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Prop 47 Fueling California's Crime Crisis?
California's homeless & drug crisis sparked soft-on-crime law, sheriff claims

The law downgraded charges of theft under $950 to misdemeanors - as overdoses and vagrancy levels continue to rocket

A California sheriff has blamed the relaxation of state drug and theft rules for a dramatic rise in homelessness and addiction.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said that as soon as the state 'stopped enforcing' the law it started 'seeing a major, major, major increase' in mental health conditions among the homeless. California has been ravaged by scenes of lawlessness in recent years, while vagrant camps now lie sprawling across its major cities.

Bianco said rising drug addiction had made the homeless population 'uncontrollable' and blamed Proposition 47, a law passed by voters almost ten years ago. Also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, it downgraded crimes like drug possession and theft of goods under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.

Bianco said it has also sparked a rise in drug deaths and crime.

Downgrading thefts of goods under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors has sparked a free-for-all in some cases. In December, startling footage showed thieves brazenly ransacking an Apple store in Palo Alto, ripping iPhones, iPads, and laptops from their displays.

There are signs Californians are beginning to lose patience with their elected officials. San Franciscans voted to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin over his perceived refusal to prosecute certain crimes.

He has since been replaced by Brooke Jenkins, 40, who vowed to crack down on soaring crime and increasingly prevalent open-air drug markets in the city.

Meanwhile, an attempt to recall progressive Los Angeles DA George Gascon failed to gather enough signatures to trigger a vote, but reflected growing discontent with the movement that propelled Gascon to office. dailymail.co.uk

   In Case You Missed It: New CA Bill to Fix Prop 47 & Battle Retail Theft


Malls Enact Youth Curfews to Curb Crime & Unruliness
Hot Topic Question: Do Malls Need Curfews For Minors?
Garden State Plaza, the second largest mall in New Jersey, has become the latest shopping center to restrict access by minors due to unruly behavior. Beginning April 28, the mall's Parental Guidance Policy will require visitors under the age of 18 on Fridays and Saturdays after 5:00 p.m. to be accompanied by an adult at least 21 years old.

Wesley Rebisz, senior general manager at Garden State Plaza, told NorthJersey.com about the teens, "They're being unruly, violating code of conduct, which can include running through the property in large groups, fighting and putting it on TikTok, basically disrupting business and making it uncomfortable for our everyday customers."

On April 18, The Fashion District in downtown Philadelphia began banning anyone under 18 from entering the mall without an adult chaperone any day after 2 p.m., extending a weekend curfew. The change followed an incident earlier in the month when the Philadelphia police were called in to disperse large crowds of juveniles and an officer was injured.

Baltimore's Mall in Columbia and Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, CT, began instituting weekend youth escort policies earlier this year.

In 2022, minor-curfew policies arrived at Mississippi's Vicksburg Mall, Pittsburgh's The Mall at Robinson, Parks Mall in Arlington, TX, Foothills Mall in Maryville, TX, and Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga, NY.

In 2021, youth-escort policies arrived at Concord Mills in Concord, NC; Virginia Beach's Lynnhaven Mall, Orland Square in Orland Park, IL; Syracuse's Destiny USA; and Town & Country Shopping Center in Kettering, OH.

Some malls have long had teen chaperone policies although it's unknown how pervasive they are.

A New York Times article from 1996 noted that The Mall of America had become one of the nation's first shopping centers to impose curfews on unchaperoned teenagers while noting the policy "touches on many serious social issues: safety, race relations, parental responsibility and civil liberties." retailwire.com


Another Progressive DA Blasted for Being 'Soft' On Violent Crime
Oakland DA faces backlash and possible recall for soft-on-crime approach
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing severe backlash and a possible recall from residents who think she is inept in prosecuting violent crime cases. The California judge joins a handful of district attorneys across the United States who have been blasted for their soft-on-crime approach.

