Another Retailer Blames ORC 'Epidemic' for Profit Drop, Job Cuts 
Dick's Sporting Goods blames 'organized retail crime' for 23% drop in profits
Dick's Sporting Goods on Tuesday blamed "organized retail crime" for sinking its quarterly profits by nearly 25% - the latest retailer to reel from the growing "epidemic" of thefts around the country.

The popular retail chain reported a 23% drop in profits in the second quarter across its more than 700 stores nationwide - despite sales rising 3.6%.  Dick's also announced a "business optimization" plan that includes cutting jobs and streamlining its overall cost structure, according to a company press release. The unspecified number of layoffs come mostly from its customer support center.

Dick's attributed the losses to "organized retail crime and our ability to effectively manage inventory shrink," an industry term used to describe stolen or lost merchandise.

"Our Q2 profitability was short of our expectations due in large part to the impact of elevated inventory shrink, an increasingly serious issue impacting many retailers," Dick's president and CEO Lauren Hobart said.
 
Hobart referenced organized crime and retail theft in the company's earnings call with investors on Tuesday, calling it "an increasingly serious issue impacting many retailers."

She continued: "Based on the results from our most recent physical inventory cycle, the impact of theft on our shrink was meaningful to both our second-quarter results and our go-forward expectations for the balance of the year. We are doing everything we can to address the problem and keep our stores, our teammates and athletes safe."

The Pennsylvania-based chain became the latest major retailer to pin the scourge of brazen robberies for impacting its bottom line. Last week, Target CEO Brian Cornell said shoplifting that included "threats of violence" surged 120% during the first five months of the year.

"I think retailers are facing a crime epidemic," Anthony Roman, president of the risk management firm Roman & Associates, told The Post.

"There has been a change in many state laws that have loosened or restricted the prosecution of retail crime and when the criminal element sees that developing they become emboldened." nypost.com retaildive.com foxbusiness.com marketwatch.com


ORC Costs Surge in Illinois, But Theft Arrests Drop in Illinois
Retail Theft Costing Illinois Businesses Billions as Thieves Become More Organized

"Some of the larger stores' loss prevention units started to notice that there were these groups that would go literally state to state, store to store and steal a large amount of things and monetize them."

In Illinois, the chamber estimates more than $2 billion worth of goods were stolen from retailers in 2021, but it says the cost to Illinois businesses was more than double that when other factors are taken into account.

One major change occurring over the past decade or so is that organized crime gangs have moved into retail theft in a big way, say retail experts. Rob Karr, CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, says stores started to notice a change in the pattern of retail thefts about 12 years ago.

"Some of the larger stores' loss prevention units started to notice that there were these groups that would go literally state to state, store to store and steal a large amount of things and monetize them," said Karr. "It has grown in complexity and it has grown exponentially in terms of its scope."

Karr says that to a large degree, prosecutorial authorities have yet to catch up with both the scope and the complexity of the problem. But Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has been focused on the issue, and in 2021 organized a special task force to target organized retail crime.

Raoul says the proceeds from retail crime are often used to fund other criminal endeavors, from gun trafficking to human trafficking and sometimes even terrorism.

Aside from the impact on the bottom line, Scott Glenn, vice president for asset protection at Home Depot said Home Depot is worried about physical attacks on their store employees.

One notable change in Chicago is that according to Chicago Police Department data, arrests for retail crime have dropped dramatically. Why police are making fewer arrests is not clear, although some critics of Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx have pointed to her move to raise the threshold for felony shoplifting charges to $1,000 from $500. news.wttw.com


Largest ORC-Fighting Investment in Texas History
$2.5 Million investment will combat Organized Retail Crime
he Texas Legislature has made its most significant financial investment to combat Organized Retail Crime (ORC) in state history during the 2023 legislative session.

"A top priority for Texas retailers is cracking down on the organized retail crime that fuels the black-market supply chain," said John McCord, Executive Director of the Texas Retailers Association. "We applaud the Texas Legislature and Gov. Abbott for making this record-setting investment to signal to would-be criminals that Texas is tough on retail theft."

To address this growing public safety concern, the Texas state budget for the FY 2024-25 biennium, HB 1, added more than $2.5 million in General Revenue and seven full-time employees to create an Organized Retail Theft Prevention Unit within the Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division.

