March Networks’ Cloud Video Network Monitoring Service Insight Surpasses Growth Milestone

OTTAWA, ON, March 23, 2022 –– March Networks®, a global video surveillance and video-based business intelligence leader, is proud to announce that its cloud-based Insight Monitoring and Resolution Service continues to experience rapid growth, with over 25,000 managed surveillance systems with an estimated 500,000 surveillance cameras.

Insight provides March Networks customers with complete end-to-end support for their video surveillance systems with proactive remote health monitoring of all of their devices like recorders, cameras and hard drives, as well as overall network connectivity. Trained professionals in March Networks’ Network Operations Center (NOC) work with the company’s certified solution partners (CSPs) to remotely monitor end user customers’ network infrastructure, apply software updates, and troubleshoot issues, including dispatching an on-site technician when required.

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RFID Gets A Second Look as Theft Soars
Why retailers are finally embracing RFID to manage inventory & combat theft

Amid the rise of omnichannel shopping and organized retail thefts, retailers are looking at an old solution to solve new problems.

Radio-frequency identification, otherwise known as RFID, provides retailers with more accurate information to track products, where they are and how they are being sold. Through RFID, retailers can also get a better understanding of exactly which products are stolen and where to add more security in stores.

Though the technology has been around for decades, retailers have increasingly embraced RFID as it has become more cost-effective. Walmart in January said its suppliers in some departments are required to include RFID tags on all merchandise by September this year — not the first time it has attempted such an initiative. Nordstrom also issued a similar mandate to suppliers just a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Macy’s has increasingly been utilizing the technology as high-profile thefts hit retailers across the U.S.

The rise of omnichannel shopping growing alongside retail thefts have made the use of RFID increasingly important. A report from McKinsey in May said that the average cost of an RFID tag has dropped 80% over the last decade to around four cents, which experts say has boosted adoption rates.

Why is RFID getting a second look?

RFID was ahead of its time. Its roots can be traced back to World War II as military use technology, Tony D’onofrio, CEO of consulting firm Prosegur Global Retail said. Walmart in the early 2000s initially pushed its suppliers and vendors to use the technology. But eventually, the initiative fizzled out for a variety of reasons.

“It takes a while for some of these technologies to actually evolve to where we’re at, and the challenge that RFID has, in some ways, was competing with a barcode,” D’onofrio said. He added that barcodes were a much cheaper solution earlier on, but it was time-consuming as workers needed to properly angle scanners and count thousands of items.

Now, Walmart is ready to give RFID another go, and with this, experts expect industry-wide adoption to continue. Nordstrom said it wants to implement RFID to anticipate and address its customer’s expectations. Zara has been using the technology to track products across various countries and replenish clothing racks faster.

Retailers like Victoria’s Secret have recently said they are also testing RFID tags to prevent shoplifting. Having an inventory equipped with RFID doesn’t necessarily prevent those thefts from happening, but it provides detailed information on the colors or sizes of the stolen items.  modernretail.co

NYPD Blasts Target for Attracting Shoplifters
Police Chief Takes Aim at Target’s Shoplifting Policy
Shoplifting is rising on the Upper West Side, as is NYPD’s frustration with at least one retailer, Target at 795 Columbus Avenue [98th Street].

“One-third of our petit larcenies are coming from that Target,” Deputy Inspector Naoki Yaguchi told a packed house at Wednesday evening’s 24th Precinct Community Council meeting held at Bloomingdale Library.

During the January 1st through March 13th period, the 24th recorded 369 total petit larcenies vs.178 in 2021, an increase of 107 percent, according to NYPD CompStat data. Going by Yaguchi’s math, an estimated 123 incidents were from the Target.

“We are having a really serious problem with Target shoplifting. They don’t call us when it happens. They call us hours after the incident, sometimes days after the incident. It doesn’t give us a chance to try and catch the person who did it,” said Yaguchi. “In 17 years on the job, I’ve never encountered a situation where the company essentially refuses to call us. But they’re okay with calling us days later to make a report that satisfies some insurance requirements that they have.”

A local shared her experience. “I saw a shoplifter at Target filling up his bag with frozen seafood products and just walking out.” When she alerted the manager on duty, “The attitude was, ‘we have insurance; we don’t need to worry about this right now.’”

Yaguchi indicated the situation may be attracting people with a propensity to commit crimes to the area. “They make calculations just like us. They know the cops aren’t coming because Target’s not calling. That, I’m sure, gets around.”

Yaguchi said he’d like to see the community put pressure on the store to change their ways. “Boycott!” exclaimed another local woman. When called by WSR, a store manager said she could not comment on any policies, referring us to Target’s corporate team. westsiderag.com

Another State Enacts ORC Legislation
Polis signs bill targeting online marketplaces that enable organized retail theft

The bill is the first of many expected to address crime this legislative session.

Beginning on Jan. 1, online marketplaces operating in Colorado must collect significantly more information on the people selling goods through their sites to cut down on organized retail theft.

Colorado House Bill 1099, signed into law this month by Gov. Jared Polis, is the first crime-reduction bill among a host that are expected to be signed into law this session, and it comes after major chains like The Home Depot and Walgreen’s reported massive spikes in theft losses in recent years.

The Buy Safe America coalition, a group of retailers pushing for reform such laws both in Congress and state governments, estimated that Colorado has suffered $642 million in losses and 9,000 jobs lost because of the recent wave of crime.

