The First LPF Learning Day of 2019 a Big Hit in Indianapolis

Event brings together today's mentors and tomorrow's leaders

The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF), in partnership with the University of Indianapolis Department of Criminal Justice, held its first Learning Day of 2019 on Tuesday, March 12 on the campus of the University of Indianapolis. Over 80 university students, loss prevention professionals, solution providers, and professors gathered for the one-day educational event.

Dedicated to the loss prevention industry and the opportunities that it affords, the event centered on industry professionals sharing insights on asset protection, professional development strategies, security techniques, analytics, crisis management, and cyber-crime defense. Attendees included those interested in a career in public safety, business, or related fields, as well as current loss prevention professionals looking to take their career to the next level.

See the full recap with pictures here
 

DTiQ Opens New Customer Experience Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
DTiQ today announced the opening of their new executive briefing and customer experience center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The center includes multiple store kiosks simulating actual customer environments, as well as a state-of-the-art product demonstration and benchmark facility.

The customer kiosks include a retail shop, a quick serve restaurant and a convenience store. The kiosks contain working simulations of the individual business environments, including live cameras feeding monitors with heatmaps and integrated point of sale (POS) systems. DTiQ can demonstrate how their technology will look and feel in a live customer environment. Thus, enabling their customers to realize firsthand the benefits they will recognize and understand how it will operate in their stores. Read more in today's Press Release column below.
 

Take CIS Security's Brief Survey on Cash Drawers

CIS would appreciate your knowledge regarding a few questions that will help our research and development team. Please take a moment to complete this very brief survey regarding cash drawers. We thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

Take the survey here
 

exacqVision v19.03 enhances map linking and on-screen camera displays for business-optimizing results
Johnson Controls has introduced exacqVision video management system v19.03, the latest version of the VMS software known for its intuitive feature set and simple configuration and maintenance.

The features introduced in this latest version provide users with greater flexibility and freedom for business-optimizing results. For example, users can now more quickly navigate multiple maps of their facility - easily linking parent maps, child maps to parent maps, and vice versa. This provides much-needed control and oversight to security operators who need to respond quickly to security events, no matter where they occur. tyco.sp.com
 

'Hiring People with Criminal Backgrounds Is Easier Than You Think'
Second-Chance Hiring Gaining Momentum & Support
HR Trade Show Hot Topic Session
Second-chance hiring-recruiting and hiring people with criminal backgrounds and eliminating obstacles to those efforts-is building momentum among policymakers, the business community and worker advocates.

Genevieve Martin, executive director of Dave's Killer Bread Foundation, a prominent voice in the second-chance movement, told attendees at the 2019 Society for Human Resource Management Employment Law & Legislative Conference March 18 in Washington, D.C., that hiring people with felony convictions shouldn't be a "big, scary thing."

She led a panel of experts to address what many in the room may have been thinking: Second-chance hiring is well-intentioned, sure, but how do we actually do it?

"In most cases, having an across-the-board ban on hiring someone with a criminal record may run afoul of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 2012 EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] guidelines."

Thirty-three states and more than 150 cities and counties have passed "ban-the-box" measures. However "It doesn't mean you can't ask about it later or not at all."

When it comes time to evaluate someone's criminal history, you should be looking first for context and accountability, Martin said. "Does the person take ownership for their background? And who are they now? Have they invested in themselves? Have they improved their skills?" 

Editor's Note: Great article describing exactly where the HR community and their trade association (SHRM) is on second-chance hiring and how they support it - would defend it and promote it. shrm.org

Trucking companies are hiring felons to fill thousands of driver openings
The American Trucking Associations says the industry needs another 51,000 drivers to keep pace with increased shipping demands from Amazon, Walmart and other mega-retailers. The demand has prompted an increasing number of trucking companies to give non-violent, ex-offenders a second look. santacruzsentinel.com

Survey: Half of HR Pros' Workplaces Experienced Violence
New SHRM data demonstrates need for more education, training to prevent workplace violence

SHRM surveyed 1,416 members in February 2019. The total of those who say violence has occurred at their workplace (48%) is up from 36 percent in 2012. A 33% increase. The category includes incidences of harassment and intimidation, as well as physical assaults and homicides.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 458 of the over 5,000 fatal injuries that happened in a workplace in 2017 were homicides. About 15 percent of those were perpetrated by co-workers or other work associates.

