Solving the Under-Reporting Problem to Crack Down on Repeat Offenders
Alto hopes to make retail crime reporting easy by helping stores create a 'case in a box'.

Tech Solution Aims to Streamline Process for Reporting Retail Crime
Retail theft and organized retail crime are escalating across the nation's largest cities, but law enforcement, prosecutors and the retail community are struggling to develop cohesive protocols for ensuring consequences and deterring repeat offenders.

Part of the issue stems from under-reporting, experts have said, noting that many retailers have come to expect and accept some level of shoplifting activity in their stores and even regard it as a cost of doing business. In many cases, the expense associated with pursuing punitive action against an offender is greater than the initial loss. And with minimal consequences for minor offenses, the juice just isn't worth the squeeze.

New technology aims to streamline the process for pursuing justice, though. Alto is a software-based service that compiles data from retail and shares it with stakeholders to create a "case in a box," the company's CEO, Christian Lopez, told Sourcing Journal.

The software aggregates insights from retailers' in-store security systems, like video cameras and alarms, sharing the data with law enforcement and prosecutors to help them compile a case and pursue a conviction. The technology also tracks regional crime trends and allows retailers to identify and report repeat offenders, building a case over time.

Alto provides an end-to-end system for reporting crimes and tracing a case through the court system. Retailers have their own asset protection infrastructure including technology and on-the-ground teams, which can provide invaluable insights, Lopez said. Users like sales associates or store managers can report an incident within two minutes without leaving the sales floor, with all data displayed on a centralized dashboard. The system's proprietary analytics determine the course of action and which stakeholders to engage.

Alto has developed a comprehensive network of legal professionals across the markets it works in. "We will act as the victim advocates," he added. "Our attorneys will go to court with all the information that we gather from our software."

Retail crimes have been historically under-reported because they are de-prioritized in favor of more serious crimes.  sourcingjournal.com


Cracking Down on Juvenile Mall Flash Mobs
California Mall Bans Minors Unless Accompanied by Adult
A California mall that has been repeatedly targeted by juvenile flash mobs is implementing a new policy to support safety and security.

The Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, Calif. announced the implementation of a youth supervision program this week. Beginning Mar. 1, all mall visitors under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or adult age 21 or older after 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

"We are establishing a Youth Supervision Policy as an enhancement to our existing safety plan and to deter activity that is disruptive to our community," Simon Property Group, the mall's owner, said in a statement. "The program is in response to feedback from the community and community leaders, as the center reinforces its commitment to the community to provide a pleasant, family friendly shopping environment."

According to Simon, minors may be asked to produce "acceptable proof of age" like a state-issued driver's license, ID card, military ID, school ID or passport by mall associates. Those that fail to provide identification or flout the policy will be asked to leave the property.

One adult may accompany up to four minors, and they must remain together at all times. Adults are responsible for the actions of all of the youth they accompany, the group said. While store employees under the age of 18 will be permitted to work during the regulated hours, they must adhere to the policy when their shifts end.

"Del Amo Fashion Center is among the most protected properties in the area, and we take very seriously our responsibility to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for our shoppers, employees and retailers," a spokesperson for Simon Property Group told Sourcing Journal Friday. "We continuously invest in our industry-leading safety and security program, and the introduction of a Youth Supervision Program is the latest step in those efforts."

The Del Amo Fashion Center's announcement comes after months of escalation in organized retail crime. sourcingjournal.com


'New York is the Worst': Businesses Say Governor's Crackdown Isn't Enough
NYC businesses, experts rip crime policies hurting profits, scaring employees

Gov. Hochul recently proposed a law enforcement task force on retail theft and the creation of a state police team focused on organized retail theft rings

Some small business owners in New York City are unconvinced Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed solutions to combat retail theft will actually deter shoplifters they say have become emboldened in recent years.

Hochul recently unveiled a plan to combat organized retail crime in the city, which includes a law enforcement task force on retail theft and the creation of a state police team focused on organized retail theft rings. The $45 million proposal would reportedly include handing out trespassing notices to people who are caught stealing, which allows them to be arrested if they return to the same store. In the pilot program, just 29 of the 329 people who were served with these notices returned to the same store.

