Walmart Crime Closures Coming?
Walmart Prices Could Rise, Stores May Close Due to Theft, CEO Tells CNBC

Double whammy of store closures & price hikes could come amid theft surge, Walmart CEO says

Walmart Inc. could raise prices or close stores if a lack of prosecution for thefts under a certain level aren't corrected over time, said Chief Executive Doug McMillon on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"Theft is an issue. It's higher than what it's historically been," said Mr. McMillon.

The retailer's CEO said safety and security measures are in place by store location. Local law enforcement being staffed and being a good partner is also part of the equation and how Walmart normally approaches the issue, said Mr. McMillon.

Walmart isn't the only retailer contending with theft. Best Buy Co., Home Depot Inc., and Target Corp. in recent months have said the issue is affecting their operations as well.

Theft at stores - or what is known in the industry as "shrinkage" - has risen beyond historical averages, McMillon said. He urged state and local law enforcement to beef up prosecution of theft incidents.

"If that is not corrected, over time prices will be higher and stores will close," McMillon said.

McMillon did not specify in the interview which locations have experienced this record-high level of shoplifting, but his announcement comes after Walmarts in Los Angeles resorted to locking up most of their inventory to prevent further thefts.

Just one month ago, the chief financial officer at Walmart's biggest rival, Target, also revealed that shoplifting at its stores had jumped more than 50 percent year on year, leading to more than $400 million in losses in 2022 alone. nbcnews.com marketwatch.com  dailymail.co.uk

   Discussion from Retail Wire: Will theft compel Walmart to hike prices or close stores?

Another Walmart Employee Lawsuit Filed Following Mass Shooting
Second lawsuit filed against Walmart after mass shooting in Chesapeake

The two lawsuits against Walmart were filed on behalf of two employees who were working when the shooting occurred

A second lawsuit seeking $50 million has been filed on behalf of a Walmart employee after the mass shooting at the Walmart on Sam's Circle.

The lawsuit, filed December 1 by Morgan & Morgan, says James Kelly was working at the Chesapeake Walmart on November 22 when store manager Andre Bing shot and killed six employees.

The lawsuit states, "James Kelly witnessed several of his coworkers being brutally murdered," and that "Mr. Kelly ran out of the break room as fast as he could. In the process of escaping, Mr. Kelly fell, injuring his right ankle."

Kelly alleges in the lawsuit that Bing verbally harassed and badgered him during his employment. He also alleges that Bing "was known for being a mean and cruel supervisor," and that Kelly complained to Walmart about Bing's behavior prior to the shooting.

The first lawsuit, also filed by Morgan & Morgan on behalf of employee Donya Prioleau, alleges Walmart knew about Bing's concerning behavior, and decided to keep him on at the store. Prioleau is also seeking $50 million from the grocery store chain.

In addition to his ankle injury, the lawsuit states that following the shooting, Kelly has experienced "sleeplessness, flashbacks, severe anxiety, stomach pain, loss of appetite and nightmares." wtkr.com

More Gaps in FBI Crime & Violence Data
As fatal police shootings increase, more go unreported

Flawed FBI data has left thousands of deaths uncounted and complicates efforts to hold troubled police departments accountable

Fewer fatal police shootings are recorded by the federal government every year, despite renewed scrutiny of police use of force and millions of dollars spent to encourage local law enforcement to report the data.

Even though federal records indicate that fatal shootings by police have been declining nationwide since 2015, The Washington Post's Fatal Force database shows the opposite is true: Officers have shot and killed more people every year, reaching a record high in 2021 with 1,047 deaths. The FBI database contains only about one third of the 7,000 fatal police shootings during this time - down from half when The Post first started tracking.

Fatal shootings by officers in at least 2,250 police and sheriffs' departments are missing from the past seven years of federal records, according to an analysis of the database maintained by The Post, which began tracking the killings in 2015. The excluded data has created a misleading government picture of police use of force, complicating efforts at accountability.