A majority (82 percent) of 545 employees surveyed by NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent research institute, reported feeling safer in organizations that provide programs to prevent workplace violence and train employees to respond to violent incidents. But less than half say their organization has a program to prevent workplace violence (45 percent) or provides training to workers on how to respond to an act of workplace violence (49 percent). Less than one-third of workers (29 percent) said that they are unsure or don't know what to do if they witness or are involved in workplace violence.

Preventing Workplace Violence shrm.org

Utah: HB 0424 Bill authorized for State Attorney General to create an Organized Retail Crime Unit
Highlighted Provisions: This bill authorizes the Office of the Attorney General to create and coordinate a multi-agency strike force to combat crimes that may have a negative impact on the state's economy; authorizes the Office of the Attorney General to establish the Organized Retail Crime Unit; and establishes reporting requirements. In conjunction with the Strike Force, the Office of the Attorney General shall establish the Organized Retail Crime Unit for the purpose of: investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting individuals or entities that participate in the purchase, sale, or distribution of stolen property; and targeting individuals or entities that commit theft and other property crimes for financial gain. Chief Sponsor: Eric C. Hutchings (R) ehutchings@le.utah.gov  utah.gov

Federal 'Ban-the-Box' Bill Would Apply to Agencies, Contractors
Legislation prohibiting federal agencies and federal contractors from asking about job applicants' criminal history until after making a conditional offer of employment appears on its way to a House vote.

Employers say they worry about not knowing the criminal histories of job candidates. Hodge stressed that ban-the-box laws do not "force anyone to hire anybody. Employers can continue running background checks and gathering all the information they need to make a hiring decision."

Both Harris and Hodge discounted recent studies suggesting that ban-the-box policies lead to broader race-based discrimination in hiring. shrm.org

2019 The Year of Liquidations
Hitting Bottom
Up to now the first quarter has been traditionally the quarter of budget cuts, staff reductions, store closing announcements and Chapter 11 filings. With Q1 2009 and 2010 really being the milestone first quarters where cuts were the deepest and industry exec's started labeling the period 'The Retail Apocalypse.'

Over the last eight years we've seen thousands of store closures and household name brands disappear as if they were never here. Retail behemoths falling in Amazons wake all the while violence in the workplace and in general in retail started rising, along with armed robberies and mass-shootings. Adding a new pressure on the consumer. The element of fear. Where parents plan pictures with Santa's who are closest to exit doors.

All the reports, studies and anecdotal information we've seen points to an element of fear that consumers are struggling with when out in public which has to be influencing the decrease in traffic being reported across the world at certain level malls and shopping centers. You just can't have all of these reports on increasing violence in retail and not have that impact.

So this year, in the states, we're seeing an unprecedented number of liquidations. Certainly the private equity debt burdens opened the door for most of these but the Amazon effect and fear played into all of them as well.

We're going to see the bottom soon and make no mistake we're there now. Just some thoughts from the press box. Gus Downing

The Resale Market Is Taking Over Fast Fashion
Fashion Resale Market Growing 21 Times Faster Than Retail Market
The data, gathered in the 2019 Resale Report from online thrift store thredUp, shows that more consumers are becoming environmentally conscious, often pushing them toward more affordable used items.

The secondhand economy-a $24 billion market as of 2018-is projected to grow to nearly 1.5 times the size of fast fashion (retailers with high turnaround and lower prices, like Zara and H&M) within the next 10 years, hitting a $64 billion evaluation, thredUp reports.

Within the next five years, the secondhand clothing market will double. fortune.com

Immigrant Crackdown Impacting Farmers Who Fill The Grocery Shelves
Trump Crackdown Unnerves Immigrants, and the Farmers Who Rely on Them
It has long been an open secret that some farms survive by relying on an undocumented labor force. Now, tough immigration enforcement has caused a crisis.

It has long been an open secret in upstate New York that the dairy industry has been able to survive only by relying on undocumented immigrants for its work force. Now, this region has become a national focal point in the debate over President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants and their role in agriculture.

"There are people out there who just say, 'Send them all back and build a wall.' But they would be facing empty shelves in the grocery store if that were to happen."

The pressures here reflect broader challenges facing farmers across the country who rely on undocumented workers. The farmers are struggling with a shrinking labor pool as fewer migrants cross illegally into the country and migrants who are long-term residents become too old for field work.