Price succeeded former District Attorney Nancy O'Malley. She won the election in 2022 by promising to eliminate systemic racism in the criminal justice system. However, the community is now calling for a recall, believing Price is too lenient on criminals, particularly accused murderers, and will not take the proper steps to address violent crime.

She is the latest progressive prosecutor to be under the microscope for her stance on crime, joining the list of several district attorneys and city leaders across several Democratic-controlled cities facing scrutiny for rising crime rates. Those facing scrutiny include former San Francisco District Attorney Chese Boudin and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Price ran her 2022 campaign on more progressive policies than her opponents and received large ad donations from the California Justice and Public Safety PAC, largely funded by billionaire George Soros, who is known for providing support to left-leaning candidates.

Additionally, a memo was obtained by ABC 7 News's I-Team detailing Price's plan to eliminate sentence enhancements for violent crimes, which could upgrade the sentence for a felony if a gun was used or on the suspect's person during the time of the incident. washingtonexaminer.com


Another Crime Trend: 'Swatting' Calls
Amid a rise in swatting calls, the fabrication and fear of mass shootings collide
As many communities across the United States struggle with mass shootings, malicious actors are increasingly targeting schools with false reports of shootings, using the fear of gun violence and 911 calls to afflict terror about another potentially deadly incident, experts told ABC News.

Callers have caused confusion and delays, prompted law enforcement to expend vital resources and exposed the vulnerabilities of schools to potential future shootings. Commonly called "swatting" incidents, these instances employ technology to disguise phone calls that signal a threat, often prompting a local Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to a specific address, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Swatting calls have become common over the last decade, with criminals calling in threats on rival gamers or activists. Schools, however, have become frequent targets this year, multiple experts told ABC News. The number of swatting calls has at least doubled over the last year, according to James Turgal, the former chief information officer of the FBI and the current vice president of information security company Optiv.

Swatting calls attempt to mimic what a "victim" of a fabricated shooting would tell authorities, while bomb threats are commonly made from the perspective of the person who placed the fictional bomb. Canady said a person who planted a real bomb has little incentive to call in a threat to clear people from their target. At the same time, a shooting victim would try to immediately contact the police for assistance - complicating the perceived importance of these calls. abcnews.go.com


Facial Recognition-Enabled Firearms
Smart gun operating on facial recognition goes on sale in US
Colorado-based Biofire Tech is taking orders for a smart gun enabled by facial-recognition technology, the latest development in personalized weapons that can only be fired by verified users.

Biofire's gun can also be enabled by a fingerprint reader, one of several smart gun features designed to avoid accidental shootings by children, reduce suicides, protect police from gun grabs, or render lost and stolen guns useless.

The first consumer-ready versions of the 9mm handgun could be shipped to customers who pre-ordered as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, with the standard $1,499 model possibly available by the second quarter of 2024, Biofire said.

That could make it the first commercially available smart gun in the U.S. since the Armatix briefly went on sale in 2014. At least two other American companies, LodeStar Works and Free State Firearms, are also attempting to get a smart gun to market. reuters.com


NYC is Struggling to Shut Down the 1,500 Illegal Pot Shops
Albany lawmakers hash out ways to deal with NYC's illegal weed shops
State budget talks are now hung up on how to curb an onslaught of illicit weed joints, although lawmakers say they still hope to have a final deal on the governor's proposed $227 billion spending plan by Friday. "The illegal pot shops are hurting the ability for the cannabis industry to begin and grow," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) told reporters at the Capitol on Monday.

"I want to be able to shut them down," Heastie said of the roughly 1,500 black market shops operating in plain view across New York City's five boroughs.

In terms of the illicit weed shops, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed legislation weeks ago to empower state agencies to increase fines on illegal sites from a paltry $250 to as much as $10,000 per day, while allowing state agencies to shutter them for good. nypost.com


Two Countries, Two Mass Shootings, Two Different Reactions

Letter: Try these simple steps to stop mass shootings

'The Cost of Doing Business': Dollar Stores Shrug Off OSHA Safety Fines
Dollar stores have only paid a fraction of OSHA penalties since 2017
The persistence of labor violations at dollar stores indicates that though minimum wage increases across the country have made low-wage jobs better by many measures, some of America's 15 million retail jobs are still dangerous for workers.

