It's 'ALL-TAG Week' on the D&D Daily! Check out today's 'Vendor Spotlight' from ALL-TAG directly beneath the 'Top News' column to learn how Kroger is working to beat organized retail crime with EAS tags.

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Q1 2022 Fatality Incidents by Store Type
C-Stores Most Targeted Store Type Seven Straight Years





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The U.S. Crime Surge
The Retail Impact

Keeping Stores, Associates & Customers Safe Amid the Retail Crime Explosion
Retail Crime on the Rise: Expert Advice on How Retailers Can Protect Stores and Associates
While there are multiple loss prevention technologies available to retailers, from surveillance cameras to RFID and EAS tagging of items, retailers can (and should) supplement these investments with organizational actions.

Retail Crime is a National Issue

One fact that remains certain is that retail theft is happening across the country. Both Gautham Vadakkepatt, Director of the Center for Retail Transformation, and Christian Beckner, Senior Director of Retail Technology and Cybersecurity at NRF, noted that this issue is affecting retailers of all sizes, everywhere. And while retailers already have some tools in place to deal with the damage being caused, there is always more that can be done.

No Individual Precaution is as Strong as a Community's Precautions

No retailer can fight retail crime alone. While larger retailers have access to technology and other resources that can help minimize theft, collaboration is the key to making the most of any crime prevention program. Even the largest companies can expand their options if they reach out to partners both within and outside the retail community, especially law enforcement.

Protect Your Frontline Associates - They Have Enough on Their Plates

Vadakkepatt stressed that safety, rather than crime prevention, should be the top priority when it comes to this kind of training. Learning to de-escalate a situation won't prevent goods from being stolen, but it can keep both associates and customers safe, which can pay off economically as well as in human terms. If associates feel unsafe, it can negatively affect employee hiring and retention.

Messaging, Technology and Dedicated Personnel Work Well Together

Retailers with larger budgets can look into technological loss prevention and theft deterrence solutions. Combining multiple approaches can help reduce the shortcomings of the individual parts to create a more comprehensive whole. "You can think about RFID technologies, or you can think about computer vision-based technologies," said Vadakkepatt. "Many retailers have loss prevention units that deploy technology and labor that is trained to detect and deter people."  retailtouchpoints.com

Another Type of Reform is Driving Retail Crime
'Discovery reform' fueling New York's retail theft problem
Everybody has heard about the disastrous effects of bail reform, and that is part of the answer. When a thief knows that if caught, he will be immediately released, with nothing more than an appearance ticket, what deterrence is there?

But there is another law recently passed in New York that is also wreaking havoc on the criminal justice system and contributing to the retail theft problem. That law, which went into effect in 2020, is referred to as "discovery reform." The law puts a huge burden on law enforcement to provide all sorts of information to defense attorneys before a case can move forward. Much of the information is completely unnecessary in many cases, and often isn't even looked at by defense counsel. Nevertheless, if it isn't provided, the case will be dismissed.

Take the example of a typical shoplifting case where the shoplifter is caught by a store employee, after having exited the store with the stolen property, and the whole thing is on video. Guilt is not really at issue.

However, because of the new "discovery reform" law, the prosecutor, within 35 days of arraignment (20 days if the defendant is in custody) has to provide "all items and information" that relate to the case to defense counsel. This includes police reports and statements, surveillance video, recordings of 911 calls and police radio dispatch, the names and contact information of all witnesses including store employees (yes, the defendant gets your name and contact information if you witness a crime), criminal histories for all witnesses, any information that "tends to" negatively impact the credibility of witnesses including police officers, a list of all objects the defendant or any co-defendant possessed, etc. There are 21 categories of required items. If the information isn't provided, the case can be dismissed.

The whole discovery scheme simply becomes a series of hoops that law enforcement has to jump through in order to convict an obviously guilty individual. This scheme has made the effective prosecution of high volume crimes, like retail theft, extremely difficult, to say the least.

