US: 33.3M Cases - 593.1K Dead - 26M Recovered
Worldwide: 155.9M Cases - 3.2M Dead - 133.3M Recovered

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

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 279  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 297
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Variants a concern as Minn. plans rollback of COVID restrictions, mask mandate
Walz will ease restrictions as cases drop, vaccination rate moves closer to 70%.

While Gov. Tim Walz is scheduled at noon Thursday to announce a three-phase plan to eliminate business and social restrictions because of improving case numbers, state health officials said close monitoring of more infectious variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 is needed to prevent any resurgence in pandemic activity. The B.1.1.7 variant found in England largely caused Minnesota's latest wave of infections.

Walz's plan is for a graduated elimination of remaining COVID-19 mitigation strategies, including the mask mandate for public indoor spaces, that will be somewhat tied to Minnesota's ability to advance from a vaccination rate of 59% among eligible people to 70%. startribune.com

Enlisting Dollar Stores for Next Phase of Vaccine Effort?
Dollar stores: gateways to equitable Covid-19 vaccine distribution
With the number of Americans receiving Covid-19 vaccines each week starting to decline, it’s time to pull out the stops to reach those who are willing to be vaccinated but haven’t yet been able to do so. Enlisting dollar stores as vaccination sites is one way to make vaccines more widely and equitably available.

Proximity to a vaccination site may be particularly important for low-income households. Given that Dollar General’s business model is to locate stores in lower-income “retail deserts,” it’s no surprise that adding its 17,000 retail locations as vaccine sites would improve the fraction of low-income households within a mile of a federal vaccine partner from 49% to 60%.

By adding Dollar General stores to the mix of available vaccination sites, about 40% of low-income Arkansans would be within a mile of a federal retail vaccine site and 87% would be within 10 miles.

When we’ve talked with people about this idea, they are quick to point out the challenges: Not every Dollar General store would be suitable as a vaccine site. And Dollar General stores don’t have in-store pharmacies, so vaccination staff would have to come to those to run clinics.

A partnership with a retail chain like Dollar General or other dollar store chains whose business model is to operate in lower-income areas could provide a jump-start to the hard work ahead reaching those individuals and communities willing but not yet able to get vaccines, the groups central to this critical next phase of the vaccination rollout. statnews.com

Waiving Intellectual Property Protections for COVID Vaccines
Taking ‘Extraordinary Measures,’ Biden Backs Suspending Patents on Vaccines

Biden, siding with some world leaders over the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, came out in favor of waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines.

The Biden administration came out on Wednesday in support of waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, siding with international efforts to bolster production amid concerns about vaccine access in developing nations.

The United States had been a major holdout at the World Trade Organization over a proposal to suspend some of the world economic body’s intellectual property protections, which could allow drugmakers across the globe access to the closely guarded trade secrets of how the viable vaccines have been made. But President Biden had come under increasing pressure to throw his support behind the proposal, drafted by India and South Africa and backed by many congressional Democrats. nytimes.com

Target funnels $5 million toward COVID-19 vaccine access
First $1 million to cover Lyft rides to and from vaccination appointments

Target Corp. has earmarked $5 million to support global, national and local efforts to help boost community access to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Target said Monday that, to start, the company is contributing $1 million to nonprofits offering access to free and discounted rides to coronavirus vaccine appointments via the Lyft Universal Vaccine Access campaign. Under the program, the rideshare company and a coalition of partners provide underserved communities access to rides to and from immunization sites.

Another $2.5 million is slated to go to local community groups nationwide to help fund COVID vaccination efforts in their neighborhoods. Target said $500,000 of those funds will aid the Minnesota Council on Foundations work with the Minnesota Department of Health’s vaccine equity effort to reach communities of color, people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations. The retailer also is funneling dollars to support Latinos Progresando in Chicago to facilitate vaccinations in the Hispanic community. supermarketnews.com

Oregon OSHA makes rules on masks, distancing permanent - until no longer needed
Oregon OSHA adopted a rule Tuesday to continue to require use of masks, physical distancing and other measures in the workplace until they are no longer needed. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown forecasts being able to lift most, but not all, restrictions by the end of June. nbc16.com

California has the lowest COVID-19 positivity rates in the nation
Driven in large measure by high vaccination rates and a state budget windfall that could top $30 billion by next summer

In a dramatic shift, California’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are now at their lowest since the pandemic started
 

