Norwalk, CT: Loss prevention officer charged with sexually assaulting 2 girls
A security officer from White Plains sexually assaulted two young girls while at his job. Investigators say Edwin Espichan detained two girls recently while working as a loss prevention officer at a Kohl’s store. Espichan held the girls in the security office for more than an hour, claiming they had been shoplifting. He then allegedly asked for sexual favors, telling the girls he wouldn't call police or their parents if they complied. One of the victims was sexually assaulted by Espichan while being held in the security office and he contacted one of the girls on social media after the incident. Espichan is currently being held on a $500,000 bond. He is facing multiple charges and is expected to be arraigned today.

A spokesperson from Kohl’s said in a statement: “We [Kohl’s] are cooperating with the authorities leading the investigation and are referring all media inquiries to police. We take these allegations very seriously and the associate in question will not be returning to Kohl’s. As always, the safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority." news12.com

North Face "flash mob" part of a growing trend in organized retail crime
“Roughly half (48.5 percent) of survey respondents said ORC gangs are exhibiting more aggression than they did the previous year,” according to the National Retail Federation.  

Those aggressive tactics were on display in Kenosha County recently when what police characterized as “a flash mob” of 10 men rushed into the North Face store at Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets July 1, grabbing armfuls of coats and jackets — an estimated $30,000 in merchandise — before running from the store and fleeing in waiting cars. The theft took less than 30 seconds.

‘This is a business’
But while the boldness of that theft was attention grabbing — the video spread on social media and has been viewed thousands of times — the tactic isn’t unusual, Smetana said.

Nine in 10 retailers said they had encountered organized retail crime in the last 12 months, according to the National Retail Federation survey.

‘Booster bags’
Smetana said some of those thefts are groups working with “booster bags,” shopping bags lined with material that thwarts security sensors. Those groups often go store to store hitting targeted merchandise.

A group similar to the North Face thieves walked into Ulta, 10033 77th St., and — making no attempt to conceal what they were doing — filled bags with dozens of bottles of perfume and cologne. That group was later found to be part of a multi-state operation that became known as the “grab-and-go five,” hitting Ulta stores in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.

Organized Operation
Smetana said the North Face theft was clearly part of an organized retail theft operation. “You could see it was well-planned out. They have done their homework. This is their job, this is their career,” he said. “These are professionals.” kenoshanews.com

Retail security expert says guards in Australia are powerless to stop gangs targeting electronics stores
Groups of gangs are terrorizing electronics stores across the state, leaving workers and store security guards helpless to stop them. Teens are raiding stores like JB Hi-Fi on a regular occurrence, with Victoria Police now working directly with retailers in order to curb the growing issue.

Crowd safety manager Alan Wilson, who has trained security guards for over 15 years, told Tom guards don’t hold any authority to step in. “Here’s the catch, the security guard on the door has no more power than you or me,” he said on 3AW Drive. “He’s a civilian in a uniform and if the guard was to detain one of those youths, the offence has to carry a term of imprisonment."

“If it is for theft, which in most states only incurs a fine instead a term of imprisonment, then technically you can’t stop them.”  3aw.com.au
 

NACS Launches Disaster Preparedness Resources
The NACS Convenience Store Emergency Planning and Job Aids, available for download at convenience.org/disasterplan, is a result of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Infrastructure Protection Program Challenge, which was a project awarded to NACS in 2018 to identify and enhance how convenience stores can boost their resiliency as they plan, prepare and recover from a disaster, whether man-made or natural.

NACS worked with more than 20 convenience retailers across the country—from one-store operators to retailers with more than 1,000 stores—to develop the NACS Convenience Store Emergency Planning and Job Aids, and incorporated information supplemented by government regulatory requirements and professional association recommendations.

NACS is hosting a webinar, “Convenience Store Emergency Planning,” on Wednesday, July 31 at 1 to 2 p.m. ET, featuring former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. Click here to learn more and reserve your spot. convenience.org

Many Stores & Restaurants Forced to Close During Manhattan Blackout
One Grocery Store Says It Could Take $50K Loss
A blackout hit Manhattan on Saturday night, leaving large swaths of the city in darkness. The power outage struck at 6:47 p.m., affecting most of Manhattan’s west side from 32nd Street all the way to 72nd Street. About 73,000 Con Edison customers lost power in all after some kind of mechanical failure at the West 49th Street substation.

The partial blackout, which coincidentally struck on the 42nd anniversary of the infamous 1977 outage which left millions without power, shut down subway lines and elevators, stranding thousands. It also shut down most of theater district, stopped J-Lo’s Madison Square Garden concert mid-song, and led many stores and restaurants to close.

One Twitter user shared a story of how a Uniqlo's power went off, forcing customers to leave. Another said that Gourmet Garage, a grocery chain, could lose $50,000 due to the blackout. nymag.com

ICE Home Raids Fizzle Over the Weekend
It's Monday - Raiding Places of Employment
A small number of coordinated federal raids targeting undocumented migrant parents and their children took place over the weekend, the beginning of the Trump administration’s plan to swiftly enforce deportation orders against some 2,000 recently arrived migrants who are not eligible to remain in the country.

The plans for the operation were changed at the last minute because of news reports that had tipped off immigrant communities about what to expect, according to several current and former Department of Homeland Security officials. Instead of a large simultaneous sweep, the authorities created a secondary plan for a smaller and more diffuse scale of apprehensions to roll out over roughly a week. Individual ICE field offices were given the discretion to decide when to begin, one official said.

A number of undocumented immigrants took measures over the weekend to avoid interacting with the authorities — staying home and not answering the door — but some will not have that option when the workweek begins on Monday, suggesting that agents may be more successful at making arrests. nytimes.com

Federal Agencies Scramble to Comply With Chinese Security Camera Ban
Some Businesses Still Using Banned Hikvision & Dahua Cameras
When President Trump ratified the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last summer it included an amendment for fiscal 2019 that would mandate federal agencies do not purchase security cameras made in China. The provision also gave U.S. federal agencies one year to remove Chinese-made cameras as part of the legislation’s intent to mitigate the threat of spying by China’s government.

However, it is painfully obvious that complying with the surveillance technology prohibition can never be fully be achieved — not by the Aug. 13 deadline.

The NDAA amendment singled out Dahua and Hikvision, among other telecommunications gear from Chinese firms. The article cites Forescout Technologies — a Washington-based firm hired by some federal agencies to determine what systems are running on their networks — which claims 1,700 Hikvision and Dahua cameras are still operating in locations where they’ve been banned.

Forescout Vice President of Government Affairs Katherine Gronberg tells Bloomberg the number is probably much higher since only a small percentage of government offices actually know what cameras have been deployed. securitysales.com

Commerce Department seeks comment on online counterfeits to determines causes and solutions
The Department of Commerce (DOC) is looking for input from intellectual property rights holders and online third-party marketplaces on how to best stem the sale of counterfeit goods online, according to a notice on the Federal Register posted last week.

he request is the result of a Presidential Memorandum released in April, "Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods," which called on the Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of Commerce to complete a report on the state of counterfeit goods. These comments will help to inform this report, which must be delivered to President Trump by October 30, 2019.

The DOC wants to better understand what leads to the sale of counterfeit goods, if there are any technological or policy solutions, and if information-sharing or government data could help stop these sales. retaildive.com