"Theft, Burglary and Break-Ins" - "Property Crime"
#1 Top Safety Concerns of Residents

Seattle violent crime hits 15-year high, other takeaways from new report
Seattle continued to contend with increased violent crimes and gun violence last year, according to annual crime statistics.

Residents’ top safety concerns, according to the Seattle Police Department’s public safety survey, include property crime, police capacity and homelessness.

Community concerns were captured in a survey in partnership with Seattle University last October, to collect data at the neighborhood level for the department’s Micro Community Policing Plans.

Here are 5 key takeaways from the police department’s 2022 crime report.

Violent crime rate at a 15-year high

The violent crime rate increased to 736 per 100,000 residents in 2022, the highest rate in 15 years. Crime rates represent the number of crime reports relative to the size of the city’s population, instead of the total number of crimes reported. The actual number of violent crimes reported increased about 4% from 2021 to 2022, according to the report.

The slight increase in crime overall reflects the spike in violent crime that began in 2020 and shows little sign of dropping back to pre-pandemic levels. Homicides increased by 24% and aggravated assault totals continue to be the highest reported in the last 10 years. The majority of homicide victims died from gun violence.

Crime down in fourth quarter

The fourth quarter saw a decrease in crime, with notable reductions in aggravated assault and larceny-theft. December had the fewest number of reported crimes citywide in 2022; March had the highest number.  seattletimes.com

Stores Finding Creative Ways to Fight the Theft Surge
Shoppers at some Kroger, Lowe's & Safeway stores may be able to unlock merchandise cases themselves — if they share their phone numbers first

New tech is rolling out at major brands to reduce the hassle in exchange for a cell phone number.

Shoppers across the US are increasingly forced to make an uncomfortable choice when they want to buy something at their local drugstore: ring a bell to summon an overworked retail employee, or walk away.

More stores are locking away merchandise amid rising concerns about retail theft.

But a solution that's designed to help companies' bottom lines — placing more and more products under lock and key — may be pushing away customers who don't want to wait for store employees to help them get locked-away products.

Retailers typically will see a 15% to 25% drop in sales when they put products in locked displays, according to Joe Budano, CEO of the security-device maker Indyme.

Budano's company is hoping to make a splash with a product called the Freedom Case, which allows retailers to keep products safe while mitigating some of customers' shopping headaches. Indyme says the Freedom Case is being tested at some Lowe's, Kroger, Safeway, and Family Dollar locations. In an interview with Forbes last year, Budano said the company was conducting 20 trials. Companies typically roll out new loss-prevention measures after analyzing specific conditions at local stores.

Indyme's smart lock assumes that a private exchange of personal information is preferable to a storewide announcement that help is needed. The company says that customers wait an average of a minute and 45 seconds for locked merchandise to be retrieved, and that nearly a third will just turn to Amazon to get it instead.

At locations with a Freedom Case installed, customers can sign up with their mobile number to receive a custom PIN to access a locked shelf — or they can ask a store associate for help as before.

In addition, he explained that an AI-powered camera is on the lookout for "normal shopping behaviors" and will automatically call for an associate if something seems amiss. businessinsider.com


Another City Battling Out-of-Control ORC
Retail crime has doubled over the past year in Jacksonville, FL

What is organized retail theft and how does it cost you a fortune?
There’s a new kind of theft in Jacksonville on the rise, and to call it stealing would be an understatement. In organized retail crime, thieves, or a large group of them, walk into a store and steal a large amount of merchandise before leaving. Then, law enforcement say, they sell it for money.

Action News Jax Investigator Emily Turner found out that retail theft has doubled in Jacksonville in just a year. Its cost is in the millions and has become such an issue that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has created an entire division dedicated to fighting it.

Across the country, organized retail thieves are responsible for billions in lost merchandise. They are why some stores have moved out of downtown San Francisco, and Walmart is threatening to shut down in the areas hardest hit.

What they are doing, police say, goes beyond petty theft. It’s organized crime. To fight it, JSO created an economic crimes unit in 2021. It specifically deals with organized retail theft. Lt. Mark Musser is in charge of the unit and said that the crime is bigger than you’d think.

In 2021, Musser said JSO cases totaled at about one quarter of a million dollars in lost merchandise, and that’s just from Jacksonville stores. This past year, that number doubled, out pacing the nationwide trend of 26.5%, according to the National Retail Federation.

