Theft is Fueling NYC's 'Retail Catastrophe'
Opinion: Shoplifting is turning NYC into a ghost town, we have to fight back

New York City is suffering a retail catastrophe, with 11.2% of storefronts empty - nearly twice the 6% of 2019. Oswald Feliz, a Democratic member of the City Council representing District 15 in The Bronx and chair of the Small Business Committee, says the city and state must take action to stanch the bleeding - particularly on the scourge of retail theft.

When I speak with these small-business owners, they always raise one insidious problem that is threatening their ability to stay afloat: retail theft.

Struggling
 
Many of these small-business owners have faced economic instability before, and know what struggle looks like.  But the real and escalating threat is the small number of individuals who engage in theft simply because they know they can get away with it.

Those that enter bodegas and retail stores and walk away with all of the high-ticket items, which they then resell. After they get away with it, they become emboldened, and then do it again and again.  Before you know it, the business will have a "going out of business" sign at the front.

We cannot accept a system where individuals are allowed to vandalize the hard work of small-business owners - and make a profit by doing so. There must be deterrence and accountability.

'Unacceptable'

The issue of burglaries also deserves attention.  Recently, I introduced the Small Business Protection Act to provide grants that would help small businesses cover security-related expenses such as cameras, plexiglass and alarms to help deter unlawful conduct.

I'm also grateful that Governor Hochul has made the matter a priority, and has taken new measures at the state level to protect retail businesses and workers.  We must stand up for them now, before those empty storefronts become a blight we cannot stop. nypost.com


It's Official: NY Lawmakers Approve Governor's Retail Theft Funding
New York Earmarks $40 Million to Battle Retail Theft

New York State is about to get tougher on retail crime.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's fiscal 2025 budget, which was approved earlier this week, included $40.2 million that will be used to create dedicated retail theft teams at the state and local level. This will include 100 New York State Police personnel who will be dedicated to fighting organized retail theft.

In addition, the agreement increases the criminal penalty for anyone who assaults and causes physical harm to a retail worker from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Other points that were approved within the budget included allowing prosecutors to combine the value of stolen goods when they file larceny charges, meaning that thieves who steal goods from different stores will now have those goods aggregated as a way of reaching a higher larceny threshold.

It will also now be illegal to sell stolen goods to third parties, whether that's online or at a physical location.

And there will be a $5 million tax credit to help small businesses invest in added security measures such as cameras. The budget will now create a $3,000 tax credit for any small business that spends more than $4,000 on retail theft prevention measures.

"I promised to fight the scourge of organized retail theft - and in this budget, we got it done," Hochul said. "Sophisticated organized retail theft operations are putting frontline retail workers at risk and reselling stolen goods on online marketplaces, and we're taking new steps to end this chaos."

Larceny offenses for organized retail theft in New York City have jumped 51 percent from 2017 to 2023, the governor's office said. And robberies, grand larceny and petit larceny increased 86 percent in that same time period.  news.yahoo.com

   RELATED: New York in new crackdown on retail theft in NYC


Guards & Dogs Deployed to Curb Crime & Flood of Migrants
New York Home Depot hires guards, dogs to keep parking lot safe from thieves, aggressive migrants
A New York Home Depot has deployed a guard dog - and other stores may be close behind - to protect shoppers from aggressive migrants and thieves flooding their parking lots, The Post has learned.

Two men wearing MSA Security caps and bulletproof vests with a German Shepherd in tow patrolled the Home Depot in New Rochelle on Tuesday. "It's more about omnipresence," one guard said, explaining that the company was contracted a few weeks ago. "It's not like we let them go bite anyone or anything." The guard said the store hired them for a number of reasons.

"It's not just because of [migrants], but because of a myriad of other things too, like people breaking into cars, that kind of stuff," he said.

The guarded New Rochelle lot was quiet and no migrants loitered there when The Post visited this week, however, seven miles away in Throggs Neck, The Bronx, at least 30 male migrants hovered at the doors of Home Depot.