"We really are focused on what has become a sophisticated, organized retail operation - the smash-and-grab efforts. They go in and swipe everything off the shelves, and oftentimes they're loading into a stolen vehicle, compounding the crimes here," Hochul said.

However, small business owners and retail theft experts said harsher penalties are needed for shoplifters who've become more brazen with their crimes.

"We have the reputation that you can steal $1,000 or less without much consequence," he said. "That is why New York is the worst and we weren't like that in the past."

Police are often slow to arrive and have told the business owners that even if they do catch the criminals, they have to let them go. As a result, some businesses have had to adopt extra security measures to try to combat persistent theft.  foxnews.com


Using RFID on 'Every Item' to Fight Theft
Walmart has a secret weapon in the war on retail crime
To curb theft, however, retailers like Walmart, Target, and Costco don't tell customers everything that's happening. That's because if people know exactly which security measures are in place, they might be able to get around them.

There might be artificial intelligence in place or stores might use the fake "technical difficulties" button to stop a self-checkout, which Walmart reportedly does. In other cases, theft prevention is not about catching criminals but tracking goods to see which ones get stolen most often.

Walmart has made a technology that helps it do that for its partners and that could impact its customers.

As of September 2, 2022, all Walmart suppliers that provide toys, home goods, electronics, and sporting goods must outfit each item with a UHF RFID tag. This is an expansion of their earlier RFID mandate launched in 2020, requiring products in apparel, jewelry, and a few other departments, such as tires, to be tagged with an RFID chip," Walmart shared on its website.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) allows Walmart to track its inventory which can help it manage shrink. That includes not just theft or shoplifting, but also items that never make it to shelves due to damage or employees taking them.

"Walmart uses RFID tags at the item level. This means every item within a product category mandated to have an RFID tag has an RFID label somewhere on the item or its packaging," the company shared.

For instance, all apparel items in Walmart stores have been outfitted with RFID tags since 2020. Anyone purchasing a piece of clothing from Walmart, such as a ladies' blouse or pack of socks, may have noticed an RFID label embedded on the price tag or affixed near the bar code," the company added. thestreet.com


ORC Blitzes & Stake Outs Taking Down Repeat Offenders in California
California's out of control retail theft: Cops stake out Target store & make nine arrests in hours
In a proactive measure to combat theft and protect local businesses, the Vallejo Police Department (VPD) joined forces with a business on the 900 block of Admiral Callaghan Lane for a highly successful Blitz Operation on February 22, 2024.

The collaborative effort aimed to thwart coordinated theft attempts by strategically deploying officers within the store. This strategic placement facilitated a rapid response and the apprehension of perpetrators engaged in theft activities.

The operation's success is evident as it led to the arrest of nine suspects attempting to steal merchandise valued at $2,606, police said.

Among the apprehended individuals, four were identified as repeat offenders who had significantly impacted the business on previous occasions, police added.

The coordinated effort between the Vallejo Police Department and the local business demonstrates a commitment to proactively address theft issues that affect the community. original.newsbreak.com


Oregon's ORC Law Making Progress
Portland police ramp up efforts to curb retail thefts
The Portland Police recently announced it had made 13 arrests and recovered two stolen vehicles during a mission targeting thefts of large amounts of retail goods in the Hollywood and LLoyd districts. About two dozen retail theft missions have taken place since last March, mainly at locations in North Portland like the Cascade Station shopping mall, according to North Precinct Portland Police Cmdr. Rob Simon.

He said the missions can involve up to 15 officers and require the participation of retail staff to inform the police of thefts of large amounts of merchandise such as Nike sneakers, North Face jackets and crates of wine. The crackdowns come amid a new Oregon law which took effect in January that toughens the penalties for organized retail crime, such as allowing a judge to impose a two-year prison sentence for a person with prior convictions for retail theft. Portland Police Sergeant and public information officer Kevin Allen joins us to talk about the police's response to these crimes. opb.org


Bail Reform Faces Backlash Amid Crime Fears - But Undoing It Is Uphill Climb
Critics say efforts to repeal bail reform could be unconstitutional
Amid concerns over crime in Memphis, some city residents and local and state leaders have blamed bail reform efforts and those tasked with implementing them, particularly local judges and judicial commissioners.

But legislation filed to combat those reforms may conflict with Shelby County's 2023 Standing Bail Order and ultimately may be unconstitutional, critics have said.

