Take action now against active shooter threats

How one retailer's proactive face matching led to ID, arrest without violence

Active shooter attacks spiked by 52.5 percent in 2021, according to the FBI. Most happened in "commerce" areas, such as shopping malls and grocery stores. In response, retailers are quickly adopting technologies, including face matching, that offer advance warning of threats.

Not all violence is preventable, but retailers can increase their chances of stopping attacks before they start. Here's how one retailer's fast, proactive reaction to a real-life threat led to an arrest with no violence or injuries—and most importantly, before the threatened attack happened.

The retailer became aware of a potential active shooter threat on a popular social media platform. An unknown and unverified individual made a direct threat of gun violence in his post, and he suggested that customers with children avoid the retailer's store.

Minutes after the threat was posted, the retailer ran the profile photo through the FaceFirst Visitor Search Investigation tool. Had the person of interest visited any of the retailer's stores in the past 45 days? Within seconds, the search revealed two face matches at two locations, one from two weeks back and another just one day prior.

The retailer's asset protection team reviewed the matched events and security camera video, then collaborated with local law enforcement. Officers confirmed the man was a known offender, with a record of violent crimes against another retailer and a history of mental illness. Using face matching technology, the retailer formed a threat profile for the man in less than two hours.

Eight days later, the man returned to the retailer's store. As he entered, the FaceFirst system matched his face and immediately generated a match notification. The store management team confirmed the notification and followed the retailer's policy on the notification: "Do not approach—call LE." Law enforcement officers responded quickly and arrested the man nearby. The incident was resolved without violence, and a restraining order was issued soon thereafter. The man has not returned to any of the retailer's stores since his arrest.

Calculate the risks of being caught unaware when a known offender enters your store. If you knew there was a proven solution to keep your valued customers and associates safer from violent offenders, would you implement it? The real risk is answering no. FaceFirst's solution is fast, accurate, and ethical—take action today at facefirst.com.
 

What's Driving America's ORC Surge?

Fewer Associates, Self-Checkout, The Web, Bail Reform - All Fueling Theft
One NY county saw shoplifting grand larcenies surge 144% since 2019

Stores say product lock-ups necessary to combat shoplifting surge
The surge in shoplifting incidents is being driven by several factors, including high inflation, insufficient store staffing, more use of self-checkout lanes, and the low risk levels for incarceration or other punishment for thieves in some states, said Craig Szklany, vice president and product general manager in loss prevention and liability at Sensormatic Solutions, which makes loss prevention technology for retailers.

Local theft numbers surge

For the first six months of 2022, there were 329 shoplifting grand larcenies in the county, a 93.5% increase from the 170 in the same period in 2021 and 143.7% more than the 135 in the first six months of 2019, according to county police department records.

Reports of shoplifting petit larcenies from January to June 2022 totaled 2,560, a 15.7% increase from the 2,212 incidents over the six-month period in 2021 and a 4.9% increase from the 2,440 in the first six months in 2019, according to Suffolk County Police Department data.

A rising number of store thefts are connected to organized retail crime rings taking items that are easy to transport or that demand high values when being “fenced,” said Mark Mathews, vice president of research at the National Retail Federation.

While the use of anti-theft measures, such as locked product cases, surveillance cameras and spider wraps — wired alarms attached to products to prevent theft — has increased, the number of store employees has declined, which is a factor in increasing theft, Mathews said.

'Ongoing issue with police priorities'

Bail reform in New York state took effect in January 2020, ending cash bail in most cases that involved misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.

The Retail Council of New York State supported more recent changes to the state law — to allow repeat offenders of some crimes, including theft of property, to be eligible for arrest and bail — under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s fiscal 2023 budget.

The council is hopeful that the state law changes, along with President Joe Biden’s December signing of the INFORM Consumers Act, which requires online marketplaces to verify the identities of high-volume third-party sellers, will be an effective means of reducing shoplifting incidents, O’Connor said. newsday.com


Store Owners Take Security Into Their Own Hands
Eric Adams dubs NYC private security group ‘wise’ guys for battling shoplifters
Mayor Eric Adams applauded a group of Bronx-based merchants so fed up with shoplifters that they hired private security guards to police Fordham Road, while also ordering his own police force to “arrest” and “prosecute” suspects.

