Workplace Violence & Active Shooter Training

RLPSA Partners with TPOP to Offer Workplace Violence and Active Shooter Preparedness Training to its Members

The Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association (RLPSA) has announced the formation of a partnership with The Power of Preparedness (TPOP) to offer online workplace violence and active shooter preparedness training to its members. Through its state-of-the-art platform, TPOP presents internationally renowned security experts with decades of experience with the latest threat analysis to produce essential training for every learner.

RLPSA's partnership with TPOP enables RLPSA members to take advantage of special pricing offered by TPOP for its restaurant-specific online training course. Topics include:

● Recognizing Workplace Violence
● Early Warning Signs
● Situational Awareness
● Recognizing Gunfire
● Verbal De-Escalation
● Surviving Active Shooter Event with Run, Hide, Fight Scenarios
● Response to Injury: Saving Lives Before EMS Arrives

"RLPSA is committed to creating partnerships that benefit our restaurant community," said RLPSA Executive Director Amber Bradley. "TPOP's training and expertise has already proven valuable to our members and we look forward to a continued relationship that helps our community keep their employees and customers safe."

Read more here
 

The U.S. Crime Surge
The Retail Impact

Backlash Against Walgreens for Retail Theft Claims
The company who cried retail theft? Walgreens store closures cause uproar in San Francisco
Drugstore chain Walgreens said it would be closing an additional five stores in the city, bringing the number of shuttered locations to 22 in the past five years, according to San Francisco Chronicle. The company has cited "organized retail crime" for the closings.

Instead of cries for a crackdown on crime, the news has been met with intense skepticism.

The Chronicle published a story that, citing data from the city's Police Department, pointed out how one store set to close "had only seven reported shoplifting incidents this year and a total of 23 since 2018." While it is important to note that not all incidents are reported to police, the five stores being shut down "had fewer than two recorded shoplifting incidents a month on average since 2018."

Some have also pointed out the company's prior plans to reduce its stores. In an August 2019 SEC filing, Walgreens stated that it planned to close approximately 200 following "a review of the real estate footprint in the United States."

San Francisco's own leaders have openly questioned the company's claims.

"They are saying [retail theft is] the primary reason, but I also think when a place is not generating revenue, and when they're saturated - S.F. has a lot of Walgreens locations all over the city - so I do think that there are other factors that come into play," Mayor London Breed said last week.

Supervisor Dean Preston posted on Twitter a thread calling out news outlets for accepting the company's justification for the downsizing.

Walgreens didn't respond to the Chronicle article when asked for a comment on the paper's claims. Instead, the company said in a statement: "Organized retail crime continues to be a challenge facing retailers across San Francisco, and we are not immune to that. Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average. During this time to help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average in an effort to provide a safe environment."  latimes.com

SF's ORC Closures - Cop Shortage - Crime Surge
San Francisco: A City In Denial About Crime and Police

Removal of over 100 police officers, denial of stores leaving city over crime during weekend add to recent history of SF shying away crime issue

During the weekend, the San Francisco Police Association said that 120 officers would be placed on administrative leave due to not wanting the COVID-19 vaccine. As they have no immediate replacements, and with the SFPD currently sitting at around 1,900 officers, the city essentially lost roughly 6% of their officers overnight. And this is amid a huge staffing shortage where experts say that the current amount of active officers should be close to 2,200.

Also during the weekend, San Francisco Mayor London Breed responded to the recent retail closures in the city by saying that they were not closing due to crime. However, as the Globe pointed out, Walgreens had specifically noted they were and that unreported thefts due to numerous state and city laws discouraging reporting of thefts over $950 had severely lowered how many were officially reported.

Even with numerous more laws in place, crime is still rising in the city. As many citizens and retail groups have noted, the actions of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, namely his refusal to prosecute most criminals in the city and a rise in prosecutions against police officers, have made many in the city terrified of rising crime.

SF crime continues to rise with many smaller crimes not being reported

Robberies have also become more daring, happening at times and places, and against certain people, where they were unlikely before, including a daring daylight robbery of a Neiman Marcus in July.

"And now with over 100 officers gone, we are being stretched even more. No one seems to want to admit that they are at fault or anything like that. We can arrest a guy, but then maybe they won't prosecute or we release for time served or something."

"The city has to stop saying 'everything is fine,'" added Ma. "Los Angeles, San Diego, even Oakland. When something goes wrong, very wrong, they'll take drastic action. A lot of cities have cracked down on crime and have been actively recruiting more officers."

