Manhattan, We Have a (Theft) Problem
Op-Ed: The aspirin is locked up; the shoplifters go free

What has it come to when the cops have to warn shoppers to beware, and when the merchandise is locked up but not the shoplifters?

Welcome to shopping in the heart of Manhattan in 2022. Retail theft is rampant, both of shampoo at drugstores and of clothing, jewelry and handbags at upscale shops. Theft is "100% worse" than two years ago, supermarket owner John Catsimatidis tells me; instead of a package of baloney and a loaf of bread, "people come in and steal $300, $400 worth of product" for resale. His answer is to put fewer packages of meat (a favorite target of thieves) on the shelves and to hire dozens of security guards for his 30 Gristedes and d'Agostino stores.

Rothmans, the iconic men's store, was robbed twice in December, as organized crews of criminals stormed inside, assaulted an employee and grabbed thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. Owner Ken Giddon has criticized bail reform and the failure to prosecute perpetrators for enabling criminals to rob his store, get arrested and come back days later to do it again - a situation that "tears at the fabric of the city."

Giddon has been tapped by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to be the co-chair of a Manhattan small business alliance that includes businesspeople, neighborhood leaders and DA office staff. This is the same DA whose day one memo instructed his prosecutors to downgrade many felony charges and whenever possible to recommend "diversion" for perpetrators instead of jail. According to NYPD stats, the increases in theft and robbery for the first 10 weeks of 2022 vs. 2021 are staggering: petit larceny up 33%, robbery up 45% and grand larceny up 65%.

The alliance is supposed to make recommendations for reducing shoplifting and robberies by May, but what's the delay?

The ramifications of unchecked retail theft go far beyond inconvenience for buyers of aspirin: Small business owners losing the stores they took careers to build, employees losing their jobs, the public losing confidence that city leaders are capable of dealing with disorder and crime. Shoplifting, after all, is not only an economic crime, it's also the sort of in-your-face offense that makes city dwellers question whether the manifold charms of Manhattan are worth the hassles.

Bragg insists that the scourge of retail crime is a priority, along with gun violence and domestic violence. If so, why do we need the recommendations of an unwieldy 36-member small business alliance when it's clear what to do today? nydailynews.com

Largest Shopping Mall in New York Plagued by Crime
Destiny USA, Syracuse police pledge to address gun crime at mall
Syracuse police and Destiny USA officials pledged to address gun crime at the mall after a Friday meeting between the two but offered few details on how they'd do that. The Syracuse Police Department will station one more marked car outside the mall and Destiny USA will add more unarmed security guards, the organizations said in a joint Friday night news statement.

In the statement, Police Chief Kenton Buckner said the property's safety is "ultimately the responsibility of the property owner." Mayor Ben Walsh attributed the recent crime to a larger "societal challenge we must confront together."

Walsh called for the meeting between cops and Destiny executives following the latest shooting at the mall March 5, when a gunshot fired during a fight shattered a store window. Walsh emphasized this week that security at the mall is the responsibility of its private owners. But Syracuse officials also sought to help coordinate security because the private mall property is Central New York's largest gathering place. Destiny USA, the sixth largest mall in America, typically draws 26 million visitors a year.

The recent spate of gun violence at Destiny - three shootings plus an armed robbery -- represents a tiny fraction of Syracuse gun crime. The only other shooting at Destiny occurred on Black Friday in 2019, when a man was shot during a scuffle near the food court. That incident, too, prompted city officials to meet with mall representatives.

In addition to the mall's private security personnel, who are not armed, Destiny employs off-duty Syracuse police officers. There are typically between two and eight Syracuse cops working at the mall at various times, Malinowski said.

The number of violent crimes reported at the mall has held steady since 2016, ranging between 13 and 20 per year. There were 15 in 2021. Walsh said the gun violence that has troubled Destiny is part of a national trend. syracuse.com cnycentral.com
 
   RELATED: The 'why' behind crime at Destiny USA, according to an expert


Crime Surge Impact? VA Lifts Ban on Facial Recognition Tech
Virginia lawmakers OK lifting ban on use of facial recognition tech by local police
Last year, Virginia lawmakers passed one of the most restrictive bans in the country on the use of facial recognition technology, barring local police departments and campus police from purchasing or using the technology unless explicitly authorized by the legislature.