Many aggressively confronted shoppers, trying to sell them phony Apple Airpods or soliciting tips for lifting items from shopping carts into cars - even when uninvited. Customers frequently complain about the crush of migrants, said LaurieAnn Masciocco, who works in the store's customer service department.

Home Depot corporate spokeswoman Margaret Smith said the company prohibits loitering and solicitation at its stores and regularly works with law enforcement. She would not say if the Bronx stores will add security, including dogs.  nypost.com


Larceny Drops 35%, Burglaries Drop 15% in San Francisco
San Francisco crime rates are plunging, police data shows. This offense dropped more than any other
Reported crimes fell in San Francisco over the first quarter of 2024 across all categories, with some offenses dipping to levels last seen before the pandemic - welcome news in a city that has seen its image battered over concerns about public safety. The trends, documented in city police data, continue the downward trajectory San Francisco saw in 2023, when cities nationwide experienced falling crime.

The figures include double-digit percentage drops in both violent and property crimes, with homicides falling from 11 to 8, rapes by 23%, and burglaries by 15% over the same time last year. Larceny - a type of theft that includes San Francisco's notoriously high level of car burglaries - fell the most over the previous year, plunging by 35% from 8,389 reported incidents to 5,402, the city's statistics showed.

As with all crime fluctuations, criminologists caution against assigning too much credit or blame to any single policy or police action. But San Francisco leaders said a coordinated crackdown by local, state and federal law enforcement has chipped away at some of the city's most persistent public safety problems, including its infamously high rate of property crimes.

Utilizing state and federal law enforcement officials to combat San Francisco's street-level drug markets has helped to free city police to tackle other crimes, officials said.

While these initiatives center on drug trafficking - which is not a crime tracked as a major category - city officials said the work has complemented and supplemented other crime-fighting efforts. Officers are seizing guns from the streets and arresting people with outstanding warrants. And it's freed up more resources to tackle fencing operations, car burglaries and retail thefts - crimes producing proceeds that help fuel the drug trade. sfchronicle.com


ORC Briefing in D.C. Discusses the Problem & Solutions
ICSC-Led Congressional Staff Briefing on ORC Draws Large Crowd
On April 3, ICSC led a briefing for Congressional staff on Organized Retail Crime (ORC). The panel included Abby Jagoda, ICSC vice president of Public Policy, Sean Browne, senior manager for Asset Protection at The Home Depot and Chris Michalakis, senior federal legislative representative with United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.

The session was moderated by Caitlin-Jean Juricic, legislative director to Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and attended by more than 70 bipartisan Congressional staff. Panelists discussed the distinctions between general shoplifting and ORC; connections between violent crime and ORC; the implications of ORC on employee and customer safety; the impact of store closures on product availability and revenue for communities across the country; and possible legislative solutions to combat ORC at the local, state and federal levels. icsc.com


Policing the Homeless: Supreme Court Could Shake Things Up
Cities are desperate for rules on policing homelessness. Will SCOTUS answer these 3 big questions?
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in a case that could fundamentally alter how local governments respond to the homelessness crisis, cities across the country have weighed in with the court to detail their struggles and ask the justices to draw from them.

The case at issue involves Grants Pass, Ore., a small, conservative town whose efforts to address street homelessness are in many ways unique to its specific geography and politics. Nevertheless, a host of cities - large and small, coastal and inland, red and blue - say they are grappling with similar challenges.

Collectively, they share a sense of desperation as they seek answers on what, exactly, they are allowed to do as they toe the line between caring for vulnerable, unhoused residents and protecting other residents and merchants who want clean streets and safe access to city streets and parks. sfchronicle.com


Bensalem Township, PA Is Now Publicizing Retail Theft Arrests

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Global Security Operations Centers:
Trends and Opportunities in 2024 and Beyond

SSI's 2024 GSOC Deep Dive Report illuminates the changing face of mission-critical environments and their evolving needs.

Global security operations centers (GSOCs) are centralized command-and-control environments that enable a level of enterprise-wide visibility that distributed or regional security operations centers (SOCs) on their own can sometimes lack.