"The public wants change here. They want less crime. But it is just not happening. The city has done a few things recently to try and stop the massive amount of retail theft, which just the other day the Mayor said is not happening. There are even proposals to pay people not to commit crimes. But there is no punishment, even though that's what the city needs. They're trying everything except the most common sense solution." californiaglobe.com

The ORC Fight Between Big Retail & Big Tech
Organized retail theft is a growing problem in the U.S., costing businesses billions and leading to a fight between Big Tech and Big Retail
Thefts from retailers are soaring, with companies saying they are seeing increasingly brazen, organized thieves hitting their stores regularly.

Allowing for a certain amount of theft is part of the business for retailers. It is built into their financial plans. But the growing costs related to thefts have lately become too big to ignore, large national retailers say.

It's not uncommon for thieves to fill shopping carts with everything from power tools to laundry detergent to health and beauty products and then run out of stores.

Since 2015, losses from theft have shot up nearly 60%, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group and lobbying organization.

When merchandise is stolen, it is often re-sold online on storefronts such as Amazon and a variety of other sites, brick-and-mortar retailers say.

"Amazon - which boasts more than 2.2 million active sellers responsible for more than half of Amazon's total sales - is the largest online marketplace and has had an alarming history of failing to address counterfeits and stolen products ...," according to the Buy Safe America coalition.

Amazon and others accuse retail behemoths of trying to add onerous, unwieldy regulations onto small, entrepreneurial companies that sell goods on online platforms. They add that retailers themselves aren't doing enough to stop thefts from their stores. msn.com

Retailers Abandoning the Magnificent Mile Over Crime Concerns
More Trouble For Area That Was Once A Crown Jewel Of American Retail
Chicago Police have issued a formal warning after continued robberies on and around the city's Magnificent Mile, at a time when stores continue to leave while others fight to stay in business after big pandemic hits.

CBS 2's Tara Molina reports that retail leaders say the problem is so bad, that new business is hesitant to move in. That hesitation stems not only from the continued retail theft and robbery issue here, and across the city, but the perception that the city isn't a safe place to be right now.

A stretch of North Michigan Avenue remains vacant and locked up-telling of the struggle on the city's Mag Mile. Former tenants like Macy's and Disney are gone, and there are no plans for a new tenant for the old Macy's space at the Water Tower Place anytime soon.

"I think it does not help in terms of the recovery for downtown Chicago," said Robb Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. "The impression around the nation is that Chicago is not a very safe place to be. And the incidents we saw this morning, over the weekend, the episodes before that, only feed that."

Karr said the sales tax loss related to these continued crimes hits the city, county, and state of Illinois. With continued robberies in the area, Chicago police have issued a warning about suspects only described as young men, in their teens, robbing items on display.

The State's Attorney's office also noted that in December 2016, State's Attorney Kim Foxx increased the threshold for felony retail theft charges to $1,000, which the office said has allowed the prosecutors to focus on the drivers of violence rather than low-level nonviolent offenses. chicago.cbslocal.com

'Lawless City?'
Worry after Portland police don't stop chaos

A crowd of 100 people wreaked havoc in downtown Portland this week, smashing storefront windows, lighting dumpsters on fire and causing at least $500K in damage

A crowd of 100 people wreaked havoc in downtown Portland, Oregon, this week - smashing storefront windows, lighting dumpsters on fire and causing at least $500,000 in damage - but police officers didn't stop them.

Portland Police Bureau officials say that's because of legislation passed by Oregon lawmakers this year, which restricts the tools they can use to confront people vandalizing buildings and causing mayhem.

"The reason that we did not intervene goes back to what we talked about last month with House Bill 2928 and the restrictions placed on us in a crowd control environment," KOIN reports that Portland Police Lt. Jake Jensen said in a neighborhood meeting Thursday.

Residents frustrated by the latest round of destructive demonstrations Tuesday questioned whether that meant anything goes now in Portland.

"Does that mean we are now like a lawless city?" Linda Witt asked during the meeting with police. Jensen replied saying people can still face consequences later.

The legislation in question is House Bill 2928, which prohibits the use of things like pepper spray and rubber bullets for crowd control. However there is an exception - when the circumstances constitute a riot and if the officer using the chemical incapacitant reasonably believes its use is necessary to stop and prevent more destructive behavior. abcnews.go.com

Chicago police report 21 shootings, 4 murders over weekend

 

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Law Enforcement Pushes Back Against Vaccine Mandates

4,500 Chicago Officers Defy Vaccine Order
More than a third of Chicago police officers defy city vaccine mandate
About 4,500 Chicago police officers didn't report their vaccination status by October 15 as mandated by the city, officials said Monday. That means roughly 35 percent of the city's 12,770 officers could be placed on no-pay status in the foreseeable future.

