Facial Recognition's Retail Expansion

NYC Mayor Urges More Facial Recognition Tech Amid Rampant Crime

Using Facial Recognition to Fight NYC Crime & Violence
NYC Mayor Adams says masks are protecting against police, not COVID
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said last week that some store customers who wear masks are more likely trying not to get caught shoplifting than stopping the spread of COVID.

Mayor Eric Adams: "Let's be clear, some of these characters going into stores that are wearing their mask, they're not doing it because they're afraid of the pandemic, they're doing it because they're afraid of the police. We need to stop allowing them to exploit the safety of the pandemic by wearing masks, committing crimes. You saw what happened over the weekend when an innocent store owner was shot and killed. The person had a hazmat suit on and a mask. He wasn't trying to protect himself from the pandemic.

[NYC Mayor Eric Adams], who pushed one of the strictest and longest mask mandates in the country, is now pushing the use of facial recognition technology to reduce rampant crime across the Big Apple. With the help of facial recognition software, he says he hopes to crack down on not only shoplifting but repeat offenders who may be linked to more serious and violent crimes.

Mayor Adams' push for more facial recognition technology comes after a man wearing a hazmat suit fatally shot a deli worker last week. Read more about the "hazmat killer" case below. fism.tv


'Hazmat killer' arrested in fatal shooting of UES deli worker
A man was arrested Thursday in connection with the fatal shooting of an Upper East Side deli worker last week, Mayor Eric Adams and police said — after a manhunt for the serial robber in a hazmat suit alleged to be responsible for the killing.

The 39-year-old man, who has three prior arrests, was picked up by members of the NYPD's Regional Fugitive Task Force in the Bronx, police said at a briefing Thursday afternoon. Charges are pending.

Fernando Mateo, of the United Bodegas of America, said part of the problem these days is customers who are masked and hooded.

“We’re talking about all those people that hoodie up, that cover their entire face so that the police department cannot identify them when they commit a crime,” Mateo said.

In recent days, NYPD brass and Mayor Eric Adams echoed that sentiment, saying customers should drop their masks before entering businesses. audacy.com


Read more about how retailers are using facial recognition tech in the section below
 

Stores Using Facial Recognition to Track Repeat Shoplifters
Shoplifting Climbs as In-Store Shopping Returns

Retailers lock up goods, use facial recognition software to track repeat offenders

Retailers say theft is rising as more people shop in stores, cutting into profits that were already under pressure.

Target Corp. said in November that it expected the problem, known in the industry as “shrink,” to reduce gross margins for the recently completed fiscal year by more than $600 million. TJX Cos.’s and Macy’s Inc. also called out higher shrink rates in recent calls with analysts.

“Theft is growing at a faster rate than sales,” said Dean Rosenblum, a senior U.S. retail analyst at Bernstein Research. Mr. Rosenblum said theft is becoming a big enough problem that it’s starting to affect margins, which is why retailers are talking about it more frequently.

In an interview, Mr. Gennette said the shift in shoppers returning to stores after a surge in online buying during the pandemic is partly responsible for the uptick. “More theft happens in stores,” as opposed to warehouses that fulfill online orders, he said.

He added that a jump in organized retail crime in certain areas of the country is also a factor. “These are crime levels we haven’t seen before,” Mr. Gennette said.

“Seven years ago, internal theft was the largest category of loss by retailers,” said David Johnston, the NRF’s vice president of asset protection and retail operations, referring to theft by employees. “Now, it’s external theft.”

Retailers are combating the problem by adding security guards and cameras to stores, locking up goods and making use of facial recognition software to help identify repeat offenders.

Mr. Gennette said Macy’s is using radio frequency identification tags to better track inventory, adding more security personnel to stores and securing high-end brands with locked cables and sensors.

New legislation signed into law by President Biden last year, called the Inform Consumers Act, will make it harder for criminals to resell stolen goods online. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 currently making its way through Congress seeks to pool expertise and provide more tools to prosecute criminals and recover stolen goods. wsj.com


Oregon's ORC Legislation in the News
Retailers & law enforcement urge Oregon lawmakers to address ORC

A pair of bills before the Legislature would put millions toward fighting organized theft and allow prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties.

In Oregon, Safeway/Albertson’s complains of losing more than $15 million in Multnomah County stores over the last eight years. Police agencies talk of coordinated efforts to steal large amounts of merchandise, then sell it on the web or via flea markets. Store employees say they can feel unsafe as thieves carry out brazen thefts.

In response, Oregon legislators are considering a package of bills that proponents say would help the state better respond to the problem of organized theft – and more easily ratchet up penalties for people who participate.

The proposals are included in amendments to Senate Bill 318 and Senate Bill 340, which received a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Both bills are being touted by members of a sprawling task force that took up the problem of organized theft over the last six months. That group included the Oregon Department of Justice, district attorneys, law enforcement agencies, and large retailers.

Under the group’s proposed version of SB 318, the state would set aside $5 million to help pay for the cost of cracking down on theft in cities and counties. The bill would also reserve additional money to pay for new positions within the Oregon Department of Justice to help cities and counties analyze and fight organized theft.

Changes proposed to Senate Bill 340, and favored by the state’s district attorneys, would alter state law to ensure prosecutors can seek stiffer penalties for people convicted of organized retail theft. Under Oregon law, the crime involves working in concert with another person or people to steal more than $5,000 worth of merchandise within a 90-day period.

A rise in shoplifting has been a hot topic among retailers of late, with national business groups attempting to put hard numbers behind the problem, and stories of brazen thefts where employees or onlookers have occasionally been injured or killed.

