ISCPO Announces Protos Security as a Preferred Vendor Partner

Dallas, TX (June 29th, 2023) –Today, the International Supply Chain Protection Organization (ISCPO) announced that Protos Security has joined as the organization’s preferred vendor partner as ISCPO continues to support its members and the supply chain security community. The speed of business has exponentially accelerated the supply chain, and ISCPO members rely on a variety of vendors for innovative tools, technology, and services to help them make their departments and flow of goods run effectively. ISCPO remains dedicated to continuously enhancing its variety of vendor solutions, leveraging emerging technologies, and staying at the forefront of industry best practices. By adding Protos Security as a preferred vendor, our members will have access to an integrated suite of physical and innovative security services that utilize a technology-enabled managed services platform.

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UK Bio. & Surv. Commissioner:
"Facial Recognition is a Game Changer & Deployment is Inevitable"
NY Times: 'Barred From Grocery Stores by Facial Recognition'

British merchants are increasingly using the technology to combat shoplifting, raising questions about its spread as artificial intelligence rapidly improves it.

Use of facial recognition technology by the police has been heavily scrutinized in recent years, but its application by private businesses has received less attention. Now, as the technology improves and its cost falls, the systems are reaching further into people’s lives. No longer just the purview of government agencies, facial recognition is increasingly being deployed to identify shoplifters, problematic customers and legal adversaries.

Facewatch, a British company, is used by retailers across the country frustrated by petty crime. The company offers access to a customized watchlist that stores near one another share. When Facewatch spots a flagged face, an alert is sent to a smartphone at the shop, where employees decide whether to keep a close eye on the person or ask the person to leave.

Mr. Mackenzie adds one or two new faces every week, he said, mainly people who steal diapers, groceries, pet supplies and other low-cost goods. He said their economic hardship made him sympathetic, but that the number of thefts had gotten so out of hand that facial recognition was needed. Usually at least once a day, Facewatch alerts him that somebody on the watchlist has entered the store.

Facial recognition technology is proliferating as Western countries grapple with advances brought on by artificial intelligence. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has encouraged retailers to try the technology to fight crime.

Fraser Sampson, Britain’s biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, who advises the government on policy, said, "I think in terms of speed, scale, accuracy and cost, facial recognition technology can in some areas, you know, literally be a game changer,” he said. “That means its arrival and deployment is probably inevitable. It’s just a case of when."

Facewatch is now inside nearly 400 stores across Britain.

Facewatch’s watchlist is constantly growing as stores upload photos of shoplifters and problematic customers. Once added, a person remains there for a year before being deleted. Liam Ardern, the operations manager for Lawrence Hunt, which owns 23 Spar convenience stores that use Facewatch, estimates the technology has saved the company more than 50,000 pounds since 2020.

He called the privacy risks of facial recognition overblown.   nytimes.com


Police Video From Texas Mall Shooting Released

Allen, Texas Mall Shooting Bodycam Footage Released
Allen mall video shows officer breathless, alone as he tracks down, kills shooter

The footage released Wednesday is the first detailed look at police response to the mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets.

In the first detailed look at police response to the mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets, body-cam footage released Wednesday shows the moments a lone officer ran toward rapid gunfire and ended the deadly rampage.

“This video shows how quickly a routine interaction with the public turned into a life-and-death situation,” Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said in a news release. “The officer recognized the danger, ran toward the gunfire and neutralized the threat — and for his actions, the Allen community is forever grateful.”

Gunfire erupted outside the mall May 6, killing eight people, wounding at least seven and traumatizing hundreds more. The officer whose body camera footage was released fatally shot the gunman. He was nearby on an unrelated call.

Officials have said that just before the gunfire began, the officer stopped to talk to a woman and children about seatbelt safety. Seconds into making small talk, more than a dozen shots ring out. A woman grabs the two children as the officer calls into his radio: “145, I think we’ve got shots fired at the outlet mall.”

Once he reaches the Polo Ralph Lauren store, another round of shots rings out. Sirens begin to fill the air. The first time the officer classifies the gunfire as a mass shooting is when he walks by H&M, where multiple bodies were blurred on the ground outside the store.

