More ORC Legislation Introduced in Congress
Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 & the Organized Retail Crime Center Authorization Act were introduced in the U.S. Senate

NRF Statement on Senate Introduction of Critical ORC Legislation
WASHINGTON, January 30, 2023 – The National Retail Federation today issued the following statement from Senior Vice President of Government Relations David French after the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 and the Organized Retail Crime Center Authorization Act were introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bills will create new tools to assist in federal investigation and prosecution of ORC and help recover lost goods and proceeds.

“Retailers face security-related challenges on many fronts, and ORC continues to be a formidable threat in communities across the country. These brazen crimes endanger employees and customers, and also contribute to total shrink, costing the industry nearly $100 billion in 2021, as reported in NRF’s 2022 National Retail Security Survey.

“While retailers continue to adapt to rapidly changing criminal tactics, federal support is also needed. This legislation is a critical step to increase collaboration between federal law enforcement agencies, retail investigators and state agencies to more effectively combat these increasingly violent criminal activities.

“We are grateful to Senators Chuck Grassley and Catherine Cortez Masto for their leadership on legislation to curtail one of the most urgent problems facing retailers and the communities we serve.”

As the leading authority and voice for retail, NRF has spearheaded industry efforts for policy reform on crucial ORC legislation, including the INFORM for Consumers Act, which was passed late last year. nrf.com

RELATED: Cortez Masto, Grassley Continue Push to Protect Businesses from ORC


The Invisible Solution to ORC?
Lowe's 'Project Unlock' anti-theft solution continues to make headlines

Lowe's pioneers system to solve organized retail crime

Lowe's Companies Inc. has innovated – and successfully tested – a new system geared toward tackling organized retail crime in a frictionless and almost invisible manner.

It's called Project Unlock, and it's a proof-of-concept system that underscores how there are methods to solving this industry-wide problem without having to lock up every product on the shelf, Lowe's Chief Digital and Information Officer Seemantini Godbole told FOX Business in an exclusive interview.

Lowe's demonstrated Project Unlock last week during NRF's 2023 expo in New York City, hosted in conjunction with the Loss Prevention Research Council. Its goal is to prove that technology can be leveraged to solve organized retail crime without hindering the shopping experience for law-abiding citizens.

Over the last 12 to 18 months, Lowe's Innovation Labs has been testing out the system which utilizes RFID [Radio Frequency Identity] chips, scanners and blockchain. If implemented, it would render a stolen tool inoperable which would discourage bad actors and in turn, keep employees safe, according to Godbole.

To work, manufacturers would first have to embed a wireless RFID (Radio Frequency Identity) chip into a power tool product. The chip is already preloaded with the item's serial number. It is also embedded in the box’s barcode. The product is set to inoperable up until the moment the customer pays for it. An RFID scanner at the register would then read the chip and activate the tool for use.

Godbole said this system isn't meant to necessarily replace asset protection teams but rather help them "combat this [organized retail crime] more effectively" without putting associates in harm's way, she added. foxbusiness.com


San Francisco's Crime Crisis is Improving Thanks to New DA
After Chesa Boudin, new San Francisco DA cracks down on crime, but anti-cop views stall progress

San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins has turned the tide on prosecuting drug crimes

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has reformed how the city prosecutes offenders, but challenges still surround the police department's efforts to curb crime, a community activist told Fox News.

"It's night and day right now where having Brooke Jenkins as district attorney has totally changed the morale of the police department and much of the city itself," Richie Greenberg said.

"We still have a long way to go in the Tenderloin and other parts of San Francisco where drug dealers are running a 24-hour open market," he continued. "But we see on the horizon that that's going to change very soon."

Meanwhile, rape, robbery, motor vehicle theft and larceny theft were down in December compared to the same time last year under Boudin, according to city data. Despite the reforms, there are still challenges facing the San Francisco Police Department.

"You have a crazy phenomenon of catalytic converter thefts, brazen daytime robberies of businesses and homes broken into with the residents there," he told Fox News. foxnews.com


NYC Neighborhoods Turn to Private Security Amid Crime Surge
Another NYC neighborhood opts to hire off-duty police and private security to slow violent crimes down
In another defiant show of force in the face of out-of-control crime, Howard Beach is poised to join a growing number of battered Big Apple neighborhoods to hire their own security.

Residents of the close-knit community and the old stomping grounds of late Gambino Godfather John Gotti are fed up with rampant shoplifting, beatings, and theft — and are mulling hiring moonlighting cops to stem the tide.