It might seem like the victims are big box stores that can afford to take the loss, but Bradley said that it’s happening at such a rate that retailers can’t afford to do business as usual.

So, all those stores will be passing along their costs to the consumer or closing their doors, and people like Brittany will have fewer shopping options and pay higher prices.

The National Retail Federation blames the recent jump in theft on changes to state law. In 2019, for example, Florida lawmakers raised the required amount stolen to be a felony from $350 to $750. Less than two years later, the jump in organized retail crime reached a level requiring them to create its own division. actionnewsjax.com


The 'Defund' Movement's Impact on Crime & Policing
Amid soaring crime, Memphis cops lowered the bar for hiring
Beyond the beating, kicking, cursing and pepper spraying, the video of Tyre Nichols’ deadly arrest at the hands of young Memphis police officers is just as notable for what’s missing — any experienced supervisors showing up to stop them.

That points to a dangerous confluence of trends that Memphis’ police chief acknowledged have dogged the department as the city became one of the nation’s murder hotspots: a chronic shortage of officers, especially supervisors, increasing numbers of police quitting and a struggle to bring in qualified recruits.

Former Memphis police recruiters told The Associated Press of a growing desperation to fill hundreds of slots in recent years that drove the department to increase incentives and lower its standards.

“They would allow just pretty much anybody to be a police officer because they just want these numbers,” said Alvin Davis, a former lieutenant in charge of recruiting before he retired last year out of frustration. “They’re not ready for it.”

Many young officers, before ever walking a beat with more experienced colleagues, found themselves thrust into specialized units like the now-disbanded SCORPION high-crime strike force involved in Nichols’ arrest. Their lack of experience was shocking to veterans, who said some young officers who transfer back to patrol don’t even know how to write a traffic ticket or respond to a domestic call.

“They don’t know a felony from a misdemeanor,” Davis said. “They don’t even know right from wrong yet.”

“If you lower standards, you can predict that you’re going to have problems because we’re recruiting from the human race,” said Ronal Serpas, the former head of the police in Nashville and New Orleans and the Washington State Patrol. “There’s such a small number of people who want to do this and an infinitesimally smaller number of people we actually want doing this.” apnews.com


The Era of Situational Awareness in Public Spaces
As mass shootings increase, civilian safety tactics change
One vital tactic: run, hide, fight. It's a safety tactic the FBI has used for decades- officially established for civilians by the federal government after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 which killed 33 people. Security and emergency preparedness expert, Rick Mathews helped created the mechanism.

Borbee says one key tactic changed over the years- situational awareness.

“First acknowledge that it’s possible that you might encounter a bad guy someday. At least be a little more cognizant of that, not paranoid, but keep looking.” See something, say something. A motto Mathews claims has made a difference in prevention.

Despite these increased measures over the years, as we know, these tragedies are happening at a record rate, which is now provoking action from officials. Some believe getting guns out of dangerous hands is the answer.

Following the Buffalo mass shooting in May, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed some of the country's toughest gun safety legislation. In June, the bipartisan Safer Communities Act was signed into law by President Biden, aimed at keeping firearms off the streets.

Following the Monterey Park shooting in California last month, legislation has been proposed in Washington. A ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, along with legislation raising the age to purchase them to 21. cbs6albany.com


L.A. County passes gun control measures after mass shootings

Albuquerque business owner says theft ‘out of control,’ wants lawmakers to help

Beaver Dam Police See ‘Huge Spike’ In Retail Thefts

US: 104.5M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 101.7M Recovered
Worldwide: 676.5M Cases - 6.7M Dead - 649.1M Recovered

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

Post-COVID Workplace Tension Between Employees & Employers
Employers Face Challenge Balancing Remote Work, Productivity
For years, businesses have tried to glean insight into the performance and productivity of their employees, whether through employee monitoring, tracking, data collection, evaluations or some other method. Since the rise of remote and hybrid work began during the Covid-19 pandemic, these efforts have become increasingly important, even as tension about productivity began bubbling up between employees and employers.

Some media reports say productivity has been on the decline since the pandemic began, others – including CNBC – say employees today are working more while producing less. During 2022, productivity dropped three consecutive quarters for the first time since 1983.

