Axis Network Camera Frozen Below Ice Hockey Rink to Capture an Unexpected Angle

Known for its pioneering work in network technology, Axis Communications enables a smarter and safer world by creating solutions for improving security and business performance. To prove this, Axis conducted an experiment where they explored the limitations of their own technology. They did this by deploying one of their cameras in the most unexpected place – underneath the ice in an ice hockey rink.

The experiment was carried out by engineers from Axis in collaboration with a film team and ice hockey players, resulting in footage that pushes the boundaries of traditional security camera technology. The discrete modular camera, usually seen in ATM machines, onboard vehicles and other small spaces where a tiny camera needs to fit, was now frozen inside the ice, offering a completely new angle of the action taking place above.

To capture this, a modular setup was chosen. AXIS F2135-RE Fisheye Sensor was frozen in the ice together with a cable connecting it to the AXIS F9114 Main Unit which powered the camera sensor as well as processed the video feed coming from the sensor.

With a focus on durability, Axis Communications' range of surveillance cameras, access control, intercom, and audio systems are engineered to withstand a wide range of extreme conditions. The cameras used in the experiment offers up to full HD/1080p at 60 frames per seconds, with an exceptional 185° field of view. Combined with good low-light performance, the cameras capture the action in color, even with temperatures as low as negative 40° degrees. securitytoday.com
 

ORC: A 'Huge Issue' & Hot Topic at NRF Big Show
Saks addresses organized retail crime at NRF Big Show

On day three of NRF's Big Show, retailers discussed AI applications, organized retail crime, and growing competition from Chinese brands.

Saks president Marc Metrick ended his session by addressing crime, a topic that other speakers addressed less directly throughout the show. Metrick called organized retail crime a “huge issue” facing his business and luxury ecommerce more broadly. These crimes directly impact consumer experience in a negative way, he says.

Retailers like Saks have to “put plexiglass over the experience online,” he said, akin to measures taken by retailers like Walgreens in stores, where products are locked behind glass to combat theft. In practice, that means putting additional roadblocks in front of consumers for customer service help, he explained. Walgreens is No. 19 in the Top 1000.

Customer service reports of “merchandise not received” more than doubled in just a few years, Metrick said. In the past, Saks would give that customer a refund or credit for the purchase that never arrived. Now, the retailer has invested in wider fraud protections to determine if that customer has made other similar complaints or has a history of returns.

In December, the NRF retracted a previous statement on the financial impact of organized retail crime. The organization previously attributed nearly half of total retail shrink to the issue in an April 2023 report.

“We stand behind the widely understood fact that organized retail crime is a serious problem impacting retailers of all sizes and communities across our nation,” a spokesperson from the NRF told Digital Commerce 360 in December. digitalcommerce360.com

Watch Sessions from NRF Big Show | NRF Big show articles | NRF Big Show Pictures


To Battle Retail Theft, Calif. is Reforming the Reforms
Inside the Issues: California's divided view of Prop 47
California lawmakers are looking to put an end to the rise in organized retail theft by reforming long-standing criminal reform laws. Commercial burglary increased by 16% from 2019 to 2022 across California, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. A driving factor for this increase is the rising of organized retail crime.

Multiple lawmakers are focusing on Proposition 47, a ballot measure that reclassified certain non-violent property crimes under $950 of damages from felonies to misdemeanors which was passed in 2014. According to a 2022 UC Berkeley IGS poll, 59% of the people support making changes to Prop 47, while 30% don’t want to see the law amended.

On the first day of the new legislative session, Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua introduced Assembly bill 1787, a referendum to address areas of concern related to Prop 47.

“It’s become kind of the norm and it should not be the norm. It’s harmful. It’s not just about the employees. It’s not just about the businesses, but it’s been harmful for folks who have gotten injured over this,” Villapudua said.

In his recent budget presentation, Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the idea of needing to reform Prop. 47 in order to curb the rise in retail theft.