Small police departments simply don't have the personnel or resources to keep up with the discovery demands. Shopkeepers have become frustrated with the process, and many have stopped calling the police at all. Repeat offenders know how the system works, and exploit it. lockportjournal.com

California's Crime & Chaos Crisis
Op-Ed: Republicans should nationalize California crime crisis to defeat Democrats in November

California homicide rate spiked 9.1% and Republicans should highlight Democrats' soft-on-crime policies to win

The future of California looks grim if nothing changes. Just take a walk down city streets or visit any businesses if you don't believe me - our communities are descending into lawlessness. Last year, California's homicide rate jumped 9.1% from the year before, marking the state's deadliest year since 2007.

It wasn't just homicides. According to vulnerable Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta's annual Crime in California report, violent crime, property crime, rape and motor vehicle theft rates were all up in 2021. So, what decreased? The total number of arrests fell by more than 7%.

Sadly, California has become the national poster child for crime and chaos. But Democrat-run cities across the country are reeling from soft-on-crime policies, too. Last year, 12 Democrat-run cities saw record homicides rates. This year, six cities - including Los Angeles - are on pace to exceed the massive levels of violent crime they saw last year.

What, then, is the common thread - between California and nationwide crime? Soft-on-crime policies like defunding the police, downgrading sentences, weakened bail policies, and outright forgoing prosecutions are responsible.

In California, we've started to see voter frustration turn into action against Democrats' failing agenda. Crime is a top issue that voters would like to see the state address. San Francisco's radical District Attorney Chesa Boudin was resoundingly recalled in June after unleashing years of terror by prioritizing the needs of criminals over San Franciscans. While Los Angeles DA George Gascon barely survived facing a similar recall, voters still favored his ousting by 20 points. foxnews.com

57% Decrease in Law Enforcement Deaths - 169 Year-to-Date
13 Deaths in August: 7 Gunfire - 3 Auto - 2 Aircraft - 1 Heart Attack
In August, 13 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty. The cause breakdown (August 2022 only) is: 2 aircraft accidents, 3 automobile crashes, 7 gunfire, and 1 heart attack. This means that the year-to-date total for line of duty deaths is at 169, a 57% decrease from the same time last year.

The Officer Down Memorial Page extends our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and agencies who lost a loved one to a line of duty death this past month. We encourage our supporters to read the memorials of each of the officers who died in the line of duty.  odmp.org

Mass Shooting Fatalities Up 100% in Texas
Texas Mass Shootings Up 62.5 Percent Since Permitless Carry Bill
Just over a year ago, Governor Greg Abbott signed a law making it legal for anyone in Texas over the age of 21 to openly carry a gun in public without a permit or license. Since then, the number of mass shootings has risen 62.5 percent.

From June 13, 2020, to June 13, 2021, when Abbott signed the permitless carry law, Texas had 40 mass shootings. In that same time period from 2021 to 2022, the number of mass shootings rose to 65.

The math is even more damning when taking the number of victims into account. In the one-year period before the bill was signed, 187 people were killed or injured in mass shootings in Texas. In the one-year-after period, it was 375 people killed or injured, a 100 percent increase. Even if the 40 people killed or injured in the Robb Elementary School Massacre are excluded, the increase is 79 percent, an enormous jump in bloodshed.

These numbers do not even take into account shootings of less than four people. Totals for all gun violence tend to lag behind mass shootings as they get less press coverage, and the numbers from last year are still not widely available from sources yet, let alone for 2022 so far. ABC 13 recently stated that since the bill had been passed, shooting deaths in the state were up 5 percent, with injuries being up 3 percent.

Permitless carry isn't without some restrictions. It only applies to handguns, which must be holstered. Those who are prohibited by state and federal law are still banned, and private businesses can still bar guns from their property.

Despite those restrictions, permitless carry has been consistently linked to worse outcomes as the number of untrained armed residents increases.  reformaustin.org

Tracking Troublesome Gun Purchases & Curbing Crime
Gun merchant code approved for card purchases

An international standards body approved a new merchant code that will apply to gun sellers for transactions using credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard.