Petty larceny has surged 9% so far in the new year from the same period in 2022, along with felony assaults (up 50%); burglary (14%); and auto larceny (69%), according to NYPD data through Jan. 22.

The list of NYC locales looking to hire private crime-fighters is growing. The Post reported last week that Bronx merchants took matters into their own hands by hiring private security guards to keep order on a bustling commercial strip.

Barbara Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance, said Friday that three property owners along Eighth Avenue have hired a paid detail “for constant presence” along a three-block stretch to combat drug dealers and loitering.

The new need for private policing does not sit well with law enforcers. “It’s a damn shame that people in Howard Beach have to go into their pockets, with all the taxes that they are paying,” fumed retired detective Bo Dietl, an Ozone Park native who heads his own security firm. “I’ve never seen it [the city] worse. The difference in the ’70s and ’80s is we could go after these scumbags and lock ’em up and prosecute them.” privateofficerbreakingnews.blogspot.com

 
NYPD Anti-Gun Unit Under Scrutiny After Tyre Nichols Death
After Tyre Nichols’ death, NYC mayor defends NYPD’s own anti-gun unit
Mayor Adams offered more detail Monday morning into his thoughts on the police-involved killing of Tyre Nichols and defended his decision last year to reinstate an NYPD anti-gun unit similar to the one involved in Nichols’ death.

The five officers who brutally beat Nichols were members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, which was disbanded permanently after Nichols’ family demanded it be done away with.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, said Monday during an appearance on CNN that none of the Memphis police officers captured on camera beating Nichols had a “level head,” but that specific police units aren’t necessarily to blame for such abuse.

After Adams became mayor he reconstituted the NYPD’s controversial anti-crime unit, a plainclothes unit that had been disbanded under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, as a new team of uniformed officers with the same goal of getting guns off the street.

“What I put back in place, our anti-gun unit, many people stated that we should not do it, but we were able to remove 7,000 guns off our streets. That’s a 27-year high,” he said. “We must have proper training, proper mindset and the police officers across our country must have the right mindset to do this very difficult and challenging job of public protection.” nydailynews.com


Bakersfield City Council agrees to contract private security to help BPD patrol the city
 
Ten people shot in 'targeted attack' in Lakeland, FL

US: 104.1M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 101.2M Recovered
Worldwide: 674.9M Cases - 6.7M Dead - 647.3M Recovered

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

COVID Fueling America's Death Surge?
Calif. saw nearly 20% more deaths since 2020 & COVID alone can’t explain it

More than 300,000 Californians have died each year since the pandemic started

Three years after the first COVID cases were detected in the Bay Area, a vexing question persists that can no longer be explained by the terrifying arrival of a deadly novel coronavirus: Why are so many people still dying?

Since 2020, California has recorded 130,000 more deaths than in the three previous years, a nearly 20% increase in mortality, the largest sustained spike in more than a century, and the reversal of a decades-long trend of decreasing death rates. In essence, experts say, that’s 130,000 more burials, cremations, viewings and funerals than there should have been.

No single cause explains the momentous change, according to the California Department of Public Health. Since early 2020, aside from COVID, the Golden State has seen the biggest rise in causes of death in drug overdoses, Alzheimer’s disease and alcohol-related conditions followed by hypertensive heart disease, ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney diseases, road injury and homicide.

“The pandemic certainly is a factor,” Anderson said, “Whether it’s the virus itself [exacerbating other health problems] or whether it’s other factors related to the pandemic, it’s hard to know for sure.”

This pattern of continued excess deaths is happening around the country, not just in California. mercurynews.com


The End of America's COVID Health Emergency?
U.S. Plans to End Public Health Emergency for Covid in May

The end of the emergency will bring about a complex set of policy changes, and it signals a new chapter in the government’s pandemic response.

The Biden administration plans to let the coronavirus public health emergency expire in May, the White House said on Monday, a sign that federal officials believe the pandemic has moved into a new, less dire phase.

The White House wants to keep the emergency in place for several more months so hospitals, health providers and health officials can prepare for a host of changes that will come when it ends, officials said. Millions of Americans have received free Covid tests, treatments and vaccines during the pandemic, and not all of that will continue to be free once the emergency is declared over.

An average of more than 500 Americans are still dying daily from Covid. But at the three-year mark, the coronavirus is no longer upending everyday life to the extent it once did, partly because much of the population has at least some protection against the virus from vaccinations and prior infections.

Still, the White House said on Monday that the nation needed an orderly transition out of the public health emergency. The administration said it also intended to allow a separate declaration of a national emergency to expire in May. nytimes.com


COVID-19 pandemic 'is probably at a transition point,' WHO says
The WHO says the world is in a better place to fight off the virus.