The officer moves forward, panting, then runs as gunfire continues. He stops. The officer aims his gun and then fires more than 10 shots. “Shots fired by police, I got him down!” he yells. dallasnews.com


Texas Grand Jury Clears Police Officer who Killed Mall Mass Shooter
A Collin County grand jury declined to indict the Allen police officer who fatally shot the gunman responsible for opening fire at an outlet mall May 6, killing eight people and wounding at least seven others.

Officials have said the gunman was killed less than five minutes after he fired the first shots.

The shopping center reopened May 31 with increased security. A permanent memorial “to honor the victims and to commemorate the enduring strength of the Allen community” is in the works, mall officials said last month. officer.com


INFORM Act Reaction Continues

Will INFORM Act Help Stop San Francisco's Doom Loop?
New law targeting organized retail theft just kicked in
A federal law aimed at deterring organized retail theft went into effect Tuesday, but stakeholders and experts are skeptical the measure will make a substantial impact in San Francisco, where burglaries have plagued businesses and ignited national attention.

The law addresses the issue in a roundabout way; requiring online marketplaces to collect and disclose information about third-party sellers who make more than 200 sales amounting to $5,000 or more in a year. Goods stolen from retailers are often fenced online.

San Francisco’s retail crime spree has stoked fear and anger over the last few years, with videos of egregious theft going viral and retailers attributing their closures to the problem. Local and state officials have tried numerous methods to crack down on the problem, and some hope the federal law will add to the existing arsenal.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Rachel Michelin, president and CEO of the California Retailers Association. “I just don’t want to give this false sense that this is going to be the silver bullet. It’s not.”

“I’m not going to rule out that it’s going to be effective, but I can see a lot of ways when looking at it — I don’t know if it’s going to deter the theft that’s happened. That’s the real question,” said Kirthi Kalyanam, executive director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University. “I don’t think in the short run that this is going to have any impact on what you see in a city like San Francisco.”

Retailers and local politicians showed some optimism about the legislation’s potential effectiveness, but most tempered their expectations. sfchronicle.com

RELATED: Here Are the Key Points of the INFORM Consumers Act


The Big Question the Retail Industry Is Asking:
Will The INFORM Consumers Act Take a Bite Out of Organized Retail Crime?
The Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act – AKA the INFORM Consumers Act – is now the law of the land.

Congress passed the bipartisan act in December to make it harder for criminals to sell stolen and counterfeit goods through online marketplaces on eBay, Amazon.com and others.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will enforce the law with the attorneys general offices from all 50 states, sent a letter last week to 50 online marketplaces notifying them of their obligation to comply with the new law.

“The Commission will enforce the Act to the fullest extent possible and will collaborate with our state partners to hold online marketplaces accountable,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Amazon, eBay and Meta have all expressed support for the new law and plan to comply with the new rules, CNBC reports.

Lisa LaBruno, senior executive vice president, retail operations, at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said retailers are hopeful that the new requirements will lead online marketplace platforms to “finally evict bad actors from their platforms.”

“While this law is not a miracle cure for organized retail crime, it’s a significant dose of help that finally holds marketplaces accountable when their platforms are used to sell stolen product,” Ms. LaBruno said. “Coupled with the ORC task forces launched in multiple states and cities across the country, we’re finally beginning to see the resources, collaboration and commitment needed to turn the tide in this fight.”  retailwire.com


"Calif. Needs to do Better Job Enforcing Drug & THEFT LAWS"
Governor Includes 'Theft' in SF Crackdown - It's about time!

Exclusive: Ca. Gov. Gavin Newsom doubles state police in San Francisco fentanyl crackdown

More State Police - More National Guard - More Federal Authorities Coming to SF Crackdown

Gov. Gavin Newsom will double the number of state police officers helping crack down on fentanyl dealing in San Francisco, he told The Chronicle on Wednesday.