An international standards organization has approved creating a unique merchant category code (MCC) for gun and ammunition sellers, producing a new means to track their sales made via card payments.

The code became a contentious issue for Visa, Mastercard and other card companies in the wake of active-shooter incidents in recent years that showed guns and ammunition had been purchased with their cards as part of a payments system that didn't track such merchants.

The decision comes days after members of Congress and attorneys general in California and New York, as well as major pension systems in their states, urged Visa, Mastercard and American Express to back the creation of the new code for gun sellers, which they had previously opposed.

Professionals from those U.S. card companies serve on ISO committees. Advocates have said the code could help track troublesome gun purchases.  paymentsdive.com

The Growing Threat of 'Ghost Guns'
2 arrested in California after 'cache of illegal material' to manufacture ghost guns recovered, police say
Two men were arrested and a "substantial cache of illegal material" to manufacture ghost guns was recovered in Southern California on Thursday, police said.

About 200 ghost gun frames, handgun slides, two assault weapons, a rifle, firearms magazines, ammunition and numerous parts and tools for manufacturing ghost guns were recovered as a result of an investigation by the Regional Illegal Firearms Trafficking Team (RIFTT), according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Ghost guns, which are untraceable, self-assembled firearms, are often put together with parts sold online, and in April were the subject of new regulations announced by the Biden administration.

Under new regulations, anyone purchasing a kit must undergo a background check, and those selling kits are required to include a serial number on the components that make up the weapon, so the eventual firearm can be traced. cnn.com

How experts are solving violent crime mysteries after decades of no answers

NY Times Opinion: What Mass Shooters Often Have in Common

 

The Facial Recognition Debate Rages Across the Pond
Met police must ditch 'highly invasive' facial recognition tech, BLM demands

Human rights groups, including Black Lives Matter UK, are demanding the new Metropolitan Police chief end his force's use of facial recognition technology.

In a letter to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, sent on his first day on the job today, several major organisations have called on him to ditch the tech, which they claim has an 87 per cent failure rate.

The force began trialling the use of live facial recognition technology in the capital in 2016, before rolling out the software more widely earlier this year. The tech is usually deployed in crowded areas and has been used to scan hundreds of thousands of faces at protests, sporting events and even concerts.

It works by scanning the faces of everyone in range and comparing them in real time with a database of people on a watch list. Signatories of the letter, which also include Liberty and Big Brother Watch, said the tech wrongly matched individuals on the police's watch list in almost nine in 10 cases.

The campaigners also repeated concerns that the tech is being deployed in areas with a higher proportion of people from ethnic minorities and is even less accurate for women.

Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo, whose organisation has carried out observations of recognition tech deployments, said: "Millions of Londoners' faces have been scanned by facial recognition cameras without their consent and without many parliamentarians' awareness.

Liberty director Martha Spurrier warned the Met's use of the tech was violating people's rights and threatening their freedoms. Police use of live facial recognition technology has been subject to legal actions, with the Court of Appeal ruling in 2020 that South Wales Police's use of the tech was unlawful and violated peoples' human rights. morningstaronline.co.uk

RILA Demands Federal Intervention Over Possible Crippling Rail Strike
Deadline to avoid a national rail strike which could cost economy $2B/day is near

The Association of American Railroads has released a report projecting the economic impact of a nationwide railroad strike could be more than $2 billion a day.

If a strike happens, the report from the AAR's policy and economics team - which uses historical data from the Federal Railroad Administration - states that the 140,000-mile network of rails across 49 states and 7,000 Class I trains would be idled, and the impact would cripple both the movement of trade and commuters.

There are not enough trucks or truck drivers to move the rail bound containers, according to the report, with an additional 467,000 long-haul trucks per day needed to handle the freight.

Several major industries including the Fertilizer Institute and Retail Industry Leaders Association have sent letters to Congress urging intervention.