Covid-19 is a leading cause of death for children in the US
 

OSHA Cracking Down on Employer 'Safety & Health Failures'
OSHA Directors Have Increased Authority to Cite Certain Types of Violations

The changes are aimed to stop "employers from repeatedly exposing workers to life-threatening hazards or failing to comply with certain workplace safety and health requirements."

On January 26, OSHA announced new enforcement guidance changes which can "save lives and hold employers to greater account for safety and health failures."

The announcement said these changes will "target employers who put profit over safety." It will do this by making the penalties " more effective in stopping employers from repeatedly exposing workers to life-threatening hazards or failing to comply with certain workplace safety and health requirements."

OSHA Regional Administrators and Area Office Directors now have the authority to cite certain types of violations as “instance-by-instance citations” for cases where the agency identifies “high-gravity” serious violations of OSHA standards specific to certain conditions where the language of the rule supports a citation for each instance of non-compliance.

These conditions include lockout/tagout, machine guarding, permit-required confined space, respiratory protection, falls, trenching and for cases with other-than-serious violations specific to recordkeeping.

The change is intended to ensure OSHA personnel are applying the full authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Act where increased citations are needed to discourage non-compliance.

In a second action, OSHA is reminding its Regional Administrators and Area Directors of their authority not to group violations, and instead cite them separately to more effectively encourage employers to comply with the intent of the OSH Act.  ehstoday.com


Retail Closures Remain Low
Retail space tight as some stores close, others look to expand
The real estate market for retailers is as tight as it's been for a long time. After a decade of rightsizing from retailers, there’s no longer a glut of available space in shopping centers. Now, some retailers are even looking to expand their physical footprints. Barnes & Noble, Burlington and Ross Stores are all in expansion mode, the Wall Street Journal reports.

On the flip side, Bed Bath & Beyond is heading toward bankruptcy and plans widespread store closures. Party City has filed for bankruptcy. Beyond retailers, dozens of Regal Cinemas locations are set to close in the coming weeks.

But the level of retail closures has dropped considerably over the last couple of years, and the market is now in a much healthier place, said Brandon Svec, CoStar Group's national director of retail analytics.

Big retailers have been trimming their physical locations since peaking shortly before the Great Recession. Closures really weighed on the market in 2018, 2019 and 2020, when an average of 144 million square feet of retail space closed each year, Svec said. Retailers only closed about 20 million square feet of retail space last year. komonews.com


Hiring Store Associates Based On Appearance?
Convenience store chain Sheetz under fire for controversial ‘smile policy’
Sheetz is making headlines after it was revealed that the convenience store chain may be using a person’s bad teeth as basis for declining employment based on a policy in their handbook.

The unusual policy is tucked away in the company’s employee handbook, according to Business Insider, which obtained a written version of the policy.

The report said that Sheetz’s employee handbook states applicants with “obvious missing, broken, or badly discolored teeth (unrelated to a disability) are not qualified for employment with Sheetz.”

As for current employees, the handbook reads that they have 90 days to solve the issue. A former employee told Insider they feel the policy is “disgusting and classist.” Sheetz confirmed the policy is now under review The company said that throughout its history, Sheetz has “embraced an appearance policy,” saying they believe a smile is important for customers.. mypanhandle.com


Bed Bath & Beyond expected to declare bankruptcy this week
From a failed merchandising strategy to activist investor pressure over exaggerated payments to executives, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc has been on a largely downhill ride over the last few years.

The company is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week and has lined up liquidators to close additional stores unless a last-minute buyer emerges, Reuters reported on Monday. reuters.com


Dollar General opens its 19,000th store in big store milestone

Impossible Foods laying off 20% employees in third round of cuts in a year

7-Eleven delivery robots hit the streets
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director of Asset Protection & Safety job posted for Duluth Trading Company in Mount Horeb, WI
The Director of Asset Protection and Safety is responsible for developing strategies, supporting initiatives, and creating a vibrant culture relating to all aspects of asset protection and safety throughout the organization. As the expert strategist and leader of asset protection and safety, this role applies broad knowledge and seasoned experience to address risks.  recruiting.ultipro.com

Associate Dir. of Physical Security & AP job posted for Savers (Remote role)
The Associate Director of Physical Security & Asset Protection’s primary responsibility is to support organizational growth through collaboration and management of the company’s physical security platforms and programs. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Risk and working collaboratively with company stakeholders/applicable vendors will support and achieve the successful completion of diverse physical security initiatives and other projects that instill a safe working environment across the organization. indeed.com