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Big Grocery Chains Fighting Back Against Theft
How grocers are getting creative in their battle against theft

From receipt checks to bag size limits, Kroger and Giant Food are among the food retailers implementing new in-store measures to reduce shrink.

Grocers’ war against shrink wages on with new moves by Kroger, Giant Food and Safeway.

Kroger confirmed in an email Tuesday that six of its Columbus, Ohio-area stores recently added safety measures, including receipt checks, in response to increased incidents of theft.

Local news reports noted that shoppers are also no longer allowed to bring in suitcases, duffle bags or roller bags at those select stores and that the grocer has the right to search bags, Spectrum News 1 reported.

Giant Food is also looking to limit bag sizes to prevent theft, a spokesperson for the grocer confirmed via email on Tuesday.

The policy is in place at select stores that are “experiencing high shrink to mitigate the unprecedented levels of product theft that have become unsustainable for our business,” according to the Giant’s emailed statement. The grocer did not specify which stores will enforce this new rule.

Self-checkout has long been a culprit of shrink, and grocers have been struggling to find a balance between preventing theft and maintaining a smooth customer experience. Safeway is reportedly removing the self-checkout option altogether at several of its California stores, according to local news reports.

Select San Francisco Bay Area locations will get rid of self-checkout machines due to ongoing theft problems, KTVU reported earlier this week.

Since at least last summer, Safeway has been introducing receipt-scanning gates at self-checkout areas at select locations, including bringing the technology to several San Francisco stores followed by some stores in the Washington, D.C., area. Albertsons, Safeway’s parent company, said in a statement in February that the gates are part of “long-planned security improvements” aimed at preventing theft.  grocerydive.com


Lawmakers, Prosecutors, Retailers, Law Enforcement All Play a Role
California’s High Theft Rates: Protecting Yourself from Property Crimes
California has experienced a surge in property crime, particularly theft, in recent years. This trend is concerning for residents who want to protect their belongings and maintain a sense of security in their communities.

The increase in theft rates has been attributed to various factors, including changes in state laws and the growing prevalence of organized retail crime. As a result, it is crucial for Californians to take proactive steps to safeguard their property and minimize their risk of being targeted by thieves.

Strategies for Prevention and Protection

Improving Public Safety Measures

Public safety measures play a crucial role in preventing and protecting against property crimes in California. These measures include collaboration between the police, California Highway Patrol, and other law enforcement agencies who together can effectively safeguard communities. Moreover, businesses and stores can further enhance public safety by employing security guards and installing surveillance cameras to deter offenders.

Legislative Actions and Reforms

The California Legislature, along with the Attorney General and other officials, has been working towards enacting laws and reforms to tackle high theft rates. A recent example is the California Retail Theft Reduction Act, introduced by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur. This legislative package seeks to combat organized retail crime and protect businesses in the state.

Community and Individual Responsibilities

Within local communities, public meetings and workshops can raise awareness about theft-related issues and encourage individuals to adopt preventive measures. Retailers, especially high-end stores, should invest in robust security systems and collaborate with law enforcement to apprehend offenders and maintain safe shopping environments.

Prosecutors play an important role in ensuring that retail theft offenders face appropriate punishment, which can serve as a deterrent for potential criminals. Transparency in the criminal justice system can reinforce collective efforts to reduce property crime rates.  therolladailynews.com


Is California Fighting Retail Theft in the Wrong Way?
Opinion: California Lawmakers Try to Tell Retailers How Best to Address Theft

All California employers must develop a ‘workplace violence prevention plan’ or face civil penalties

Now, they want to tell retailers how to operate self-service checkout terminals, supposedly as a means of addressing retail theft. Under a new state Senate bill, such terminals will have to be manned by an employee, defeating the whole purpose of the terminals.

While this bill also aims to “protect good jobs,” according to the press release, it is part of an effort to address the explosion of retail theft in California, which the state’s own policies have caused.

Rather than acknowledge that these policies have been a disaster, 19 Democrat and two Republican lawmakers recently proposed a new 29-bill package to address crime prevention and rehabilitation for offenders, with Ms. Smallwood-Cuevas among them.

California’s state Senate Democrats passed Senate Bill 553, seeking to make it a law that employees cannot be required to stop retail theft. The bill received significant backlash from retailers.

Now state lawmakers are at it again, seeking to tell retailers how best to address theft. Senate Bill 1446 would require grocery stores and drugstores that have self-checkout stations to assign employees to watch over them. The employees may not have any other tasks and must not be responsible for more than two stations. Further, customers may only use the stations if they have 15 or fewer items.