RILA members, which account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual retail sales, wrote, "Failure to reach a reasonable agreement could result in significant disruptions to the rail network, the retail industry, and ultimately the American consumer." cnbc.com

Workplace Safety is Driving the Union Effort
It's not just money. Unions are fighting for better safety & work conditions
It's not just about the money. There has been a surge in union activism - including strikes and organizing efforts - in the last year that is being driven by factors far beyond pay rates and benefits packages.

The complaints about working conditions, safety, and quality of life issues aren't just prompting strikes. They're also driving a surge in organizing efforts.

The successful unionization effort at an Amazon distribution center in Staten Island, New York, started with concerns over worker safety in the early days of the pandemic. It was the first successful union vote at an Amazon facility.

Worker safety protocols and the desire to have a voice in the way stores are run are major reasons why baristas at more than 200 Starbucks nationwide have voted to join a union in the last nine months. These noneconomic issues might seem unique to today, but they were behind the very foundation of the US labor movement a century ago.

Some economists attribute the so-called "Great Resignation" that saw a record number workers quit their jobs starting in 2021, to employees' greater focus on quality-of-life issues. And they say the pandemic brought these issues to light for many workers. cnn.com

Store Closures Across the Pond Following Queen's Death
Retailers close stores and scale back operations, UK economy is grinding to a halt as the country mourns the Queen
In response to the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96 on Thursday, many British businesses have scaled back their operations out of respect.  These measures, however, could make life harder for a British economy that isn't exactly in a position to take days off. While a few days of business closures may not tip the UK into a recession, it won't help matters.

Clothing retailer French Connection closed all its stores on Friday, while luxury brands Burberry and Raf Simons have canceled their London fashion week shows that were set to take place next week, according to multiple reports.

Further alterations could come in the mourning period leading up to the funeral on Monday, September 19, which could see another uptick in business closures. businessinsider.com

These Beloved Century-Old Stores Are Closing for Good, Starting Sept. 14

Anyone who thinks we're not in a recession is 'crazy,' says RH CEO

Bloomingdale's debuts virtual store during New York Fashion Week


Last week's #1 article --

Fortune Best Workplaces in Retail 2022
Wegmans, Target, Sheetz make Fortune's 2022 Best Workplaces in Retail list
As grocers and convenience stores vie for a share of the limited talent pool, many look to differentiate themselves from the competition by offering a more enticing work environment with higher wages, better benefits and enhanced training programs.

Wegmans, Target, Sheetz were ranked the top three (in that order), with Altar'd State, Publix Super Markets, Nugget Market, CarMax, CustomInk, LLC, Burlington Stores, and DriveTime rounding out the top 10 (in that order).

Click here to see the full list

The Feds Using $10M Rewards to Catch Cybercriminals
Bounty program for cybercriminal tips has 'born fruit,' top FBI official says
The State Department's program offering rewards of up to $10 million for tips leading to the apprehension of cybercriminals is paying off, FBI Assistant Director for Cyber Bryan Vorndran said Wednesday.

"Recently the US government has also started to leverage something that was traditionally used in counterterrorism, Rewards for Justice," Vorndran said. "It's essentially incentivizing individuals who have intimate knowledge of a criminal conspiracy, whether nation-state or not, to report to the U.S. government. ... That has actually born fruit at this point."

FBI's cyber division began participating in Rewards for Justice in August 2020. On the program website, State lists six Russian intelligence operatives who officials have blamed for the responsible for the infamous 2017 NotPetya attack and several members of the Conti ransomware gang. Anyone can submit tips through secure channels such as Signal, Telegram or via Tor.

Last month, Conti landed on the RFJ site for the first time. As of January, there have been more than 1,000 reported victims of Conti-linked attacks who have paid more than $150 million in ransoms, according to the FBI.

Rewards for Justice can have a paralyzing effect on cybercrime gangs even if no one is arrested, said Brett Callow, a threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. Including Conti on the RFJ index is "going to create fear and paranoia and make it much harder for them to collaborate," he said.

