see a rise in compromised organizations and data breaches." darkreading.com

Facebook Aims to Make Security More Social
Massive user base creates an opportunity to educate billions on security
Facebook's user base of 2.13 billion poses for the social media giant both a challenge and an opportunity to secure a massive number of accounts while also educating users on best security practices.

Other social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, also have the chance to enforce and foster strong security among users. But are they capitalizing on that opportunity?

"Getting people to care about their online privacy and security is always a challenge," says Paul Bischoff, privacy advocate with Comparitech. "Users are responsible for meeting Facebook halfway, but adjusting security and privacy settings is usually an afterthought that most of us put off for far too long." darkreading.com

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Amazon customer service scam targets your financial data
A recent scam targets customers who want to get an Amazon customer service representative on the phone. The fraudsters are posting fake Amazon service numbers that show up in online searches, according Krebs on Security. When the victim calls the number, the scammer picks up and asks for detailed personal information such as bank account and credit card information.

It's no surprise that scammers are focusing Amazon.com, the biggest online retailer, and its customers. Yet the customer support scam targets customers at a point when they may be more willing to hand over sensitive data, in the hope they'll receive a refund for their Amazon Prime service or merchandise.

Other Amazon-related scams have emerged recently, including an international online retail scam. In that case, one couple was surprised to receive unordered packages from Amazon. It had neither a return address or an order number, which meant the couple couldn't return it.

This scam is called "brushing," where an online seller purchases their own product and ships it to a real address. Then the seller writes a fake review while posing as the buyer. The goal? To present glowing reviews from "genuine" shoppers in an effort to game the system and push their products to the top of Amazon's pages. cbsnews.com

3 Cybersecurity Threats SMB Etailers Should Not Ignore
Some small e-commerce website operators may think their relative obscurity offers protection, but the fact is that SMBs are especially vulnerable to cyberattacks and malware.

"Very often small businesses don't feel vulnerable to cyberthreats because they assume cybercriminals prefer to launch attacks on large companies," said Stephanie Weagle, VP of Corero.

"On the contrary, cybercriminals have greater success in targeting small businesses," she told the E-Commerce Times.

The most obvious attacks involve the use of overt malware, such as ransomware, or redirection to potentially competitive websites, noted Chris Olson, CEO of The Media Trust.

Other attacks "may insert embarrassing language on the homepage or stealthily execute unwanted programs such as cryptominers, toolbars and fake surveys," he told the E-commerce Times.

There are three major threats SMB etailers can address effectively.

1. Unvetted Open Source Code
2. Risky Third-Party Web Components
3. The Mushrooming DDoS Trend ecommercetimes.com

Amazon swoops in on Macy's apparel sales

Nike's Air Jordan pre-release on Snapchat sells out in 23 minutes

Lancaster, PA: 5 women charged with stealing over $2.7K from Kohl's, Bon-Ton
Police responded to Park City Center for a report of retail theft in progress at 6:48 p.m. Monday. Police charged five Baltimore women with conspiring to steal over $2,700 worth of collective merchandise from two clothing stores. Police located one of the suspects during a vehicle stop about an hour later and found three H&M bags filled with clothing. Most of the items still had anti-theft devices attached. An investigation determined $1,654.98 worth of merchandise was stolen from Kohl's and $1,115.88 worth of items was taken from Bon-Ton at Park City Center. lancasteronline.com


Orlando, FL: Mom uses 8 children to help her shoplift
A mom from Orlando was hauled off to jail after a trip to Walmart. Orlando Police say 34-year-old Shanteria Baker took her eight kids to Walmart and had all of the children help her shoplift. Investigators say Baker's children range in age from four to 18 years. Police say Walmart security "observed Baker along with each child make several selections of women's clothing, women's accessories, cosmetics and grocery items." The kids placed the items into one cart while Baker began to separate out the food items. It also says that Baker had her kids pick out watches, take them out of their packaging and place the watches into backpacks they'd picked out. Baker paid for the backpacks, but not the watches. fox35orlando.com

Chico, CA: Chico Community Leaders Team Up to Stop Shoplifting
The Downtown Chico Business Association, the chamber of commerce, and the Police Department are coming together to hopefully put an end to shoplifting through a program called Retail Watch. The groups, along with business owners and the Chico Police Department will have monthly meeting where they can come together and share ideas about what to do.

"One business, for example, said they lost 40,000 individual item per year. Another business said they lost almost $50,000 in makeup alone," said Chico chamber of commerce president Katie Simmons. actionnewsnow.com

State College, PA: Police Say Walmart Employee Stole More Than $1,000 in Merchandise by Under-Ringing Girlfriend

Racine, WI: Man facing 35 Misdemeanor charges for theft of Meat & Liquor

Shootings & Deaths

Wisconsin Rapids, WI: Gun Scare to Draw Attention Away from Shoplifting Incident
A 21-year-old female has been taken into custody in connection with a threat at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids Tuesday morning. Around the same time a threat of a man with a gun at the school came in, the Wisconsin Rapids Police Department was investigating a shoplifting complaint at a local business. Four people were involved in the incident and two of them were detained by loss prevention and were being questioned by the police. Two other subjects were waiting in the parking lot of the business. In an attempt to divert the police from the shoplifting incident, the 21-year-old female called in the fake gun complaint to the Wood County Dispatch Center. wsaw.com


Cleveland, OH: Ambush, shootout involving AK-47 on Euclid Avenue damages SUVs, Popeye's, C-Store
A group of men toting guns, including an automatic rifle, ambushed two cars Monday evening and prompted a shootout at a convenience store that sent bullets flying across Euclid Avenue, police said. At least 50 bullets sprayed across the store's parking lot and damaged two businesses, a house and two SUVs that the gunmen targeted. One man in the parking lot was shot and wounded. cleveland.com

Conroe, TX: Man sentenced to 40 years after Jewelry store Robbery resulted in Death of alleged accomplice
One of four suspects in a fatal Conroe jewelry store robbery was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday. In October 2016, Prosecutors said the suspect and two other men robbed Jeff's Jewelry while armed with handguns and a hammer. During the robbery, a shootout erupted between the suspects and employees, resulting in one of the alleged robbers being fatally shot. cw39.com

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Great Leadership
Lessons from George Washington, a Navy Seal, and Our Founding Fathers
 

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Self-awareness has been cited as the most important capability for leaders to develop. If you're looking to improve your self-awareness, here are some tips you'll want to use that can help improve your leadership skills. Identify external factors

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Energy is the primary force behind success and without it mediocrity or failure is almost guaranteed. The ability to move things forward and influence change requires energy and there's a direct correlation to the amount of it and to the degree of success. It's great to start off energized and gung ho about a project or initiative, but it's critical to maintain the energy thru to completion. As one senior executive has said, "there's no bad plan -- it's always a matter of execution" and execution is all about energy. So when you think you've lost your energy, take a break, do something different, and give your mind a chance to re-energize. Because the worst thing you can do is to try to execute without it.

Just a Thought,
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