Interface "Ask Our Expert" video series

What is POS Exception Reporting?

Jim Mack, VP Products and Solutions, Interface Security Systems, explains how Point of Sale (POS) Exception Reporting solutions can help retail chains and restaurants identify internal theft and opportunities to train employees. He also talks about how the ROI from POS exception reporting can be further improved when integrated with security cameras. 

To learn more about POS exception reporting, please visit https://interfacesystems.com/business-intelligence/pos-exception-reporting/
 

Businesses Demand Federal ORC Action
U.S. Chamber Letter on Organized Retail Crime and Retail Theft

This letter was sent to the Members of the United States Congress as well as to the National Governors Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National District Attorneys Association, on retail theft and organized retail crime.

Communities and businesses large and small across the United States are facing a significant increase in retail theft and organized retail crime that requires the swift response of policymakers.

A recent survey of small business owners founds that a majority (54%) experienced an increase in shoplifting in 2021. According to a survey of larger retailers by the National Retail Federation, organized retail crime cost stores an average of over $700,000 per $1 billion in sales in 2020, up more than 50% in the last five years.

These crimes are not victimless. In addition to the growing number of thefts that turn violent, innocent consumers, employees, local communities, and business owners and shareholders bear the costs of rising retail theft. Twenty-five percent of small businesses report raising prices as a result of shoplifting. Some retailers have been forced to shutter locations in response to rampant theft.

As this problem continues to grow, we urge you to take the following steps:

Congress should pass legislation to stop the sale of stolen goods on online marketplaces: The bipartisan H.R. 5502, “Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for (INFORM) Consumers Act,” would increase transparency and identity verification of high-volume third-party sellers in online retail marketplaces while protecting the privacy of small sellers and establishing a uniform federal standard that would provide certainty and consistency for the business community. This legislation would deter retail crime by closing off a prominent avenue by which criminals seek to profit by selling stolen goods, often to unsuspecting customers.

Update the definition of organized retail crime and increase criminal penalties: States should act to define the crime of “organized retail theft” in criminal law to specify those thefts involving two or more participants and an intention of resale and include increased penalties for those specific violations.

The law and prosecutors must hold those who engage in organized and significant retail theft accountable: Since 2000, at least 40 states have raised the thresholds for the value of stolen goods to trigger a felony charge. In some instances, criminals are taking advantage of these increased higher thresholds to engage in repeated thefts and avoid prosecution. States should reconsider these thresholds and prosecutors should avoid adopting broad non-prosecution policies.

With a coordinated and focused effort among lawmakers, law enforcement, and the business community, we can stop the rise of organized retail crime.  uschamber.com

Magnificent Mile Businesses Call on Kim Foxx to Prosecute Criminals
'We want to see the Cook County State's Attorney's Office prosecuting'
"We want to see the Cook County State's Attorney's Office prosecuting," Bares told ABC7 News. "Violent crime has been up and that's what has us concerned. "Carjackings, recovery of guns, some shootings -- those kinds of things."

Bares is calling on Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to fight back by prosecuting more of those cases, along with more aggressively going after the organized retail theft rings that are terrorizing the ritzy shopping district.

"We want to see the Cook County State's Attorney's Office prosecuting,” she said. “When the police have put together a solid case, we want to see that prosecuted. And we want to see the judiciary sentence appropriately."

With felony crime on the rise, a report by the Chicago Tribune says Foxx and her staff have dismissed upwards of 25,000 felony cases - including many involving charges of murder and other serious crimes – over her first three years in office. By comparison, Foxx, who was swept into office largely on a platform of criminal justice reform, had dropped charges against felony defendants at a clip that’s more than 10 percent greater than predecessor Anita Alvarez.

With “smash-and-grab” robberies now on the rise and estimates pegging total retail theft losses felt by merchants last year as high as $4 billion, state Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) has filed legislation targeting the organized theft rings behind the crime wave.

House Bill 4275 creates the crime of organized retail theft, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in jail if the value of the stolen goods is more than the state’s current felony threshold of $300. Individuals would face such charges whenever they “work with one or more people to steal merchandise with the intent of selling or returning the merchandise for profit” or “act as an agent of another individual or group of individuals to steal merchandise from one or more merchant’s premises as part of an organized plan to commit theft.” chicagocitywire.com

California Turns Up the Heat on Theft Crews
Authorities aim to stop shoplifters who have been stealing many items from stores
At various cities in California, there have been several recent reports of groups of shoplifters walking into stores, brazenly grabbing items, and leaving without paying.

“California has seen a rise in thefts in recent years where suspects will walk into a store, clear out shelves and walk out without a care in the world. Unfortunately, some counties are not prosecuting people for these types of crimes,” Romero said, but he indicated that local law enforcement personnel are taking these incidents very seriously.

“Fontana Police Department will arrest all suspects,” he said. “San Bernardino County is prosecuting and holding people accountable for their actions.”