The Chicago Police Department had the lowest response rate of any department in the city, but of the about 64 percent who did report, the majority of officers say they are vaccinated, according to data released by the city. Specifically, 6,894 indicated being vaccinated while 1,333 reported they have not.

Those who said they are not vaccinated are required to opt into twice weekly testing for Covid-19 until the end of the year to remain in compliance with the city policy.

The city required employees to be either vaccinated or test two times a week by October 15, and then report their status by that same deadline. Those who did not report their status risk being put on unpaid leave.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters Monday afternoon that a "very small number" of officers were not complying after going to police headquarters or their district buildings and being asked in person whether they had entered their information online.

For those who still didn't go to the online portal "a CR is being taken out, they are put into a no-pay status, and then the disciplinary process will proceed from there."

The union -- the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police -- filed a lawsuit Friday in Cook County Circuit Court last week alleging Lightfoot, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, the city and the police department have failed "to comply with the collective bargaining agreement's status quo." cnn.com

Seattle Loses 300 Officers in a Year - Will Vaccine Mandate Make It Worse?
Seattle police staffing woes prompt emergency dispatch plan
Seattle's police department is sending detectives and non-patrol officers to respond to emergency calls because of a shortage of patrol officers.

The department on Wednesday moved to the emergency officer dispatching scenario because of the staffing crunch. The police union leader said he fears things will get worse because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates but the city's mayor urged the small percentage of holdouts to get the shot, noting officers are already required to show proof of other vaccines.

KOMO reports the department has lost more than 300 officers over the past year. Nearly 300 more could face termination if they do not comply with an Oct. 18 deadline to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

"We can't afford to lose one, that's how desperate we are to hold onto to people," said police union president Mike Solan. "If we lose more officers, the public safety situation will become that much more untenable here."

According to figures from the Seattle mayor's office, 782 officers have submitted proof of COVID-19 vaccination, while 98 officers are seeking exemptions and 186 have not turned in paperwork. Officials hope more will submit the required paperwork as the deadline approaches. apnews.com

Baltimore PD Stay Silent on Vax Status
How many Baltimore-area police & firefighters are vaccinated against COVID?
Most don't want to tell you.
Residents in many cities and towns throughout the region hoping to find out the status of the person responding to their 911 calls are out of luck. That's because the vast majority of departments say that if there is no mandate they aren't even asking the vaccination status of their employees, according to a survey of area police and fire departments, and local officials.

Baltimore City and Baltimore County officials say they are collecting that information as their mandates go into effect ― Friday was Baltimore County's deadline, while the city policy covering 14,000 employees begins today.

But only Baltimore Police had a tabulation ready for the public, saying that 64% of their employees are vaccinated, although it did not provide a breakdown between its 2,500 rank-and-file officers and 500 civilian workers. Police spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge said that individual vaccine statuses had been self-reported before the mandate.

On Friday, the head of the Baltimore police union sent a letter to members advising them not to share their vaccine status with the city, and threatened to fight the mandate in court.

As other cities announced vaccine and testing mandates, they also reported resistance among police officers and firefighters to getting the vaccine. In Los Angeles, about a quarter of the police force has said it will seek either religious or medical exemptions, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

The head of Chicago's police union has urged officers not to comply with the city's mandate for employees to be vaccinated by the end of the year. The Chicago Tribune reported that the union planned to fight the mandate, threatening legal action and filing a labor grievance against the city. baltimoresun.com

'Eye-opening moment': City leaders, police departments push back over impending COVID vaccine mandates
 

COVID Update

408.7M Vaccinations Given

US: 45.9M Cases - 746.5K Dead - 35.5M Recovered
Worldwide: 242M Cases - 4.9M Dead - 219.3M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 320   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 478
*Red indicates change in total deaths

A Sign of the Coming Winter Surge?
As Covid cases drop in Georgia and Florida, some states with colder weather
see an increase
Southern states, many of which have been hotspots, are now starting to see a decrease in Covid-19 cases while many states that have started experiencing cold weather -- mostly in the North and Midwest -- are seeing an uptick, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

New cases in Georgia and Florida are down 37% and 25%, respectively, compared to last week, JHU data showed. Both states had among the 10 lowest case rates in the past week. But a handful of states -- in regions where cold weather has set in -- are seeing an increase. This pattern is similar to what happened last year.