Another threat analyst, Allan Liska of Recorded Future, said he wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that Conti members have been nabbed thanks to RFJ. "$10 million is a lot of money and Conti is really unpopular," Liska said by text message.

The FBI and State are seeking information on Conti associates known as "Tramp," "Dandis," "Professor," "Reshaev" and "Target." A previous reward offer, announced May 6, promised $10 million for information leading to the identification and/or location of people who held "a key leadership position" in Conti. cyberscoop.com

Could More Cyber Transparency Solve the Ransomware Problem?
The ransomware problem won't get better until we change one thing

Targets of ransomware rarely publicly acknowledge attacks. More openness would help everyone.

Ransomware is the most significant cybersecurity issues facing us today, as cyber criminals hack into businesses, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure and more in order to encrypt files and demand a ransom payment for the decryption key.

Many of ransomware incidents are simply kept under wraps, so it's hard to get a good picture of what's really happening in the world. Even when companies do admit to a cyber attack they are very often vague about what has happened, and seem most reluctant to describe any incident as a ransomware attack.

And the lack of transparency about ransomware attacks and other cyber incidents is damaging to everyone.

The common thread among these cybersecurity leaders choosing to speak up about the organisations being hit by ransomware is that they want to help prevent others from becoming the next victim by detailing the lessons they learned around bolstering cyber defences to prevent future incidents.

Lessons like applying security patches on time, providing users across the network with multi-factor authentication (MFA) plus regularly updating backups, moves that can help stop ransomware attacks in their tracks. And the best time to take action is before the attack takes place.

By detailing what has happened and how the incident is resolved, they can actually generate positive feedback and show that the ransomware gangs do not always have to be feared. And it just might prevent others from suffering the same fate. In the fight against ransomware, it's going to be better for everyone if there's more transparency around attacks. zdnet.com

Leaking User Data to Third Parties
Most websites share your in-site search queries with third parties
Researchers with NortonLifeLock tested 512,701 of the top 1 million sites that had internal site search, and discovered that on 81.3% of them, search terms are not kept "private". And, what's more, most of those sites' privacy policies will not explicitly say that these search terms will be shared with (i.e., leaked to) third parties.

The research

In each instance, they analyzed the URL, the Referer Request Header, and the payload, and found that 81.3% of these websites were leaking search terms to third parties either via the URL (71%), the Referer Header (75.8%), the payload (21.2%), or via more than one vector. Then they crawled for privacy policies on those websites, collected and analyzed them, and found that only 13% of privacy policies mentioned the handling of user search terms explicitly, and 75% of them mentioning the sharing of "user information" with third parties using generic wording.

Possible mitigations

Some browsers have a default Referrer-Policy that prevents referrer-based leakage, and some implement tracking protection tools to flag sites that try to downgrade it and prevent the action, they noted. The researchers said that they developed a browser extension that warns users when a site leaks search terms to third parties, leaving to them the decision of whether to continue or not, but have yet to share a link to it. helpnetsecurity.com

The Power of Deepfakes
Cybersecurity expert: Even if you debunk it, people believe the deepfake

Deepfake technology has become increasingly accessible and advanced

"Imagine in our military that you have a military leader, that it looks so convincing. They say, "Hey, look, we're going to go blow up X." And now people believe that. And the problem is, even if you prove it's not true later, there will still be a percentage of people ... You will still have a certain percentage of people that even if you debunk it and disprove it, they'll believe the deepfake.   foxnews.com

Patreon security team layoffs cause backlash in creator community
Patreon laid off its security team this week, according to several former employees, sparking cybersecurity concerns among users who are increasingly threatening to leave the platform.

