The Job Of Security Director Is Expanding: How Does It Impact Technology?

An organization's security director manages a staff of security personnel, implements and enforces security policies and procedures, and generally ensures the safety of personnel and visitors to the organization's premises. Over the years, the role of security director has expanded to include new disciplines such as cybersecurity. More and more, security directors are also taking a "seat at the table" as integral and critical members of a company's management team. We asked this week's Expert Panel Roundtable: How is the job of "security director" expanding, and what is the impact on technology?

Sean Foley - SVP, Customer Success, Interface Systems LLC

The role of security director has evolved into a complex, cross-functional role with a heavy emphasis on technology. Whereas the legacy security director role was focused on physical protection and investigations, the modern security practitioner must also be an expert in technology while navigating the details of operations, inventory shrink, and supply chain metrics. A strong partnership between the security director and the IT department is critical for success in the role. The ability to leverage and evaluate a wide array of new, high-tech security solutions and deploy them as part of the larger asset protection "tech stack" is crucial. Just about every solution will have some reliance on the company's IT-managed network (video, alarm, exception reporting solutions, business analytics). Confidence in explaining the value of these solutions to leadership, while partnering with the IT department on their deployment, can be the difference between long-term success and failure.

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Combating Organized Retail Crime Act a 'Strong First Step'
But the debate continues over the specific details

Combating ORC Will Require More Than Targeting High-value Shoplifting
To address this problem, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act would make it easier for federal prosecutors to charge someone with engaging in organized retail crime based on the total value of the goods they have stolen.

However, this change fails to capture the differences between ORC and shoplifting and creates a system that penalizes high-value shoplifting as harshly as ORC. Congress should amend the bill to underscore the differences between shoplifting and ORC while empowering law enforcement to find and target stolen goods on online resale platforms.

ORC stands apart from amateur theft due to three key characteristics. First, while casual shoplifters or thieves steal items for personal use, ORC focuses on stealing goods with the explicit purpose of reselling them for profit. Second, ORC differs from amateur theft because it involves a structured division of labor and specialization among those involved, managing tasks such as inventory control, marketing, sales, payment processing, and money laundering to handle the complexity of their operations. Last, ORC activities typically involve meticulous planning, deliberate targeting, and extensive coordination among participants. Amateur shoplifters engage in spontaneous, opportunistic crimes with little or no preplanning.

A bipartisan group of members in both chambers of Congress have introduced the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023. While the bill represents a strong first step, it uses a definition of ORC that could misdirect limited law enforcement resources away from ORC organizations and towards traditional shoplifters.

The bill uses $5,000 of stolen goods in 12 months as a benchmark to prosecute shoplifting as ORC. This could result in shoplifting of high-priced goods or frequent shoplifting being prosecuted as organized crime. However, most individual incidents of ORC do not reach this threshold, meaning that even if law enforcement catches perpetrators in the act, they may be unable to prosecute the theft as ORC.

To better target ORC, Congress should amend the bill, directing the ORC Coordination Center to work alongside leaders in the retail industry, logistics and shipping industries, and law enforcement agencies to find a more productive benchmark that directly relates to organized crime, such as coordination between perpetrators, total number of perpetrators involved in a single incident, or theft with the intent to resell. datainnovation.org


Home Depot Sounds the Alarm Over Retail Violence Surge
The home improvement retailer has faced the loss of two employees who were killed during separate theft incidents over the past year.

'This isn't a random shoplifter anymore': Home Depot CEO warns retail theft is a 'big problem' as the chain bolsters security, even on small items.
"It's a big problem for retail," Home Depot CEO Ted Decker told CNBC's Squawk Box. "This isn't the random shoplifter anymore." The home improvement retailer has faced the loss of two employees - Gary Rasor, 83, and Blake Mohs, 26 - who were killed during separate theft incidents over the past year.

In August, a Florida pastor was arrested and accused of operating a multimillion-dollar theft ring stealing from numerous Home Depot locations in the state.

What's behind this alarming trend?

Theft at Home Depot stores has been "growing double-digit year over year," the retailer's VP of asset protection, Scott Glenn, recently told ABC News.

"More and more we're seeing the risk being brought into the stores, and people being hurt or people even being killed in many cases because these folks, they just don't care about the consequence," Glenn said.

To reduce the risk of theft and other crimes in its stores, Home Depot has started locking up high-value items, some of which Decker says may surprise customers.