Five states saw Covid-19 cases increase more than 10% compared to last week, JHU data shows. Those states include Iowa, Oklahoma, Alaska, Vermont and New Hampshire. Alaska, particularly, had more Covid-19 cases per capita than any other state over the past week, JHU data showed.

Cases are trending in the right direction in the US overall -- the daily average is down 10% over the past week. But the downturn of cases, hospitalizations and deaths could end with another spike, said Dr. Anthony Fauci. cnn.com

Retail & Business Leaders Meet at the White House Over Vaccine Mandate
White House meets Chamber of Commerce, industry groups on vaccine rule
Several influential industry groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce met White House officials on Friday and raised concerns about labor shortages and coronavirus testing requirements as the administration races to implement a plan to require private-sector workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) conducted the meetings virtually, with some scheduled for Monday, among which will be the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers, according to public filings. The industry groups requested the meetings, which are part of the rulemaking process.

The group did express concerns that employers need clear rules on a variety of issues, including COVID-19 testing alternatives to vaccination and confidentiality.

Marc Freedman, vice president of workplace policy for the U.S Chamber, said the group raised concerns about labor shortages and how regulation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could intensify existing supply chain problems facing U.S. companies ahead of the holidays. Other topics such as testing requirements and who will bear the cost were also raised, he said.

Freedman said the Chamber hopes the Biden administration will offer a grace period to employers so they can come into compliance with the new regulation.

Several big employers such as Procter & Gamble and 3M, along with airlines such as American and JetBlue, have imposed mandates since Biden's announcement. Others such as IBM have said they will require all U.S. employees to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8, regardless how often they come into the office. Some other large U.S. employers such as Walmart, have yet to issue broad requirements.

The retail industry, which supports over 50 million U.S. jobs, wants the administration to address questions regarding vaccination verification processes and what actions can be taken when employees refuse vaccinations and testing, according to a letter sent by RILA to the U.S. Labor Department. reuters.com

90% of Businesses Say Vaccine Mandate Will Be a Challenge
Survey: Vaccine-or-Testing Mandate Will Be Difficult to Implement
Nine out of 10 recently surveyed organizations said it will be somewhat or very challenging to implement the Biden administration's expected vaccine-or-testing requirements. These respondents so far have not mandated that their employees get the COVID-19 vaccine, but they do meet the criteria for needing to institute the requirements.

President Joe Biden announced plans on Sept. 9 for a new rule requiring employers with at least 100 employees to mandate that their workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. The president also signed orders stipulating that most federal employees and federal contractors, as well as most health care workers across the country, be vaccinated.

Of organizations that meet the criteria for the Biden administration's vaccine-or-testing requirement, 85 percent said the anticipated requirement will make retaining employees more difficult. Eighty-nine percent said some of their employees will quit due to the new mandate.

Seventy-eight percent of HR respondents said the vaccine-or-testing requirements will make attracting and hiring new employees more difficult, while 82 percent said the requirements will make maintaining morale and engagement more difficult.

Seventy-two percent said the vaccine-or-testing requirements will make maintaining regular business operations more difficult. shrm.org

California Flooded With Vaccine Exemption Requests
Religious exemptions threaten to undermine US Covid vaccine mandates

In California hundreds of public employees, including police and firefighters, are claiming 'sincerely held' objections to the vaccine

California, which currently has the lowest coronavirus case rate in the US, has been issuing a series of sweeping mandates, requiring that healthcare workers, state employees, care workers and schoolteachers staff all get the vaccine. But in each case, Californians are able to ask for personal belief exemptions - and they are doing so in droves.

Epidemiologists are concerned that the loophole will embolden the vaccine-hesitant to evade requirements and undermine the state's progress against the pandemic. And lawyers and legal experts are bracing for a deluge of complaints over the blurry lines that define "sincerely held" objections to the vaccine.

Many parents and even some teachers have raised opposition to the mandates, with walkouts and protests already taking place across the state. In rural northern California and conservative patches of the south, parents picketed against the public health measures on Monday, insisting that they wouldn't "co-parent with the government".

As such requests flood state agencies and school administrations, public health experts and parents have been asking lawmakers to tighten exemption rules, as they did in 2015 when they passed a law eliminating the personal belief exemption for childhood immunizations. theguardian.com

Pandemic Era Workplaces: Combining Department Stores & Offices
Meet Me in My Office, in Men's Underwear on 5

Department stores have failed; co-working spaces have foundered. Does combining the two make sense?