Hizzoner dubbed the Fordham Road Business District’s new patrol group a “wise strategy” when pressed about the plan Wednesday morning interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“Shop owners are hiring private guards to fight back. Is that a wise strategy? What more can be done here?” asked Lemire. “It is a wise strategy, because I say this over and over again, not only must the numbers reflect safety, but people must feel safe,” remarked Adams.

The new unarmed, five-person “Ambassador Program” is charged with monitoring the busy shopping area along Fordham Road from Jerome Avenue to Washington Avenue Wednesday through Saturday.

Retail theft has gotten so bad in the district that an American Eagle store recently called it quits, closing its store after experiencing upwards of 20 thefts a day, according to local representative, Democratic Councilman Oswald Feliz.

Meanwhile, thousands of grocery and retail store owners across the city also banded together to form Collective Action to Protect our Stores, or CAPS, to demand stiffer penalties for theft and new protections for workers.

Adams even hosted a major summit on retail theft last month with big name stores like Target and Starbucks in attendance, as well as members of the NYPD, the city’s five district attorneys and state Attorney General Letitia James.

“Law enforcement must arrest and prosecute and hold them accountable.” Adams said cracking down on recidivist criminals tops his list of demands he’ll push Albany lawmakers to focus on this year. nypost.com


Retail Crime: Top Priority for State Governments
New Mexico governor vows bipartisan effort to fight crime
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed Wednesday to work with state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to address New Mexico’s crime problems, a situation she described as untenable.

The state's largest city has had back-to-back years of record homicides and some residents in Albuquerque and elsewhere have complained about not feeling safe in their communities. Retail crime also has been on the rise, with businesses losing millions of dollars to smash-and-grab schemes.

Gun control legislation will be among the most debated, with Democratic lawmakers calling for tough penalties for parents and others who let guns fall into the hands of children. Just last week, the governor in her State of the State address also called for a ban on the sale of assault weapons and legislation that would allow victims of gun violence to bring civil lawsuits against gun manufacturers.

House Minority Leader Ryan Lane said fellow GOP lawmakers are focused on legislation aimed at stopping felons from buying firearms, ensuring that career criminals are not released prematurely and targeting retail crime and other schemes that fund crime syndicates.

An effort to tighten requirements for pretrial release of people charged with violent crimes had failed last year despite growing public discontent about what has been perceived as a “revolving door” in the criminal justice system.

“It's an all-hands-on-deck approach,” he said. “This is one area where I think we need to seriously say, 'Put politics aside, let's evaluate each idea, each proposal. If it's a good idea that fixes a problem, let's get it done.'” seattlepi.com


Crime & Safety Remains Top of NYC Mayor's Agenda
NYC Mayor Adams Outlines "Working People's Agenda" in State of the City Address

Speech Lays Out Bold Plans to Keep Recidivists Off Streets & More

Mayor Adams’ agenda is built on four pillars that are essential to building a city that meets the needs of working New Yorkers and represent the focus of his administration’s work in 2023: jobs, safety, housing, and care.

Mayor Adams entered City Hall with a mission and a mandate to reduce gun violence. Having lowered shootings by double digits in its first year in office, and leaving 2022 on an overall downward trend in major crimes, the administration will continue to focus on violent crime while rolling out new and expanded efforts to combat issues from property crime and traffic violence to quality-of-life issues.

The Adams administration will work to get ‘New York’s Most Wanted’ — roughly 1,700 known offenders responsible for a disproportionate amount of the city’s violent crime — off the streets. That means working with Albany on targeted, evidence-based solutions to this crisis and changes to state law to ensure that defendants receive the speedy trial that the Constitution guarantees, that victims and their families are provided justice in a timely manner, and that district attorneys and public defenders have the resources to hire more attorneys and paralegals to remove the bottleneck in the courts while simultaneously investing in technology. The administration will also work to address the overly complex and burdensome discovery process that is consuming innocent people with bureaucracy without getting dangerous people off the streets or providing closure for victims.