This silly bill clearly would do nothing to address the theft problem. Shoplifters and smash and grabbers do not stand in a checkout line. They come in, usually in large numbers, grab items off the shelf, and run out.

What the bill really seems designed to do is stop retailers from relying on new technology to reduce labor costs. Once again, the left creates a problem through bad policy, then seeks to solve the problem through government intervention. It never works, in turn requiring more government intervention. californiaglobe.com


California Lawmakers Continue to Roll Out Anti-Theft Laws
Opinion: We cannot afford to do nothing about retail theft

By Juan Alanis, a Modesto Republican who represents the 22nd Assembly District

While many of the retail theft bills before the Legislature are a serious and real step in the right direction, they are not enough to combat the rampant organized crime and retail theft issues we face.

My bills, AB 1845 and AB 1972 are positive steps toward real solutions. They are strategic proposals to address the resource shortage that law enforcement agencies across our state are grappling with. AB 1845 will establish the Identifying, Apprehending, and Prosecuting Resale of Stolen Property Grant Program, providing crucial funds to support law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. AB 1972 aims to bolster the California Highway Patrol’s property crimes task force to combat organized cargo theft. These bills, which have already received unanimous bipartisan support, are a significant step towards equipping law enforcement with the resources they need to fight against retail theft.

The reality is that because the voters themselves passed Proposition 47 into law, only the voters can choose to change or repeal the law. After a decade of living under the policies of Proposition 47, I believe the voters deserve the right to reevaluate the law and perhaps change their minds.   cerescourier.com


Are Anti-Theft Measures Pushing Shippers Online?
Editorial: In-person shopping is no longer pleasurable

It’s a lot easier to assume the worst of your customers than it is to hire more staff. It’s also cheaper and better for the bottom line

Retailers are doing a good job of driving us out of their shops and thus negatively affecting a city’s economy. Cases in point: Having to pay for the use of a shopping cart; being asked to produce a receipt as you leave the store; metal gates and alarms linked to your purchase.

Meanwhile, the big box store demands I produce a receipt before it allows me to leave after dropping a few hundred dollars on plants. The world just shrugs at this and other affronts to those of us who are not predisposed to steal stuff. Call it a developed sense of morality.

Clearly, the five-finger discount has become more than just an occasional problem, but any idiot could have predicted decades ago that once stores started piling stuff on shelves and cutting floor staff, this would happen. It’s a lot easier to assume the worst of your customers than it is to hire more staff. It’s also cheaper and better for the bottom line.

None of this is news; none of this is ever likely to change. But it certainly explains why online shopping has surged in popularity. calgaryherald.com


The Postal Service Fights Surging Crime
Amid crime surge, USPS law enforcement relying on ‘outdated’ data to justify staffing

The number of serious postal crimes — including burglaries, robberies, assaults, and homicides — increased almost every fiscal year between 2017 and 2023.

The Postal Service is seeing a surge in postal crime — including a sevenfold increase in robberies — but relies on outdated crime data to justify the size of its law enforcement workforce, according to a watchdog report.

The Government Accountability Office, in a report publicly released Wednesday found the number of serious postal crimes — including burglaries, robberies, assaults, and homicides — increased almost every fiscal year between 2017 and 2023.

According to the Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Postal Service’s law enforcement agency, USPS saw nearly 1,200 serious postal crimes in 2023 — with robberies of letter carriers accounting for about half of them.

USPIS data shows guns are increasingly involved in postal crimes. Firearms were present in about 68% of robbery cases in 2022 and 66% of cases in 2023. The data shows USPS employees aren’t physically harmed in 95% of robbery cases — but local law enforcement and USPS employee organizations say letter carriers often experience trauma and stress from these armed robberies. federalnewsnetwork.com
 

Boston mayor says criminals should not be prosecuted for theft
 
Louisiana law makes it crime to stand too near police
 

In Case You Missed It

AP & Cybersecurity Leaders to be Recognized at NRF PROTECT
NRF to Honor Asset Protection and Cybersecurity Professionals

WASHINGTON - The National Retail Federation today announced the recipients of the 2024 NRF PROTECT Awards, the highest asset protection and cybersecurity recognitions in the retail industry. Five veteran loss prevention professionals will be honored on June 5 during the annual NRF PROTECT conference in Long Beach, Calif.

