Officer Down Memorial Page:
End of Watch

In April 2020 COVID-19 Caused 23 Police Officers 'Line of Duty Deaths'

YTD Overall the 69 total 'Line of Duty' deaths at end of April are up 38% this year. odmp.org

2020's Back End Trade Shows? We'll See You In 2021?

With ASIS Possibly Going Virtual for GSX in September
What Happens to all those Q3 ORC Association Conferences & A Few Others Who Round Out the Trade Show Season?
Every year a host of ORC Associations have their third quarter conferences getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. Along with a number of other groups who squeeze their shows in right before the fourth quarter. So what happens with all of these?

First and obviously we have the COVID-19 status and how it evolves over the next few months. Second, we'll still have the lingering fear factor of group events as this will be with us for quite some time.

Then we'll have the corporate expectations, limitations, and continued budget cuts.

Major companies have clamped down on their workers’ travel for fear of exposure to the virus. And when key players don’t go to a conference, it’s often not worthwhile for anyone else either.

North America alone accounts for $381 billion in trade shows annually. Just some thoughts. -Gus Downing

Enforcing Social Distancing Gets Violent in NYC
NYPD Boss - Cops Getting Death Threats Over '10-Second Videos'
of Social Distancing Stops
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea got heated as he defended cops from accusations of racism on Wednesday in the wake of controversial social-distancing stops.

“Now in the last week, we have had death threats on police officers in New York City and their families over 10-second videos where the police officers are dealing with individuals that quite frankly, fight, not with the police department, they fight with everyone, they fight with their significant others, they fight when they go to court, they have opened gun cases, they are gang members, and we expect our police officers to do the best they can,” the commissioner said. “That is exactly what they are doing.”

The NYPD has come under fire over the two weeks following a flood of videos on social media showing violent arrests during social distancing calls and data that show the vast majority of people ticketed or arrested are black and brown New Yorkers. nypost.com

Burglary Accounts For Larger Percentage of Top Offenses Post Covid-19
The staggering impact of COVID-19 on the American justice system

In addition to releasing inmates, we are also seeing a change in the types of top offenses pre- and post-COVID

Today, more than 1 million Americans have tested positive for COVID-19, including thousands of incarcerated individuals, as well as jail and prison staff. Jails and prisons play a critical role in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. However, the coronavirus has become entrenched in incarceration facilities. 80% of inmates in an Ohio prison have tested positive. With a long list of facilities nationwide.

Jail churn in the United States is already high, and on a normal day, tens of thousands of people are released from incarceration. But jails are now releasing large groups of individuals simultaneously. Based on facilities that have reported coronavirus-related releases, jails have released, on average, 25% of their inmates to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Changes in top offenses as a result of Covid-19

We're also seeing a change in the percent of top offenses pre- and post-COVID-19. In order to assess the differences in offenses, we calculated the percent of top offenses between March 15 and April 30 for 2019 versus the same period in 2020.

Compared to 2019, the distribution of top offenses has changed:

•  Interestingly, burglary accounts for a larger percentage of the top offenses post COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID-19.

•  The only category's to increase: assault & battery, domestic abuse, Firearm, burglary

These findings reflect how law enforcement has changed policing tactics in light of COVID-19. Departments are focusing less on enforcing low-level offenses, but remain engaged in keeping the public safe from individuals who pose significant threats to the well being of our communities. policeone.com
 

Security Industry Rankings - Security Co's & the CARES Act
TMA's Annual Conference
 

Security Company Rankings & Their Future View
2020 SDM 100 Report: After Peak Performance, What’s Next?
The excellent growth SDM 100 companies had in 2019, followed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, is like being on the summit without a clear view of the landscape. Dealers are looking to their RMR to carry them through.

While security is considered an essential service by the Department of Homeland Security, it doesn’t mean security companies haven’t had to shift 180 degrees in a short period of time, to modify their operations for this new normal.

Before the bottom fell out, however, the 100 largest security dealers in the U.S. as ranked on the SDM 100 had performed exceptionally well, growing total annual revenue by 9.5 percent and recurring monthly revenue (RMR) by 1 percent. Although the 1 percent RMR growth rate is insignificant, individual results tell a different story, as 84 of the 100 companies had positive RMR growth in 2019.

