CA's ORC Crackdown Yields 900+ Arrests
'California is funding the police and reaping results'

California's Investment to Combat Organized Retail Crime Shows Early Results
SACRAMENTO - After receiving California's largest-ever single investment to combat organized retail crime, law enforcement agencies across the state report they've already used the money to make an initial 900+ arrests and will hire more police officers. The $267 million state investment - which is a signature part of Governor Newsom's Real Public Safety Plan - was distributed to 55 cities and counties in October 2023 to prevent crime, and increase arrests and prosecutions for organized retail crime.

WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID: "California is funding the police and reaping results: With the state's $267 million investment to combat organized crime, law enforcement agencies report they're hiring more officers, making more arrests, and prosecuting more cases. These early results show promise and the state will continue to monitor local outcomes to ensure public safety is being delivered."

Five agencies report using the funds to make at least 900 arrests so far (Reporting agencies: Hemet Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Modesto Police Department, Roseville Police Department, and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department)

• Nearly 70% of law enforcement agencies plan to - or have already hired - more staff with the state funds, including more police.

• 75% of grantees say they will use the state funds to increase organized retail crime sting operations, establish crime centers, and increase police patrols.

• 98% of grantees plan on utilizing the funds to purchase improved crime-fighting technology to help boost the ability to surveil, track, and investigate criminal enterprises.

• 100% of district attorney offices who received funds have begun focused efforts to establish an organized retail crime vertical prosecution unit to increase prosecutions.

Full survey results can be viewed here. gov.ca.gov

   RELATED: LAPD ORC Task Force Continues Combatting Retail Theft


NYPD's War Against Retail Theft
Inside look at the NYPD's plan to combat Staten Island shoplifters & retail theft
To stem the ongoing issue on Staten Island, the NYPD has implemented a multi-faceted approach that includes monitoring repeat offenders, streamlined communication with workers at major shopping complexes, and combatting tactics typically utilized by organized crews.

The effort was detailed recently by Assistant Chief Joseph Gulotta, the NYPD borough commander, in an exclusive interview with the Advance/SILive.com.

THE STATE OF RETAIL THEFT: Deputy Chief Ebony Washington, the executive officer for Patrol Borough Staten Island, said that arrests were up 46% for retail theft. In looking at citywide figures from 2024, petit larceny, the theft of property below the value of $1,000, is down 0.3% compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, grand larceny, the theft of property valued at more than $1,000, is down 1%, according to the NYPD's CompStat Database.

THE FORCES BEHIND RETAIL THEFT: In his interview, Gulotta emphasized two contributing groups driving retail theft on the Island: Organized crews and repeat offenders. In response, Gulotta said that the NYPD began tracking the small group of individuals that commit many of these crimes, regardless if it is a case of retail theft, a break-in or a burglary.

CLEARING THE FRONT OF RETAIL STORES: Some perpetrators come in from New Jersey, pull up right outside of a business in a vehicle, grab what they can, and make off with their haul, the chief said. "So that's another focus we've had, seeing those organized groups pull up in vehicles. Making sure we keep the area in front of the retail locations clear, not letting cars congregate out there knowing that is one of the ways they get away," Gulotta said.

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTELLIGENCE AND CONSEQUENCE

In tackling the issue of retail theft, Gulotta pointed to the importance of intelligence based policing in identifying the issue and developing a potential plan to reduce whatever the crime based concern is. However, Gulotta also emphasized the importance of consequences for those who repeatedly commit these crimes. silive.com


Using AI to Stop Theft on the Spot
Philly store owner uses AI to stop shoplifters

A North Philly convenience store is using the AI program "Veesion" to stop shoplifters

According to Philadelphia Police, retail theft went up 27.56% in the city in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Store owner Rich Carucci told NBC10 he could only watch after security cameras captured a shoplifter stealing from his store. So he started looking into options beyond the cameras he already had in place. His search ultimately led him to a new AI program called "Veesion."

The program's cofounder, Benoit Koenig, told NBC10 his company feeds businesses' live security footage into their AI system. The AI then analyzes customers in the store and picks up on certain movements that could suggest someone is stealing. That movement could be something as simple as someone slipping an item into their pocket.

"When someone on the shopping floor conceals an item in clothes, bag, backpack, purse, so that they can actually act on the spot and not just see the damages afterwards," Koenig said.

"Okay, so when you were concealing the item, I immediately, seconds, got the alert," he said. The alert went through the Veesion app along with a video of the suspected shoplifter in action. Carucci said shoplifting has decreased at his store since he installed the device.

Veesion said their AI is only in a few hundred stores across the country. But it's not the only AI program that's being used to crackdown on crime. The Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC) at the University of Florida is testing different theft prevention measures on a larger scale.

Dr. Read Hayes, the director and founder of the LPRC, said his team is working with 110 tech companies and 88 retailers, including Target and Walmart, to help cut store losses down.

Philadelphia Police said retail theft continues to increase in 2024 and is up 30 percent compared to the same time last year. nbcphiladelphia.com


More Fallout From Macy's San Francisco Shoplifting Closure

Shoplifting is a Factor in Macy's Closures - But Not the Only Factor
Opinion: Shoplifting is bad. But store closures tell a different story.
Shoplifting is causing store closures in urban areas, and Union Square has apparently been particularly hard hit. Employees at the Macy's there told the San Francisco Standard that theft was rampant. But while shoplifting is obviously bad for business, this isn't mostly a story about urban mismanagement. It's a story about the technological forces that created the department store - and the ones that are now killing it.