Retailers argued in two committee hearings that the jump in such theft is fueled by the ease of selling stolen merchandise unregulated online. Perpetrators can grab tens of thousands of high-dollar equipment at a time from stores and either sneak out with it or threaten violence against security guards that are told by corporations to stand down rather than risk harm or a violent public showdown.

The idea behind HB 1099 is that if individuals know they are easily identifiable — and that their information can be handed over to law-enforcement agencies investigating theft rings — they are less likely to use the sites as fences. The bill may reduce criminal activity if selling stolen goods becomes more difficult.

“This legislation is a huge win for Colorado consumers and businesses. By bringing transparency and accountability to leading e-commerce platforms, shoppers will now have a safeguard in place to protect against the counterfeit and stolen products that have been running rampant on these platforms for too long,” said Michael Hanson, spokesman for the Buy Safe America Coalition, in a news release.
 bizjournals.com

Retail Theft Costs $1.1B in Arizona
State House Commerce Committee looks at effects of organized retail theft
Arizona Retailers Association Executive Director Michell Ahlmer testified that the value of theft in Arizona is approximately $1.1 billion.

According to Kristin Reif, director of external affairs for Philip Morris International, Arizona is particularly susceptible to illicit trade, counterfeiting and organized retail crime due to the state’s proximity to the border.

“The tremendous growth in E-commerce has brought new markets for illicit sales. In the last two years, we’ve seen unprecedented online fraud and piracy, including everything from PPE to the COVID vaccines,” Reif said. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a roughly 40% increase in online counterfeited goods. It is clear that counterfeiting, organized retail crime, and illicit trade is a real and growing threat to Arizona businesses, Arizona taxpayers, and Arizona families.”

Ahlmer said retail theft has an impact on the retail industry’s workforce, as well: “This is an increasingly violent crime,” Ahlmer said. “No one wants to work where they feel threatened. The jobs lost is an issue that is of high concern”

In Arizona, the Arizona Organized Retail Crime Association (AZORCA) has been taking steps to curb the economic impact of retail crime. This statewide partnership includes law enforcement and retail investigators that “share cross-jurisdictional information to identify, disrupt, and apprehend Organized Retail Crime crews.”

The testimony concluded with a call to action for state and local governments to rethink current shoplifting laws in order to create a system that better allows for prosecution of these crimes. chamberbusinessnews.com

Pima County businesses look to combat retail theft

US: 81.4M Cases - 999.7K Dead - 63.4M Recovered
Worldwide: 474.8M Cases - 6.1M Dead - 410.6M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 354  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 728
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Here We Go Again
America is moving on from COVID, but the new Omicron subvariant is already here and experts say it’s 50% more contagious
U.S. officials have scaled back many indoor mask mandates and vaccine requirements, marking the shift to treating COVID-19 as endemic. But White House advisors are warning that COVID cases will likely rise again because of the BA.2 Omicron subvariant spreading through the U.S.

“The bottom line is we likely will see an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the U.K.,” said Anthony Fauci, the chief White House medical adviser, in a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week.

BA.2 is about 50% more transmissible than the original Omicron strain. But it doesn’t cause more severe illness, evade vaccinations, or cause earlier infection, according to Fauci. fortune.com

Post-COVID Conference Boom Coming?
Workers Are Ready to Network Again. Conference Organizers Want to Help

In-person conferences are returning in force, but reduced travel budgets and a patchwork of ever-changing COVID safety rules are creating headaches for planners

Business travel is back. Again. White-collar workers are packing their suitcases and boarding planes after a retreat from nonessential travel prompted by the Omicron variant. One of their first orders of business? Reconnecting with colleagues in their industry and, well, partying.

There is a growing desire among some lawyers, accountants and other professional-services workers to get back out into the world and start networking. The demand to do so is fueling a shift by conference organizers to a mixture of in-person and hybrid offerings from the largely virtual-only events of the past two years.

But pulling off an in-person conference in today’s world comes with a range of new challenges. Event planners face a patchwork of ever-changing state and local Covid-19 regulations, reduced corporate-travel budgets and other hurdles, such as sudden cancellations when speakers test positive for Covid-19.

Big conferences require ample space for panels, exhibitors and networking events, and convention centers and hotels are often booked years in advance for this purpose. That means many of the events happening in 2022 are in cities and venues chosen well before anyone heard of the novel coronavirus.

Some conference planners are putting on their first in-person conference in two years in a city with stricter rules than others. Although cities and states are shifting back to looser safety protocols, everybody from organizers to attendees have to be ready to pivot at a moment’s notice. wsj.com

Pandemic Era Remote Work - The Mental & Physical Impact
Remote work amid COVID-19 pandemic led to spikes in mental, physical issues
A recent survey of people who worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that nearly three-quarters experienced new mental health issues, while 65% developed new physical issues.

Since working from home, 74% of the respondents said they’d experienced a new mental health issue, and 55% said they’d experienced two or more. Those issues included anxiety, sadness, trouble sleeping, low motivation, mental stress and trouble concentrating.

“Although it was apparent that the pandemic disrupted our lives in a way that was stressful, we were a bit shocked by the high incidence of new health issues among the home-based workforce so early on in the pandemic,” study co-author Shawn Roll, director of USC’s doctoral program in occupational science, said in a press release. safetyandhealthmagazine.com

WHO blames rising Covid cases in Europe on curbs lifted too soon

NYC COVID Cases Rising, Manhattan Transmission Jumps