Boston was among the larger departments with missing data: The Post documented 11 fatal shootings by its officers since 2015, but none of those are recorded in the FBI's records. The Chicago Police Department reported six officer-involved shootings, but The Post logged 45. Police in Boise, Idaho, fatally shot 12 people, whose deaths were not recorded in the FBI database.

"This shows that the data from the FBI, the FBI database, has largely failed," said Rashawn Ray, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a University of Maryland professor who has testified at state and federal levels about police reform. That some departments have received federal dollars while their shootings are unreported, he said, "speaks to how flawed the system currently is, not just the organizational structure of policing, but also the way that government funding operates." washingtonpost.com

New Orleans Turns to Facial Recognition to Fight Violent Crime
New Orleans reverses facial recognition ban to help police fight crime
As violent crime continues to plague New Orleans, investigators have been given another tool to help solve cases. The New Orleans Police Department began training officers on the software over the summer, but its use will be limited in scope, New Orleans Police Sgt. David Barnes told Fox News Digital.

He noted that the technology is used to aid in investigations of crimes that have already occurred.

In July, the City Council voted 4-2 to allow the police department to request access to the technology and other surveillance tools to investigate violent crimes as killings reached numbers not seen since after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell argued that rolling back earlier restrictions would help investigators arrest more criminals.

"Passage of this ordinance by the City Council now paves the way to increase the NOPD's ability to protect and serve the residents, businesses and visitors to the City of New Orleans," she said in a statement at the time. "This is a win for everybody."

Before that, the police department did not widely use facial recognition, Barnes said. But violent crime has been a major concern in 2022 as the number of murders across New Orleans has outpaced previous years.

As of Monday, the city has experienced 239 homicides, surpassing the number of killings for all of 2021, when 218 slayings occurred, according to police data. In 2020, the city reported 201 killings. foxnews.com

Corrupt DA Overshadowing Walmart Mass Shooter Prosecution
Prosecution of alleged El Paso Walmart shooter marred by DA controversy
The prosecution of the alleged El Paso Walmart shooter on state murder charges has been marked by the controversy surrounding the district attorney, who has faced allegations of corruption and incompetence and a petition calling for her removal.

The big picture: The alleged shooter faces state and federal trials for allegedly killing 23 people and wounding 22 others in what authorities say was a racially motivated shooting on Aug. 3, 2019.

But months of legal troubles involving District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, who will leave office next week, have pulled attention away from victims and their families and prompted questions on what they may mean for what could become the deadliest mass shooting to go to trial in the U.S.

Catch up quick: Rosales drew El Paso Judge Sam Medrano Jr.'s ire when she announced in June that she hoped the state trial, in which she would seek the death penalty for Crusius, would be held next summer, well ahead of the federal trial. A few days later, the judge reprimanded her for not making any trial preparations and issued a gag order to almost all parties involved in the case, including victims' families.

Rosales' attorney, Richard Román, told El Paso Matters that Rosales "came to the realization that this community needs to heal, the Walmart case needs to be put back on track, and all the other crime victims that aren't mentioned that are out there deserve a legal system that is continuous, predictable and stable." axios.com

Victim's son speaks out on 15th anniversary of Von Maur mass shooting

S.F. halts 'killer robots' police policy after huge backlash - for now

US: 100.9M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 98.3M Recovered
Worldwide: 651.1M Cases - 6.6M Dead - 627.7M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 816

COVID-Related Workplace Hazards Continue to Linger
Warning: The Workplace Could Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health

The Surgeon General is urging companies to be proactive in protecting their workers' well-being.

The current Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has largely been focused on the pandemic for the past few years, and lately he's been particularly concerned about its lingering effects-not just the physical nature of the virus, but also its impact on mental and emotional health as well. In October 2022, Dr. Murthy's office released a Framework for Mental Health & Well-Being in the Workplace, which is said to be the first time a Surgeon General has issued a report specifically addressing workplace mental health.

