How Video Surveillance Can Curb Retail Crime
Retail video surveillance can reduce violence and retail shrink
Retail security leaders deal with challenges ranging from loss prevention to supply chain disruptions. Security incidents targeting the retail sector can be prevented by a security strategy involving video surveillance.

An e-book from IDIS, "Utilizing Video Technology to Overcome Challenges in North American Brick-and-Mortar Retail," identified uses for video surveillance and analytics in retail organizations. According to the e-book, violence and retail shrink are two security challenges that video surveillance can help prevent or reduce.

Violence prevention with security cameras

The uptick in gun violence in the United States has had a large effect on the retail sector. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021 report, areas of commerce were the most common location type for active shooter incidents, with over half of active shooter incidents taking place in retail locations.

Surveillance can help identify violent offenders post-incident and contribute to prevention efforts before an incident takes place. Aside from the deterrence factor that security cameras can provide an organization, video surveillance technologies like body-worn cameras and public address (PA) integrations can help security teams and law enforcement respond to an incident.

According to the e-book, video analytics like crowd detection can help reduce interactions that could lead to a violent incident.

Surveillance aids retail shrink reduction

In addition to violence prevention, retail security leaders must focus on preventing loss and mitigating retail shrink. According to the e-book, retail shrink challenges such as return fraud, insider threats and self-checkout fraud present business risks to retail organizations.

Covert security cameras can help surveil high-value items that are at higher risk of theft, says the e-book. An overt surveillance strategy can also help deter theft and retail fraud.

For more retail surveillance findings, click here. securitymagazine.com

How SF's Crime Surge Pushed Leaders to Back Away from 'Defund' Movement
San Francisco defunded the police before reversing course the next year amid calls for 'accountability'

San Francisco diverted $120 million from the police and sheriff's departments in 2020

From coast to coast in 2020, liberal politicians pledged support for defunding police departments following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. San Francisco Mayor London Breed was among the politicians in major cities that joined the chorus of leaders diverting funds from police that summer, only to reverse course the following year.

The plan redirected $120 million in funds from both the police and sheriff’s departments in the city over two years to fund initiatives for Black Americans in the Golden City.

San Francisco was among cities across the country that saw some crimes increase in 2020 compared to 2019. Homicides increased by 20% that year compared to 2019, and by 17% in 2021 compared to 2020. While crimes such as rape and robbery decreased in 2020, burglaries increased by 47% in 2020 when compared to the three previous years, data complied by SFGate shows.

The city was also rocked by smash-and-grab crimes last year, most notably during the holiday season, that carried into 2022; by a continued drug use epidemic that led to more accidental drug overdose deaths in the city in 2020 than the number of people who died from COVID-19 that same year; and by polls over the last two years showing residents becoming concerned with public safety and reporting that their quality of life has gotten worse.

In December 2021, Breed reversed course on defunding and announced an emergency request to the city Board of Supervisors for more money to bolster the police department and address crime. The San Francisco police union president said Breed's announcement in December was evidence that the defund the police movement had been a "mistake."  foxnews.com

Another State Grapples with Impacts of Bail Reform
Illinois state’s attorneys demand changes to no-bail law
As Chicago-style crime continues to spread across Cook County and collar counties, local state’s attorneys are increasingly worried about a new state law. As of January 1st it would sharply restrict the imposition by judges of cash bail for criminal defendants before trial.

Those involved say that one hundred of the state’s 102 county prosecutors are fighting back against what they see as an incursion on judicial discretion and community safety. They will go to the legislature later this year and it appears, maybe to court if that fails. It will be a signal test for Illinois state’s attorneys in counties statewide who want to balance the rights of the accused with the rights of their communities to safe streets and public spaces.

In a recent presentation to the Homer Glen Village Board, Democrat James Glasgow, State’s Attorney of Will County, clarified why lawmakers should not micromanage judges on pretrial bail and detention. He said, “What is bail for? Bail is to protect the public, and victims, and witnesses, and to guarantee the appearance of the offender” in court to answer to charges. “That’s going to be turned on its head if this bill goes into effect.”

End of cash bail in Illinois

House Bill 3653 was sponsored by Democrats and signed by Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker continues to defend the cash bail provisions, saying last week that, “We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years… At the same time, someone who is a wealthy drug dealer, perhaps accused of murder and arrested, can show up with a suitcase full of money and get out of jail.”

One concerned prosecutor is DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin. He says the issue is not pretrial release for first-time shoplifters, but the new constraints on how judges can treat defendants with far more serious charges.