Ransomware gangs switching to new intermittent encryption tactic

Holiday Inn bookings tank after suspected ransomware attack: franchisees

Newark, NJ: DOJ: Former Employee of Telecommunications Company Charged for Large-Scale Mobile Phone Unlocking Scheme
A former telecommunications company employee was charged for his role in a scheme to fraudulently unlock the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards of thousands of mobile phones, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today. Richard Forrest Sherman, 43, of previously of Salem, Oregon, and now Boerne, Texas, is charged by complaint with wire fraud conspiracy in Newark federal court. He was arrested today in Texas, had his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad in federal court in the Western District of Texas, and was released on $30,000 unsecured bond.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Sherman worked at a multinational telecommunications company. While there, he managed an account for a customer that received an exemption to unlock the SIM cards of mobile devices. Sherman exploited this exemption by creating a series of customer accounts within the carrier's system to make the accounts look like an affiliate company of the customer that actually received the exemption. Sherman and others then submitted bulk unlocking requests through these fake affiliate accounts that Sherman set up before leaving the telecommunications company.

Sherman, through his entities, received payment from others in exchange for causing the fake affiliate accounts to successfully send International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers in bulk to the carrier. The carrier, believing that the fake affiliate company was entitled to the unlocking exception, unlocked these IMEIs in bulk. Unlocking these IMEIs permitted others involved in the scheme to resell the phones for profit - the phones would have otherwise remained locked or required payment of a fee to be unlocked. Sherman set up the fake affiliate accounts in or around 2013; he and his conspirators exploited the fraud scheme until it was discovered in August 2020. The wire fraud conspiracy count is punishable by a maximum of 20 years and a fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain to the defendant or loss to the victims, whichever is greatest. U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Secret Service's Seattle Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert Canestrari, with the investigation leading to the charge. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie L. Hoxie of the Cybercrime Unit in Newark. The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.  justice.gov

Wichita, KS: Police arrest 3 after Beauty store theft, find drugs and gambling machines
Wichita police have arrested three men suspected of stealing over $1,000 worth of products from a beauty store on Thursday. Just after 6 p.m. officers responded to reports of three men stealing from a beauty supply store before escaping in a gold SUV. The SUV was found in the 1600 block of S. Ida where authorities observed men who matched the thieves' descriptions leaving the vehicle. They walked to a smoke shop on E. Harry where police were able to arrest them. Dominique Mackabee a 30-year-old, 29-year-old Medwin Vializ-Alvarez and Jarrod Forman, who is 20, were all taken into custody and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on charges of theft and additional drug charges for one of them who had drugs on him. During the arrest officers noticed four illegal gambling machines in the smoke shop and seized them along with evidence associated with them. It is not yet known if the owner of the smoke shop will face any charges. kake.com

Derry Township, PA: Woman assaulted while thwarting thieves in Hershey; Cops and store 'didn't even call to see if I was OK'
Police have identified at least one suspect in a Hershey retail theft that turned violent as a shopper photographed the thieves' license plate while they tried to get away. It happened Aug. 20 at the Old Navy Outlet store in the Tanger Outlets Hershey. One key piece of evidence - the photo of the Maryland license plate on the back of an Infiniti driven by the suspected thieves - helped the investigation, alongside video evidence from inside the store and other witness accounts. That photo, in turn, came from Sheri Engelhardt of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who had driven with a friend to Hershey for a Rod Stewart concert that night. Having arrived hours before the show, they went to the outlet mall. "We were going into Old Navy," Engelhardt said. "As we were entering the store, two women were exiting, and there were a couple of employees by the door screaming, 'They got the clothes! They got the bags!'" - thousands of dollars in merchandise, Engelhardt later learned. Engelhardt said she approached an employee who appeared to be a manager. "I'm like, 'Do you want me to try to go get a plate number?'" Engelhardt recounted. "And she's like, 'Yeah, can you do that?'" So she did that - followed the women as surreptitiously as she could and snapped a photo, using her phone, from behind after they got into the car.