In explaining the need for workplaces to increase their vigilance on promoting mental health, Murthy cited several disturbing workplace statistics:

• 76% of U.S. workers last year reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition (such as anxiety or depression). Prior to the pandemic, the percentage was 59%.

• 81% of workers anticipate seeking work at organizations that support mental health.

• 84% of workers have experienced at least one workplace incident that has had a negative impact on their mental health.

The framework maps out five essential areas that employers should focus on to contribute to a culture of workplace safety. In fact, as we noted in EHS Today's Mental Health in the Workplace Report, companies must do a better job of allocating resources to prioritize mental health awareness, support and treatment. Substance abuse, workplace violence and major depressive episodes have markedly increased since the onset of COVID, and yet nearly 30% of the 1,100 people surveyed for the report say that their companies still devote much more attention to protecting employees' physical health than their mental health. ehstoday.com

'Tripledemic' Holiday Threat
Flu, RSV, COVID-19: 'Perfect Storm' of Sickness Threatens Holiday Season

Respiratory viruses are sending people to the hospital and looming over a season filled with indoor family gatherings.

Health leaders are warning of a "perfect storm" of respiratory viruses occurring this holiday season, with the U.S. experiencing increased flu, RSV and COVID-19 activity.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday that the country has seen higher levels of both the flu and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, than is typical for this time of year. Speaking with reporters, Walensky said 47 jurisdictions throughout the U.S. have reported "high" or "very high" levels of flu-like illness, compared with 36 jurisdictions reporting such levels the previous week.

So far this season, the flu has caused at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths, according to CDC estimates, with 14 deaths occurring among children. The cumulative flu hospitalization rate captured within a CDC surveillance network also is higher than it's been in roughly a decade. usnews.com

Remote Work Hasn't Reduced Employee Engagement
No, Remote Employees Aren't Becoming Less Engaged
One of executives' biggest worries about remote work is the reduction in spontaneous meetings and conversations with employees. But is this worry justified? New research on meetings shows that it might not be.

It turns out that employees have more short, one-on-one meetings compared to 2020, and those meetings are increasingly spontaneous (meaning they weren't set up in advance on the calendar). While there are limitations to this data, it does suggest that employees are finding new ways to connect with each other - and that there are steps organizations can take to encourage them to continue to do so. hbr.org

Why Some Companies Are Still Fully Remote

CDC: U.S. life expectancy is declining, with COVID-19 a key factor

Workplace Violence & Harassment is a Global Problem
More than 1 in 5 worldwide suffering from violence at work: ILO

More than one in five people employed - almost 23% - have experienced violence and harassment in the workplace, according to the first ever joint analysis of data worldwide carried out by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), the independent global charity Lloyd's Register Foundation (LRF) and analytics and polling company, Gallup.

This first global survey on experiences of violence and harassment at work, aims to provide a better understanding and awareness of an issue rooted in complex economic, social and cultural factors, said ILO in a press release published on Monday.

Experiences of Violence and Harassment at Work: A global first survey assesses the extent of the problem and looks at the factors that may prevent people from talking about what they've gone through, including shame, guilt or a lack of trust in institutions, or because such unacceptable behaviours are seen as "normal".

Lack of disclosure - Violence and harassment at work is difficult to measure. The report found that only half of victims worldwide had disclosed their experiences to another person, and often only after they had suffered repeated incidents.

Globally, 17.9 per cent of employed men and women said they had experienced psychological violence and harassment at some point in their working life, and 8.5 per cent had faced physical violence and harassment. More men than women report having experienced this.

Of those responding, 6.3 per cent reported facing sexual violence and harassment, "with women being particularly exposed", said the UN labour agency.

Most at risk - Young people, migrant workers, and salaried women and men have been the most exposed to violence, according to the data. Young women were twice as likely as young men to have faced sexual violence and harassment, while migrant women were almost twice as likely as non-migrants to report sexual violence and harassment. news.un.org

Supreme Court Fight Over $10/Year Sears Lease
Mall of America fights to rescind $10-a-year lease for empty Sears space

The Minnesota shopping center squared off against a company that bought Sears in bankruptcy but has no intention of reopening the retailer's three-floor space.