One bill filed by state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, would prevent judicial commissioners from considering defendants' financial situations when determining bail amounts, a hallmark of the bail order, which was announced in 2022 and took effect in February 2023.

Another bill Taylor filed would require a minimum bail for certain crimes. The proposal resembles a "bail schedule," which prescribes an automatic bail amount for certain crimes regardless of an individual case's facts.

"I think it's highly problematic. I think it's very likely unconstitutional, but it's also bad policy," Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy said Feb. 10 on the WKNO-TV program "Behind the Headlines."

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City of Memphis looks at crime plan used in Omaha, Nebraska
New Orleans, Kansas City, Lansing, Michigan and Memphis are looking to implement this initiative. There are several strategies to the Omaha 360 plan including collaboration, prevention, and intervention. More specifically, in Omaha, they are focusing on building police relations by addressing disproportionate stops and arrests and training police on how to best engage with the community.

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Attack Speed & Cloud Compromises Surge
Identity hacking saw sharp rise 2023

Increased attack speed and cloud compromise were also high on adversaries' agenda.

Threat actors, frequently frustrated by improved enterprise security systems, increased their efforts to compromise credentials in 2023, according to CrowdStrike's 10th annual global threat report released Wednesday.

"We've seen threat actors focused on identity," Meyers added. "They've been logging in as a legitimate user then laying low, staying under the radar by living off the land, using legitimate tools." As a result, CrowdStrike saw a 312% increase in the use of remote monitoring and management tools by adversaries in 2023.

"Those are tools that would likely be used by administrators or people within the environment so they're less likely to catch attention, especially if they were deployed by a 'legitimate' user," he explained. "This is the way these threat actors are trying to camouflage themselves with legitimate behavior, or things that look legitimate, and are harder to peel away."

The emphasis on identity compromise and stealth appears to have devalued the role of malware in the threat actor's repertoire. According to the report, malware-free attacks have increased from 40% in 2019 to 75% in 2023.

Another threat trend identified in the 61-page report is an increase in "cloud consciousness" among adversaries, with a 75% year-over-year increase in cloud intrusions.

Financially motivated, or eCrime, adversaries are especially active in targeting cloud environments, the report noted, with 84% of cloud-conscious intrusions likely conducted by eCrime actors, compared to 16% conducted by targeted intrusion actors. csoonline.com


Cyberattack Speed Accelerating at 'Alarming Rate'
Attack velocity surges with average breakout time down to only 62 minutes
The speed of cyberattacks continues to accelerate at an alarming rate. The report indicates that the average breakout time is down to only 62 minutes from 84 in the previous year (with the fastest recorded attack coming in at 2 minutes and 7 seconds).

Once initial access was obtained, it took only 31 seconds for an adversary to drop initial discovery tools in an attempt to compromise victims.

The report notes a sharp increase in interactive intrusions and hands-on-keyboard activity (60%) as adversaries increasingly exploit stolen credentials to gain initial access at targeted organizations.

Adversaries turned their sights to the cloud through valid credentials - creating a challenge for defenders looking to differentiate between normal and malicious user behavior. The report shows cloud intrusions increased by 75% overall with cloud-conscious cases amplifying by 110% year-over-year. helpnetsecurity.com


Businesses Want to 'Safely' Capitalize on AI Boom
A step-by-step plan for safe use of GenAI models for software development
If you are a large-scale company, the recent AI boom hasn't escaped your notice. Today AI is assisting in a large array of development-related and digital-related tasks, from content generation to automation and analysis.

The development of AI is rapid and with it being a largely unexplored field, ethic, economic, social, legal concerns have surfaced. Amidst heated discussions about the intellectual property of AI-enhanced content and whether AI will be capable of fully substituting human labor (and causing massive layoffs) any time soon, businesses want to capitalize on the advantages the use of generative AI (GenAI) offers, but safely.

Navigating the complex and rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges for any digital business.

By addressing the ethical, legal, and practical concerns associated with ChatGPT and similar technologies, and implementing a framework of best practices enterprise-level companies can harness the power of GenAI safely and effectively. This approach can not just help establish a failsafe environment but also ensures that AI-driven innovations enhance rather than replace human expertise, leading to more robust, efficient, and ethically responsible software development processes.  helpnetsecurity.com

 
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