Additional legislation, HB 1826, requires the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to appoint a task force to study organized retail theft prevention, analyzing its impact on state sales tax collection and making further policy recommendations for the next Texas legislative session.

The Texas Retailers Association says that together, these measures mark the most significant investment to combat ORC in state history. fox44news.com


Retail Locations Among Top Targets for Mass Shootings
California, Texas & Florida Face Greatest Mass Shooting Risk in U.S.

Mass Shootings Steadily Increased Over Last 50 Years-And Big States Like California And Texas Face Highest Risk, Study Finds
As the number of mass shootings in the U.S. continues to steadily increase, the most populous states face the highest risk, as do certain locations such as workplaces or retail locations, a study out Tuesday found, after researchers assessed more than 60 years of data to predict the risk of future tragedies.

The rate of mass shootings has been steadily increasing over the past 50 years, Cameron MacKenzie, an Iowa State University professor and co-author of the study, said, adding that the number of mass shootings in the U.S. has increased by about one shooting every 10 years since the 1970's.

The states that have the greatest risk of a mass shooting are the most populous states-California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania-and together they account for 44% of all mass shootings, the study published in the journal Risk Analysis found.

Using that data from the Violence Project researchers calculated the probability a mass shooting would occur in nine different types of public locations-restaurant, school, workplace, house of worship, retail, college or university, government building, place of residence, or the outdoors-in California and Iowa.

In both Iowa and California, the location with the highest risk of a mass shooting was a workplace, followed by retail location and restaurant, bar or nightclub. forbes.com


'Criminals are running this city'
Now-retired Seattle officer writes brutal resignation letter

A now-retired Seattle police lieutenant wrote a 15-page resignation letter that promised an "unfiltered, raw and unapologetic" description of why she decided to retire

A now-retired Seattle police lieutenant called it quits at the beginning of August after 23 years on the force, releasing her resignation letter voicing her frustrations with the city and local leaders, KTTH reports.

Lieutenant Jessica Taylor told the Jason Rantz Show that she did not fill out the exit form when announcing her resignation, which asks questions like why an officer is leaving, their new employer, and what the officer liked most and least about working in the department. Instead, she wrote Chief Adrian Diaz a 15-page resignation letter that promised an "unfiltered, raw and unapologetic" description of why she decided to retire.

In the interview with the Jason Rantz show, Taylor said she "wanted to go out with the truth."

"Chief Diaz, let me tell you, the state of the Seattle Police Department and this city is a disgrace," she wrote in the letter she shared with the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. "The toxic mix of the Seattle City Council's absurdity, the spinelessness of the mayor, the leniency of the prosecutor's office and your failed leadership has accelerated this city's downhill slide straight to rock bottom. The problems were already brewing before you came on the scene, but since your arrival, it's been a free fall into anarchy and chaos."

Taylor criticized the Seattle city council members for having "strayed from reality," as their decisions were characterized by a lack of common sense and fundamental logic.

"Their absurd policies have turned Seattle into a playground for anarchists and criminals, and they seem utterly unconcerned with the devastating consequences of their actions. If you haven't noticed, the criminals are running this city," Taylor said. police1.com


Retail Violence Surging Across the Pond
SGF calls for Protection of Workers Act transparency amid retail crime rise

With over 7,000 cases of abuse and assaults reported to Police Scotland, in less than two years, and reports of a spike in shoplifting across the UK, the Scottish Grocers Federation (SGF) is calling for prosecution figures to be made public.

The Protection of Workers (Retail) Act, which was delivered by Daniel Johnson MSP with the support of SGF, came into force in August 2021.

The latest figures provided by Police Scotland show that the act has been used 7,056 times to report retail specific cases of abuse or assault of staff and retailers up to 2 July 2023.

SGF has contacted the Scottish government, the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service calling for the figures on referrals and convictions relating to the act to be made public.

SGF chief executive, Dr Pete Cheema OBE said: "Retail crime and shop theft is a very serious issue for convenience stores and our members. People should not have to come to work knowing they will likely have to put up with threats, abuse and potentially violence. talkingretail.com


Philadelphia's Crime, Drug & Homelessness Crisis is Hurting Businesses
Kensington businesses say it's increasingly hard to get vendors to come out and provide services

Kensington Avenue business owners say the stagnant conditions have made daily operations a struggle, and the city's current efforts aren't enough to solve the problems.