Warning that a reversal would invalidate its $5.2 billion acquisition of Sears, the investor that gobbled up the withering retail giant in bankruptcy urged the Supreme Court on Monday to throw out a challenge by the Mall of America.

"Sears is bankrupt. Sears' bankruptcy is over. The case has gone. The funds have been distributed. There is nothing left," Eric Brunstad, an attorney with the firm Dechert, told the justices this morning,

Brunstad represents Transform Holdco, a subsidiary of ESL Investments, which bought Sears, and its $10-a-year lease at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, in 2019 following the retailer's Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year before.

Mall of America noted in its petition to the high court that the generous lease it gave to Sears for a term of 100 years spoke to the luster of its now-bygone anchor tenant.

Transform Holdco says it bought Sears in good faith, and that the generous lease was a key term off that sale, but the Mall of America calls it unfair for the lease to survive Transform Holdco's expected cannibalization of the space.

When the Second Circuit ruled against the mall in December 2021, it said the lease-transfer couldn't be appealed because it was a major factor in the bankruptcy sale.  courthousenews.com

Tougher Regulations for California Firearm Sellers
Calif. Enacts Unique Video & Audio Surveillance Requirements for Firearms Dealers
Senate Bill 1384 created requirements for licensed firearms dealers to maintain a digital video surveillance system which must also include audio surveillance for any systems located indoors.

All digital surveillance systems put in place to comply with SB 1384 must record all interior views of entrances and exits to the premises, all areas where firearms are displayed, and all points of sale. Surveillance must be sufficient to identify all parties involved in any firearm transactions and shall continuously record for 24 hours a day. The new law also requires all recordings to be maintained for a minimum of one year and limits who has access to the recordings and images.

Licensed dealers will also be required to display a sign notifying the public of the existence of the digital surveillance systems as well as annually report to the California Department of Justice that the systems are in working order. securityindustry.org
 
Hertz False-Arrest Settlement
Hertz to pay $168M after falsely accusing customers of stealing rental cars
Hertz said Monday it will pay $168 million to settle hundreds of claims by customers who were falsely reported by the rental car company as having stolen its vehicles, with some innocent renters arrested and jailed for weeks or months over the reports.

Hertz said in a brief statement that it was settling 364 claims, which it said amounted to 95 percent of the outstanding claims against the company over the false theft reports.

Dozens of customers had shared stories on social media and broadcast television programs of being arrested, "swatted" or stopped at border crossings after Hertz had incorrectly reported them to the authorities for stealing vehicles from its rental fleet.

In many of the cases, the customer had paid for and properly returned the car weeks or months prior - or had never rented a car at all. washingtonpost.com

Are we on the verge of a new grocery landscape?
Regulatory clearance remains uncertain, but a Kroger-Albertsons merger could spark changes across the marketplace

GameStop lays off employees — again

Meijer expanding footprint with new store concept

VF Corp. CEO departs unexpectedly


Quarterly Results

Casey's General Store Q2 in-store comp's up 7.9%, grocery & GM comp's up 6.9%, food & bev. comp's up 10.5%, total inside sales up 11.4%

J.Jill Q3 total comp's down 1.2%, DTC net sales up 0.4%, total sales down 1%

Barnes & Noble Education Q2 retail gross comp's down 14.1%, revenue down 1.6%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director AP, Field Tactical Support (Remote or Hybrid) job posted for Target in Brooklyn Park, MN
As an Assets Protection Director of Field Tactical Support, you will belong to a great team of genuine, diverse, courageous and versatile people who put integrity and ethics at the heart of everything they do. In this position, you will develop and drive Target priorities related to internal/external theft tactical support in stores. You will interact with internal and external stakeholders who support the safety and security of locations in which Target operates. You will use your knowledge and experience to ensure that Target is advancing theft investigations tactics that align with company and community values. jobs.target.com

Director of Safety & LP job posted for MAPCO Express in Franklin, TN
The Director of Safety and Loss Prevention will be responsible for ensuring MAPCO's assets are safe and protected through analyzing retail data, establishing appropriate key performance indicators, reporting, directing or conducting investigations, and educating retail managers and employees on safety and loss prevention measures. indeed.com
 

The New Battlefield is Online
DHS secretary says US faces 'a new kind of warfare'
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said national security and homeland security are now more interconnected than ever before, largely driven by the fact that U.S. adversaries can execute attacks "with a keystroke."