The primary objective of the SDM 100 Report is to measure consumer dollars gained by security companies, in order to present an account of the size of the market captured by the 100 largest providers.

“The market was very strong for commercial security systems sales,” reported Guardian Protection, ranked No. 6. “Integrated systems showed the most growth as commercial clients look for a unified platform to manage their business and facilities.”

(See the Top 10 Security Company Rankings in the chart below and continue for the full list)

View the complete 2020 SDM 100 Rankings

The story of 2019 is told in the tables and graphs on these pages. The story of 2020, however, is still unclear. In large part it may hinge on the stream of RMR built up by the industry’s 100 largest companies — a result of years and years of selling the value of monitored security systems. sdmmag.com

The Importance of Maintaining Good Banking Relationships - Pays Off
SSN News Poll: Security companies struggling to get funding through the CARES Act
Security companies in particular have been struggling to get approved to receive financial relief, evidenced by results from Security Systems News latest News Poll looking at the how the industry is making out when applying for assistance through the CARES Act.

Looking big picture, an overwhelming 84 percent of respondents said that they have applied for relief or assistance through the CARES Act programs. Only 9 percent said they would not be applying, while 6 percent said they were thinking about it.

Of those that have applied, a whopping 77 percent had some trouble applying, with only 23 percent saying they had no trouble.

When it comes to actually getting an approval and funding, 50 percent said they had received funding, with 47 percent saying they were still waiting for an answer on their application. Only 3 percent said they were denied.

While some respondents struggled, others had better luck, with one respondent noting that a good relationship with their bank helped to get them through a few initial issues in the beginning. securitysystemsnews.com

The Monitoring Association Keeps Date for 70th Annual Meeting
(Editors Note: So Far - Do they go virtual?)
TMA Announces 2020 Annual Meeting Oct. 24-28, 2020, in Marco Island, Fla.

More 'Almost Inevitable Waves of Infection' Coming
Ending Coronavirus Lockdowns Without a How-To Guide
Scientists studying the novel coronavirus say that without a vaccine or widespread immunity it is almost inevitable that easing lockdown measures in Europe and the U.S. will trigger second or even multiple waves of infection. China, Singapore, South Korea, Iran and Germany are among a handful of countries that have seen signs of the virus re-emerging to varying degrees as stringent containment measures have been relaxed. wsj.com

World's Largest Fast-Food Co. Setting the Standards
McDonald’s Sets Conditions for Restaurant Reopenings

59-Page Reopening Guide for 14,000 U.S. Locations

Suggests closing public soda fountains and issues cleaning instructions in 59-page guide

Asking restaurant owners in the U.S. to make dozens of changes to ease coronavirus concerns before reopening their dining rooms, including commitments to clean bathrooms every half-hour and digital kiosks after each order.

The world’s largest fast-food company by sales is also asking its hundreds of U.S. franchisees to enforce social distancing in its restaurants, and either close their public soda fountains or deploy a staff member to monitor them, according to a 59-page dine-in reopening guide viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The illustrated guide, written by the company last week, outlines the challenges that McDonald’s expects employees to face as states begin to allow for sit-down restaurant service while upholding social-distancing rules. A three-page question-and-answer section in the guide covers security risks to workers managing resistant customers or loiterers.

Employees should undergo wellness and temperature checks, wash their hands every hour and abide by social-distancing requirements in kitchens, McDonald’s said in the reopening guide.

New purchasing recommendations, including foot-pulls for doors to allow customers to open bathroom doors without using their hands, could lead to new expenses and logistical considerations for McDonald’s hundreds of U.S. restaurant owners, franchisees said. The guide includes a list of products such as a $310 automatic towel dispenser and a $718 touchless sink.

All service workers also need to be outfitted with masks and gloves, and restaurants need to make face shields available for customers in jurisdictions requiring them, the guide said.