Covid delivered the next and most surreal phase. Now our living rooms actually were our offices - during the day, but also after dinner, anytime, all the time - a transformation that has left offices both everywhere and no where.

This is the conceit - oddly or efficiently enough - of the new venture, SaksWorks. Just as the name suggests, it is a co-working space brought to you by Saks Fifth Avenue (with WeWork, operating under new leadership and on a much humbler scale, serving as a managing agent).

The first two SaksWorks locations opened last month, one on the 10th floor of the company's flagship store in Midtown (where, for a brief period, you could buy Gucci for children) and another in a Financial District outpost that shut down early in 2019, only two years after it opened.

Who, you might ask, needs this? In a moment when desperation for more at-home work space drove a soaring residential real estate market outside of major cities, SaksWorks is invested in the idea that it is not just New Yorkers in tiny apartments, exhausted from propping laptops up on piles of laundry in their bedrooms, who want to shake things up. nytimes.com

Trooper defying state's vaccine mandate uses final dispatch to tell off the governor

Why the UK has one of the highest Covid infection rates in the world

 

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Retail's 'Nightmare Before Christmas' - Or Will Santa Save the Day?
Will Santa Claus or the Grinch Show Up This Holiday Season?

By Tony D'Onofrio, Global Retail Influencer & Prosegur's CEO & Managing Director, Global Retail Business Unit

Good news this month as reported in the Wall Street Journal that USA retail sales in September increased 0.7% from the previous month and are running 13.9% ahead of same time last year. Bad news that one of the contributing factors to this growth is inflation which increased 5.4% in the same period.

On the retail sales front, we are well past the pandemic lows and growth has robustly returned. Call it "revenge spending" or pent-up demand, shoppers are once again eagerly shopping online and in-store and looking forward to a positive holiday season.

Contrary to this USA trend, retail sales in Europe slowed in August rising only 0.3%, after a sharp decline in July of -2.3%. The other very important global retail economy of China had August sales rising 2.5% which a deterioration from July's 8.5% increase. For the year, China's retail sales are expected to grow 15%.

As we approach the critical 2021 retail holiday season, "uncertainty" seems to be the operative word. What are the latest holiday forecasts? Will Santa Claus arrive on time with all those presents? Will the Grinch steal Christmas?

Read more here

'The Supply Chain that Stole Christmas'
Despite supply chain woes, these shoppers can get early access to hot holiday gifts

"Gift-givers this year are at a new peak of anxiety," said one retail expert. "This could be the supply chain that stole Christmas."

The store shelves might still be full of Halloween candy, but retailers are nudging shoppers to start thinking about the holidays, rolling out a variety of offers and incentives to encourage people to sign up for subscription services to score sought-after gifts.

Walmart announced Monday that members of its Walmart+ subscription service will get a four-hour head start to start snapping up Black Friday deals, and Amazon is promoting its Prime Early Access feature, which lets Prime members buy Lightning Deals half an hour before everyone else gets a crack at them. Best Buy is employing a similar tactic. It rolled out a $200 membership program last month that it calls Totaltech.

Loyalty programs that charge membership or subscription fees and promise early access to hot gift items like gaming consoles would seem like win-wins, boosting the bottom lines of big brands while letting customers essentially pay to jump the queue and score Black Friday deals. Retail behemoths also will get an infusion of granular data that will let them see into the behaviors and spending patterns of their most loyal customers, as well as more opportunities to promote their offerings. nbcnews.com

A Record-Breaking Halloween for Retail?
12-foot skeletons, pet costumes and vaccines: Retailers get ready for a weird Halloween
Halloween spending could reach an all-time high this year, according to research from the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics. They estimate spending on the holiday to hit $10.1 billion, up 26% from last year and up more than 15% over 2019 spending.

Planned celebrations are nearly back to 2019 levels, while shopping has started earlier. Spending on costumes, candy and greeting cards is all projected to hit marks above recent years, according to the NRF.

Coresight Research survey data shows that roughly 65% of respondents usually celebrate Halloween or have children that do, and there were more (15.7%) who said they plan to slightly increase spending versus those who said they would decrease (12%). retaildive.com

Albertsons CEO: Food inflation 'manageable,' supply chain woes 'nothing' like early stages of COVID-19

Resale market to get holiday surge, says study