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'Retail Crime Uncovered' Podcast Presented by Sekura Global

The fascinating podcast hosted by Emmeline Taylor, Professor of Criminology supported by Sekura Global. Retail theft insights from leading crime and loss experts, shop staff and policing bodies. Hard-hitting interviews with ex-offenders and retail criminals.

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America's Shoplifting Epidemic Is Becoming Increasingly Deadly
CVS store manager killed by shoplifter as epidemic grows increasingly deadly
A CVS store manager was killed on the job by a man suspected of shoplifting, police say - the latest example of a US retail theft epidemic that is becoming increasingly deadly.

Michael Jacobs, 49 - an operations manager at CVS Pharmacy in Mesa, Ariz., where he had worked for the past 20-plus years - was shot and killed allegedly by Jared Sevey in the evening hours of Sept. 7, according to KKTV 11 News.

Sevey, 39, was reportedly inside the Arizona CVS location earlier that day, arguing with Jacobs about shoplifting, KKTV reported. After the conflict, Sevey went home to get a gun.

Sevey admitted to police that he shot Jacobs because he was "tired of being bullied," and "this was the last straw," according to the news outlet.

Stories of seemingly consequence-free shoplifting are everywhere: There's an epidemic of drugstore thefts in New York, and a "landmark" grocery store in Baltimore shut its doors after nearly 25 years after a community desperate for fresh food resorted to simply stealing it.

Experts have blamed the surge on lax policies - including the passage of Prop 47 in California, which reduced theft from a potential felony to a misdemeanor - as well as calls to defund the police in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, which resulted in a mass exodus of cops nationwide.

In New York City, dubbed a "shoplifter's paradise" by some fed-up local politicians, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has faced blowback over his not requesting bail for some repeat shoplifting suspects. Bragg also has refused to bust thieves unless they pilfer items exceeding $1,000 in value, which is when theft becomes a felony.

With no nationwide policy on how to deal with shoplifting, many employers have encouraged staffers to do nothing at all in an effort to keep them out of harm's way.

The shoplifting epidemic cost retailers nearly $100 billion in 2021, and the number of shoplifting complaints surged to more than 63,000 last year - a 45% jump over the roughly 45,000 reported in 2021 and a nearly 275% jump compared to the mid-2000s, police statistics show. nypost.com


How Lowe's is Beating the Theft Crisis
Lowe's CEO says the solution to rising theft is clear: hire & train more workers

CEO Marvin Ellison attributed low theft rates to investing in the company's workers.

Unlike dozens of other retail executives, Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison says the losses from retail theft this year are not expected to have a material impact on the company's profits.

"It is one of the areas of the business that we're most pleased with as a major big box retailer," Ellison said during a retail conference this week.

"It's not by accident," Ellison said, highlighting technology investments and his stores' more rural and suburban locations as factors that help reduce shoplifting and organized retail crime.

More than the cameras, sensors, and secure merchandising displays, Ellison said investing in human capital provides the most bang for retailers' buck in keeping crime out of stores.

"Having spent my entire adult life in retail at every level, the one thing that I understand clearly is that the greatest deterrent for any type of theft activity is effective customer service," he said.

In other words, having more employees engaging with customers in stores goes a long way toward preventing losses, a point made in recent weeks by leaders at Tractor Supply Co. and Best Buy.

Lowe's spends "a lot of time" training employees, Ellison said this week, and he described the company's asset protection team as "best-in-class in retail." Strong local partnerships with law enforcement also factor into the equation.

"So when you take all of those things together, they've been incredibly beneficial to us even in the second quarter," he continued. "It's a difficult environment - I've never seen anything like it - and we're incredibly pleased that we're able to have a differentiated performance relative to the other major retailers." businessinsider.com


Another Major City Seeing 'Worse Than Ever' ORC
Organized crime permeates metro Denver's retail theft surge

The Colorado Retail Council says the main issue plaguing large retailers is not petty shoplifting - but organized retail theft

Almost a year ago, the Aurora City Council approved an ordinance requiring minimum jail sentences of three days for people convicted of stealing $300 or more worth of retail goods, believing stricter penalties would deter would-be thieves.

A year later, retail theft still plagues Aurora and the Denver metro area's retail businesses.

Is stricter punishment a deterrent?

While some may view the 215-call increase in Aurora from last year as implying that the city's new mandatory jail ordinance is not helping to deter retail theft, Aurora's interim police chief, Art Acevedo, said the rise in calls may actually be a sign that efforts to deter theft are working. "I really believe that, finally, retail is just saying enough is enough," Acevedo said.