This year the labor shortage has been compounded by Mr. Trump's trade war and extreme weather, forcing some small farmers to switch to higher-value crops, to reduce their acreage and to consider selling their farms. nytimes.com

How to Address Negligent Hiring Concerns
Exercise due diligence to avoid negligent hiring nightmares.

An episode of workplace violence occurs on his or her watch and is closely followed by a negligent hiring claim. While such claims are rare, every employer should understand basic risks and due diligence to avoid liability.

Negligent hiring tends to be associated with candidates with criminal records, but the link between the two is often exaggerated. Fear of negligent hiring litigation shouldn't negate the emerging trend of employers giving people with criminal histories a second chance. Current research indicates that these individuals are no more likely to engage in workplace misconduct than anyone else, Emsellem says. That's why it's wiser for employers to focus on exercising due diligence with regard to all job candidates, not just those with criminal records.

Negligent Hiring Doctrine

Under the doctrine of negligent hiring, an employer is liable for harm its employees inflict on third parties when the employer knew or should have known of the employee's potential risk to cause harm, or if the risk would have been discovered by a reasonable investigation.

While federal courts and the courts of nearly every state recognize a cause of action for negligent hiring, they apply different standards for liability-notably, to the degree of foreseeability required-and offer little clarity on how to avoid it.

A dozen states have passed laws recently limiting employer liability for negligent hiring, but even these provisions are not uniform. They generally fall into three categories. shrm.org

Washington, DC: National Law Enforcement Museum opened in October of 2018, now facing default on $103M loan
Just two months after its grand opening in October, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said that its museum a few blocks from the Mall in Washington was headed for default on some of the $103 million it borrowed in 2016. That kind of failure is rare in the $3.8 trillion municipal-bond market, and after two decades of planning and construction, it was a notably quick descent. The museum counted on its high-profile backers' fundraising prowess and the willingness of tourists to pay more than $20 a head. To survive now, it must get more visitors in the door. A lot more. In its first three months, the museum attracted only about 15,000 people. It'll need 20 times that to meet its first-year goal.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which oversaw the monument, was put in charge of the museum as part of a 2000 law signed by President Clinton. The nonprofit raised money for the museum from companies such as gun maker Glock, motorcycle company Harley-Davidson, and Target, as well as the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation. bloombergquint.com

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

New: Corporate Security Manager Posted for Benjamin Moore, Montvale, NJ
The Corporate Security Manager is responsible for the development and implementation of Benjamin Moore's security risk management strategy and associated functions, and will serve as the focal point for physical and personnel security in the organization. This position will report to the Director, Occupational Safety & Health, and will manage a company-wide program to safeguard Benjamin Moore's critical assets -- people, sites, products, operations and reputation.  Functional Group:  Environmental Health and Safety.

Benjamin Moore is proud to be a part of Berkshire Hathaway, which was recognized by Fortune magazine as the world's fourth most admired company. For 135 years, Benjamin Moore has been a respected leader in the architectural coatings and home decor landscape; creating the products and tools that enrich and beautify thousands of communities each day. adp.com

Benjamin Moore can be found at over 5,000 independently owned paint and hardware stores throughout North America

Nordstrom Rack Director of Loss Prevention
Off-price retail - Great brand and good numbers. That's a great job long term wise. It just happens to be in Seattle - A tough re-lo spot to recruit for externally.

Smile Direct Club Director, Asset Protection job removed from website

For Regional Grocers: Protect your brand and customers during that 'last-mile' delivery

Shopko to Liquidate All 370 Stores


Quarterly Results
DSW full yr comp's up 6.1%, net sales up 13.3%
Michaels Q4 comp's down 0.4%, full yr comp's up 0.8%
 

Register Today! eBay's Connect & Collaborate Conference April 10th, 2019 in Draper, Utah Please join eBay's Global Asset Protection team for Connect & Collaborate 2019, our biennial opportunity to host some of the nation's leaders in combatting organized retail crime at the eBay facility in Draper, Utah, just fifteen minutes south of Salt Lake City. The event provides retailers, law enforcement, and eBay an opportunity to "Connect and Collaborate" on challenges, strategies, tools, and solutions related to organized retail crime. More details to follow, including an agenda and suggestions for travel accommodation. Please feel free to send the invitation to any Law Enforcement or Retail Investigator that would be interested in attending! Please send your RSVP by April 1st, with number and names of attendees, to: proact@ebay.com