On top of all this, there’s the question of just how productive remote workers are. Employers still wonder whether their remote and hybrid staffs are as productive as they would be in the office. With so many sources of information offering different data and opinions, they find it’s hard to know what to believe.

The problem of productivity didn’t start with the rise of remote work, said WeSpire CEO Susan Hunt Stevens. Rather, she said, today’s new working conditions put old problems into the limelight.

“When workers were in-office, managers thought people were productive because they could see them. But sitting in my chair doesn’t mean that I am focused, nor does it mean I’m working efficiently or effectively,” Stevens said. “Many people, I believe, relied on line of sight to be a proxy for productivity and impact.” hcmtechnologyreport.com


Annual COVID Shots? Not So Fast
It’s Too Soon for Annual Covid Booster Shots, Some Experts Say
It’s too early to tell if the US population will need annual Covid-19 booster shots, infectious disease doctors say. They say they don’t yet know how best to respond to the unpredictable patterns of new variants.

But a “regular cadence” of annual Covid-19 shots in line with flu shots would “get more people to get into a rhythm of keeping up to date,” Anthony S. Fauci, President Joe Biden’s former chief medical adviser, said in an interview.

A panel of 21 advisers to the Food and Drug Administration Jan. 26 recommended making bivalent Covid-19 shots the standard form of the vaccine. They also discussed the FDA’s proposal to assess the latest Covid-19 variants “at least annually,” similar to the process for developing annual flu shots. Under the plan, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee would meet in early June to discuss which strains should inform shots to be administered in the fall. news.bloomberglaw.com


Study: Commuting has an upside and remote workers may be missing out

It's Important For Remote Work To Maintain Boundaries Between Personal And Professional Lives
 

Security Integrators Sound Off on 2023 Outlook

Annual SSI Dealer Roundtable panel reports record 2022 revenues with inflation allowing for monitoring price increase. 2023 outlook is strong.

Despite the headlines filled with negative news on the supply chain, crime and inflation, several top security integrators are heading into 2023 with a wave of optimism following a record year in 2022 in terms of revenue. And although the tight labor pool continues to be a sticking point to even more growth, dealers are anticipating a solid year with stacked pipelines already in place.

Those were the among the key themes emanating from Security Sales & Integration‘s Security Dealer Roundtable, an annual tradition held at the Resideo CONNECT event, which occurred in November in Fort Myers, Florida. securitysales.com


Takeaways from Illinois Supreme Court decision on BIPA’s applicable statute of limitations
For years, litigants involved in Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) class action litigation have faced significant uncertainty as to whether claims asserted under Illinois’s biometrics statute are subject to a one-, two-, or five-year statute of limitations. On February 2, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court definitively resolved this issue in Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, Inc., 2023 IL 127801, holding that Illinois’s five-year catchall limitations period is applicable to all claims alleging BIPA non-compliance. biometricupdate.com


DOJ: U.S. Attorney Announces $1M Settlement Of Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Trading Company For Underpaying Customs Duties On Imported Footwear

Samsung C&T America, Inc. Admits That It Misclassified Imported Footwear And Underpaid Customs Duties

United States has filed and settled a civil lawsuit against Samsung C&T America, Inc. (“SCTA”), a global trading and investment company that is a U.S. subsidiary of the Korean conglomerate Samsung C&T Corporation. Among other things, SCTA imports and sells footwear manufactured overseas in partnership with other companies. SCTA performs services in connection with the importation and sale of footwear, including financing, transportation, warehousing, and distribution. The settlement resolves claims brought by the United States that between May 2016 and December 2018.

Specifically, SCTA admitted that it misclassified certain imported footwear on entry documents filed with CBP and, in some instances, underpaid customs duties on the footwear. SCTA further admitted that it had reason to know that certain documents provided to its customs brokers inaccurately described the construction and materials of the imported footwear and that SCTA failed to verify the accuracy of this information before providing it to its customs brokers. justice.gov


Sparc Needs to Hit on All Cylinders
Simon Property Group sells off Eddie Bauer interest as its retail investments tumble
Net operating income from Simon Property Group’s retail and brand interests, which include investments in J.C. Penney, Sparc Group, Authentic Brands Group and Rue Gilt Groupe, fell 35.4% to $125 million in the fourth quarter and 33.4% to $355 million for the year. Their contribution per share to the company’s funds from operations fell 39.5% in Q4 and 40.2% for the year.