On Thursday, just eight months after the ban took effect, lawmakers approved a bill to lift the blanket ban. The legislation would allow police agencies to use the technology in certain circumstances, including to help identify an individual when they have reasonable suspicion that the person committed a crime. Under the bill, facial recognition also could be used for a variety of other uses, including to help identify crime victims or witnesses, sex trafficking victims and unidentified bodies in morgues.

The legislation explicitly bars the use of facial recognition for surveillance or monitoring. Cities and states around the country moved to limit its use after some law enforcement agencies applied facial recognition technology to images taken from street cameras during racial justice demonstrations in 2021 and used those to make arrests in some cases.

Several lawmakers said they viewed the ban passed last year as a temporary measure to allow the legislature to evaluate facial recognition technology. Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, whose bill was approved Thursday, said the technology - when used with appropriate restrictions - can be an important investigatory tool for police.

"I think it will help police not only solve, but prosecute crime more efficiently," said Surovell. pilotonline.com

The Crime-Inflation Connection
Rising gas prices correlate with reports of rising gas theft, experts say
With gas prices soaring, experts say it's not surprising to see gas being stolen. In some cases thieves are stealing at the pump, often using stolen credit cards or getting it from the underground tanks.

Other times, they steal directly from cars by siphoning it out or drilling a hole in the tank.

AAA said gas theft has become more common around the country. They suggest parking in a garage if you have one to avoid gas being stolen from your car at home. Away from home, they suggest parking in a well-lit area with high traffic, and when in a public garage parking near an exit or elevator where there is more foot traffic.

Criminologists say there's a correlation between inflation and crime in general: "As we shift the economic reality, I predict crime is going to go up. It's going to be more serious," said Alex Del Carmen, PhD, criminologist at Tarleton State University.

AAA predicts gas prices will remain unstable, which means gas will continue to be a target for thieves. abc7chicago.com

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US: 81.2M Cases - 991K Dead - 56.2M Recovered
Worldwide: 460.3M Cases - 6M Dead - 393.7M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 354   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 715
*Red indicates change in total deaths

COVID Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths Continue to Plummet

Just When We Thought We Turned a Corner - Is Another Surge Coming?
As COVID-19 cases rise again in Europe, could United States see the same?
Just as the U.S. has finally turned the corner on a wave of COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant, multiple countries in Europe are showing an increase in infections - fueling concerns about the possibility of another global surge.

The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy were among those that saw an upswing in cases this past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Among the countries whose data has charted an increased in cases, some have also seen a rise in hospitalizations, including Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

"A wave in Europe and other countries for that matter, might occur in the United States as well," Omenka told USA TODAY. "Because it is an infectious disease, unless we eradicate it, there is bound to be that possibility of its return ... As the virus variants have shown, even the possible return is not predictable in terms of its severity or degree of similarity to the previous forms." usatoday.com

What's Driving the COVID Era 'Great Resignation'?
Why U.S. Frontline Workers Are Quitting
There are 11 million unfilled jobs in the United States today, the vast majority of which are tied to a specific location and cannot be performed remotely with an appropriate home office setup. These "deskless" jobs, as we term them, are mostly in professions and trades such as health care, hospitality and leisure, retail, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing. Desperate to recruit and retain workers, businesses have already raised wages for deskless workers 7% to 10% since the Covid-19 pandemic began, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But wage increases have not been sufficient to win back frontline talent.

The solution could be improving managers' relationship with frontline workers. Boston Consulting Group researchers found last year in a survey of hourly U.S. workers in the retail, distribution, travel, and food service industries that while compensation and Covid 19-related reasons were the biggest reasons for turnover, next on the list was a bad relationship with their boss.