Dining rooms should be sanitized according to guidelines set by outside companies such as Ecolab Inc., McDonald’s said, and decals should be placed on floors to show customers where to wait for their food and how to move through restaurants. Some tables should be removed or closed off to allow 6 feet between customers, the company’s guide said.

Workers are to bring food to customers in a bag folded-close twice, on a tray removed as soon as a diner verifies it is correct. Workers should make customers feel welcome with a thumbs-up, hand signals or a verbal greeting, the guide said.

The company also is allowing owners who have lost a significant portion of their income to apply for help from a “distressed restaurant team” being set up, according to a protocol document for owners.

McDonald’s said it would reopen restaurants slowly in consultation with local authorities. It said that only a handful in the U.S. have resumed dine-in service so far. wsj.com

Your COVID-19 Store Program Being Called Out
ShopSafely.us - Grading Your Retailer For the Public to See
B8ta, which operates 22 stores around North America, launched a new site called ShopSafely that grades national retailers about their sanitation policies. It takes into account 14 “possible sanitation factors” — from offering contactless pick-up to keeping store traffic at a minimum — and provides the stores a letter grade. B8ta founder and CEO Vibhu Norby described the project on Twitter as a way to “expose and score top retailers on their COVID-19 policies.”  shopsafely.co

Click image to see full list

Consumers Avoiding Stores - Just Like in U.S.
UK Consumers Avoiding Stores As Much As Possible

More than 20% of consumers are avoiding grocery stores and 60% are reducing visits as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, new research reveals.

The survey by retail software firm Qudini shows consumers are more likely to use click and collect services during Covid-19, with 42% of consumers are more likely to use click and collect services from grocery stores during Covid-19.

The poll also found that there is strong demand for virtual service by phone or video from retailers, with 48% of consumers wanting ‘essential’ retailers to provide virtual service by phone, and 15% want virtual service by video.

“Personalised brand interactions now need to take place online through virtual one-to-one services by phone and video, alongside online events. Based on younger demographic interest in such services, it’s likely that this interest extends beyond the coronavirus outbreak.” talkingretail.com

Screen Scraping Violates State Laws & Websites Policies
Facial Recognition: A Clear View to Dystopia
In the wake of an alarming exposé published by The New York Times in January, Clearview AI, Inc., a New York startup, faces a slew of lawsuits. Since the article’s publication, the Vermont Attorney General filed a complaint against Clearview, and class actions have been filed against the company in Illinois and California. All three lawsuits raise the specter of a “dystopian future” enabled by Clearview’s technology and its seeming disregard for privacy rights.

Clearview’s facial recognition database has been developed in violation of many websites’ terms of service and privacy policies. Facebook, for example, does not permit unauthorized data-scraping, and its users expect that pictures of themselves, their friends, and their children are not subject to mass collection for automated analysis and inclusion in a facial recognition database.

Clearview’s technology and practices violate numerous state laws. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), a business that collects a consumer’s personal information, including biometric information, “shall, at or before the point of collection, inform consumers as to the categories of personal information to be collected and the purposes for which the categories of personal information shall be used” (emphasis added). Clearview failed to so inform consumers at any point, much less before it began collecting data.

Similarly, under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, a company may not collect, capture, purchase, receive through trade, or otherwise obtain a person’s biometric identifier without prior notice to and consent of that individual. jdsupra.com

Pre-Bankruptcy Bonus Payments?
J.C. Penney's Pays Out $10M in Retention Bonuses
The amounts include $4.5 million for CEO Jill Soltau and $1 million each for CFO Bill Wafford, Chief Merchant Michelle Wlazlo and Chief Human Resources Officer Brynn Evanson. Most of the awards have to be repaid if the executive is terminated with cause or resigns before January 31, 2021, and 20% must be paid back if the company misses performance goals. The company also accelerated payment of $2.4 million in cash awards based on the company's 2019 performance. retaildive.com

Create & Take a Poll on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Launches its Own Polls Option to Facilitate More Engagement
After it was spotted in testing last month, LinkedIn has now officially launched its new native polls option, providing another way to gather feedback, and boost engagement on the platform.