Kensington Avenue business owners say the stagnant conditions in the neighborhood - the widespread homelessness, drug use and sales, and subsequent gun violence - have made daily operations a struggle, reaching new heights in 2023. The city, in turn, says it's working diligently, pointing to support available to businesses, and various efforts to help people experiencing homelessness and addiction. Meanwhile, local nonprofits and community groups are creating a list of priorities that residents want the next administration to tackle.

For businesses on the corridor, there's a fear that time is a luxury they don't have as the cost of operations creeps up. They say that the city's efforts are not making enough of a difference and that the hope that change is coming is wearing thin. inquirer.com


Boston, MA: Store owners concerned after brick-wielding robbers target businesses

Austin PD hundreds of officers short as crime cripples city

Facial Recognition's Expansion in the Security Space
NFL tackles access security with staff face biometrics pilot
The NFL is testing a facial authentication system for credentialed staff at six stadiums this season, including the Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Cleveland Business Journal reports. The move to adopt biometrics for staff entry, orchestrated over two years by NFL's senior VP of security, Cathy Lanier, seeks to digitize and bolster the existing system that regulates access for workers, vendors, and media during games.

Lanier compares the NFL's security measures to the complexity of the Olympics, highlighting the intricacies of access zones and timing. Access to the field, for instance, is segmented into 20 different time slots. So, someone cleared two hours before kickoff might not have post-game access.

The NFL plans to employ Wicket's facial authentication technology, already adopted by the Browns for fan entry, to cross-check digital photos against real-time facial scans. Real-time face biometrics authentication software will make it far more challenging to transfer credentials illicitly, a common form of fraud. Every scan will produce a straightforward red or green signal for security staff, reducing the risk of human error at checkpoints.

By the Super Bowl, the league will assess the pilot's performance. Brandon Covert, Browns' VP of IT, noted that the technology has already proven successful at their training facility. There, it has eliminated the players' need to remember their security cards and made things faster. "It's been a tremendous success for us," Covert says.  biometricupdate.com
 

Police Officers are Seeing the Impact of Low Staffing
Lexipol survey uncovers alarming staffing shortages and stress levels reported by first responders
DALLAS - First responders are facing significant staffing and mental health challenges that pose a serious threat to their wellbeing and the communities they serve, according to Lexipol's new Stressed & Short-Staffed: Challenges Facing First Responders and the Impact on Community Safety report. The findings, which come from Lexipol Media Group's annual "What Cops/Firefighters/Paramedics Want" surveys of 9,400 first responders, expose the degree to which a large number of first responders today are under heightened stress.

Looking to the future, public safety agencies face the significant threat of their staff leaving their jobs altogether. As the table above shows, from 2022 to 2023 a growing number of police officers report that they are planning to leave their jobs altogether.  police1.com

Click here to read the report


Union Pushes Back on Winn-Dixie Buyout
UFCW opposes Aldi's plan to buy Winn-Dixie

Union President Marc Perrone said the proposed merger poses a threat to consumers and essential grocery workers and urged federal regulators to review the deal "critically."

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union on Monday released a statement opposing Aldi's plan to acquire Winn-Dixie. UFCW International President Marc Perrone said in the statement that the proposed merger poses a threat to both consumers and essential grocery workers and urged the Federal Trade Commission to review the merger "critically" with the negative impacts on these two groups in mind. grocerydive.com

 
Ace Hardware aims for a total of 170 new stores in 2023

Lowe's to give $100M in bonuses to frontline workers

Away lays off 22, including chief commercial officer

'The Anatomy of a Cyber-Attack'
Comcast Business releases 2023 Comcast Business Security Threat Report

Based on the analysis of over 23.5 billion cybersecurity attacks detected by Comcast Business among their security customers, the 2023 Security Threat Report encompasses customer data across Comcast security solutions.

Comcast Business' exploration of the anatomy of a cyber-attack begins with initial interest and reconnaissance, during which threatening cyber actors start discovering vulnerabilities and other points of access. The next step is most often phishing; Comcast Business reports that nearly 90% of initial access attempts, which totaled almost 2 billion, were made via phishing emails. Other attack vectors included remote access, credential abuse, web or network access, redirects, and parked domain. Most of these phishing emails contained malicious URLs, attachments, and other credential-theft malware.