The consequence of little to no consequence

To Acevedo, the rise in retail theft in Aurora and across the country has a lot to do with the minimal consequences of the crime. In too many places, he said, little to no consequence exists for stealing merchandise, which means people are more likely to engage in criminal enterprises since the economic gains outweigh the very little risk of being caught or incarcerated.

'Sophisticated, structured'

When it comes to organized retail theft, Weekly said the sheriff's office most often sees suspects take stolen products and resell them online, on sites like eBay or Craigslist.

"It's pretty sophisticated. It's pretty structured," he said, adding that, just like with other forms of organized crime, groups have workers who steal the product, then pass it up the chain of command, which sells if for a higher profit and gives lower-level members a cut.

What needs to change?  denvergazette.com


Dollar General Under OSHA Investigation after Racist Mass Shooting Attack
Investigation to decide if New Town Dollar General violated workplace safety rules

According to the agency's website, it's a fatality and catastrophe inspection opened the same day as the racist mass shooting.

A federal investigation into the mass shooting at the New Town Dollar General in Jacksonville is underway by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to the agency's website, it's a fatality and catastrophe inspection opened the same day as the murders.

One of the victims in the shooting - 19-year-old AJ Laguerre Jr. -- worked at the store. Jerrald Gallion was a customer and Angela Carr was waiting in the parking lot for an Uber passenger.

Jacksonville Labor and Employment Attorney James Poindexter said an inspection is triggered any time a death happens in the workplace, but a "complete probe" is more in-depth.

"There's not a specific regulation to these types of retail establishments," Poindexter said, "but there still is a general duty clause in OSHA that requires all employers to keep the workplace safe from recognized hazards."

Surveillance video released by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office shows the shooter entering the store. To his left, a pallet is stacked with bottles of Gatorade, waiting to be unloaded. Additional footage shows officers moving around items that blocked their path, even having to re-adjust their weapons to get past carts full of inventory.

Since 2017, OSHA has fined Dollar General $21 million for violations. Poindexter said the consequences for serious violations can be hefty. "That fine can go up to $126,000 as well as a notice that they have to change conditions in the workplace," Poindexter said.

In a statement, Dollaer General said:

"Since the hate-motivated violence that took place in our Kings Road store on August 26, our focus has remained on supporting and caring for our employees, the families of the victims and the Jacksonville community. We do not believe there is any connection between store conditions and the tragic events of August 26. We are cooperating with OSHA in what we understand to be its standard investigation protocol following such an event."  firstcoastnews.com

   RELATED: Jacksonville Jaguars honor victims of store shooting at home opener


'Threat to Public Safety': Illinois' No Cash Bail Law Takes Effect TODAY
Courts will be ready when Illinois ends cash bail Monday, Chicago-area officials say

"Things aren't going to be too different for us," said Cook County Judge Mary Marubio. "It's just that money will no longer be a condition of release."

Court officials across the Chicago area say they'll be ready when Illinois becomes the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail on Monday, but that doesn't mean some are any less concerned about a law they once decried as a threat to public safety.

"We're going to try to make it work," said McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally, a vocal critic of the state's bail reform. "I think there is going to be a significant cost to this in terms of harm and misery caused."

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, a staunch supporter, acknowledges people will be quick to blame the law when someone commits a violent crime after being released under the new system.

"Something will happen, we all know that, because we don't have a crystal ball," Foxx said recently. "We are dealing with humans, and humans have a tendency to do human things, like mess up ... It will not tell the true story of the literally 90% of those who go out and nothing happens."

Supporters note cash bail was no guarantee that someone wouldn't commit another crime. And with the new law, prosecutors will actually have more leeway to detain people before trial if they are found to be a risk to the public.

Most importantly, they say, people awaiting trial will no longer be held in jail - away from their families and jobs - simply because they cannot afford bail. The key will be how prosecutors and other court officials use the discretion allowed them under the law. chicago.suntimes.com


500+ Mass Shootings So Far This Year
U.S. surpasses 500 mass shootings in 2023
Driving the news: A shooting that wounded four people in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday night marked the country's 500th mass shooting in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Hours later, that increased to 501 mass shootings after one person died and five others were wounded in El Paso, Texas, early Sunday.

By the numbers: Just five years ago, the country had never experienced 500 mass shootings in one year:

• 2018: 335 mass shootings
• 2019: 414 mass shootings
• 2020: 610 mass shootings
• 2021: 689 mass shootings
• 2022: 645 mass shootings

Flashback: The 500 mass shootings threshold was crossed in September in the past two years, according to the archive. In 2020, it occurred in October.