At a time when security monitoring, streamlined threat assessment and efficient incident response are more important than ever, it's perhaps not surprising that many organizations are seeking to converge distributed sites into a robustly equipped GSOC.

A Growing Trend

According to SSI's research study of the integrator community, there does seem to be a movement toward consolidating distributed SOCs into GSOC environments. In fact, 47.4% of survey respondents called it a strong trend, while another 42.1% called it a minor trend.

That being said, GSOCs certainly aren't one-size-fits-all solutions.

"Only after an in-depth assessment of [the client's] unique operational requirements, estimated budget, geographical spread and overall security program can you determine if a GSOC converging and managing multiple sites from a single control center is the most suitable approach," says Nolan.

She also notes that a hierarchical-type operational structure or hybrid model - GSOC as central hub, collaborating with and relying on a handful of regional SOCs - can offer the best balance of centralization and decentralization for some clients.

Nolan sees operators today interfacing with highly advanced integrated technologies while, at the same time, facing escalating threat vectors from malicious actors.  securitysales.com


Making Returns More Cost-Effective While Boosting Foot Traffic
Should More Retailers Be Accepting Third-Party Returns?
A university study finds that partnerships involving physical stores accepting returns from other retailers or brands "can be a win-win." The study from professors at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington (UW) was recently published in Management Science.

Researchers constructed a model with an online retailer and a store retailer in which customers had several options for buying and returning goods. The study compared the expected profit of the retailers before and after a return partnership was formed and identified when both sides benefitted from the partnership.

Among the study's findings:

• Retailers accepting returns benefitted from having more traffic in their stores.

• Retailers or brands enabling returns to be processed by third-party stores were able to shift returns to a more cost-effective channel. Collecting and shipping multiple returned items from a physical store is less costly than individual mail-in returns.

• Return partnerships can occur with no direct financial transaction between the two retailers because of how the partnership affects consumer behavior. Such partnerships can also work between retailers offering similar as well as differentiated products. retailwire.com


Retailers Starting to Go Small in NYC
National grocery chains try going small in New York City
Some big-name national grocery chains are testing the waters of a scaled-down approach in New York City, opening grab-and-go-style mini stores to whet the appetites of busy locals and possibly lure new customers by expanding to more neighborhoods.

Trader Joe's opened a relatively small store in March dubbed Pronto on 14th Street near Union Square in Manhattan that was touted as a "one-of-a-kind extension" of its larger outlet down the block.

Earlier in March, Whole Foods announced plans for introducing "a new, quick-shop store format" with a range of meals and snacks as well as some basic groceries. The company aims to roll out the so-called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop format to cities around the country, starting with five in the Big Apple.

While New York has seen an influx of large-scale grocery stores like Lidl and Wegmans, the express approach is relatively new, according to experts who say it could prove popular going forward.

They said a combination of factors could have inspired the pivot, such as inflation, supply chain issues, competition, the pandemic and the lack of available space in the city.  nydailynews.com


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Capitalizing on 99 Cents Only Closures
Dollar Tree poised to gain most as 99 Cents Only disappears

Despite the bankrupt discounter's small footprint, its store closures offer a meaningful opportunity for rivals to grab share, analysts say.

The relatively small fleet of stores run by 99 Cents Only Stores was a major factor in its downfall, due to the importance of high volume and economies of scale in value-oriented retail, GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders told Retail Dive earlier this year. The discounter runs about 370 locations across Texas, California, Nevada and Arizona.

Nevertheless, its decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and liquidate opens up an opportunity for other discounters, and rival Dollar Tree stands to gain the most, according to research from Earnest Analytics and Jefferies analysts led by Corey Tarlowe.

Both firms found considerable overlap between these two dollar stores. More than 77% of 99 Cents Only customers also shopped at Dollar Tree in the past 12 months, for example, according to Earnest credit card data. Moreover, nearly all (99%) of 99 Cents Only stores have a Dollar Tree within 5 miles and more than half (57%) are within one mile.

