Ribbon Cutting Today @ New Police Substation Opening @ Buffalo's Mass Shooting Tops Store

Buffalo's Tops Friendly Markets gets police substation two years after mass shooting

The grocery store says the goal is to increase police visibility and outreach

Nearly two years after a mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 10 people and wounded three, the grocery chain announced it is partnering with local police to install a police substation at a Tops store in nearby Niagara Falls. 

Tops explained that the substation would not be occupied by police at all times, and the store will still have its own security. 

“Tops was proud to be able to support local law enforcement and the city in their efforts to provide their officers a location in which they can complete paper or computer work, recharge equipment, and engage with community members,” said regional vice president for Tops, Jim Gibson, in a statement. supermarketnews.com

Will New York Pass & Fund Hochul's Retail Theft Package? 

Toughening retail theft penalties pits Hochul against fellow Democrats

Housing has sucked up much of the oxygen in ongoing state budget negotiations, but another disagreement between the governor and lawmakers remains unresolved: whether to toughen penalties around shoplifting.

Gov. Kathy Hochul put retail theft at the center of her policy agenda this year, amid data showing that shoplifting has risen in New York in recent years even as it has fallen in other parts of the country. Most notably, her budget proposal called for making it a felony to assault a retail worker — a provision that is facing resistance in the state Legislature.

“I just don't believe raising penalties is ever a deterrent on crime,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said last month. He spoke for many in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which has generally opposed Hochul’s prior attempts to toughen criminal penalties and roll back parts of the state’s 2019 bail reform laws.

The disagreement has helped delay the state budget well past its April 1 due date, although Hochul and other officials have indicated that a deal might be within reach.

Hochul’s other proposals include making it illegal to aid the sale of stolen products online, funding a $25 million State Police deployment to investigate “organized retail theft rings,” and giving a combined $15 million to local prosecutors’ offices and police departments to combat shoplifting. Hochul would also set aside $5 million to create a $3,000 tax credit for small businesses that spend money on anti-shoplifting measures.

State Senate leaders have voiced support for some of those plans, like the tax credit and the penalty for online sales, while the Assembly said little about the issue in its official budget proposal. But the increased penalty for assault in particular has been a sticking point.

Hochul’s push has won support from some business leaders. Leaders of the Five Borough Jobs Campaign — a coalition that includes business improvement districts, the city’s chambers of commerce and the Real Estate Board of New York — has called on the Legislature to fully back Hochul’s package, saying shoplifting has eaten into the bottom lines of the city’s small business owners. The Retail Council of New York State, an industry group, has also praised the governor’s plan and has reported lobbying lawmakers on related issues.

Another supporter of the tougher penalties is Mayor Eric Adams, who has urged state lawmakers to approve Hochul’s package. He said last week that he disagreed with Heastie’s assertion that harsher penalties would not deter crime.

“What it does, and what I believe it should do, it keeps dangerous people off our streets,” Adams said of the proposed felony charge.  crainesnewyork.com

Adams Wants to Return to the Good Old Days of Holding People Accountable

NYC Mayor Adams stops short of calling for deportation of migrants who allegedly hurt cop during shoplifting arrest: ‘This is my position’

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday stopped short of calling for the deportation of two migrants accused of injuring an NYPD officer who was trying to arrest them for shoplifting from an Upper East Side Target.

“If you are a repeat offender of a violent act in his city, after you serve your time, you need to leave this city. That is my position,” Adams said during his weekly press conference at City Hall when asked about the vicious April 2 attack.

The tepid response stood in stark contrast to the position Hizzoner took less than two months ago — when he called on overhauling the city’s controversial sanctuary laws for migrants accused of serious offenses.

Adams in February floated changing the current policy to allow local law enforcement to turn migrants over to federal immigration officials if they were “suspected” of a serious crime.

I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who I believe subscribe to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in this city should be held accountable,” Adams fumed to reporters in City Hall on Feb. 27.  hey didn’t give due process to the person that they shot or punched or killed,” he added.   nypost.com

‘Scared to death’: S.F. librarians call for security guards at every branch

Nearly 100 San Francisco Public Library workers and union supporters rallied Tuesday outside the Main Library on Larkin Street calling on city officials to place security guards at every branch in the system. The request is part of contract negotiations between the city and its library staff, who are represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1021. 