The move doubles down on an approach Newsom launched in May, when he deployed California Highway Patrol officers to assist local police in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods. He called the open-air drug dealing in the city “unacceptable” and said California needs to do a better job enforcing the drug and theft laws it already has by putting more police officers on the streets and enhancing collaboration between law enforcement agencies. He said the state-local effort in San Francisco is an example of that strategy in action.

“We have a lot of existing laws on the books. I’d like to see us start to enforce the damn existing laws,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you, my biggest gripe right now in San Francisco has been, frankly, we’re not enforcing existing laws … we’re not prosecuting the law breakers. Judges, DAs, the whole panoply — I want to see people held accountable for breaking the law.”

Since the CHP officers began working with local police in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, they have seized 8.1 kilos of fentanyl and arrested 115 people on felony and misdemeanor charges, according to Newsom’s office.

SFPD, meanwhile, cited or arrested people 340 times for drug-related offenses in May — the highest number of arrests the agency has made in the month of May since 2018.

About seven to 10 CHP officers have been working on the operation since it began. That number will grow from 14 to 20 per day under this escalation, said Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom.

On top of the additional CHP officers, Newsom is also increasing the number of California National Guard members who will work with local officials on the issue. That includes some members who will be tasked with helping Breed’s office develop a strategic plan for combating open-air drug markets. Others will provide analytical support to local law enforcement to target and shut down drug trafficking into the city.

Federal authorities are also increasing their drug enforcement work in San Francisco.

Efforts to address California’s opioid overdose crisis by increasing enforcement have met resistance in the Democratically controlled Legislature and from criminal justice reform advocates. Along with complaints of the CHP's so-called pretextual stops. sfchronicle.com


France will deploy 40,000 officers to quell violence that erupted after police fatally shot a teen
France’s government vowed to restore order after the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old driver triggered two nights of urban violence.

Darmanin said 170 officers had been injured in the unrest but none of the injuries was life-threatening. At least 90 public buildings were vandalized. inquirer.com


A look at Glendale, Arizona's Police's real-time crime center

Hate crimes in California increased by 20% last year

Blending Security & Customer Experience
The future of retail security technology merges the physical and the digital

NRF PROTECT: Experts from American Eagle Outfitters, Target and Ulta Beauty on blending security and the customer experience

Whether it’s custom-built or off-the-shelf, plenty of technology solutions can protect against fraud and product loss as well as enhance the customer experience, according to a panel of retail security experts sharing their thoughts on next-gen technology trends at NRF PROTECT.

“I can see a vision of technology advancing and enabling more freedom, reducing friction, increasing productivity in stores and getting to a place where the data is so robust and actionable in the moment that we are able to proactively protect the business while having the customer have a free and open experience,” said Scott McBride, chief global asset protection officer and chief security officer at American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

Keeping the customer experience at the core of the security strategy has helped Target innovate and come up with new solutions, said Jodie Kautt, vice president, cybersecurity for Target. “We want to make sure we are putting our mitigation or prevention steps to disrupt this activity right in line with the guest experience flow that the fraudsters are taking advantage of,” she said.

For Diane Brown, vice president of IT risk management at Ulta Beauty, it’s about looking at existing technology and understanding the full scope of capabilities, not just the problem that technology is supposed to solve.

In the future, generative AI will help retailers “find new patterns in a high ROI manner,” said panel moderator Deborah Weinswig, CEO of Coresight Research. “It’s a new way of looking at the data we have and getting in front of, and predicting, behaviors, so we can make better decisions.”

In any case, retailers need to start thinking today about where along the blockchain they feel comfortable sharing information and the goals of that intelligence sharing. nrf.com


What the CFOs Read

49% of business leaders said safety & security risks are top concern of implementing AI
72% of Business Leaders Believe AI Will Improve Employee Productivity

While leaders believe AI’s impact on productivity may be substantial, implementation concerns remain prevalent.

Artificial Intelligence’s scope of innovation, as tremendous as it has become in recent months, continues to raise questions around its impact on employee productivity. In conversations with finance leaders at recent events and discussions about where, when, and even how to approach the technology, it’s clear that leaders’ understanding of the basics falls within a wide range. This, combined with a lack of oversight from regulators, has made for a concoction of ideas around how this type of technology will impact business both now and later.