And the bill package comes as shoplifting is an increasingly large subject of conversation in Oregon – and particularly Portland. opb.org


Mall of America Reveals 'Layers' of Security Amid Shooting Surge
From K9 officers checking bags and sniffing for guns to a basement command center

Mall of America offers glimpse at security measures following shootings
The Mall of America, like many large corporations and companies, doesn’t often like to talk about its layers of security, figuring the fewer people who know, the better the security works. But in light of recent shootings, including a murder just before Christmas, their outlook is changing.

"It’s time that we share our story," said Will Bernhjelm, the Mall of America's Vice President of Security. "It’s a unique approach to security, and it’s not being done this broadly anywhere else."

On Friday, Bernhjelm led reporters on a tour highlighting what he explained were the layers of security, which he likened to individual slices of Swiss cheese. No layer is foolproof, he says, "but with more layers built in, there’s less chance all those holes line up at once."

Outside the mall, security officers on bikes patrol the lots and ramps full-time.The Bloomington Police, who have a station in the mall, installed license plate readers on every entrance to mall parking.

There are six K-9 officers working the mall by checking bags or packages left alone and sniffing garbage cans. All of them are trained to detect a long list of explosives.

They plan to add more K-9s that are trained to smell firearms since it’s not deemed viable to add metal detectors at the mall’s many doors.

The mall has security cameras, some you can clearly see and some that are hidden, and all are watched in a basement command center.

There is a training room in the basement which has never before been shown to the media before. Security officers practiced Krav Maga, a martial art developed by the Israeli Defense Forces. New officers must complete four weeks of training in de-escalation, crisis intervention and medical response, which Bernhjelm says is far beyond the industry standard of 40 hours.

Some officers work undercover, trained on "behavior detection" techniques, trying to spot suspicious activity. They also employ a full-time intelligence analyst, who monitors social media.  fox9.com


Lowe's Turns to Robots to Crack Down on Crime & Boost Security
Security robots - nicknamed 'snitchBOTS' - are at Philly Lowe’s stores
Customers at Lowe’s stores across Philadelphia have encountered an unexpected sight in the parking lots over the last month — a 5-foot-tall, egg-shaped security robot that makes a cosmic whirring sound as it glides across the pavement. Some have already nicknamed them “snitchBOT.”

Four Lowe’s stores in Philly are testing the security robots, including locations in South Philly, Northeast Philly, Port Richmond, and West Philadelphia.

The K5 autonomous outdoor security robots, which are manufactured by Knightscope, a security tech company based in the Silicon Valley, are part of a pilot project to “heighten the security and safety of our locations,” said Larry Costello, Lowe’s senior manager of corporate communications.

Others are being piloted in Washington state, North Carolina, California, and D.C. Costello said locations were selected “based on varying criteria and scenarios” but did not offer further details.

The K5 robot uses 16 microphones and a range of sensors, including lidar and sonar, to detect anomalies and report them in real-time to Lowe’s central monitoring team. The robot also has four wide-angle cameras which take 360 degrees of high-definition footage.

Stacy Stephens, executive vice president and chief client officer at Knightscope, said the K5 is not meant to replace human security guards but to provide them with better situational awareness and give companies evidence for criminal prosecutions.

“We’re looking for known threats, people to whom you’ve issued criminal trespass warnings, terminated employees, or domestic abusers,” Stephens said. inquirer.com


The Great Debate Over Retail Theft Deterrents
Preventing theft or driving consumers away?

With Retail Theft Rampant, Will New Deterrents at Walmart, CVS and More Drive Consumers Away?
Retail shrink, or company inventory lost to causes other than sales, has risen to an unprecedented level, causing some of the trade’s biggest corporations to implement extra in-store anti-theft devices at the risk of losing customers.

Although retail management has identified several types of shrinkage — such as internal/employee theft, operational loss, administrative errors and return fraud — it is organized retail crime (ORC) that accounts for a large part of the problem. This grander, more coordinated type of shoplifting has industry leaders taking tougher security stances and paying plenty for them.

Explaining these “more sophisticated and highly dangerous” crimes to a Senate hearing in Nov. 2021, CVS Health crime and corporate investigations exec Brendan (Ben) Dugan told the committee judiciary that his company has seen ORC increase 300% since the start of the pandemic. Dugan indicated those thefts had resulted in annual losses of more than $200 million for his company.

Retailers Lock Up Product In Response to Increased Theft

More locked product cases and additional security gear have been implemented by Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and others in an attempt to thwart criminals from stealing large quantities of goods and reselling them for profit.

NRF’s vice president of asset protection and retail operations, David Johnston, admitted that the rise in lock-and-key measures is “probably not great for the customer experience,” but tightened security actions aren’t ideal for companies, either.

If the issue grows into a widespread departure of bothered and scared shoppers from stores, retailers will have to come up with more consumer-friendly strategies to battle this level of theft. On a broader level, one might expect the industry to confront ORC through proposed legislation and retail-crime associations. nasdaq.com


Fallout Continues After Walmart's Portland Exodus
Shoplifting unlikely the driving force in Portland Walmart closures, experts say
Retail industry analysts say that rising concerns over theft may have contributed to Walmart’s decision last month to shutter its Portland stores. But it’s likely not the driving factor.

Theft and other crime, the Walmart watchers said, is surely a concern for the chain. But the impact is rarely enough to close an otherwise successful store without warning, and especially without appeals to local officials for assistance.

“The decision to close down a store is typically linked to sales,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail division at GlobalData, a market analysis firm, “which often has nothing to do with thefts or shoplifting.”

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a December interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box that shoplifting could lead to store closures and price increases, a statement Portland critics have seized on in the wake of closures. oregonlive.com

RELATED: Walmart’s Exodus From Portland Draws Attention to Retail Crime


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CVS store pulls laundry detergent off shelves amid theft surge