When asked if Home Depot would have to shutter certain stores - following the footsteps of other retail giants - the CEO says the retailer has so far managed to avoid that.

However, Decker says the company is increasingly concerned over the safety of their employees and customers. As a result, they've invested more in security guards, more lighting in their parking lots and recording towers.

"It's not a place in retail that many of us thought we would be," he said. msn.com


Retail Managers Fighting Back Against Theft
How frontline managers are aiming to prevent theft

Frontline retail managers recognize the theft problem, but how are they responding?

A new survey from frontline enablement solution provider Axonify found that two-thirds (70%) of the 300 frontline managers surveyed claim they or their staff have witnessed an increase in theft within the last year, with 85% believing that theft and customer violence are growing issues in the industry overall.

Nearly half (49%) of frontline managers say they or their staff have seen an increase in theft and customer violence in the past 30 days alone. While more than a third (38%) of frontline managers reported their store as having been victim to petty theft or shoplifting, 41% reported their store had fallen victim to organized retail crime.

Approximately 45% of frontline managers reported workers being caught stealing items from the store. More than half (52%) say they've formed new theft policies and prevention loss methods to ensure newly hired seasonal workers do not steal, with 37% of frontline managers voicing concern that new seasonal workers could steal from their store, and 22% reporting that some seasonal workers already have.

To combat growing theft, retail managers reported taking a number of initiatives. Six-in-10 (61%) said they are locking away more products to prevent theft, while 42% reported closing down their store or certain locations due to an increase in theft and/or customer violence. Six-in-10 (60%) of frontline managers said their store has created an anonymous tip line resource for workers and the public to report issues of theft in their store.

More than half (54%) of those surveyed reported hiring outside security to protect their store and workers from theft and violence, with more than six-in-10 (63%) reporting collaborating with law enforcement to track or solve theft-related issues.

Despite the growing concerns, Axonify's survey found that managers are increasingly relying on employee training to mitigate theft. More than half (66%) of frontline managers report increasing employee training this year around handling instances of theft and customer violence. A similar number (64%) believe their staff is capable of properly handling and reporting instances of theft today. chainstoreage.com


Deep Dive Into California's Retail Theft Crisis
Businesses, trade groups and lawmakers blame Prop 47

Stolen Business: Sacramento-area businesses grapple with retail theft
Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, has been making the rounds with national news outlets for two-and-a-half years. "We had issues with organized retail crime prior to the pandemic," Michelin says. "I don't think it was getting as much of the media attention as it is now."

Some of the increased attention might be because a marginal increase in crime has been quantifiable in California in recent years. Between 2021 and 2022, burglaries rose 6.17 percent, larceny-theft increased 7.65 percent and robberies soared by 10.7 percent, according to the California Department of Justice.

Increased crime has also been felt locally in the Sacramento area. John Kabateck, California director for the National Federation of Independent Business, cited Sacramento Police Department statistics that state property crimes rose 16.9 percent for the first five months of 2022. Kabateck says his members call asking for more funding and support for local law enforcement.

The appetite for more enforcement could be only the latest shift in public sentiment in California, a state that has seesawed between tough-on-crime approaches and progressive criminal justice reform in recent decades.

In 2014, nearly 60 percent of voters approved Proposition 47, a landmark reform which included making shoplifting less than $950 of goods a misdemeanor rather than a felony and eliminated making petty theft a felony for people with prior convictions. While the initiative might have been a well-intended effort to reduce prison overcrowding and draconian sentencing, some businesses, trade groups and policymakers cite Prop. 47 as part of what's fueling retail theft.

"Prop. 47 has been one of the most impactful issues that urban centers in California have faced," says Michael Ault, executive director for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. "It's created a level where there's limited accountability and consequences."

Matt Hilbrink, Raley's vice president of enterprise risk and asset protection, says the grocery store chain has always had shoplifting. Since Prop. 47's passage, however, Hilbrink says that "what traditionally would have been a shoplifter is now pushing out a cart of groceries or is targeting an entire section of health and beauty." comstocksmag.com


No, Stores Aren't Exaggerating Retail Theft
Opinion: The Professionalization of Shoplifting
The thieves that force store closures and cause employee and customer distress are organized gangs who descend upon a store, clear the shelves, and then list those unused items online through a marketplace such as Facebook, Craigslist, and Amazon.

The theft rings then hide behind the propagandized imagery of impoverished mothers putting diapers and soap in their strollers - needful items as mom tries to make it until tomorrow. It's nonsense, but the idea sells to the liberal sensibility that's never met a legal or extralegal paternalism it doesn't like.