Berlin explains, “There’s categories of offenses, such as all drug offenses – all aggravated DUIs, and all forcible felonies for which you can receive probation, which include robbery, burglary, arson, aggravated battery – where judges have no discretion. They cannot detain defendants in those cases unless they find the state proves the person is a ‘willful flight risk,’” meaning they are “‘planning or attempting to intentionally evade prosecution by concealing one’s self’…Very difficult to prove…That’s our concern.” wirepoints.org

Violent crime rose nearly 22% in Minnesota last year vs. 2020, state says
Violent crime in Minnesota rose by nearly 22% last year compared with 2020, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has disclosed in its annual report, while property crimes like burglary showed a slight drop.

The 2021 Uniform Crime Report, released Friday by the BCA, found that aggravated assault saw the biggest year-over-year increase (34%) among the violent crime categories, which also include murder, rape and robbery.

Frey's comments in his speech come after last week's data presented to the City Council show some early signs that the crime wave has crested. Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw attributed progress to police using data to determine where to target resources, but she cautioned, "I feel like I would be jinxing it if I said [crime has] plateaued." startribune.com

LA County Progressive Dist. Atty. George Gascon's Second Recall Effort Fails
A second effort to force Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón into a recall election fizzled out Monday after officials determined that the campaign to boot him from office failed to gain enough valid signatures.

Loathed by his own prosecutors and with Los Angeles facing a 15-year high in homicides, Gascón was particularly vulnerable to a recall, observers said. They saw Monday’s result as an indictment of the campaign rather than a victory for the embattled district attorney.

The vast majority of Gascon’s own prosecutors supported the recall and, after Monday’s results, vowed to keep fighting him. latimes.com

Rise in violent crime plagues some Michigan metros this summer

Retail NZ Welcomes Practical Policies For Retail Crime
 

US: 94.8M Cases - 1M Dead - 90.1M Recovered
Worldwide: 597.3M Cases - 6.4M Dead - 571.4M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 793
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Kroger Vaccine Lawsuit
Kroger claims immunity in COVID vaccine suit
The Kroger company asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by parents who say their teenage child received an undiluted COVID-19 vaccine dose at a Parkersburg store, saying federal and state laws make it immune from liability.

Attorneys for the grocery chain filed a motion Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to dismiss the case. They cite the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparation Act, which “provides broad immunity for manufacturers, distributors and health care providers in lawsuits involving pandemic countermeasures after a declaration of a public health emergency.”

According to the complaint, the child of John and Maria Louden of Davisville received the second dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine in June 2021. Later that day, Maria Louden was contacted by a pharmacist who said the student-employee who administered the vaccine had done so without diluting it. The result was a dosage more than five times the recommended amount, the complaint says. newsandsentinel.com

Post-COVID Return to Work
Apple tells employees to work at office 3 times per week starting in September

Apple employees who work in Santa Clara County near the company’s California headquarters have been called back to the office

Apple employees who work in Santa Clara County near the company’s California headquarters have been called back to the office starting in September, where they are expected to work three times per week, according to reports from Bloomberg and The Verge.

Apple employees will be asked to go into their offices on Tuesday and Thursday. Individual teams will pick an additional third day for in-person work.

The move is a sign that Apple remains committed to in-person work. Apple’s culture has always heavily emphasized in-person meetings and demos, and it develops and sells hardware, which requires employees to be physically present.

Over the summer, Apple employees have been working from their offices two days a week. Apple had planned to move to a system in which employees would work from the office three days a week earlier this year before it delayed the move in May, citing rising Covid cases. cnbc.com

The Remote Work Debate Hits AT&T
AT&T workers fight return to office push: ‘We can do the same job from home’

Long commutes to and from work, exorbitant childcare costs, ongoing concerns over exposure to Covid cited

The pandemic further exposed the issues in returning to office, from long commutes to and from work, exorbitant childcare costs, ongoing concerns over exposure to Covid-19 variants and now monkeypox, workers are pushing to keep working from home as an option as employers force a return to the office.

At AT&T, the world’s largest telecommunication company, workers represented by the Communications Workers of America agreed to a work from home extension until the end of March 2023, but workers say the company is forcing many workers to return to the office much sooner than that, while other departments had already been forced back to the office by their managers.