With increasing personal experiences, more Americans view gun violence as a public health concern. One in six Americans have personally witnessed someone being shot, according to survey data from earlier this year.  axios.com

 
State funds to fight retail theft start getting doled out
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is one of the agencies putting to use its share of the $267 million in state funds allocated to fight increasingly common smash-and-grab robberies.

Montclair sees more burglaries after Oakland misses out on millions to stop retail theft

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao talks retail theft crackdown funding, police chief search

Increasing Expertise on Corporate Boards of Directors
CISA advisory committee urges action on cyber alerts and corporate boards

The advisory committee delivered a lengthy list of recommendations to CISA Director Jen Easterly on Wednesday.

An advisory committee to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency delivered a long list of recommendations on Wednesday that encourage the agency to take measures to increase the cybersecurity expertise on corporate boards of directors, develop a national cybersecurity alert mechanism and better protect high-risk communities from surveillance.

These policy measures were just a few of more than 100 recommendations made to CISA Director Jen Easterly, who called the findings "transformative."

The recommendations of CISA's Cybersecurity Advisory Committee will need to be made into policy by Easterly, but in the past she has mostly embraced the recommendations of the committee, which is made up of former top ranking officials, executives and lawmakers, such as former National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, former Rep. Jim Langevin and Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning, who chairs the panel.

Wednesday's report includes recommendations from six subcommittees that cover corporate cyber responsibility, cyber hygiene, the creation of a national cybersecurity alert system, reducing systemic risk to critical infrastructure, protecting high-risk communities and the cybersecurity workforce.

The subcommittee on corporate cyber responsibility recommended that corporate board members be educated and trained on cybersecurity issues, especially with new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission coming into effect requiring publicly traded companies to report significant breaches of their computer systems and data. The subcommittee also encouraged CISA to explore performance goals to measure what would amount to a "cyber responsible" board. cyberscoop.com


'Excessive or Misguided Trust' is a Cybersecurity Risk
How to Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks From Misguided Trust

Trust is the crucial bridge between security and people, but excessive or misguided trust can pose serious security risks.

Kroll's "2023 State of Cyber Defense" report includes some noteworthy findings about today's cybersecurity landscape. First, despite experiencing an average of five significant security incidents last year, only 37% of senior security executives have "complete" faith in their organization's ability to shield against all forms of cyber threats. Second, security teams rely on multiple cybersecurity tools to curtail the frequency of breaches and attacks. However, Kroll's research showed that more security installations translated to a higher number of cybersecurity incidents. Third, and most striking, organizations tend to place more trust in their employees than in their security teams when it comes to detecting, countering, and repelling cyberattacks.

How Organizations Can Mitigate the Risk of Misguided Trust

1. Don't Assume Employees Understand Security; Train Them

To effectively combat cyber threats, it is crucial not to assume that employees understand security.

2. Build a Security Strategy Around Metrics and Goals

To build an effective cybersecurity strategy, set clear metrics and goals that align with your organization's security objectives.

3. Avoid Taking Cybersecurity for Granted

To effectively manage the evolving threat landscape, organizations must prioritize cybersecurity and establish clear, transparent, repeatable, and measurable processes, procedures, and policies.

4. Invest in a Holistic Strategy

When investing in security solutions, it's important to have a holistic security strategy that considers the triad of people, process, and technology. Simply relying on security tools is not enough, as threats are constantly evolving and can target vulnerable systems, devices, and code or even exploit gaps in security defenses. darkreading.com


More Fallout From MGM Resorts and Caesars Breach
Okta Agent Involved in MGM Resorts Breach, Attackers Claim

ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware operators have used their leak site to "set the record straight" about the MGM Resorts cyberattack. Meanwhile, more attacks abusing Okta could be likely.

The threat actors believed to be behind last week's MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment cyberattacks now say they were able breach MGM's systems by somehow cracking into the company's Okta platform, specifically the Okta Agent, which is the lightweight client that connects to an organization's Active Directory.

Okta is a popular identity and access management (IAM) provider for the cloud.

"MGM made the hasty decision to shut down each and every one of their Okta Sync servers after learning that we had been lurking in their Okta Agent servers sniffing passwords of people whose passwords couldn't be cracked from their domain controller hash dumps," ALPHV wrote on its leak site, in a statement that Emsisoft researcher Brett Callow tweeted out. "This resulted in their Okta being completely out." darkreading.com


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