But "I guess in the rearview mirror, they saw me getting the picture of that plate," Engelhardt said. "So the girl came out of the car, and she attacked me. She ripped my chain off my neck. She ripped my bracelet off. She grabbed my phone. She was punching. We were fighting. After staying to turn over the photo and provide other information to investigators, "I never heard anything back from the police," Engelhardt said. "And you know what? Nobody from Old Navy called me." "Somebody goes out of their way to do the right thing - you know, to help you out. I mean, they didn't even call to see if I was OK," Engelhardt said. "I risked my life because you got robbed, and no one has the decency to see if I'm OK or how I was doing." abc27.com

Houston, TX: Houston armed suspects wanted in eye care store robbery
The Houston Police Department's Robbery Division needs the public's assistance identifying the suspects responsible for an aggravated robbery. An unknown man entered a eye care store at around 2:10 p.m. Sept. 2 in the 5800 block of San Felipe asking about sunglasses. While showing the sunglasses, the man pulled out a handgun to an employee and demanded the money from the cash register. According to the Houston Police, as the suspect was escorting the employee to the cash register, two more men, both armed with handguns, walked into the business. The suspects then forced the employees to the ground while they removed the money from the cash drawers along with designer glasses, placing everything in a black trash bag. The suspects then ran out of the back door emergency exit, got into a black four-door Lexus, and fled the scene. kwtx.com

Abilene, TX: Jewelry heist: $24,000 in jewels stolen from Mall of Abilene, 6 arrested
About $24,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from multiple jewelers around Abilene, ending with six arrests at the Mall of Abilene Thursday. According to a press release from the Taylor County Sheriff's Office (TCSO), a group was reported to have been 'casing' at least five jewelry stores in town. The group eventually decided to do the grab-&-go style of robbery at a Mall of Abilene jewelry store. Assisting agents chased the group of thieves on foot. After the chase, six people and two vehicles were taken to the TCSO. TCSO said these agencies assisted in the arrest: TCSO's Narcotics and Warrant Divisions, Department of Public Safety (DPS) Criminal Investigation Division, Abilene Police Department (APD) Narcotics Division, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The FBI was also leading an operation which targeted a group of people robbing jewelry stores across multiple states, as according to the release. The jewelry stolen from the store in the mall was valued at around $24,000. The merchandise was recovered. bigcountryhomepage.com

St Louis County, MO: Man charged with theft of $12K in Pokemon cards from Crestwood store
An Oklahoma man is facing three felony charges after police say he burglarized a Crestwood game store and stole thousands of dollars worth of Pokemon cards and merchandise. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has charged Nicholas Garrison, 24, of Tulsa, with three second-degree burglary, stealing $750 or more and first-degree property damage. According to the Crestwood Police Department, the burglary happened on Oct. 10, 2021, at Yeti Gaming on 8924 Watson Rd. Window display cases were shattered, causing $2000 in damage, and about $12,000 in Pokémon cards and merchandise was stolen. ksdk.com

Alameda, CA: APD Clears Ten Organized Kohl's Retail Department Theft Cases
Between May 2022 and August 2022, the Kohl's Department Store at the South Shore Shopping Center experienced a series of thefts totaling over $20,000. As investigators looked into each incident, they discovered the individual used stolen vehicles during the commission of some of the crimes. After a lengthy investigation, officers identified a thirty-eight-year-old man in connection with ten incidents and sought an arrest warrant. The man was taken into custody for vehicle theft and multiple warrants. The arrest comes weeks after APD arrested a man for a string of retail thefts at a Target store. Between April and August 2022, a Target store in Alameda experienced a series of grand thefts totaling over $20,000 in stolen merchandise. All of the incidents had a similar suspect and Modus Operandi. In May, one of these incidents was investigated during APD's tweet-along. After working with several Bay Area law enforcement agencies, Target's Loss Prevention Officers, and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, a 47-year-old Berkeley man was identified. The man is different from the one arrested in the Kohl's store thefts. alamedasun.com

San Francisco, CA: 3 arrested after stealing over 30 Hennessy bottles in South San Francisco