In a speech Monday, Mayorkas said that global interconnectedness and the willingness of nations to unleash digital attacks that have international ramifications has brought the national security threat "directly to our communities."

He pointed to several well-known cyberattacks that had global reach such as the NotPetya attack in 2017, and the Russian cyberattack against the U.S. satellite company Viasat at the start of the Ukraine war, saying that "our homeland security has converged with our national security."

"The world today is more interconnected than at any time in DHS's 20-year history," Mayorkas said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Ubiquitous cutting-edge technologies, economic and political instability, and our globalized economy have erased borders and increasingly bring threats and challenges directly into our communities - to our schools, hospitals, small businesses, local governments, and critical infrastructure."

His remarks come amid growing reports of nation-state hackers hitting federal and private organizations alike. On Monday, the Secret Service pointed the finger to the Chinese-linked hackers APT41 for stealing at least $20 million in COVID relief benefits from multiple states, NBC News reported.

Mayorkas said that the U.S. faces "a new kind of warfare."

"With a keystroke, our adversaries can disrupt power or water to a small city, mine troves of American's personal data or steal intellectual property," Mayorkas said. "The means by which we address the myriad of cyberattacks which are growing in number and gravity are linked to our role and responsibilities on the global stage."

Mayorkas pointed to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative as at the "heart" of trying to solve the national and international threats. Mayorkas also pointed to the "Shield's Up" campaign and Cyber Safety Review Board as other examples. cyberscoop.com

Weaponizing Code Using AI Tech
Machine Learning Models: A Dangerous New Attack Vector

Threat actors can weaponize code within AI technology to gain initial network access, move laterally, deploy malware, steal data, or poison an organization's supply chain.

Threat actors can hijack machine learning (ML) models that power artificial intelligence (AI) to deploy malware and move laterally across enterprise networks, researchers have found. These models, which often are publicly available, serve as a new launchpad for a range of attacks that also can poison an organization's supply chain - and enterprises need to prepare.

A recent report from CompTIA found that more than 86% of CEOs surveyed said their respective companies were using ML as a mainstream technology in 2021. Indeed, solutions as broad and varied as self-driving cars, robots, medical equipment, missile-guidance systems, chatbots, digital assistants, facial-recognition systems, and online recommendation systems rely on ML to function.

Because of the complexity of deploying these models and the limited IT resources of most companies, organizations often use open source model-sharing repositories in their deployment of ML models, which is where the problem lies, the researchers said.

"Such repositories often lack comprehensive security controls, which ultimately passes the risk on to the end user - and attackers are counting on it," they wrote in the post.

"Moreover, companies and individuals that rely on trusted third-party models can also be exposed to supply chain attacks, in which the supplied model has been hijacked," she says. darkreading.com

Business Email Compromise Scheme
CA Man Charged with Laundering Money Obtained from Internet-Related Fraud
From September 2018 to August 2020, Singleton worked with conspirators to launder money obtained through business email compromises. A business email compromise is a method of wire fraud often targeting businesses or individuals working on business transactions involving high-dollar wire transactions.

Singleton opened several business bank accounts in the names of companies he controlled and received proceeds of wire fraud in those accounts. Singleton and his conspirators then withdrew and transferred money from various bank accounts and shared among themselves the account information of bank accounts. Singleton also executed at least one fraudulent contract with a conspirator for a wire of $70,000. Law enforcement officials estimate that Singleton received at least $1.1 million in fraudulent proceeds.