During the quarter, the real estate investment trust traded its share in an Eddie Bauer licensing joint venture for a further stake in Authentic Brands Group, bringing its share of ABG to 12%, CEO David Simon told analysts during a conference call Monday.

Among the brands run by Sparc (which also include Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky, Nautica and Reebok), Forever 21 fared the worst last year, as its teenage customer base was hit hard by inflation, he said.

In 2021, many of Simon’s brands were “extraordinarily profitable,” and J.C. Penney in particular is enjoying “unbelievably profitable EBITDA,” Simon also said.

Still, the retail and brand operations were “down considerably,” and must improve if the company is going to reach its potential, according to UBS analysts. retaildive.com


Retailers Pressure Vendors to Bring Down Prices
Stores are pushing vendors to cut prices, but your bill will stay the same

Major grocery and retail chains are scared of losing customers as Americans pull back on spending

Major retailers from Target to Whole Foods are leaning on their suppliers to cut prices and capitalize on cooling inflation — and prevent shoppers from buying less and turning to discount stores.

Retailers usually negotiate prices with vendors at least annually. But this time, the stakes are higher. Many retailers are telling their vendor partners they need to make their case for keeping prices high. Otherwise, they risk discontinued orders or unfavorable placement on shelves.

“In the last few months, we’ve seen the shift away from trying to fight cost increases to pushing for [vendor] cost decreases,” said Bobby Gibbs, a partner in the retail and consumer goods division of the marketing consulting firm Oliver Wyman. washingtonpost.com


February cargo imports expected to see big drop as retailers take cautious stance

Apple Expands Testing of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Service to Retail Employees


Quarterly Results

Chipotle Q4 comp's up 5.6%, total revenue up 11.2%

Under Armour Q3 North America revenue was down 2%, EMEU up 32%, Asia-Pacific down 9%, Latin America up 45%, Revenue was up 3%

Coty Q2 Consumer Beauty Q2 revenues decreased 1%, Prestige revenues decreased 5%, sales decreased 3%

VF Corp Q3 DTC down 2%, Wholesale down 3%, total revenue down 3%
   America's down 2%, EMEA region down 2%, Asia Pacific region down 7%,
   Vans® down 13%, The North Face® up 7%, Timberland® flat, Dickies down 16%, Other brands down 2%

The Container Store Group Q3 comp's down 4.3%, with Custom Spaces+ up 2.1%, consolidated net sales down 5.6%
   The Container Store retail business (“TCS”) down 3.8%
   Elfa International AB (“Elfa”) third-party net sales down 30.6%


Capri Q3 Revenue decreased 6.0%
   Versace revenue decreased 0.8%
   Jimmy Choo revenue decreased 5.6%
   Michael Kors revenue decreased 7.2%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

VP of Safety & Security job posted for IGS Solutions LLC in Los Angeles, CA
The VP, Safety & Security will report to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will oversee and lead our Security team including but not limited to: Security Guard Services and Security Systems. You will work closely with the Safety and Security teams, Retail leadership, warehouse managers and associates, Human Resources, Legal, and other cross-functional partners to create an inclusive, resilient, safe and secure environment for our multi-state workforce and properties. indeed.com

Director of Risk Management, Asset Protection and Safety job posted for Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires and Southern Vermont in Pittsfield, MA
Provides Strategic Risk Management leadership for the Agency to include Safety, Loss Prevention, and Compliance areas. The Risk Manager will oversee the organization’s risk management program, assessing and identifying risks that could impede the reputation, safety, security, or financial success of the organization. Conducts risk assessments, collecting and analyzing documentation, statistics, reports, and market trends. Establishes policies and procedures to identify and address risks in the organization’s services and departments. goodwill-berkshires.org

Manager of Cyber Security job posted for Jushi in Boca Raton, FL
The Manager of Cyber Security role will encompass cyber security at all levels. This will be a key role developing the cyber security team at Jushi. Our mission is to create a security minded culture and become stronger, faster, and more innovative company. This is an unparalleled time of growth and change for Jushi. New information security developments and challenges occur daily. We are building a team of IT security professionals to bring industry experience, confidence, and technical knowledge to address these unique challenges. indeed.com