Retailers Start to Deploy Body Cameras to Fight Shoplifting & Crime
One trial retailer saw a 53% reduction in incidents with the cameras compared to stores where employees were not wearing them

Hourly retail workers are now wearing police-like body cameras
Retail giant TJX, the parent of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, said it's equipping some store employees with body cameras to thwart shoplifting and keep customers and employees safe.

TJX finance chief John Klinger disclosed the body-camera initiative on an earnings call last month. "It's almost like a de-escalation, where people are less likely to do something when they're being videotaped," he said.

TJX isn't alone. In a survey of major chains by the National Retail Federation last year, 35% of US retailers said they were researching body cameras for employees. The manufacturer of Taser devices and other security companies are now designing and marketing body cameras specifically for retail workers.

Although retailers say they're looking to cut down on costly merchandise loss and keep stores safe, outfitting workers with body cameras may do little to stop shoplifting, some criminologists say. Worker advocates say improved training, better staffing levels in stores and other safety investments will go further to protect frontline workers and reduce shoplifting.

Loss prevention workers

Over the past year, TJX has assigned its hourly unarmed and trained security workers, known as loss prevention associates, to wear body cameras in certain stores. The company only shares video footage upon law enforcement request or in response to a subpoena.

"Body cameras are just one of the many ways that we work to support a safe store environment," the spokesperson said. TJX is one of the only retailers speaking publicly about body cameras and posting job openings with specific details of the cameras in the job description.

Growing trend

In the UK, Tesco, Lidl and other grocers have issued body cameras to employees. Bakery chain Greggs gave employees body cameras after a rise in sausage roll thefts and threats from customers.

Axon Enterprise, which owns Taser and primarily develops technology and products for police, launched a "Body Workforce" camera this year for retail and health care workers. One trial retailer saw a 53% reduction in incidents with the cameras compared to stores where employees were not wearing them, the company said.

Series of concerns: cnn.com


Self-Checkout Lanes Are a Magnet for Thieves - Will More Retailers Cut Back?
Dollar General, Other Retail Titans Removing Self-Checkouts Due to Retail Theft - More to Come?
Self-checkout services have always been a mixed bag for customers, but one thing seems sure: Those kiosks are a hit with retail thieves. And stores are noticing. America's largest retailers moved to eliminate self-checkouts at many of their respective locations and the reason is disheartening in many ways.

While the use, function and purpose of self-service kiosks can certainly be debated in a number of different ways, one thing is inarguable; thieves are taking advantage, because that's what thieves do.

And stores are getting fed up with it, given they way they are all pulling back self-checkout lanes in one way or another. It's a shame that American society is breaking down so badly that these machines are facilitating a spike in thievery, of course.

During the March quarterly earnings call where this was announced, Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos and CFO Kelly Dilts specifically noted that tamping down on retail theft was a factor in pulling back the self-service kiosks, according to Fox Business.

Dollar General executives made clear that self-checkout was rife with issues -- but theft was at the root of many of them, thus prompting the 300 highest shrink stores to close their self-checkout lanes.

It seems unlikely that the self-checkout machine is going to go away completely in the retail sector any time soon, but that may change as the ravaged economy has more people shelving their morals.

If that trend continues, one can't help but ask: What other stores are going to start protecting themselves from unscrupulous thieves? And when will that finally start affecting law-abiding customers, as well? msn.com

   RELATED: Dollar General fights theft by removing self-checkout lanes


New Workplace Safety Bill Specifically For Retailers
Retail crime bill aims to enhance worker and customer safety
New York retail workers support a bill they say will not only keep them safe, but also the customers they serve. What does the bill do?

The big mandate is the requirement that all retail workers be given violence prevention training just as all New York employees must get annual sexual harassment training. Retail workers want the same kind of training in how to respond to violence.

"This bill says that workers need to be trained in de-escalation tactics and active shooter training. Employers need to have a violence prevention plan in the workplace that workers are trained in, and large employers with over 500 employees need to install or provide wearable panic buttons that go directly to the police," said Josh Kellermann, Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Deanna Dewberry, News10NBC Consumer Investigative Reporter, asked, "There will be large employers who will balk at the cost, the expense of providing all these panic buttons for all of these employees. What do you say to them?"

He argues that many employers already provide their associates with hand-held smart devices and this will just be an app added to that device.

The bill has passed the Assembly and now sits in the Senate. The session is over at the end of this week, so they have just days to try to get this passed.  whec.com


More Momentum for California's Anti-Shoplifting Bill
Bill to Make it Easier to Arrest Shoplifters Continues To Gain Support

AB 1990 passed the Assembly last month despite dozens of Democratic Assemblymembers refusing to vote

A bill aimed at making it easier to arrest shoplifters has continued to grow in support in the Senate following passage in the Assembly late last month.

Assembly Bill 1990, authored by Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), would let law enforcement officers make a warrantless arrest for a misdemeanor shoplifting offense not committed in the officer's presence if the officer has probable cause to believe that person has committed shoplifting. In addition, those arrested for shoplifting can no longer be released on citation.

Support for AB 1990

AB 1990 now is currently working it's way through the Senate, where more and more Senators are signaling that they will be voting in favor of the bill later this year.