James Bloch, an AT&T employee in Cleveland, Ohio, for 21 years, said the work from home option has been beneficial for workers’ mental health, protection from Covid-19, productivity, attendance and carbon footprint. theguardian.com

What the CDC's updated COVID guidelines mean for travelers

NC's COVID state of emergency officially ends today after 2 years

Dealing with the Monkeypox Virus in the Workplace

FTC Business Alert
FTC undertakes inquiry into commercial surveillance practices & wants your insights
Commercial surveillance refers to the pervasive collection, tracking, and monetization of personal data. It’s an enterprise that has proven astonishingly lucrative for platforms and other businesses, but often thrives in the shadows without the knowledge of the consumers whose personal information is their stock-in-trade. The FTC has announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking – and a September 8, 2022, virtual public forum – to take a closer look into harmful commercial surveillance practices and lax data security. We want your input into the prevalence of those practices and ways to address potential harms to consumers.

But is law enforcement enough to protect consumers? The explosive growth in the information collection economy suggests it’s time to take an in-depth assessment of how commercial surveillance affects the day-to-day lives of consumers and whether the current consumer protection set-up is sufficient to protect them from harm.

Read the Advance Notice for Proposed Rulemaking for details about the topics on the table. As the FTC undertakes this inquiry, we want your input. Once the Advance Notice runs in the Federal Register, you’ll have 60 days file a public comment. And follow the Business Blog for more information about the September 8th virtual public hearing. ftc.gov

FTC's Commercial Surveillance and Data Security Public Forum
Thursday, September 8, 2022 | 2:00PM - 7:30PM

Event Description

The Commission is hosting a public forum regarding its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on commercial surveillance and data security practices that harm consumers and competition. The public forum will include panel discussions and the public is invited to provide remarks.
This is a virtual event.

Members of the public must sign up on a first come, first serve basis for an opportunity to speak at the September 8 event, and the total number of speakers will be limited to ensure the event concludes on time.

Each commenter will be given two minutes to share their comments. Speaker registration will be available through Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at 8 pm ET.

This event will be recorded and submitted to the ANPR record. The Commission retains discretion to make public remarks available following the event on ftc.gov. ftc.gov

UK Regulators Clamping Down Hard
43% of UK retailers fined for video privacy breaches, according to survey

Retailers are being hit for their failure to protect customer and employee privacy in video footage, according to a nationwide survey of retailers from video security and privacy company, Secure Redact.

The survey asked 500 British retailers a range of questions relating to in-store use of video surveillance technology, the visual data privacy of customers, GDPR violations and more between May and June 2022.

43% of brands surveyed reported they had been fined for a violation of video surveillance GDPR legislation. Of these retailers, 37% reported paying an equivalent of 2% of their annual turnover, 30% said the fine amounted to 3% of annual turnover, and 15% said the fine was 45% of annual turnover. A staggering 33% of those fined had to close stores as a result of enforcement action.

In IFSEC Global’s Video Surveillance Report of 2021, facial recognition and customer behavioural analysis were both included in the top three reasons why organisations are using video analytics – with loitering detection following behind in fourth place. The retail sector has been a popular market for AI and analytics in surveillance devices, with technology providing the ability for operators and store managers to pick out ‘hotspot’ areas and improve efficiencies in stock placement and queuing lines, for instance.

Similarly, UK retailers surveyed for Secure Redact intend to expand video surveillance technology use, such as wireless CCTV, facial recognition technology, queue monitoring or body cameras in-store. 94% of survey respondents already use at least one of these technologies, and all said they intend to use them more in future, highlighting that many companies are looking to use video surveillance for more than just security purposes.

“The rapid increase in mass-surveillance of UK shoppers represents a breach of personal privacy on a colossal scale, and the regulators appear to be clamping down hard.”  ifsecglobal.com

DHS Biometric & Identity Tech Center Dir. Arun Vemury On FRT's Gains & Needs
Facial recognition might work better with a dedicated capture device, like all other biometrics

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T’s) podcast brought in the biometrics expert for a discussion focused on facial recognition.

Facial recognition would probably work better with images taken from a dedicated device, rather than one designed to capture good pictures of unrelated objects like landscapes, Arun Vemury said during a recent episode of the ‘Technologically Speaking’ podcast.

Their conversation covered the massive gains in algorithm design and performance that have made facial recognition so much more accurate than just a few years ago, and the potential to differentiate between identical twins with face biometrics. They delved into challenges of facial recognition around perception of the technology and overgeneralization, algorithmic bias and what constitutes acceptable variations in performance.

Then the discussion turned from algorithms to the cameras that capture images used in facial recognition.