After a hacker has breached the network, they move quickly. Using malware payloads to scan endpoints and networks for vulnerabilities, establish evasion tactics, and find ways to access networks remotely from their own Command and Control (C&C) centers, they are able to drop in and out of the network whenever they wish. By utilizing backdoor malware to create encrypted reverse SSH-proxy tunnels, they can tunnel in and out of their C&C to download additional malware and even infect other machines.

Depending on the permissions hackers are able to obtain, they can do increasingly serious damage, and backdoor malware is difficult to identify and disable once installed. 14 billion backdoor malware events were identified in the report, as well as 6 billion halted connection attempts by infected machines.

Comcast Business' report further expounds on the widening vulnerability landscape. According to the National Vulnerability Database, 26,448 new application- and infrastructure-related vulnerabilities were added, with 59% of that number classified as "critical". More than 450 million vulnerability exploit attempts across 900 categories were stopped by Comcast in 2022, with pre-packaged exploit kits allowing even those without advanced knowledge to threaten systems.

Comcast Business reported that the end goals of the most common cyber-attacks include exfiltration of data stored on devices and servers, denial of service attacks, service stops, resource hijacking, and holding data hostage. 10 billion of these attack events were stopped by Comcast in 2022. securityinfowatch.com


'Security From the Start'
US CISA Urges Security by Design for AI

Part of Agency's Campaign to Align Design, Development With Security From the Start

The U.S federal government is advocating for artificial intelligence developers to embrace security as a core requirement, warning that machine learning code is particularly difficult and expensive to fix after deployment. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in a Friday blog post urged that AI be secure by design - as part of CISA's ongoing campaign to promote aligning design and development programs with security from the start (see: CISA, Others Unveil Guide for Secure Software Manufacturing).

"Discussions of artificial intelligence often swirl with mysticism regarding how an AI system functions. The reality is far more simple: AI is a type of software system. And like any software system, AI must be secure by design," the agency said.

Security experts across the world have for years been pushing companies to develop software and products with security baked in rather than added as an afterthought. The era of treating security as an externality whose costs are born by consumers should be replaced by new commitment to security, including through a shift in liability to software developers, CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a February speech.

The blog post acknowledged that providing security by design for AI could differ from providing it for other types of software. It contains a list of basic, sector-agnostic security practices that "still apply to AI software." Implementing the guidelines, even if not specific to AI, is especially important because threat actors have exploited AI systems by using known vulnerabilities of non-AI software elements, CISA said.

AI software design, development, deployment and testing; data management; system integration; and vulnerability and incident management should apply "existing community-expected security practices and policies," the agency said. govinfosecurity.com


AI's Impact on Hiring Practices to be Scrutinized
AI Bias Audits Are Coming. Are You Ready?
A core requirement in a recently enacted New York City law governing the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions promises to impact how HR leaders choose, contract with and oversee technology vendors for years to come.

The law, which took effect July 5, requires employers in New York City to conduct an annual third-party AI "bias audit" of technology platforms they use for hiring or promotion decisions and to publish the audit findings on their websites. The audits are designed to ensure AI tools used in such systems don't discriminate on the basis of sex, race and ethnicity.

While the new law covers only one jurisdiction, legal experts and HR technology analysts say it's only a matter of time before other states and jurisdictions enact similar-if not more sweeping-legislation that will include stipulations to conduct AI bias audits. Some attorneys believe, for example, that future laws may require audits for potential age and disability bias, not just the more-narrow gender and race discrimination covered by Local Law 144 in New York City.

The result is HR functions will need to take a proactive role in ensuring both internally developed AI tools and any AI used in vendor systems for employment decisions are regularly audited by qualified third-party auditors for bias. The stakes are high, since HR can ultimately be held responsible if regulators find the AI tools it uses for hiring or promotion decisions are discriminatory-even if those tools are part of technology vendors' platforms. shrm.org


Criminals See Advantages in Digital Currency
Follow the Money: How Digital Currency is Changing Crime
Cryptocurrency users found a preferred advantage in digital assets: they were no longer relying on a centralized financial institution to support transactions. So, if a financial crisis occurs, some have argued that the funds invested in digital assets will retain their value.

Criminals seeking to keep their profits out of regulated institutions have also found advantages to digital currency.