On March 25, the state made progress in the fight against these types of crimes as California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the arrest of and felony charges against members of an organized retail theft ring operating throughout California, including the Inland Empire.

The theft ring was operating in Los Angeles County as well as in San Bernardino, Riverside, Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Orange, Sacramento, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Ventura counties.

“Organized retail theft hurts businesses, employees, and the public — and this criminal activity will not be tolerated in California,” said Bonta in a news release. “Today we take another step toward tackling this issue by announcing the arrests and felony charges against individuals alleged to be participants in an organized criminal scheme targeting retailers throughout our state.” fontanaheraldnews.com

New Orleans Calls On National Guard to Help with 'Tornado of Crime'
Residents worried as 2 severe beatings just latest in crime wave

The city will have additional resources from JPSO, State Police and feds for this weekend's Final Four.

Rhonda Findley with New Orleans Safe, started a petition drive to get city leaders to request help from the National Guard. So far, the petition on petition.org, has received 5,000 signatures.

“We’re in a crisis,” Findley said. "We’re in a tornado of crime and it’s time to bring in support. We have the guard here at Jackson Barracks."

New Orleans is getting help from the Louisiana State Police, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, and federal law enforcement agencies this weekend for the NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament in the Caesar’s Superdome.

“You’re going to see a large presence of officers throughout this weekend in the downtown area, the entire weekend,” NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said.

Neighbors are asking for stepped up police presence on a daily basis, not just for large events. wwltv.com

In Case You Missed It: Retail theft target of legislation looking to tackle ORC

Op-Ed: How to steer clear of crime in New York City

Which Colorado counties have seen the fastest rises in crime?

US: 81.6M Cases - 1M Dead - 64.8M Recovered
Worldwide: 485.7M Cases - 6.1M Dead - 421.1M 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: 740
*Red indicates change in total deaths

COVID Cases Flatten as Another Surge Looms

New COVID Spike Is 'Imminent'
These Are the 7 States With the Worst COVID Surges Right Now

The national decline in cases is also showing signs of slowing down

For over three months, COVID cases have seen a sustained decline on a national level since the Omicron surge reached its peak on Jan. 14. However, the decrease in infections appears to be slowing, with the national daily average hovering around 30,000 over the past week, according to data from The Washington Post. Meanwhile, some states are already seeing surges in COVID cases as experts begin to warn that another national spike could be imminent.

Fears of an upcoming increase in infections come as cases abroad have spiked due to the spread of the highly transmissible BA.2 Omicron subvariant, which has just become the dominant strain in the U.S. According to The New York Times, in the last two weeks, cases went up by 45 percent in the U.K., 3 percent in Spain, and 94 percent in France. bestlifeonline.com
 
The Post-COVID Mall Bounceback
PREIT sales hit a record in February

Mall operator PREIT's February comparable sales at core malls hit an "all-time high" of $618 per square foot, according to a press release.

A massive shortfall in rent payments sent PREIT into Chapter 11, along with its peer CBL Properties, as retailers worked through the financial impact of temporary store closures and lingering traffic declines during the early phases of the pandemic. For PREIT and other mall operators, the challenges of the pandemic followed years of decline in revenue as the mall's place in the U.S. continued to diminish through the past decade.

PREIT made progress in 2021 toward digging itself out of the hole created in the mall world by the advent of COVID-19. After filing for bankruptcy in 2020, PREIT recapitalized, grew its sales and cut its losses by nearly half. Its losses, though, still remained substantial at $135.9 million for 2021.

The mall operator's strong sales in February also represent another data point showing that malls and specialty retailers are making headway after January's steep surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant. retaildive.com

New COVID Restrictions Coming?
Fauci: Americans should be prepared for new COVID-19 restrictions
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned about the potential for the reinstatement of COVID-19 restrictions in the U.S. In an interview on the BBC's "Sunday Morning," Fauci said U.S. residents "need to be prepared for the possibility" of restrictions being put back into place.

"I don't want to use the word ‘lockdowns.’ That has a charged element to it. But, I believe that we must keep our eye on the pattern of what we're seeing with infections," he said, noting that the U.S. is currently moving toward normalcy.

"Having said that, we need to be prepared for the possibility that we would have another variant that would come along," Fauci noted. "And then, if things change and we do get a variant that does give us an uptick in cases and hospitalization, we should be prepared and flexible enough to pivot toward going back – at least temporarily – to a more rigid type of restrictions, such as requiring masks indoor." foxnews.com

New 'Stealth' Variant Now Eyed in 71% of Local Infections, Dominates US as New York Cases Climb
According to the CDC, the "stealth" omicron variant, BA.2, now accounts for 71% of COVID circulating in the New York area right now, up from 39% two weeks ago. It's also now the dominant U.S. strain

Manhattan becomes hotbed of new cases as BA.2 variant drives infections higher