Looking at both Dollar Tree and Dollar General over the course of five years, inspectors found boxes stacked dangerously and blocking exits, water leaking through the ceiling and causing wet floors covered in ceiling tiles, and boxes blocking fire extinguishers and electrical panels. There's also evidence that the companies don't end up paying anything close to the proposed penalties. According to a document OSHA provided to TIME, Dollar General received $16 million in initial penalties since 2017 but has only paid $3.9 million so far and owes a balance of $631,666. Dollar Tree has received $13.9 million in penalties and paid $9 million, with a balance due of $120,000.

OSHA did not respond to follow-up questions as to why the companies have paid only a fraction of the proposed fees; Michaels says that companies can contest the violations and do not pay fines until the case is closed. OSHA can also lower fines to get a faster settlement.

The companies "know the penalties for these violations are minor-they figure it's just the cost of doing business," says Kate Bronfenbrenner, a professor at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

But in some ways, the business model of dollar stores makes it difficult to comply with OSHA regulations. Stores are relatively small, compared to a Walmart or Target, and are low on both storage space and workers to save money. When new goods come in, there's nowhere to put them and no one to unpack them, leading to tall stacks that endanger workers. In October 2022, OSHA added Dollar General to a "severe violator" watchlist for companies that willfully or repeatedly violate safety standards. Since 2017, Dollar General has had 130 repeat violations, meaning that inspectors found a problem, flagged it, and then found it again; Dollar Tree has had 131. time.com


No Penalty For Drug Possession? Watch Out Retail Stores
Washington State Legislators Reject Bill to Penalize Drug Possession
Without action, Washington's drug possession law will expire July 1, leaving no penalty in state law and leaving cities free to adopt a hodgepodge of local ordinances.

The Legislature has been contending with how much to penalize drug possession since 2021, when the state Supreme Court, in the State v. Blake decision, threw out the state's felony drug possession statute as unconstitutional. That year, lawmakers passed a stopgap measure classifying possession of drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine as a misdemeanor.

"The fact that we are not going to have a piece of legislation on this means that their failure to provide any votes for this bill is going to result in methamphetamines, fentanyl and heroin ... possession of those drugs being legalized across the state of Washington," Jinkins said.

Gov. Inslee has not specifically said whether he will call lawmakers back for a special session, but he said Sunday he was not OK with allowing the current stopgap drug possession law to expire with no replacement.

"It is unacceptable to me. ... It is unacceptable to the state of Washington," he said.

A coalition of Snohomish County mayors and business leaders on Sunday urged lawmakers to vote against the plan, issuing an open letter calling the proposal soft on illicit drug use plaguing communities.

From the opposite side of the debate, critics viewed the compromise bill as a cruel return to tossing people in jail in order to push substance use disorders out of public view.

With the failure of the Blake compromise and no clear path to a special session, some local communities are already preparing to adopt their own drug laws. seattletimes.com


Amazon Isn't Giving Up On Physical Grocery Business
Amazon could buy 100s of grocery stores being divested by Kroger and Albertsons, according to a top research firm

This presents an opportunity for Amazon to swiftly build physical scale in the grocery business.

Amazon could buy hundreds of grocery stories being divested by Kroger and Albertsons, giving the internet giant's physical retail efforts a major boost, according to a top research firm.

Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the grocery business in his annual shareholder letter. The company has struggled in this part of the retail sector for years. It's 13.7 billion Whole Foods acquisition from 2017 has not gone well, and the grocery chain laid off hundreds of employees recently.

Amazon has also shut some Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations. But Jassy is not giving up.

"To have a larger impact on physical grocery, we must find a mass grocery format that we believe is worth expanding broadly," he wrote in his letter, while adding that Amazon needs "a broader physical store footprint given that most of the grocery shopping still happens in physical venues."