"U.S. law enforcement agencies have detected an increase in the use of virtual assets to pay for online drugs or to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking, fraud, and cybercrime, including ransomware attacks," according to the 2022 National Money Laundering Risk Assessment by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

"It's an alternative way to pay for traditional acts of crime," says Celina Realuyo, lecturer at The George Washington University and expert in counterterrorism and threat finance issues in the Americas. asisonline.org


'Cuba' Ransomware Group Uses Every Trick in the Book
How a Russian cybercrime group using Cuban Revolution references and iconography has emerged as one of the most profitable ransomware operations.

The complex world of CISO responsibilities

Jensen Beach, FL: Four teens arrested after running out of store with thousands in merchandise
Four young women from Broward County were caught on camera making off with stolen goods in Martin County. The Martin County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) said 19-year-old Kevaria Maria Jones, her 17-year-old younger sister and two more 17-year-olds were all arrested after fleeing police and charged with felony retail theft. The group allegedly stole over $3,000 in merchandise from a sporting goods store in Jensen Beach. The girls were caught on the store's surveillance cameras running out the front of the store with what looks like armfuls of clothing. But, an off-duty Port St. Lucie Police Department officer witnessed the grab-and-run theft, called it in and followed the suspects. The Stuart Police Department began pursuing and followed the four girls over a bridge where MCSO deputies were waiting. The sheriff's office said the crew wouldn't stop for authorities. Investigators are looking into if these four girls are responsible for the thousands of dollars of theft in stores across Florida. All of them were booked into a county jail and had mugshots taken.  cbs12.com


Arcadia, CA: Brazen suspects grab expensive perfume sets from Macy's
New videos are showing brazen robberies at several retail establishments in Southern California. In one video, multiple suspects are seen stealing pricey perfume from a store at a mall in Arcadia. Video posted to the Citizen app shows five masked thieves at the Dior counter inside the Macy's at the Shops of Santa Anita Mall on Tuesday. They grab boxed sets of perfumes, throw them into trash bags and run away as onlookers gasp.
Police say they left in a black four-door sedan. Anyone with information is asked to call Arcadia police. In a separate incident, video shows the aftermath of a flash-mob robbery at a store on Melrose Avenue. The video posted to Citizen shows some of the workers from the Foot Locker try to confront the thieves and take the stolen merchandise back as they get into a car and drive away. The LAPD says an armed robbery report was made, but no suspects were caught.  abc7.com


Michigan State Police solve Otsego Co. theft, then quickly solve 6 more cases
On Aug. 14, a trooper from the Michigan State Police Gaylord Post was sent to investigate a breaking-and-entering at a business in Bagley Township. The business reported the loss of nearly $6,000 of equipment and supplies stolen from a trailer on their property. The trooper searched the area and located another business with a camera facing the roadway near the venue. He contacted the asset protection officer and was able review footage and saw a man casing the business next door. State police said the area behind the venue is known for occasionally housing homeless encampments, and the trooper checked the area and located a path through the woods that he said had signs of the theft. The trooper searched the area and said he found a tent with a tarp covering all the stolen property, along with items from five other businesses. The trooper was able to identify the suspect by personal items left at the camp, state police said. The suspect is 19-year-old Gabriel Benjamin Murphy from Prudenville, and he was arrested later that evening by the Gaylord City Police Department. Through the course of the investigation, troopers solved seven B&E's and recovered $16,317 of stolen equipment and merchandise.  9and10news.com


Cicero, NY: Smash and grab burglary at Driver's Village in Cicero, multiple cars stolen
Cicero Police have confirmed a smash and grab style burglary took place at the Driver's Village automall in Cicero. A photo sent to CNY Central of the scene shows a large window pane broken and on the ground. Police said around 3:30 a.m., suspects smashed a window at the Burdick Lexus and Burdick Dodge dealerships. Once inside, the suspects got into a 2023 Lexus RC350 and crashed through the dealership windows, driving away with the vehicle, police said. Similar incidents occurred at the Burdick Dodge Dealership, resulting in the theft of a Dodge Challenger and Jeep Grand Wagoneer, police said. The Lexus and Dodge vehicles were recovered in the City of Syracuse and the investigation is ongoing.  cnycentral.com


Tampa, FL: Real-life Hamburglar breaks into restaurant, steals over $11K of meats