LinkedIn polls function pretty much the same as they do on other platforms - you select the 'Create a Poll' option within the post composer, type in your question, and enter up to four answer options. You then choose the poll’s duration (between 24 hours and up to two weeks), add a note to your post, then publish.

LinkedIn polls can be shared with your connections (subject to LinkedIn's algorithm), specific groups, or to any specific people that you're connected to.  socialmediatoday.com

United Airlines to Notify Fliers of Full Flights

DC extends stay-at-home order to June 8


Quarterly Results
Jack in the Box Q2 comp's down 4.2%

States Staffing Contact Tracing Teams
How Contact Tracing Works - WSJ Video
Public health authorities, developers and tech companies are working on apps to help us keep track of who we came in contact with and where we’ve been to aid in Covid-19 contact-tracing efforts. WSJ’s Joanna Stern explains the technologies using an 8-bit video game. wsj.com

Will 60% of the Population Download the App?
4 critical issues surrounding contact-tracing apps

Experts fear a lack of security and privacy controls

Researchers, governments and tech companies around the world are racing to create mobile apps to track coronavirus exposure. Potentially dozens of these contact-tracing apps are under development or being debated across the countries of the world.

These apps typically follow either a centralized or decentralized approach, roughly corresponding to the level of government control over the apps and the different kinds of technology deployed on mobile phones.

Neither approach is inherently good or bad, although the centralized approach, which typically puts the app’s development and control in the hands of a central government, gets lower marks from a privacy and security perspective than the decentralized approach. “Centralized approaches give authorities access to valuable data for risk modeling and analysis, in order to help them understand how the virus appears to be spreading,” Future of Privacy Forum Counsel Polly Sanderson tells CSO.

In terms of the technology division, “There are those who are trying to use Bluetooth to get proximity alerts, and there are those that are trying to go whole hog and collect location data using GPS, seeing how close you come to other people,”

“From that perspective, [a centralized approach is] obviously incredibly invasive in terms of privacy. Bluetooth is seen as less invasive,”

Contact-tracing app critical issues

Interoperability: it’s virtually guaranteed that the apps will not interoperate with one another.

Functionality: Few countries have fully launched their apps, and even fewer have tested the apps before launch.

Durability: Will these apps become permanent fixtures used for surveillance on citizens for other purposes long after the coronavirus crisis ends?

This concern came to prominence in the UK last week when Matthew Gould, head of NHSX, informed Parliament's Human Rights Committee that UK citizens would not be able to delete the data collected by tracing app.

Utility: The question of whether any of the apps around the world be useful in stopping the spread of the coronavirus is unanswered. Will 60% of the population download the app? csoonline.com

Largest Criminal Marketplace of it's Kind
Cybercrime Store Selling Access To 43,000+ Hacked Servers
MagBo, a shadowy online marketplace where hackers sell and buy hacked servers, is doing better than ever and has soared in popularity to become the largest criminal marketplace of its kind since its launch in the summer of 2018.

Two years later, the MagBo portal has grown more than 14 times in size and is currently selling access to more than 43,000 hacked websites, up from the 3,000 sites listed in September 2018.

Today, MagBo has become the de-facto go-to marketplace for many cybercrime operations. Some groups register on the MagBo platform to sell hacked servers, while others are there just to buy.

The current state of the cybercrime economy & where MagBo Fits

The underground economy has evolved in a nearly identical pattern to how modern e-commerce has evolved.

For the past decade, the underground market has caught up with the real world, and we now have "marketplaces" similar to Amazon or eBay, where hackers register accounts to sell and buy products at the same time, fueling a supply and demand market in the process.

Today, we have marketplaces that sell access to hacked servers, marketplaces for selling access to hacked computers (compromised by botnet malware), marketplaces for stolen payment card details, and marketplaces for selling personal information stolen during data breaches -- each more professional than the next.

MagBo is today's top marketplace for hacked servers.

The site runs on the public internet, but access is restricted to approved members. You need an invitation to be able to register a profile on MagBo, and to get an invite, you need to be referred by a site member.

Over the years, the site has boomed, to put it lightly. Since it launched in 2018, KELA says the site has sold access to more than 150,000 sites, with 43,000 still being up for sale as of this week.