The Ring of Excellence Award honors distinguished professionals who have impacted the loss prevention industry throughout their careers. The 2024 recipients are:

	Gary Johnson, a leader in loss prevention for more than 40 years. Johnson retired as Director of Asset Protection & Safety for Guitar Center Inc., overseeing 600 stores nationwide, and has held leadership positions with The Vitamin Shoppe, A&P Supermarkets, Barnes & Noble and Osco Drug Stores. He served two terms as Chair of the NRF Loss Prevention Advisory Council and was a founding member of the Loss Prevention Research Council.
	Mike Lamb, LPC, an industry expert with more than four decades of experience in asset protection, loss prevention and safety. Lamb retired from his role as Vice President of Asset Protection & Safety with the Kroger Company in February 2024 and previously served in leadership roles with Walmart U.S. and The Home Depot. Lamb remains active in the LP/AP industry, serving as a member of the Executive Committee for the LP Foundation, senior advisor for Innovate LPRC and board member of Good2Go, as well as other key affiliations.
	Walter Palmer, an industry expert in loss prevention and a leader throughout his career as a practitioner, consultant and industry partner. Palmer continues to provide strategic guidance and insights to many of the world's leading retail brands. He is one of the co-founders of LP Magazine, has served the industry across many boards and associations, and has been involved with NRF's loss prevention conference for more than 30 years.
	John Velke, a practitioner who began his retail loss prevention career in 1977 at Lord & Taylor. Velke's career includes roles with Fred Meyer, Parisian, Proffitt's and McRae's stores, before retiring in 2022 from Total Wine & More. For more than 40 years he has advocated for the AP/LP industry, serving on the Illinois Attorney General's task force on computer crime, as a governor-appointed board member to Oregon's Police Academy, and a member of the NRF Loss Prevention Council.

The NRF Retail Cybersecurity Leadership Award recognizes an individual's cumulative contributions to advancing the state of cybersecurity within the retail industry. The 2024 recipient is:

Rich Agostino, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Target. Agostino has long been a champion for career development programs both at Target and in the broader security community. He serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Retail & Hospitality ISAC (RH-ISAC) and is a member of the PCI Security Standards Council Board of Advisors and Google's CISO Advisory Board.

As the leading authority and voice for the retail industry, NRF will present these awards with retail security executives from across the country at NRF PROTECT, June 4-6 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif.   nrf.com


How to Avoid 'Disjointed' Safety Policies
A Unified Approach to Safety

Safety can mean different things for different people, and there are many languages to safety. That’s why it’s key for safety professionals to periodically focus on the basics.

It’s important for everyone to be on the same page on any job. Safety is no exception. What one employee thinks is a safe practice could be, in a safety professional’s eye, an accident waiting to happen. That’s why well-defined and clear communications are essential to improving workplace safety.

EHS Today: Your session will help to demystify safety, but how do you think safety got so muddled in the first place?

Safety has become muddled primarily because it lacks a universally accepted definition. Historically, perspectives on what constitutes safety have varied dramatically. Consider how some construction projects once quantified safety as having no more than one fatality per $1 million spent.

Today, safety means zero injuries for some. For others, it's about strict adherence to regulations. The most frequent definition I encounter is the idea that safety means, "Everyone goes home the same way they came in." But is this truly safety, or is it merely luck? Defining safety as the absence of negative outcomes is not only inactionable but can lead to both delusion and a disjointed approach to safety management. ehstoday.com


Target Tries to Avoid Last Year's Protests & Safety Concerns
Target has around 75 Pride items in its collection right now. Here's what changed.

Target has slashed its annual Pride collection after the retailer faced protests last summer.

Target's annual Pride collection is a shadow of its former self after the retailer faced protests from conservative groups last summer. After a decade of offering a special collection of products sourced from the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate Pride month in June, the retailer said last year it was "rethinking" its cultural merchandising strategy.

Now instead of bold statements and functional garments, the curated selection has more toned-down apparel and accessories. The company said earlier this month only select stores would carry Pride products, rather than all of its nearly 2,000 US locations.

In an interview last year as the conservative firestorm was gaining momentum, CEO Brian Cornell argued against the idea that Target was too "woke." A year after the remarks, we're getting a better sense of what exactly is changing as the company switches up its strategy, which Target has said was the result of sales trends and guest insights. businessinsider.com


Dollar Tree acquires leases for 170 of 99 Cents Only’s stores

Amazon Fresh planned to bring 9 Michigan sites — but has gone silent

Samsung Electronics Union Threatens Walkout Next Week
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director of AP - Stores job posted for Burlington Stores in New York, NY
As a Territory Director of Asset Protection , you’ll be an integral part of the territory leadership team, working closely with senior AP leaders develop, direct and lead the implementation of Burlington’s Asset Protection, Shortage Control and Safety programs for all markets in your assigned territory. You’ll train, develop, and oversee Regional and District Asset Protection Managers to verify proper execution of company policies and procedures. burlingtonstores.jobs