Center-left writer Matthew Yglesias Yglesias writes:

When major national retail chains say shoplifting is a growing problem and cite it as a reason for some store closures, I'm inclined to agree with them. Among other things, companies just don't have strong incentives to lie about this kind of thing.

That said, it is not easy to convincingly demonstrate that there has been a big national increase in shoplifting - see these skeptical stories from CNN and the Marshall Project - in part because in a country where the overall state of crime data is bad, the shoplifting data is really bad. Jeff Asher tried to run the numbers to see if crime is really worse at the locations of the recently closed Target stores. It doesn't seem to be, but you can't really tell because property crime underreporting is massive and also because a raw count of thefts doesn't tell you how much was stolen.

Like spam call centers or the "Kia Boyz" stealing thousands of cars for joyriding and further crime, most crimes are committed by those who are 1) comfortable and capable, i.e. morally compromised and practiced 2) protected from prosecution. Retail crime sounds petty and unserious to the average person - "they stole some shirts, who cares?" But when stores disappear, it's the people whom the thieves hide behind - the single mothers, the handicapped, the infirm - who bear the increased costs (time, price, and availability). Stores cannot protect themselves except to leave, and whatever Chicago says, a public grocery store is on a fool's errand list. Police and prosecutors know the thieves, and practically know what time the theft takes place. Credit to Yglesias for speaking against the Left's impulses regarding sympathetic crime, and may there be long sentences for those who've used the past three years to enrich themselves off of their neighbors. nationalreview.com


D.C. Unveils Plan to Tackle Organized Theft, Other Crime
Scoop: D.C. mayor to unveil new tough-on-crime package
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser plans to propose anti-crime measures on Monday that would loosen some reforms enacted after the police killing of George Floyd. In the heat of a crime wave, it would mark a U-turn for the Democratic city on policing reform, likely pitting Bowser against progressive council members.

Bowser's forthcoming bill would empower police to declare "drug-free zones" across the city for five-day spans, according to a preview of the legislation obtained by Axios. The measure is an effort to outlaw congregating in public spaces for the "purchase, sale, or use of illegal drugs."

Retail theft would carry stiffer penalties, via a new crime for "directing organized retail theft." Wearing a mask while committing a crime would be outlawed again. The legislation also revises the definition of a police chokehold. It would clarify the "distinction between a serious use of force and incidental contact with the neck," according to the preview text.

D.C. repealed its anti-mask law - which bans wearing a mask to commit a crime, intimidate, or threaten people, or cause fear - in the post-George Floyd reforms.

Meanwhile, President Biden earlier this year vetoed an attempt by congressional Republicans to ease the city's chokehold ban. The tough-on-crime proposal comes while crime is up in D.C. - unlike other big cities where violence has declined.

Homicides are up 34% compared to last year, as of data on Friday. All crime is up 27%. Under the proposal, officers would also be allowed in some cases to view body camera footage before writing their initial police reports. That practice was outlawed entirely under policing reforms in recent years. axios.com

   RELATED: Dem mayor flips on post-George Floyd police reforms as crime skyrockets


A Tale of Two States on Violent Crime
California violent crime up 13%, Florida down 31.5%

DeSantis vs. Newsom on Violent Crime

New FBI data shows a sharp divergence in their records on public safety.

In California violent crime is still up 13% since 2019. In Florida it's down 31.5%. The rate of violent crime in Mr. Newsom's state last year, 499.5 per 100,000 people, was nearly double that in Mr. DeSantis's domain, 258.9 per 100,000.

The nearby chart shows a longer view. Amid the Covid lockdowns, the George Floyd protests, and a public backlash toward law enforcement, violence shot up in Florida, as in many other states, though California stayed on a higher plateau.

But the real difference is what happened next: in 2021 and 2022, violent crime plunged in Florida while surging in California. One caveat is that the FBI in 2021 changed its methodology for calculating crime rates, but this affected all states, so it isn't responsible for the obvious divergence.

The FBI's numbers on property crime add to the picture. In Florida such offenses are down 27% since 2019, about three times as much as nationwide, while in California they're up 0.3%. Those figures likely underestimate the true difference, since businesses are less inclined to report theft to law enforcement in jurisdictions where it often goes unprosecuted.