The library budgeted $8.7 million this fiscal year for safety and security, which includes security staff, support from the sheriff’s department at the main library, a contract with Urban Alchemy and the agency’s social worker program. sfchronical.com

Facial Recognition Technology Retail Milestone Day

UK Rolls Out Nationwide FRT Program to Combat Retail Crime

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Today Announced  Major Investment in Facial Recognition As Part of Wider Crackdown on Retail Crime

To the shoplifters and those abusing shopworkers, enough is enough,” says a release from the Home Office, which specifies that assaulting a retail worker is to be made a standalone criminal offense.

The £55.5 million (US$69.5 million) to be spent on facial recognition technology over the next four years includes £4m for “bespoke mobile units that can be deployed to high streets across the country with live facial recognition used in crowded areas to identify people wanted by the police – including repeat shoplifters.” Matching real-time live footage with biometric databases and other watchlists, the system will send alerts to police if a banned individual is detected in a high street or retail area via facial recognition.

“The number of offenders being charged for these crimes is increasing and while I want to see more people face consequences for their actions, our plan is designed to help put a stop to these crimes happening in the first place,” says Home Secretary James Cleverly, framing facial recognition as a preventative measure.

Metropolitan Police say facial recognition is as important as DNA

Despite such critiques, the investment comes as no surprise, given law enforcement’s embrace of biometrics and facial recognition. In an interview with The Times this week, the Metropolitan Police’s director of ­intelligence, Lindsey Chiswick, calls facial recognition for law enforcement “transformational” and “the biggest development in policing since DNA or fingerprints.”

Besides, the Met already uses a version of the roving facial recognition vehicles, which use live facial recognition cameras mounted on top to perform facial recognition scans and flag any matches against a database of wanted perpetrators.

There is talk of the UK government making an official policy statement on its facial recognition strategy in the coming weeks, and the PM’s announcement makes that all the more plausible. The Times says it will contain “guardrails and safeguards” to assuage public concerns about surveillance and loss of privacy.

Regulation key to public trust, widespread uptake of facial recognition

The call for regulation is a big part of public pushback against biometric facial recognition. Answering the call, the Office of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner, Dr. Brian Plastow, has published its Review of the Laws of Retention of Biometric Data in Scotland. The 37-page document includes key facts, reported numbers for different police force’s biometric databases (although the total number is unknown), definitions, an outline of the Commissioner’s role, and a lengthy assurance review.

The quickest path to wide public acceptance is probably the slow and steady one, while those who jump the gun risk tripping over the many questions about facial recognition that remain in the public square. biometricupdate.com

National Police Chiefs' Council
Feb., 12, 2024

The UK's Retail Crime Action Plan & Operation Pegasus Launched October 2023
Obviously successful & Helped springboard today's announcement.

Policing Retail Crime Action Plan shows early impact

A plan commissioned by the Policing Minister and developed by policing in partnership with Government to drive down retail crime is already showing positive results.

The Retail Crime Action Plan, which set out policing’s commitment to tackling shoplifting and prioritising attendance where violence was involved or a shoplifter was detained, was launched in October 2023.

Operational implementation of the plan has shown significant impact from a dip sample of 31 police forces carried out in December 2023.

Of over 1,500 crimes reviewed across all retailers, police attended 60 per cent where violence had been used, with 16 per cent of forces sampled reporting 100 per cent attendance to this type of incident.

Police attendance for a detained shoplifter was 76 per cent with 21 per cent of forces again showing 100 per cent attendance.  npcc.police.uk

Editors Note:  Operation Pegasus has an FRT component managed by law enforcement along with 18 retailers and is the first coordinated retail and public law enforcement effort to date.  Although there hasn't been any major media coverage since its roll-out last October, other than the internal report in February, its obviously been successful or the Prime Minister wouldn't be rolling out a national program. 

This is an historical milestone for Facial Recognition Technology.  Just my opinion.  Gus Downing

Customer Notification

Across the Pond Another Retailer Publicly Adapts Facial Recognition

UK; Booths supermarket is running facial recognition surveillance to stop shoplifting and abuse of staff

According to Booths’ website, the system instantly deletes the image where no match is found against the POI Watchlist. The system does not store this image and this image cannot be stored, retrieved or reverse engineered. Only those that have committed criminal activity on a Booths site will be added to the POI Watchlist. No images will be added to the POI Watchlist from any other external source such as the police or other retailers.

Those added to the watchlist are done so for six months from their last offence committed on a Booths site. After this time has elapsed, they will be removed.