MagBo operators might have made more than $750,000 in revenue from selling hacked servers on the site in two years (summer 2018). zdnet.com

How Unconventional Professional Backgrounds Can Strengthen
a Cybersecurity Team
If you dig into the rosters of many successful cybersecurity teams — be they enterprise organizations, vendors, or service providers — more often than not you'll find some surprising professional back stories. Unconventional backgrounds crop up more than you'd think: humanities majors, former chefs, dancers, lawyers, cops, and plenty of others in between.

And if you ask veteran security managers about their less traditional staffers, they'll often tell you that many of them are some of their best employees. In fact, hiring nontraditional security people isn't a desperation play for them but rather a strategy of strength.

"One of the biggest things I consider when hiring talent is gathering a diversity of perspectives," wrote Geoff Belknap, CISO of LinkedIn. "Many different types of people interact daily with the products we're working to secure, which means our team needs to be able to understand and consider needs, work habits, and challenges from several points of view."

"I want English majors and chemists and economics experts who can come together to help solve these hard problems, each bringing their unique training, diversity of thought, and ways to approach problems into the mix," he said. darkreading.com

Microsoft Lists Critical Flaws That Need Urgent Patching

The Old Tech Support Scam
Amazon says a group of scammers set its sights on Alexa device customers
An international ring allegedly put together fake websites and mobile apps to lure in customers trying to set up their Echo speakers.

Amazon is pushing back against an allegedly widespread tech support scam that the company says targeted its Alexa and Echo device customers through phony Alexa apps and websites.

In a civil lawsuit Amazon filed in federal court in Seattle last week, the company said an international ring in Washington state and India developed a scheme to draw in people looking to set up their new Alexa devices. Once customers downloaded the fake Amazon-branded apps, they were prompted to contact a customer support number and could be charged $150 for useless protection plans, Amazon said. cnet.com

Ship From Store Growth Hits Delivery Snag
Fed Ex Limits Two Dozen Retailers on Ship From Store
A FedEx spokeswoman said the limits are similar to what the company does during busy shipping seasons like Christmas.

FedEx’s rival United Parcel Service Inc. said it is working closely with shippers to manage a jump in home deliveries, which in recent weeks have made up 70% of its U.S. deliveries. A UPS spokesman declined to comment on whether the company is imposing limits on shippers.

The store pickups are typically performed by FedEx Ground drivers after they finish delivering packages on their routes.

FedEx is asking some of its customers to bring their packages directly to the FedEx Ground facility closest to the customer, so that they can bypass the sortation process. wsj.com

Amazon says deliveries returning to normal after COVID-19 crush

Uber eyes acquisition of Grubhub

D&D Daily Survey Ends May 15
How will COVID-19 impact Loss Prevention & Organized Retail Crime at your stores as the nation prepares to reopen?

The industry values your input! The D&D Daily wants to hear your thoughts as retail prepares to reopen following mass closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given the past seven weeks, we've all had a chance to think about what is going to happen as we reopen the doors, but are we prepared for the impact the pandemic will have on Loss Prevention and Organized Retail Crime?

What does ORC look like in the coming months? How are your stores preparing?

Click here to share your thoughts!
 

Houston, TX: Man steals over $6,500 worth of over-the-counter drugs from 11 grocery stores in Houston area
Police are searching for a man who has allegedly used self-service grocery check out counters to steal about $6,500 from local HEB and Kroger stores. Tomball Police Department identified Tyler Sexton, 23, in a dozen of videos from the store's security cameras. He reportedly stole over-the-counter drugs from 11 stores in Harris County and attempted to take from nine others. There is a warrant for his arrest for aggregate theft. click2houston.com

Sturgis, MI: Merchandise valued at over $1,000 stolen from Dunham’s Sports
Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies were called shortly before Monday3 p.m. to Dunham’s Sports in response to a retail fraud. Employees told authorities a man entered the store and began loading a shopping cart with Nike apparel before pushing the cart out of the store without paying for the items. wlkm.com

Brentwood, CA: Shoplifter steals $450 of Yeti Cups from Ace Hardware