Facial Recognition Continues to Be Utilized Against Shoplifters
UK government cracking down on crime with tougher sentences & more facial rec use

UK government plans expanded facial recognition use for retailers, law enforcement

Government also plans to make greater use of facial recognition technology as part of crime crackdown bill

Shoplifters, burglars and violent criminals who commit repeat offences will be handed mandatory prison sentences under plans being drawn up by ministers. The government plans to force judges to impose jail terms when sentencing repeat offenders for shoplifting, burglary, theft and common assault, using new legislation to be included in the crime and justice bill.

Currently, these offences do not necessarily result in a prison sentence, the way that two convictions for knife crime automatically do. The number of offences required for a prison sentence would vary according to the type of crime, according to the Times.

A government source told the newspaper the trigger for a custodial sentence for repeat shoplifting would likely be between 10 and 20 instances as it is a lower-level offence than knife crime, for example, although planning for the legislation is still in its early stages. Lower thresholds are reportedly being considered for burglary, theft and common assault.

The government is also in favour of police and retailers making greater use of facial recognition technology.

On Sunday, the Observer reported that Home Office officials had made plans to lobby the independent privacy regulator in an attempt to roll out facial recognition technology into high street shops and supermarkets to combat shoplifting.

The covert strategy was agreed during a closed-door meeting on 8 March between the policing minister, Chris Philp, senior Home Office officials and the private firm Facewatch, whose facial recognition cameras provoked fierce opposition after being installed in shops.

Philp is also said to be urging police forces to make greater use of the technology and artificial intelligence to match known shoplifters with images on the police national computer.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Shoplifting strikes at the heart of local communities and we expect police forces to take this seriously - deterring this kind of crime but also catching more offenders. theguardian.com

   RELATED: Police use facial rec software to find suspect in Batavia bank robbery


Progressive DAs & Lax Policies Fueling Retail Violence & Crime?
Criminals taking 'full advantage' of lax sentencing as retail, violent crime increases: 'becoming more brazen'

Experts blamed bail reform, the anti-police movement, and DAs 'shirking' their responsibilities for recent crime waves

As major U.S. cities continue to deal with crime waves, experts are blaming anti-police rhetoric and liberal district attorneys for policies that fail to keep the public safe.

Nancy Grace admitted that she's seen enough to convince her that today's criminals are more brazen than ever. She chalked it up to lax sentencing and the anti-police movement.

Soaring retail theft has been reported across the country in recent months. Nordstrom and Whole Foods, for example, were among the large chains abandoning San Francisco partly due to employee safety. Meanwhile, organized retail crime was on track to cost Target $500 million in profits, CEO Brian Cornell warned in May.

"Violent incidents are increasing" at Target, and throughout the retail industry, Cornell said.

Washington, D.C., is experiencing a 30 percent increase in violent crime in 2023 compared to last year, other reports have found. The city's police budget was cut roughly $23 million by the city council in 2020 amid the George Floyd rioting and nationwide calls to defund the police.

Criminal defense attorney Joseph Gutheinz, a certified fraud examiner for 33 years told Fox News Digital the criminal justice system has it backwards by focusing on the needs of criminals.

Prosecutors, especially in big cities, are rubber-stamping the plea deals offered by defense attorneys, such as myself, and judges, especially in big cities, are more and more appearing as social workers rather than jurists." foxnews.com


Criminals Continue to Skirt Store Anti-Shoplifting Measures
San Fran Safeway Security Gates Fail as Rampant Theft Continues, Staff Say
A San Francisco Safeway with new receipt-scanning security gates continues to see high rates of daily theft despite the increased shoplifting measures, staff say.

"I'd say 60 to 100 [thefts] on my shift alone," said a security guard at the 3350 Mission St. Safeway, who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

"It's a lot worse at night. During the day, it's OK," another Safeway employee said, also speaking anonymously because staffers are not authorized to speak to the press. The worker said shoplifters usually target items that are not food.

Thieves will often walk through the self-checkout section, pushing past the clear plastic security gates where customers are supposed to scan receipts before they're allowed to leave the store.

Demonstrating how thieves evade the anti-theft gates, she pushed one aside with her hand when The Standard visited on Thursday. As it opened, the illuminated gate, normally lit with green lights, turned red and beeped loudly.

Sure enough, they entered the self-checkout but didn't stop. There was a loud beep as they walked briskly through the exit. The security guard watched them leave without approaching the alleged shoplifters.

Another store in the Fillmore District also has security gates installed. sfstandard.com


Property Crime Up 29% & Thefts Up 25% in D.C.
Property crime is going viral in D.C., putting shoppers on edge
In D.C. and its suburbs, property crimes are on the rise, and the attention paid to them perhaps even more so - as posts on neighborhood email groups and viral videos documenting brazen criminal activity rocket around the internet, damaging the sense of safety across even the region's safest, wealthiest neighborhoods.