This week, analysts at Bernstein laid out a model for the company to grow in grocery by embracing more acquisitions. In a note published this week, the firm suggested Amazon could buy some or all of the divested stores from the planned Kroger and Albertsons merger. The combined companies are expected to divest at least 500 stores. businessinsider.com


New Hire Age Verification Becomes Vital
DOL and HHS Announce Joint Effort to Combat Exploitative Child Labor
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced new efforts to "combat exploitative child labor," which is largely the result of "an influx in migrant children from Latin America fleeing violence and poverty, a majority of whom do not have a parent in the United States."

The DOL's focus on undocumented immigrants (whether child or adult), human trafficking, and related issues has been manifest for several weeks in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) daily Workplace Safety Reminder, which has mentioned one or more of these issues almost every day. Likewise, OSHA has been regularly posting tweets concerning these issues since the announcements were made.

The interagency taskforce will, through collaborative efforts and improved information sharing, "advance the health, education, and well-being of children in the U.S." At least in part, employers should expect that the information shared concerning conditions in workplaces where these children are employed, whether directly or through contractors, will ultimately end up with OSHA. The strategic enforcement initiative will involve the DOL's Wage and Hour Division, which will use "data-driven, worker-focused strategies" to target inspections where violations "are most likely to occur." The DOL's solicitors will be authorized to "use all available enforcement tools, including penalties, injunctions, stopping the movement of goods made with child labor, and criminal referrals where warranted" as part of this strategic initiative. natlawreview.com


Gap Plans to Lay Off Hundreds of Corporate Workers in Latest Cuts
Gap Inc. is eliminating hundreds of corporate jobs from its global workforce as part of a broad restructuring aimed at making the company more nimble and less bureaucratic, according to people familiar with the situation.

Bed Bath & Beyond, Party City, JCPenney, and more: The biggest retail bankruptcies of the past 15 years
Some retailers emerged from bankruptcy with smaller physical footprints, while others ended up liquidating. The pandemic and an explosion in online sales forced many of these companies to restructure.
 

Consumer confidence sinks, implying downturn to come

Global retailers seek new ways to lure in shoppers as spending slows
 

Quarterly Results

McDonald's Q1 Global comp sales up 12.6%, systemwide sales up 9%, consolidated revenues up 4%

Retail Council of Canada embarks on new cybercrime awareness venture

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) recently launched a new cybercrime prevention campaign to provide educational resources for retailers and their employees, from frontline workers to IT security professionals.

The Retail CyberSecure initiative, which kicked off at the beginning of this year, was made possible through the support of the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and includes partnerships with the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police, among other organizations.

The program, which will continue to roll out throughout the year, comprises a series of six webinars along with downloadable guides and e-learning training modules. The resources are offered for free to achieve maximum impact, said Rui Rodrigues, the RCC's executive advisor for loss prevention and risk management.

The issue of cybercrime has become more acute for retailers, he said, as threats continue to ramp up. The pandemic also saw retailers become more reliant on online storefronts when in-store shopping was curtailed or temporarily restricted.

"Over the last few years, we've heard more and more from retail organizations about cyber," said Rodrigues. "You can't escape it."

The CyberSecure initiative is "really focused on ways we could educate, provide awareness and share best practices," added Rodrigues, "and doing it through various mediums."

Three of the six planned webinars are currently available on the RCC Retail CyberSecure resource website, focused on awareness training and current cyberthreats. Webinars on threat action plans, defensive procedures, ransomware training and brute force attacks will follow in the coming months.

Battle on two fronts

In some ways, loss prevention specialists are waging a battle on two fronts: the threat of shoplifting in brick-and-mortar retail locations and the ever-present spectre of cybercrime in the digital realm.

In both cases, education and awareness are key, said Rodrigues, along with collaboration with government and likeminded organizations to get the word out. canadiansecuritymag.com

Click here to learn more about the RCC Retail CyberSecure program