Reducing Retail Shrinkage With Video Surveillance

By Hedgie Bartol

The evolution of in-store shopping behaviors combined with the continued e-commerce boom has increased the importance for retailers to secure profit margins. Loss of inventory due to customer and employee theft can impact these margins significantly, meaning theft prevention should be a key focus area for retailers. The numbers prove this: According to a survey from the National Retail Federation and consulting firm Appriss Retail, retailers lost nearly $62 billion in 2019 due to inventory loss, representing 1.6 percent of total sales for the year. However, retailers can prevent such shrinkage — both inventory and profit-wise — by implementing video surveillance tools with powerful analytics technology that can address core issues and provide helpful solutions.

Direction Detection

Video-based people counting is an established solution in retail, but it’s also important to know where exactly shoppers are traveling throughout a store. For instance, if a customer tries to access restricted exits or store areas, which could be indicative of foul play, video surveillance tools should be able to detect and react to such activity if no employees are around.

Hedgie Bartol is the Retail Business Development Manager for the retail segment in North America at Axis Communications. By combining intelligent technology and human imagination, Axis Communications offers solutions based on sight, sound and analytics to improve security and optimize business performance. In his role, Bartol works closely with partners and retailers on strategic surveillance installations designed to maximize loss prevention and streamline business operations. mytotalretail.com

Prime Communications - Under Armour - VF Corp Talk COVID-19 Impact
The State of Loss Prevention and Asset Protection

Let’s take a look at pain points, best practices and COVID-19’s impact on loss prevention.

When people hear the term “loss prevention,” they usually think about limiting shrinkage and stopping theft. “Those are definitely the headliners,” acknowledges Alan Fagergren, Director of Loss Prevention at Prime Communications, AT&T’s largest authorized retailer. “But retailers incur loss in a lot of different ways, especially now with COVID. Between efficient payroll processes, operational mistakes, employee safety, and discounting, loss prevention is involved in a lot of different buckets.”

Perhaps it’s because of all the different roles they play, but loss prevention (LP)/asset protection (AP) professionals tend to be passionate about their jobs. “In general, there’s this crazy love affair AP people have with the work we do,” says Kristine Gentilella, Global Director of Retail Asset Protection at Under Armour. “For me personally, it’s probably one of the most satisfying departments to be in because you’re able to be that go-between for the back-office component and the forward-facing retail side.”

But just like about everything else in the world, the loss prevention/asset protection space has been hugely affected by the pandemic and the “traditional” threat landscape for security professionals in this area has evolved over the past year and half.

Increased Fraud and Crime Attempts

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of online purchases processed by retailers has exploded for many. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in our volume of traffic in the e-commerce channel, which is terrific, but that also means that fraudsters are getting more creative,” Gentilella says. Her digital fraud team has noticed a significant increase in attempts to push fraudulent orders through in the last year, for example. To combat this, they’ve been heavily utilizing analytical tools. “We have extremely low chargeback rates because we have an exceptional team that reviews these orders,” she says.

Fagergren says there has also been an increase in violent retail and white-collar crime and his team has seen more identity theft attempts than ever before. “I don’t necessarily think it’s due to only COVID, but I think that the technology and everything available on social media, and maybe being home more, has given more opportunity to some people out there that try to be one step ahead of us,” he says.

Marty Andrews, Vice President of Loss Prevention at VF Corporation, which owns several brands such as Vans, The North Face, and Timberland, has seen increased organized retail crime. He says this has been going on for years but not to this level of aggression and violence. “Subjects are going from mall to mall to mall stealing large amounts of merchandise to resell, without fear of being apprehended,” he says.

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Where does LP & AP report into at your organization?
In 2007 46%, the Vast Majority of LP - AP Functions Reported into the Operations Side of the Retail Business
In conducting a very detailed formal survey for one of the Big Four consulting firms back in 2007, we found that 46%, or 23 of the Top 50 retailers, as published by Stores Magazine, reported into the retailers operations group. The exact titles in the functions they reported to vary from COO to Sr.VP, EVP and so on. With the 50 reporting to:

COO or Operations: 23 or 46%
CFO or Financial group: 7 or 14%
Legal: 5 or 8%
CEO directly: 4 or 8%
HR group: 4 or 8%
Risk Mgt.: 2 or 4%
Internal Audit: 2 or 4%
Chief Compliance Officer: 1 or 2%
Global Logistics/Fulfillment/Operations: 1 or 2%
1 declined to provide

Tomorrow see the total picture of the entire Top 100 for 2007 and we'll include the informal current survey results from the Daily.