“Everyone I know is rushing to reform to raise the threshold, okay, that’s not the fundamental issue,” Newsom said. “That is the nature of retail theft has changed… it has become deeply organized and that’s what we need to go after.”

The $950 felony threshold puts California as the 10th lowest amongst states. For example, Texas has the highest threshold with $2,500 needed to be stolen for the theft to become a felony. spectrumnews1.com


California Gov. Newsom Pushes Back On Effort to Lower Felony Theft Threshold
Newsom suggests ways to reduce property crime without dismantling Prop 47
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the problem won’t be solvedby changing Proposition 47, the 10-year-old law voters approved to change some felonies to misdemeanors, including thefts of items worth less than $950, which some people blame for a rise in thefts. Instead, he wants to tackle retail theft with legislation to crack down on what he called “professional thieves.”

“We can do it without reforming [Proposition 47] and going back to the voters,” Newsom said Wednesday as he presented his annual budget proposal, which includes $374 million to combat retail theft. “I want people to know this is unacceptable. Folks need to be held to account. There’s nothing right about this.”

When a reporter asked Newsom about Proposition 47, he turned to the screen onstage beside him and began playing an animated bar graph outlining states’ thresholds for felony theft. Most were higher than California’s $950.

“Turns out, well, Texas, you have to steal more than $2,500 before it’s a felony,” Newsom said.

Though other states do have higher thresholds, critics of Proposition 47 argue that Texas does prosecute repeat offenders who have committed multiple incidences of theft. In California, those critics say, the state does not hold repeat offenders accountable.

The Democratic governor’s comments come as some lawmakers in his own party are signaling an interest in changing Proposition 47 to address these grievances. State lawmakers praised Newsom’s suggestions, but the prospect of those ideas turning into successful legislation this year remains unclear. latimes.com


ORC Impacts: Risking Profits, Community Safety & Employment Opportunities
Report: Retail Shrink & Organized Retail Crime - Mitigating Financial Losses and Lowering Safety Risks
Organized retail crime is an escalating threat that demands a coordinated response from retailers, consumers, and lawmakers. Its tentacles reach far beyond lost profits, jeopardizing community safety, employment opportunities, and the very fabric of our society. Failure to act swiftly and decisively has dire consequences. Retailers must become proactive, investing in cutting-edge technology, empowering employees, and forging alliances with law enforcement and industry peers. We must push for robust legal frameworks that dismantle ORC networks and deter future perpetrators. This is not just an economic issue; it's a call to action to protect our communities and safeguard our shared future.

The Components and Magnitude of Retail Shrink

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), shrink or shrinkage is the measurement of losses calculated by a retailer during a specific period of time, categorized across various means of retail loss. Measured as a percentage of sales, shrink percentage includes losses mainly caused by:

• External theft including organized retail crime
• Internal theft
• Operational errors

Shrink Rates Have Increased by 30bps Since 2017

The average rate of shrink has gone from 1.3% in 2017 to 1.6% in 2022 (+30bps). While this seems like a relatively small change, it is actually massively impactful, especially when considering that shrink dollars have increased by $41 Billion or 58% over this same time period. The retail sales base is massive ($7.1 Trillion in 2022), so small increases in the shrink rate results in a large dollar impact.

Importantly, nearly all this loss is hitting stores as e-commerce (eCom) fulfillment centers are much more secure. This is creating an outsized impact on physical retail stores 4-wall-profit. This is what several major retailers have recently been struggling with when considering the closure of stores due to unsustainable losses.

Read the full report here


'America First Policy Institute' Releases Issue Brief on Theft
Protecting America's Retailers from Theft

Key Takeaways

• America's small and large retailers are facing an onslaught of theft that threatens their economic viability, places workers in dangerous situations, and damages Americans' sense of safety in their communities.

• This scourge of retail crime is concentrated in large cities controlled by progressives, where prosecutors have neglected their duty to hold criminals accountable, and the local population has little confidence in the police.

• To combat this crisis, policymakers should crack down on rogue progressive prosecutors, pass legislation to stymie illicit marketplaces, and restore faith in our local police.