Five Below, Dollar General and Big Lots do all share more than a quarter of 99 Cents Only's customers and also stand to gain, according to the Earnest data. retaildive.com

400+ AI-Related Bills Rolled Out Nationwide
But they are facing pushback from all directions

First Major Attempts to Regulate AI Face Headwinds From All Sides

While 400+ AI-related bills are being debated this year in statehouses nationwide, most target one industry or just a piece of the technology

Artificial intelligence is helping decide which Americans get the job interview, the apartment, even medical care, but the first major proposals to reign in bias in AI decision making are facing headwinds from every direction.

Lawmakers working on these bills, in states including Colorado, Connecticut and Texas, came together Thursday to argue the case for their proposals as civil rights-oriented groups and the industry play tug-of-war with core components of the legislation.

Organizations including labor unions and consumer advocacy groups are pulling for more transparency from companies and greater legal recourse for citizens to sue over AI discrimination. The industry is offering tentative support but digging in its heels over those accountability measures.

The group of bipartisan lawmakers caught in the middle - including those from Alaska, Georgia and Virginia - has been working on AI legislation together in the face of federal inaction. On Thursday, they highlighted their work across states and stakeholders, emphasizing the need for AI legislation and reinforcing the importance for collaboration and compromise to avoid regulatory inconsistencies across state lines. They also argued the bills are a first step that can be built on going forward.

While over 400 AI-related bills are being debated this year in statehouses nationwide, most target one industry or just a piece of the technology - such as deepfakes used in elections or to make pornographic images.

The biggest bills this team of lawmakers has put forward offer a broad framework for oversight, particularly around one of the technology's most perverse dilemmas: AI discrimination. Examples include an AI that failed to accurately assess Black medical patients and another that downgraded women's resumes as it filtered job applications. securityweek.com

 
Ransomware Group Hit 250+ Organizations Worldwide
Akira Ransomware Made Over $42 Million in One Year: Agencies

Akira ransomware has hit over 250 organizations worldwide and received over $42 million in ransom payments.

Since early 2023, Akira ransomware has made over 250 victims worldwide and received more than $42 million in ransom payments, according to CISA, the FBI, Europol, and the Netherlands' National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NL).

Akira ransomware operators have been observed targeting organizations in various industries, including services and goods, manufacturing, education, construction, critical infrastructure, finance, healthcare, and legal sectors.

Initially targeting Windows systems only, Akira has been infecting VMware ESXi virtual machines too since April 2023, and has been deployed in conjunction with Megazord starting August 2023, CISA, the FBI, Europol, and NCSC-NL note in an advisory.

For initial access, Akira ransomware's operators have been targeting VPN services that lacked multi-factor authentication, mainly using known vulnerabilities in Cisco products (such as CVE-2020-3259 and CVE-2023-20269).

Additionally, they were seen using remote desktop protocol (RDP), spear-phishing, and valid credentials to access victims' environments. securityweek.com
 

Chinese Hackers Pose Dire Threat: 'Every Sector' is at Risk
FBI Director Wray Issues Dire Warning on China's Cybersecurity Threat

Chinese actors are ready and poised to do "devastating" damage to key US infrastructure services if needed, he said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray this week delivered what might be the starkest warning yet on the threat that China-backed hackers pose to US national and economic security.

In remarks at a Vanderbilt University-hosted summit on modern conflict and emerging threats, Wray described Chinese hackers as outnumbering FBI personnel by at least 50 to 1 and standing poised to "wreak havoc" on US critical infrastructure at a moment's notice.

Stakeholders across private industry and government need to treat the threat as immediate and implement plans to fortify networks and respond to attacks now, the nation's leading law enforcement official said.

"The [People's Republic of China] has made it clear that it considers every sector that makes our society run as fair game in its bid to dominate on the world stage," Wray said. "Its plan is to land low blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic and break America's will to resist."  darkreading.com


The key pillars of domain security

LastPass users targeted by vishing attackers