Each of the money laundering charges carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000, or twice the value of the funds involved in the transfer, whichever is greater. justice.gov

Google Chrome Flaw Added to CISA Patch List

CISA gives agencies deadline to patch against Google Chrome bug being actively exploited in the wild.

Although details about its real-world impact are vague, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added a Google Chrome flaw to its list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.

Tracked under CVE-2022-4262, CISA described the Google Chrome V8 Engine flaw as a "type confusion vulnerability." Attackers can exploit this kind of vulnerability by using a specially crafted HTML page to corrupt the heap and crashing the browser. Attackers can also exploit type confusion flaws to execute arbitrary code. darkreading.com

Changes to PCI DSS v4.0 Reporting: In Place with Remediation
When PCI DSS v4.0 was released in March 2022, a new reporting option was included to document requirements that were "In Place with Remediation." The goal of this option was to promote security as a continuous process, by providing a means for organizations to identify areas needing improvement year over year. While stakeholders agreed that this was a valuable tool for improving security, recent feedback indicates that there may be a better way to achieve this goal. blog.pcisecuritystandards.org

Rackspace Blames Ransomware Attack For Ongoing Email Outage

ChatGPT shows promise of using AI to write malware

Tifton, GA: Employees suspected of stealing over $200,000 in merchandise from Target distribution center
Two people were arrested after deputies said they stole merchandise valued at over $200,000 from a Target distribution center in Tift County. Tift County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division and Target's Asset Protection Operations were investigating thefts at the facility in Tifton. Their investigation revealed that Miracles Desiree Jenkins, 26, and Arcenio Xavier Lindsey, 34, both of Albany, Georgia, had been involved in stealing electronics, video games, and other merchandise from the facility, deputies said. Jenkins and Lindsey were arrested on Nov. 29. According to the sheriff's office, the pair would sell the stolen merchandise on eBay. Search warrants were conducted in Albany with assistance from the Albany Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Southwest Regional Drug Enforcement Office. wsbtv.com

Myrtle Beach, SC: Myrtle Beach Police bust shoplifting ring, 10 charged
Ten people face various shoplifting charges after the Myrtle Beach Police Department uncovered the illicit operation. MBPD said the multiple-day operation was designed to identify shoplifters in retail establishments by working with local loss prevention professionals. "Shoplifting is a serious offense that harms our business community and is often related to other serious criminal acts," said Chief Amy Prock. "This operation targeted organized crime. It shows the strength of intelligence sharing among our community members and team members and our commitment to partnerships to reduce retail theft and related crimes in Myrtle Beach." As a result of the operation, officers identified and recovered over $9,000 worth of stolen merchandise at various retailers throughout the area.  wmbfnews.com

Philadelphia, PA: $80,000 worth of cell phones stolen from T-Mobile store in Rhawnhurst
Philadelphia police are looking for 4 men in connection to a robbery inside a T-Mobile store in the Rhawnhurst area of the city. Police responded to a call at 11:56 a.m. for a robbery on the 8500 block of Bustleton Avenue. Authorities say, $80,000 worth of cell phones were taken at gunpoint from an open safe in the back of the store. phl17.com

Downers Grove, IL: $25K Worth Of Cigarettes Stolen From Smoke Shop
Police say cartons of cigarettes valued at $24,806, were stolen during a burglary that took place at U.S. Smoke and Vape, 2952 Finley Rd., on Dec. 1. According to the crime blotter, someone broke the shop's window to gain entry around 2:55 a.m. before stealing 162 cigarette cartons in various brands. patch.com

Stamford, CT: $2K worth of car batteries stolen from Advance Auto
Police say $2,000 worth of car batteries was stolen by two suspects from a Stamford auto parts store. The two men walked into Advanced Auto in Stamford around 5 p.m. Saturday and stole eight car batteries. Police have released surveillance images of the suspects.

Mount Laurel, NJ: Police looking for Two Target Shoplifting Suspects, made off with $650 of merchandise