Some residents said in interviews that they noticed armed guards at their convenience stores for the first time this spring, or found more and more items taken off the shelves and locked away. The incidents sometimes turn violent.

Cities across the country are facing similar challenges. Wawa closed multiple stores in Philadelphia in part over safety concerns, and Whole Foods shuttered a flagship store in San Francisco. Store owners across the country have locked away more of their merchandise - serving as an added layer of protection against thieves and as a visual reminder for shoppers of the growing threat of crime.

In D.C., thefts that don't involve cars are up 25 percent compared with the same time last year, and property crime overall is up 29 percent, reaching its highest mark since 2017.

But burglaries are down by 7 percent year over year, and thefts that don't involve cars are below what they were as recently as 2019. While overall property crime is higher now, that increase is largely driven by an explosion of people stealing vehicles.

D.C. police said they did not have readily available data that specifically shows shoplifting incidents. But numbers compiled by Capital One Shopping, a branch of Capitol One that analyzes retail data, show that, as of April, retailers in D.C. lost an estimated $108 million in annual revenue to theft - 26.3 percent less than the national average of retail theft per capita. washingtonpost.com


'Old-School Approach' to Bringing Down ORC Boosters?
Op-Ed: Kansas AG is right, it's time to get tough on theft from big-box stores
As regular readers of this column can attest, I don't always see eye to eye with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. But I do agree with him wholeheartedly on this: Retail theft is a huge problem and it needs to be addressed in a more serious fashion.

Organized retail theft: Street-level thieves - known as "boosters" - push carts out the door without paying, load the items into a car, and drive off. They unload at a warehouse, the kingpin of the ring gives them their cut, he sells the stuff online, rinse and repeat.

It's organized crime, and the people who do it are mostly getting away with it.

On Thursday, Kobach told the Wichita Metro Crime Commission that organized retail thieves in Kansas boosted $642 million in merchandise in 2021, mostly from big-box stores. One ringleader caught in Kansas City had a gang that stole $3 million worth.

In these already inflationary times, the hundreds of millions of dollars in goods stolen raises the prices you have to pay when you buy something at the store.

So here's my thought: Put together a small task force of local or state police, or both. We know where these crimes occur and they're occurring with alarming frequency, so have the officers stick around in striking distance of some big-box stores that get targeted regularly.

Set it up so store managers could immediately contact the team, who could then swoop in and catch some boosters in the act - or better yet, follow them to wherever the goods are dropped off, and maybe catch a ringleader or two.

It's kind of an old-school approach. But if you caught a few boosters and bosses, word would soon get around that robbing a big box store isn't quite as risk-free an enterprise as it is today. And that would be progress. news.yahoo.com


Deadly Week for Security Officers Across the U.S.
7 Security Officers Murdered, 8 Others Shot in Just 7 Days

A seventh security officer has been killed in just one week.

The 72-year-old security officer died after an altercation with a juvenile at ShowPlace ICON Theatre & Kitchen at Roosevelt Collection in the South Loop of Chicago on Saturday night.

A nightclub security officer was literally beaten to death by a mob after a brawl inside the club spilled out onto the sidewalks. The Los Angeles police reported that at least 6-9 people were involved in the beating of the security officer.

A Brooklyn security officer was shot to death as he was leaving work. NYPD has not released his name yet but said that it appears that it may have been a robbery attempt.

An armored truck security officer also died after being shot multiple times during a robbery.

Douglas Kirkland, 19, was also murdered just three days into his job. Police have not made an arrest yet.

A Portland hospital security officer was gunned down trying to protect patients and staff inside the hospital.

A Houston security officer confronted a trespasser at the entrance to an apartment complex and was almost immediately gunned down.

Eight other security officers, including three that are still listed in critical condition, were all shot during the same time period. privateofficer.com


At Least 419 Mass Shootings So Far in 2023
9 mass shootings over the weekend rock US cities, leaving 5 dead, 56 injured

"Our community was shaken to the core by violence," said the mayor of one city.

At least nine mass shootings rocked cities across the nation over the weekend, leaving five people dead and 56 wounded, according to a national website that tracks gun violence.

The mass casualty shootings occurred at parties, outside of a nightclub and a convenience store, during a street game of dominoes and even at a community meeting on how to combat gun violence, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as a single event with four or more victims either injured or killed.