This could be one reason that the FBI shows larceny as declining in California since 2019, despite all the news reports about retailer complaints and smash-and-grab thefts by organized criminals. California in 2014 effectively decriminalized shoplifting and larceny of less than $950. Police often don't even bother arresting thieves, because they are quickly released. wsj.com


UK minister meets retailers and police to tackle shoplifting
Crime and policing minister Chris Philp holds talks with retailers and senior police figures to agree a joint action plan for tackling rising shoplifting.

Spotty Crime Data Make It Hard to Judge Public Safety

California's Workplace Violence & Safety Push

35% of Workers Feel Unsafe
Tech a new wave in workplace violence prevention
Technology has emerged as a new strategy to help workplaces prevent acts of violence against workers, an issue that has virtually every industry increasingly concerned and regulators bracing for change, according to a National Safety Council researcher.

Kenna Carlsen, a research associate who spoke Monday at the National Safety Council's Safety Congress & Expo, presented survey results that showed a steady rise in those who think they are unsafe: in 2020, 22% of 1,500 employees felt that they were likely to be exposed to workplace violence and in 2023 that number rose to 35%. For 1,500 employers surveyed, the likelihood of violence rose similarly from 25% in 2020 to 33% in 2023.

California's governor on Sept. 20 signed S.B. 533, requiring, among a list of new regulations, that all workplaces by July 1, 2024, create and maintain violence prevention plans. Ms. Carlsen said other states may do the same, causing workplaces everywhere to do more to protect workers from harm.

While the best practices include maintaining a healthy workplace where workers can have their mental needs addressed, providing opportunities to report threats, and assessing and reducing risk factors in the work environment, Ms. Carlsen said employers are often limited in what they can do to prevent intentional acts of violence.

Such technologies as artificial intelligence to monitor camera footage, panic or duress buttons, lone worker monitoring systems that include wearables, case management systems and predictive modeling are emerging as ways to help employers prevent and better respond to threats, according to Ms. Carlsen, adding that each has pros and cons - and that technology will not be able to replace other measures.

"There's no replacing having a strong (violence prevention) policy," she said. "There's no replacing having well-communicated reporting procedure. You need to engage with your employees, providing workplace training, especially in recognizing (threats) and de-escalation." businessinsurance.com


Employer Requirements for Workplace Violence Prevention Law
California Employers Must Adopt New Comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
On Sept. 20, 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 533 into law, which requires covered employers to adopt a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan as part of their Cal/OSHA Injury Illness Prevention Plan. The law also requires employers to provide training on their plan and maintain records of any threats or incidents of violence at the workplace and investigations performed. The new law adds section 6401.9 to the California Labor Code and takes effect July 1, 2024.

Requirements of a Written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan: Covered employers must establish, implement and maintain an "effective" written workplace violence prevention plan.

Employers Must Maintain Records: In addition to developing and implementing a workplace violence prevention plan, covered employers must also "record information in a violence incident log" about every incident, post-incident response and any workplace violation injury investigation performed in accordance with the workplace violence prevention plan.

Employers Must Provide Training: Covered employers are required to train employees on particular subjects, allow for "interactive" Q&A, and be in "vocabulary to the educational level, literacy, and language of employees." Covered employers must provide training to all employees no later than July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter. armstrongteasdale.com


Dollar General Settles Discrimination Lawsuit, Agrees to Pay $1M
Dollar General took back job offers from applicants with high blood pressure and poor eyesight, a federal agency lawsuit claimed

The discount retailer has agreed to pay $1 million to settle the disability-discrimination lawsuit.

Dollar General violated disability-discrimination laws by rescinding job offers to some applicants with high blood pressure or poor eyesight, a federal agency said in a lawsuit.

The discount retailer has now agreed to pay $1 million to settle the lawsuit, first filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2017.

Dollar General required people who held offers for roles as general warehouse workers at its Bessemer, Alabama distribution center to pass a pre-employment medical examination, the lawsuit said.

The EEOC said the medical examinations were "extensive, and often, highly invasive," and included taking vital signs, a drug test, a vision test, a review of current medications, "and a physical examination, including, in some instances, genital examination of job applicants."  businessinsider.com


Consumers to Spend Nearly $900 to Celebrate the Winter Holidays
Those celebrating the winter holidays expect to spend $875 on average on gifts, decorations, food and other key seasonal items, according to the National Retail Federation's latest consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The amount is $42 more than consumers planned to spend in 2022 and is in line with the average holiday budget over the last five years.  nrf.com


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