Frontline managers have always been a crucial and underappreciated group, and their job has become even more critical - and challenging - during the pandemic. In fact, many of the other reasons for quitting (jobs aren't enjoyable or interesting, the work schedule isn't sufficiently flexible or predictable, and feeling inadequately appreciated) are also driven by the boss. Workers look to their managers for stability, empathy, and support - especially during these times when staff schedules, work responsibilities, and personal stresses have never been more difficult to manage. When managers are stressed or struggling, their team members usually are impacted, either directly or indirectly, and are unlikely to feel well supported. This loosens the ties that bind people to an organization, and they seek to leave. hbr.org

COVID Is Fading: The Retail Impact
Costco to end senior hours, COVID operating hours for healthcare workers and first responders
Costco will soon drop its senior hours after holding them for more than two years amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The special operating hours will be in place until April 17 for members 60 and older, healthcare workers and first responders, the wholesale club said Monday in an update on its COVID updates webpage. The hours have also been for members with disabilities or those who are immunocompromised.

Like many of the nation's grocery stores, Costco started holding the hours in March 2020 to help those the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considered the most vulnerable and at-risk for COVID-19. usatoday.com

Better Late Than Never As America Sheds Masks
Apple's Face ID now works while wearing a mask. But it's a little too late.
This week, Apple is rolling out a new iPhone feature that would've been incredibly useful two years ago: an update to Face ID that makes it possible to use while wearing a mask.

The mask-compatible Face ID is likely to generate the most buzz, given how much of a nuisance it's been to use the iPhone's facial recognition feature to unlock the device in public over the last two years. Apple notes that the new, mask-friendly Face ID might be less secure than a full facial scan.

The rollout of a mask-friendly Face ID feature comes almost too late, as remaining blue states discard their mask mandates. However, the feature is still likely to be a welcome change - the federal government just extended the mask mandate for air travel another month, for example, while many doctors' offices nationwide still require masks. protocol.com

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Biden vs. Amazon
Amazon Misses Trump Badly as Democrats Target the E-Commerce Giant

The Biden administration's growing antitrust activity surprised the corporate behemoth, which had expected kid gloves from Democrats.

Did Amazon really imagine that smoother sailing lay ahead after Joe Biden took office last year? According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, chronicling the company's increasingly pugilistic approach to dealing with politicians, regulators, and bureaucrats in Washington D.C., it indeed seems to be the case that the firm believed the change in administration was going to be a boon. Turns out, no!

For years, Trump had publicly attacked Amazon, threatening it with vaguely-stated antitrust actions. "We are looking at [antitrust] very seriously," Trump said in a November 2018 interview with Axios. But Trump was never actually particularly serious about going after Amazon. Instead, this was typical Trump bluster: All bark and no bite.

Instead, the real energy for meaningful reform and anti-trust scrutiny, based in corporate power and it's impact on labor and markets, has come from Democrats. Biden's appointments to key posts in the Department of Justice and, particularly, the Federal Trade Commission reflect a keen interest in advancing antitrust causes.

If Amazon was surprised by these developments, then they weren't paying attention. Now, the company is in trouble and lashing out. It has lately developed a reputation for showing a "middle finger" to Congress, to quote one former Republican aide who spoke to the Journal. It has certainly alienated members of Congress more than many its big tech peers; this strategy has only ensured that the firm would remain in lawmakers' crosshairs. Carney, who hired specifically because of his deep connections to Beltway Democrats, has taken to sending furious messages to White House chief of staff Ron Klain about "perceived slights" against the company.

Washington has responded in kind to this charmless offensive: There have been an increasing number of bills that explore breaking up the company, or regulating it in ways that would profoundly change the way it does business. The FTC is currently exploring whether its acquisition of MGM, the storied Hollywood film studio, would violate antitrust laws.

Amazon's recent struggles aren't limited to their perversion of the marketplace. The company's treatment of its warehouse employees and delivery drivers, who are aggressively monitored and have jobs that are often extremely taxing, continues to come under intense scrutiny. newrepublic.com

2022 Online Sales Projected to Break Record
U.S. Online Retail Sales to Hit $1 Trillion in 2022, Study Says
U.S. consumers will spend $1 trillion in online shopping in 2022, the highest level ever, according to a new study by Adobe.

The software company's study, part of its ongoing Adobe Digital Economy Index series, found that U.S. consumers spent $1.7 trillion online in the first two years since the start of the pandemic, from March 2020 through February 2022. That was almost triple the online sales in 2018 and 2019 combined of $609 billion. barrons.com

COVID rapid tests available on e-commerce in China for the first time