Whatever local conditions are exacerbating the predicament at any given store, the fundamental issue is that Macy's and its brethren have been obsoleted by one technological advance too many. Shoplifting and disorder are serious problems, but they're problems Macy's could handle if we still wanted to shop there: Add staff, invest in anti-theft technology, pressure the local government into adding police patrols. But we don't want to shop there, so those investments probably won't pay for themselves.

If San Francisco officials had kept better order in Union Square, they probably could have held on to Macy's and other retailers a little longer. But it's hard to see how they could have done more than delayed the inevitable, especially with remote work drawing professionals out of urban cores. Physical department stores are a vital part of urban history - and mine personally. But, aside from happy memories, they're unlikely to play a starring role in our future. washingtonpost.com


Using Shoplifting as an 'Excuse' for Closing?
Shoplifting gave Macy's an 'excuse' to close iconic San Francisco store, union says
Macy's Inc.'s decision to close its iconic store in San Francisco's Union Square has thrust the issue of retail theft into the spotlight once again - although the union representing workers at the store thinks that shoplifting may have simply provided an excuse for its closure.

"I think it gives them the excuse to do what they wanted to do for the last few years," Jim Araby, director of strategic campaigns at United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, told MarketWatch. "I don't deny that [shoplifting is] happening, I don't deny that it's having an impact ... but I don't think it is enough impact on their bottom line to want to close their store."

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Standard reported that "rampant" shoplifting is to blame for the store's planned closure, citing workers at the store. However, San Francisco Mayor London Breed told local news station KRON4 that the closure was not related to crime. morningstar.com


Theft in Las Vegas is 'Worse Than San Francisco'
Las Vegas police creates task force to crack down on rising retail theft
From small businesses to big chain stores, it is becoming an issue for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Earlier this week, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said retail theft in Las Vegas is worse than what it is in San Francisco. This led to Metro police creating their own task force just to crack down on these types of crimes.

LVMPD said earlier this week their organized retail crime section recovered almost $30,000 worth of items. Whether it is big or small, they say it can all add up.

They advised store owners to keep a strong surveillance system because you never know how it could help crack the case.

This special unit was developed this past summer, and Sheriff McMahill said since it's inception they started to look into more than 2500 cases of retail theft resulting in the dollar amount for those items to be well over $5 million. fox5vegas.com


Memphis C-Store Shut Down After DA's Office Declares it a Public Nuisance
The Gas Express located at 3465 Lamar Avenue was shut down on Wednesday after an extensive investigation conducted by the Memphis Police Department's Organized Crime Unit. During Wednesday's operation, three people were taken into custody, and felony drugs along with a weapon were discovered on the premises.

MPD's Organized Crime Unit investigated the Gas Express over a span of more than two years after many in the community complained about disturbances and rampant violence on the property.

Throughout the investigation, police responded to a total of 903 calls, completed 189 reports, and made 93 arrests stemming from aggravated robberies, homicides, carjackings, theft from motor vehicles, prostitution, aggravated assaults, drug violations, and weapon violations. scdag.com


The zombie CVS, a late-capitalism horror story
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Cyberattack That Hit Pharmacies Carried Out By ALPHV
Notorious ransomware group claims responsibility for attacks roiling US pharmacies

The group known as ALPHV said it was behind an attack that has disrupted a service used by healthcare providers to process payments.

Anotorious ransomware and extortion group tied to dozens of cyberattacks against health care entities claimed responsibility Wednesday for an ongoing attack that's disrupting payment processing at pharmacies and other care-related entities across the country.

ALPHV, also known as BlackCat, first claimed responsibility to DataBreaches.net on Tuesday for the attack on Change Healthcare, a subsidiary UnitedHealth Group. On Wednesday, ALPHV - perhaps best known for its role in last year's breaches of Las Vegas casinos - posted a statement to its website that accused UnitedHealth Group of lying about the group behind the attack and the scope of affected parties.

Reuters, citing sources familiar with the investigation, reported Monday that the group was involved.

Change Healthcare - a platform used by 70,000 pharmacies and health care providers to process payments and provide other data-related services - initially disclosed an issue with "some applications" in a notice to its website posted Feb. 21. The notice was updated several hours later to add that the "network interruption" was "related to a cyber security issue."

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing the same day, the company said a "nation-state associated cyber security threat actor" had gained access to its IT systems, and that the company had "proactively isolated the impacted systems from other connecting systems" to protect patients and its corporate partners. cyberscoop.com


AI's Growing Link to Cybersecurity Threats
Cybercriminals harness AI for new era of malware development
The alliance between ransomware groups and initial access brokers (IABs) is still the powerful engine for cybercriminal industry, as evidenced by the 74% year-on-year increase in the number of companies that had their data uploaded on dedicated leak sites (DLS), according to Group-IB's Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2023/2024 report.

Global threat actors also demonstrated increased interest in Apple platforms, exemplified by the fivefold increase in underground sales related to macOS information stealers.

The growing appetite of nation-state sponsored threat actors, also known as advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, has shown that no region is immune to cyber threats. Group-IB experts discovered a 70% increase in the number of public posts offering zero-day exploits for sale, and also identified cybercriminals' malicious use of legitimate services and artificial intelligence (AI) infused technologies as the main cyber risks for 2024.

The Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2023/2024 report includes a section outlining the relationship between AI and cybersecurity threats. It details how this new technology is being leveraged by cybercriminals, including the misuse of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, and the potential risks to corporate data through AI integration. helpnetsecurity.com


Predator spyware endures even after widespread exposure, analysis shows
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