"AB 1990, the bill that would have police officers arrest shoplifters without a warrant, has been getting more and more people left and right. Literally, left and right," explained Dana, a Capitol staffer to the Globe on Monday. "Similar bills too. Constituents have been heavily complaining about shoplifting and they want something to be done. This is just one of those things going through right now."

But it isn't just bills. A proposition that will heavily alter Prop. 47 has gained enough signatures, and will likely be coming to the ballot this November. californiaglobe.com


California's Crime Crackdown Continues
State's law enforcement partnership with Bakersfield results in 470+ arrests

Governor Newsom's deployment of state law enforcement in Bakersfield has resulted in the arrest of 470 suspects and the recovery of 244 stolen vehicles.

In 2023, as part of California's Real Public Safety Plan, the Governor announced the largest-ever investment to combat organized retail crime in state history, with the Bakersfield Police Department being awarded $6.2 million to specifically prevent and respond to organized retail theft, motor vehicle or motor vehicle accessory theft, and cargo theft.

Through the CHP's Organized Retail Crime Task Force, since January 2024, the state has conducted 185 investigations, leading to 474 arrests and recovering more than 160,000 stolen goods valued at $4.2 million. Overall, this includes an annual 310% increase in proactive operations targeting organized retail crime, and special operations across the state to fight crime and improve public safety.

Building on the Newsom Administration's efforts to improve public safety in key parts of California, including Oakland and San Francisco, the state continues to make significant steps to ensure the safety of local communities like Bakersfield.   gov.ca.gov


Nashville, TN: North Nashville business padlocked after 'prolonged disruption of quality of life'
Two operators of a North Nashville business are charged with Money Laundering, Organized Retail Crime and attempted theft of property after police put up a court-ordered padlock Monday and closed their business until further notice. Bolis Boktor and Basem Farag have been charged in connection to a scheme in which police say they purchased products from shoplifters and resold the items in their store. Nashville officers responded to the store more than 400 times over the last five years for gun violence, assaults and other crimes, they said. Officers raided the Star Market in the 1600 block of Buchanan Street early Monday morning. A city work crew hung two banners from the roof of the business designating it "closed by court order."  tennessean.com

 
Arizona moves closer to making illegal immigration a state crime with ballot measure
 
3 killed, nearly 50 wounded in mass shootings at gatherings across US
 

75% Increase in Posts on Data Leak Sites
CVE exploits, stolen credentials fueled ransomware surge in 2023

Data leak site posts increased 75% to 4,520 posts in 2023, Mandiant said in a report.

Ransomware activity surged last year as attackers flocked to legitimate remote access tools to break into enterprise networks, Mandiant said in a Monday report.

There were 4,520 posts on data leak sites last year, a 75% increase from 2022. Threat groups use data leak sites to make claims and ramp up pressure on alleged victims. The number of posts surged to more than 1,300 in the third quarter, setting a quarterly record, Mandiant said. The firm tracked more than 1,200 data leak site posts in the second quarter.

In 2023, Mandiant led 20% more investigations involving ransomware than the previous year, underscoring further evidence of a swell in attacks. "The slight dip in extortion activity in 2022 was an anomaly," the incident response and research firm said.

Mandiant's findings accentuate the industry's collective inability to reduce ransomware attacks and the significant damage they inflict on businesses and people.

Mandiant conducted a record number of ransomware incident response investigations last year, as it saw the highest volume of data leak site posts since it began tracking shaming sites in 2020. The alleged victim organizations named on data leak sites spanned more than 110 countries last year.

Nearly 3 in 5 ransomware attacks Mandiant observed last year involved confirmed or suspected data theft.  cybersecuritydive.com


Avoiding the cybersecurity blame game
Processes and controls typically comprise policies, which will include detailed explanations of the acceptable use of company technology. There will usually be examples of the types of activity that are specifically not allowed - such as using someone else's login credentials or sharing your own. To make this "stick", there will almost certainly be training - some on "the basics" and on specific systems, but also other related matters - perhaps the requirements of data protection legislation, for example.

Yet despite all these precautions, people will still make mistakes. No level of controls, processes or training can overcome the reality that humans are fallible. The precautions can only reduce the probability - or, as we might think of it, the frequency. Why is this?

One reason mistakes happen is that the processes and controls themselves are inadequate. For example, it is all too easy for even a moderately determined scammer to learn the maiden name of their mark's mother, or their place of birth, or their date of birth. Is it appropriate to still require your customers to use these for security? And whose fault is it if a scammer can evade security measures by providing correct answers to these? Certainly not the poor customer service operative, who simply follows the process.

And we are all, I fear, very aware of the rise of attacks that exploit aspects of human nature that weren't foreseen: highly skilled scammers are using guile and just enough elements of truth to social-engineer people who are well-trained. helpnetsecurity.com


Hundreds of Millions of Leaked Accounts
361 million account credentials leaked on Telegram: Are yours among them?
A new trove of 361 million email addresses has been added to Have I Been Pwned? (HIBP), the free online service through which users can check whether their account credentials and other data has been compromised in one or more data breaches.

The massive cache of compromised credentials has been delivered to Hunt by an unnamed researcher. It contained 1,700+ files scraped from thousands of Telegram channels.

The data includes lists of credentials for accounts grouped either by service (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) or country (of the online service).

Some of the files contain email address:password combinations, while others list URLs containing the credentials, usually in the form of online service domain/login, checkout, confirm, reset-password:email address:password. helpnetsecurity.com


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