It's not too late to take the time to let us know the function your LP or AP team report into.

Zoombombing Led to a Team of 50+
Zoom Beefed Up Compliance Team During Pandemic

The videoconferencing company formalized risk and ethics functions with the hiring of its first chief compliance officer last year

Zoom Video Communications Inc. quietly built a multilayered compliance team last year to formalize its risk and ethics functions under one leader as the company became a household name during the global pandemic.

The San Jose, Calif.-based videoconferencing company hired its first chief compliance officer in January 2020 and built a new compliance team with the addition of 50 more lawyers and compliance professionals, Lynn Haaland, Zoom’s deputy general counsel and chief compliance and ethics officer, said Wednesday at the WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum.

“There really hasn’t been for me a ‘pre-pandemic’ or ‘normal’ time at Zoom,” said Ms. Haaland, who is also Zoom’s chief privacy officer.

Zoom, which went public in 2019, has been one of the biggest corporate beneficiaries from the shift to remote work and distance schooling. The company said in March that it expected revenue this year would rise more than 41% after more than quadrupling to $2.65 billion in the fiscal year ended in January.

Early in the pandemic, Zoom struggled to deal with the explosion of “Zoombombing”—where people gain unauthorized access to a meeting and, in some cases, share hate-speech or pornographic images. Zoom responded by adjusting default settings for users, but Zoombombings still happen.

The company’s efforts have included the creation of individual teams working on issues related to compliance and ethics, such as the internal code of conduct and training, privacy, regulatory compliance, technical compliance, and “trust and safety,” Ms. Haaland said. wsj.com

Emergency Communications Trends for 2021
How the COVID-19 pandemic already has—and will continue to—influence how companies communicate with their staff employees, especially in the event of an emergency, crisis or natural disaster.

As the vaccine becomes more broadly available, employees will be met with several new safety regulations and procedures as they return to the office.

The good news is that there are numerous tools now available to help organizations navigate even the most complex of these transformations, especially when it comes to emergencies. For starters, an emergency communication system helps safety leaders reach employees wherever they are, whether at home or in the office, at a moment’s notice in the event of an emergency, crisis or natural disaster.

But effective communication is only half the battle. Organizations also need a mechanism for proactively identifying potential threats to employee safety and rapidly dispatching relevant information to those in harm’s way before it’s too late. Since proximity to a threat is often the primary factor in determining who is at risk during an emergency, the ability to accurately pinpoint employees’ location is invaluable for an organization’s emergency response plans.

Here’s a deeper look at four leading trends organizations will face as we all navigate the new world of work in 2021—and beyond.

Investments in Better Threat Detection

Organizations are increasingly turning to emergency communication systems with location awareness and global threat intelligence capabilities so they can automatically monitor for threats and calculate the potential impact of said threats on their employees.

Prioritization for a Safe Return to Work
Plans for Remote Work to Continue
Enhancement of Safety and Health Programs ehstoday.com

StrongArm Tech Protecting Your Industrial Athletes
Walmart puts premium on warehouse safety with wearable tech
Walmart is putting a spotlight on employee safety with a wearable technology program it is implementing in its distribution centers

In 2018, the retailer began deploying the StrongArm Technologies Fuse Risk Management Platform at a Walmart grocery distribution center in Gordonsville, Va. As part of the rollout, associates wear a small sensor between their shoulder blades.

Associates wearing the Fuse sensors have a safety score as a benchmark. The higher they score from 0-100 every shift, the safer they have been. The sensors provide intuitive, actionable data on worker activity across multiple job functions. In addition, the data provides management with information to publicly praise associates who are consistently safety leaders.

Within the first year of deploying Fuse, targeted, ergonomic-related injuries decreased by nearly 65% across participating associates. Furthermore, Walmart saw an additional year-over-year targeted injury reduction of 27% in year two, and 16% in year three.

Since 2018, the company has launched the platform across 18 buildings and 6,000 associates, and additional program growth is underway. chainstoreage.com

Dick’s to open 3 new off-price concepts stores - Going, Going, Gone!
Also in May, they'll roll out experiential "soccer shops" inside six existing Dick’s stores, and a Sporting Goods Warehouse Sale store, in New Orleans