Recent data from Insight, which surveyed one thousand business leaders with a position of director or higher, found that nearly three-quarters (72%) of business leaders believe AI implementation will improve productivity amongst their teams.

According to surveyors, finance can use AI to combat fraud, an area CFOs have greatly expanded both interest and allocations towards. Outside of cybersecurity and plug-ins for things like creating financial statements and analyzing financial reports, AI can also have the potential to revolutionize risk analysis in strategic decision-making surveyors said, an area in which strong skills are demanded in order to succeed as a contemporary CFO.

Quality, Security Risks

CFOs must be skeptical of the potential consequences of premature advancement of these types of products. Despite a desired oversight by leaders of AI, there is none at the moment.

More than half (51%) of those surveyed said they were concerned about the quality and control of AI within their organization, worrying about undesired content and misinformation within these tools impacting the results they generate. A nearly identical amount (49%) also said they were concerned about safety and security risks, fearing these types of technologies could leave their data vulnerable and their organizations at risk to hackers.

“If you’re using [generative AI], there is no confidentiality,” said Sloane Kolt, head of Datarails Labs. “Do not put any sensitive information in there. ChatGPT will tell you that right from the beginning, and the reason for that is that everything you put into those prompts becomes a part of the AI’s training,” she said. “What you’re putting in there could end up showing up in someone else’s answer, and I am pretty sure we don’t want any of that.” cfo.com


Deep Fakes - Biggest AI-Related Concern
Synthetic Fraud Rises at ‘Alarming’ Rate as AI Evolves
“As AI advances, more tools become available to fraudsters … the use of synthetic fraud is rising at an alarming rate,” said Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, at head of AI at identity verification company Sumsub.

The threat posed by deepfakes has led a number of states to pass laws regulating these audio/visual forgeries, with at least four others considering similar bills.

Last month, Microsoft President Brad Smith said deepfakes are his biggest AI-related concern, and called for measures to “protect against the alteration of legitimate content with an intent to deceive or defraud people through the use of AI” along with licensing of the most key forms of AI to safeguard physical, cyber and national security.

Meanwhile, AI also has the potential to help prevent and detect fraud in the financial services space, Jeremiah Lotz, managing vice president, digital and data at PSCU, told PYMNTS earlier this week.

And although using AI-powered tools to boost fraud defenses isn’t necessarily a new approach, Lotz said that today’s generative AI solutions can “take things to the next level by looking at deeper, more personalized experiences.”

That means employing AI to support ID verification and transaction authorizations, as well as to better analyze behavioral patterns to spot suspicious behavior. pymnts.com


UPS Teamsters say nationwide strike is ‘imminent’ if Friday deadline not met
The Teamsters working for shipping giant UPS said a strike is “imminent” after walking away from the bargaining table.

The UPS Teamsters said in a statement late Wednesday it gave UPS a one-week notice Tuesday to “act responsibly and exchange a stronger economic proposal” to more than 340,000 employees of the shipping company.

The Teamsters demanded that UPS delivers its “last, best and final offer” to the union by Friday.

“The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. thehill.com


Canada's Indigo's Books & Music CEO Comments on FY23 Full-Year Results includes:
"The Company was challenged by higher shrink levels, which is consistent with industry trends."

Casey’s wants 350 more stores by 2026

Costco cracks down on sharing membership cards

Americans are feeling far more confident about the economy


Quarterly Results

Indigo Books & Music FY merchandise sales up 0.5%, sales down 0.4%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Senior Manager Security job posted for TaylorMade in Carlsbad, CA
The Security Leader will be responsible for implementation, development and oversight for an enterprise-wide corporate security program which incorporates personnel security, asset protection, intellectual property security, crisis management, investigations, and risk assessment within the TaylorMade business environment. Efforts will focus on creating efficient, cross-functional, value-added corporate service that promotes employee responsibility and action, improves security awareness, minimizes corporate risk, and protects the TaylorMade brand, assets, employees and information across the business. taylormadegolf.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com