The weekend violence upped the number of mass shootings in 2023 to 419, with still five months left in the year. The number of mass shootings this year has already surpassed the total number that occurred in all of 2019, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

According to the website's data, an average of two mass shootings have occurred every day this year. In all of 2022, there were 647 mass shootings nationwide, slightly down from 690 that occurred in 2021. abcnews.go.com


San Francisco police union chief blames defund movement for city's lawlessness

UK: Rural counties see cost of crime double

'Rapid' ORC Growth Continues to Drive Retail Losses
Research: Retail losses reach $1.77 trillion worldwide

Research shows "empty shelves" as the main reason for consumer discontent in grocery

The global retail industry has suffered a projected $1.77 trillion in losses, even despite billions in improvements, according to a new study, which also found that the rapid growth of theft and organized retail crime has overshadowed systems and process gains in the U.S. and Canada.

The research, from global research and advisory firm IHL Group, indicates that progress was made in every region worldwide - a year ago, the total cost of inventory distortion was $1.9 trillion, indicating a slight improvement in 2023. However, the total cost to retailers for inventory distortion (combined cost of overstocks and out-of-stocks) amounted to $349 billion in lost sales for U.S. and Canadian retailers in 2022.

"Improvements in the supply chain and product availability around the world in the past year have been dramatic leading to fuller shelves," said Greg Buzek, president of IHL Group. "Systems and processes have seen great improvement in the last three years. Unfortunately, in the United States, the incredible rise in theft has outpaced those improvements leading to 17.7% more out-of-stocks for North America than the previous year."

The study looked at the true cost and experiences of consumers who reported the reasons they left stores without buying the items they planned to purchase (not including the prices being too high as a reason). What it found was a disconnect between what consumers want to buy at their local stores, and what they actually do buy, which continues to drive discontent.

According to the study, although consumers have seen improvements in on-shelf availability, they list various reasons for leaving without their items including: sizes not being available, lack of employee help, products locked up or in the stockroom, or empty shelves.

For food and grocery retailers specifically, "empty shelves" was cited by shoppers as the number one reason in the study for leaving a store without the products they intended to buy. The research also looked at the cost of overstocked merchandise (wrongly forecasted items or items that didn't arrive in time for the season). supermarketnews.com


Will In-Store Advertising Take Off?
Walmart is bringing ads to an aisle near you as retailers chase new moneymakers

Walmart is pushing into in-store advertising to capitalize on its huge reach and chase growth in higher-margin businesses.

One of Walmart's latest offerings at its SuperCenters isn't a hot new toy, snack flavor or sundress. It's advertising.

Shoppers will soon see more third-party ads on screens in Walmart self-checkout lanes and TV aisles; hear spots over the store's radio; and be able to sample items at demo stations.

Walmart's push into advertising resembles similar moves by retailers like Kroger, which struck a deal to bring digital smart screens to cooler aisles in hundreds of its stores, and Target, which began testing in-store demos and giveaways, including a recent "Barbie" branded event with Mattel that took place at about 200 stores.

For Walmart, selling ad space to its wealth of existing partners is another way to capitalize on the company's huge reach and to expand into higher-margin businesses. The discounter has nearly 4,700 stores across the U.S., with roughly 90% of Americans living within 10 miles of a Walmart store. cnbc.com


5,000 CVS Layoffs Coming -- Mostly Corporate Roles
CVS to lay off 5K employees amid cost pressures

The layoffs come as CVS faces significant integration costs from recent M&A activity.

CVS is shedding 5,000 jobs as part of ongoing expense reduction measures as the company faces cost pressures integrating recent multi-billion-dollar deals.

Affected jobs are mostly corporate positions. Customer-facing jobs, like store or clinic employees, will not be affected, according to a spokesperson for the healthcare giant.

CVS is also taking other steps to reduce expenses, including minimizing the use of consultants and vendors and stopping select business initiatives that don't align with its current corporate strategy. retaildive.com
 

Record-Setting Temperatures: The Business Impact
Texans are staying inside during record heat - and the state's economy could take a $9.5 billion hit from reduced business

In Texas, that could mean a $9.5 billion hit to the state's GDP if the extreme heat continues.

As extreme heat grips much of the US this summer and the Earth records its hottest month on record, people are staying inside. And the bars, restaurants, and other businesses they normally patronize are suffering the consequences.

Texas is set to have one of its hottest summers ever. Workers at small and midsize businesses in Texas' tourism, entertainment, and recreation sectors - all dependent on the outdoors - worked 20% fewer hours between mid-June and mid-July this year than they did in the same month between 2019 and 2022, reported Gusto economist Luke Pardue.

"The reduction in economic activity that we're seeing right now is second only to what we've seen during the pandemic in terms of its effect on small business activity," he said. businessinsider.com


Primark continues U.S. store expansion; eyes 60 stores by 2026

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