A spokesman for the company said: “Increasing incidents of abusive behaviour towards shop workers in addition to significant increases in shoplifting are affecting businesses big and small across the UK’s retail sector.

“To help to address these issues and to keep Booths customers and colleagues safe, we are introducing Facial Recognition Technology in our stores.  This initiative is just one part of a broader approach aimed at minimising retail crime at Booths whilst protecting our colleagues and customers. The technology uses a combination of facial recognition but also requires human verification by a trained Booths specialist. We take our responsibilities to our customers and colleagues very seriously and our aim is to deter crimes before they are committed.”  burnley.com

Anyone with questions about the systsem is asked to contact centralservices@booths.co.uk

 

Target Alerting Customers if Anything is Unscanned & Tracking Repeaters?

Target adds cameras at self-checkout stations to deter theft

The retailer is adding a new technology at its self-checkout registers that uses cameras to detect items on scanners, alerting shoppers who leave anything unscanned, according to internal documents viewed by Bloomberg News.

The technology, called TruScan, is being rolled out to all stores this year, the documents said. It could help Target track shoppers "who repeatedly fail to scan their items even after being prompted," according to the documents.

Shoppers will get audio and visual cues when they don't scan items and the technology has been piloted in some stores in recent months, said people familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

Minneapolis-based Target and other U.S. retailers have added weight sensors and cameras at self-checkout stations to enhance security and typically have store employees intervene when there are errors. Target's TruScan technology is meant to go beyond that in a move to reduce theft and product shortages.

Target is upgrading self-checkout stations after its March announcement of purchase limits of 10 products at these registers. The company also said it plans to open more traditional checkout lanes that are staffed by employees.

Dollar General removing them from more than 300 high shrink stores. 

Kroger has said it's experienced more organized crime at self-checkout stations and that it is investing in technologies to prevent theft.  startribune.com

 

Analytics & Business Intelligence Becoming the Top Two Skill Sets

Are you part of the new breed of grocery workers?

Technology, analytics are redefining roles, according to new executive salary data

Job titles in the grocery industry are not necessarily changing, but the scripts are starting to flip, according to new executive salary data. 

In a short amount of time, job requirements are now reflecting a fast changing industry where analytics and business intelligence are critical to a chain gaining competitive advantage. This finding is reflected in recently released 2023 executive salary data compiled by Austin-Michael, a Golden, Colo.-based executive search firm specializing in grocery retail. 

“Analytics are playing a bigger part in the organizational makeup of these companies,” said Austin-Michael managing general partner Jose Tamez.. “Analytics, data, and business intelligence are beginning to play such a huge part in the value channel, in the value chain, that now those skill sets and the demand for those skill sets is growing pretty quickly.”

Job responsibilities are also getting added to titles for grocery workers due to tech allowing more functions to be carried out by fewer individuals.  Ed Note; Isn't this true in all retailers?

“Now you have one person who can do two functions, possibly even three with the help of technology,” Tamez said. “You are going to see organizational charts getting tighter and tighter because of some of these very things.” 

Bringing in workers with more technical experience, along with beefing up job responsibilities, are two reasons why grocery salaries are going to shift in the coming years, Tamez said.  supermarketnews.com

 

Trader Joe’s in Chicago files to unionize - 5th if successful

Build-A-Bear to Open 50 New Stores

Southern Calif.'s 99 Cents Only Stores Liquidating All 371

 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Sr. Consultant, Asset Protection job posted for CarMax in Richmond, VA
The Asset Protection Sr. Consultant provides direct AP support for all locations and associates and conducts routine AP investigations. The Sr. Consultant manages their work and assigned case load primarily within the ThinkLP HRAP Case Management system. The Sr. Consultant also participates in core home office AP team meetings to ensure high level of internal department collaboration as well as with store management and other home office departments, including but not limited to Human Resources, Customer Relations, etc. careers.carmax.com


Manager, Field Safe & Secure job posted for Carvana in Haines City, FL
We're looking for an experienced and collaborative Field Safe & Secure Manager to lead the Safe and Secure efforts for a large distribution center, consisting of 400+ associates and a product inventory exceeding $100MM. The Field Safe & Secure Manager will work closely with the Facility Leadership Team (Operations, Wholesale, Logistics, and People Operations) in supporting the safety of our associates and the protection of our assets in a dynamic working environment. indeed.com