Under the Working People’s Agenda, the Adams administration will also supplement the city’s focus on the most violent offenders by redoubling efforts to protect New Yorkers from robberies and burglaries — including increasing the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) crime prevention units’ focus on retail theft and working with business owners and business improvement districts on proactive solutions to prevent shoplifting.  nyc.gov
 

Cargo Theft from Facilities Surges - Hijacking Declines
Supply Chain Graphic of the Week: Inventory Thefts by Type in 2022

Violent Hijackings Fell to Number 2 Spot Last Year, BSI Report Says

BSI, a process improvement firm, is once again out with its annual Supply Chain Risk Insights Report, looking at 2022 data. That includes quite a bit of data on inventory/cargo thefts for the year, including the chart below, which shows the percentage thefts by type:

As can be seen, thefts from hijacking have fallen as a proportion of all cargo theft from 24.4% to 17.0%. These are now second to theft from facilities, which accounted for more than a quarter of total thefts, seeing year-to-year increase from 24.2% to 26.0%. scdigest.com
 

How to be prepared in case of a shooting without living in fear

As US reels from more mass shootings, can loneliness be a trigger for violence?
 

US: 104M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 101M Recovered
Worldwide: 674.1M Cases - 6.7M Dead - 646.1M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 830

COVID Cases, Hospitalizations & Deaths

COVID's Lasting Impact on Downtown Retail Foot Traffic
Downtowns take a hit: the remote work trend impact
Almost three years into the pandemic, many people are still set up in their work-from-home offices, working either completely remotely or in a combination of a couple days in their office and the rest from their abode.

Birmingham, downtown Detroit, other downtowns, and suburban office parks are all experiencing the residual effects of employees who make their coffee in their kitchen in the morning and head to a desk or table in another room rather than heading out on their commute. Some places have more vacant office space than previously, or commercial space is being reconfigured for different ways or working – or completely new uses. But there are also additional casualties as people stay home – streets are quieter, lunch business slacks off, retailers see less foot traffic. It's the inadvertent casualty to WFH (work from home), and it's full impact is still being determined.

Birmingham “seems to be faring better than some other downtowns. What we're seeing is stores and restaurants are changing their hours and the days they're open, but that is consistent across the region, the state and the country,” due to the changing nature of employment. “Retailers have to get their online businesses going. That's a very important factor,” Sheppard-Decius noted, as shoppers of all stripes have become more accustomed to shopping online.

However, she said she has met with so many retailers “who say their customers are so excited to come in now (that the pandemic is easing), to speak to them in person, and touch their items again. We just have to be flexible and open to new ideas. We have to change with the market, otherwise the market will leave us behind.” downtownpublications.com


Retailer's COVID Sick Policy Under Scrutiny
H-E-B worker starts petition over grocer’s sick policy after testing positive for COVID
An H-E-B employee has gathered more than 3,800 signatures on an online petition criticizing the retailer’s sickness policy, saying new changes result in workers being “punished for getting sick.”

The employee tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 1 and called in sick but was penalized for doing so, according to the employee, whose petition is anonymous. The employee went to work with a mask and a positive test in hand, and then went home without working the shift.

The employee said H-E-B has a new automated system to track attendance infractions. It assigns points to calling in sick, being tardy or leaving early – potentially triggering disciplinary actions or firing.

“This automatic system is indiscriminate, uncaring, and corporatized,” the employee wrote in the petition letter.

Concern over exposing co-workers or customers to COVID-infected employees was a front-and-center issue during the height of the pandemic. The petition shows that workers are still processing how their employers should respond in the third year of the virus. dallasnews.com


CDC still looking at potential stroke risk from Pfizer bivalent COVID shot

California judge issues preliminary injunction blocking COVID ‘misinformation’ law