Introduction

The retailers at the heart of the American economy are struggling under a spike in retail theft. Criminals are targeting large and small retailers alike with increased sophistication, in some cases using blow torches to break through plexiglass or storming shops in large groups. From small mom-and-pop shops to large brand-name retailers, managers are reevaluating whether operating in these conditions is feasible.

Given the retail industry's status as the Nation's largest private sector employer-providing 32 million American jobs and $1 trillion in direct labor income-any increase in closures will be devastating for American workers (National Retail Federation, 2020a). Even when stores do not close, lower sales can lead to increased prices, further squeezing consumers during a period of unprecedented inflation. Increased crime can also erode Americans' sense of safety, leading to less walk-in traffic for small businesses and a decline in community trust.

This issue brief outlines the data showing a recent rise in retail theft, examines the causes and effects of theft, and provides America First solutions to this crisis.

Click here to see the brief


Mayor Adams Exempts NYPD from New Budget Budget Cuts
NYC Mayor Adams’ $109B budget spares NYPD from more cuts
Mayor Adams rolled out a $109.4 billion budget proposal Tuesday that averts some cuts to police, sanitation, libraries and social programs, but keeps a range of other unpopular spending reductions in place even as his administration predicts city tax revenues are set to greatly improve.

The preliminary budget bid, which Adams presented in an afternoon speech at City Hall, marks the starting point of months of negotiations between his team and the City Council before the two sides must finalize a final spending plan before the July 1 start of the 2025 fiscal year.

Citing fiscal fallout from the migrant crisis, Adams announced in November (as reported in the Daily here, here and here) the preliminary budget plan would include a so-called Program to Eliminate the Gap, or PEG, requiring all city agencies to slash their budgets by 5%. That was supposed to come on top of a 5% PEG all agencies were already subjected to in November that resulted in drastic public service reductions.

According to recent department data, there are currently about 33,500 NYPD officers - about 1,400 fewer than the department is budgeted for, and about 2,700 fewer than were on the beat in 2019.

But in Tuesday’s presentation, hours after New York Gov. Hochul released her budget, Adams said his team was able to exempt the NYPD, the FDNY, the Department of Sanitation and the city’s three public library systems from the latest round of 5% cuts. As first announced last week, Adams said he’s also restoring a handful of his November cuts, allowing the NYPD to reinstate a previously cancelled Police Academy class of 600 officers and the Department of Sanitation to keep 9,000 litter baskets on city streets that were initially going to be removed.

He said his administration has managed to reduce the projected cost for caring for the tens of thousands of newly-arrived migrants in the city by $1.8 billion through the end of June 2026.  nydailynews.com   crainsnewyork.com

RELATED: Hochul's $233B budget would spend $2B on migrants, avoid tax hikes


Crime Keeping Customers Home, Leading to Closures
Memphis restaurateurs discuss recent closings
Memphis restaurants are increasingly shuttering operations as the struggling industry is buckling under crime, a dwindling customer base and rising costs. Numerous factors are contributing to the challenging environment facing the industry.

Among the most pressing problems is that sales and customer counts are down by 15% to 25% from 2022 to 2023, said Deni Reilly, co-owner of Majestic Grille and Cocozza American Italian. Exacerbating the struggle is crime, which tends to cause people to stay home. And last year’s near-record violence has had a tremendous impact, Reilly said.

Mike Miller, president of the Memphis Restaurant Association, said crime can happen anywhere, but he thinks the some areas are more affected than others. “Look at some of the growth in Collierville, Lakeland, Arlington, versus what’s going on Downtown or Midtown, there seems to be more prevalence of crime,” Miller said.

“We understand that everybody is feeling all of these pressures,” Dean said. “But I do think that if more and more restaurants have to shutter because of lack of enthusiasm or because of fear of crime, that’s going to have a (harmful) effect on the vibrancy of the city.”  dailymemphian.com


Schnucks reveals new anti-theft measure that will change the way you shop forever

Editor's Opinion: Congress is Running Out of Time to Pass the ORC Bill