“I think part of the challenge is, we’ve had, we take cameras, and we use cameras that are kind of general purpose, right?” Vemury points out. “The cameras we buy, can take photos of landscapes, can take photos of birds, can take photos of potted plants, any number of things. I think we need cameras that are designed to take really good photos of faces, and really better accommodate the diversity of human faces and human skin tones.” biometricupdate.com

U.S. Attorney Announces $3.64 Million Settlement Of Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Menswear Company And Its Manager For Underpaying Customs Duties Owed On Apparel Imported Into The United States
Wholesaler selling to retailers: Luchiano Visconti Loutie LLC d/b/a Luchiano Visconti (“LUCHIANO VISCONTI”), a New York-based company that imports and sells men’s apparel to retailers, as well as its manager, SASHA HOURIZADEH (“HOURIZADEH”). The settlement resolves claims that LUCHIANO VISCONTI and HOURIZADEH (collectively, “Defendants”) defrauded the United States by falsely underreporting to CBP the value of apparel imported from overseas in order to avoid paying customs duties owed on the goods. justice.gov

NY Bagel Company Owner Sentenced to 3.5 Years in Prison for Scamming Prospective Franchisees Out of Over $2 Million

The Safety Play
Starbucks returning CEO Schultz is giving staff active shooter training and shuttering 16 stores after employee safety complaints
Starbucks is also rolling out a number of new safety measures like giving store managers leeway to close restrooms, limit seating, reduce operations, and even change store layouts in response to safety concerns. In addition, Starbucks will also provide guidance to baristas on how to deal with an active shooter scenario and lessons on conflict de-escalation.

“You’re seeing firsthand the challenges facing our communities—personal safety, racism, lack of access to healthcare, a growing mental health crisis, rising drug use, and more,” U.S. operations leads Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson wrote in a message to U.S. employees.

Starbucks officials told the Associated Press that the recent closures were in no way related to unionization efforts. “Opening and closing stores is part of our business operations. This is really rooted in safe and welcoming stores,” a company official said. fortune.com

Good Case Made For Union Busting Mission
Howard Schultz intent on crushing Starbucks unionizing efforts
Howard Schultz was known as “a likable leader with a fantastic ability to relate to people” in his previous stints as Starbucks CEO. Many employees within the company now see Mr. Schultz as a divisive figure as he appears hellbent on busting up any dissent or union activity taking place in the chain’s stores.

While Starbucks claims that stores are being closed for safety and security reasons, there is another reality at play: The company is locked in a fight to the finish with a surprisingly resilient nascent employee union movement. retailwire.com

Retail Sales Unchanged in July
US retail sales were flat in July as inflation takes a toll
The pace of sales at U.S. retailers was unchanged last month as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates forced many households to spend more cautiously. Retail purchases were flat in July after having risen 0.8% in June, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

America’s consumers, whose spending accounts for nearly 70% of economic activity, have remained mostly resilient even with inflation near a four-decade high, economic uncertainties rising and mortgage and other borrowing rates surging. Still, their overall spending has weakened, and it has shifted increasingly toward necessities like groceries and away from discretionary items like home goods, casual clothes and electronics.

Though overall inflation remains painfully high, consumer prices were unchanged from June to July — the smallest such figure in more than two years. washingtonpost.com

Doing More with Less: EHS Today's 2022 National Safety and Salary Survey

Safety professionals share how they're getting by, what they're making and how they feel about OSHA in our annual state of the industry survey.

How much does an EHS professional make? How do safety leaders feel about the state of the industries they work in? Why do so many of them feel that they're constantly being asked to do more with less? What keeps them up at night?

Earlier this year, we conducted a survey of the EHS Today readership, and we asked all these questions — and more. All told, we received fully completed responses from 1,100 EHS professionals. ehstoday.com

July Retail Sales Show Consumers Still Shopping Despite Inflation

ThredUp lays off 15% of its corporate workforce as Q2 losses widen

QuikTrip Opens New Non-Gas Store With Amazon's Just Walk Out Tech


Quarterly Results

Walmart Q2 U.S. comp's up 6.5%, eCommerce up 12%, Globally total revenue up 8.4%
   Sam's Club comp's up 9.5%
   Intern. net sales up 5.7%

Home Depot Q2 comp's up 5.8%, U.S. comp's up 5.4%, sales up 6.5%

Target Q2 comp's up 1.3%, digital comp's up 9%, sales up 3.5%

Lowe's Q2 comp's down 0.3%, U.S. comp's up 0.2%, sales down 0.3%

TJX Companies Q2 U.S. comp's down 5%, net sales down 2%
   Marmaxx Q2 U.S. comp's down 2%
   Home Goods Q2 comp's down 13%
   TJX Canada net sales up 22%
   TJX Inter. net sales down 7.3%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Senior Manager Asset Protection Analytics job posted for Kroger General Office in Cincinnati, OH
Develop/lead the Asset Protection (AP) Analytics team for the company. Communicate findings/recommendations to senior executives, divisions and Retail Operations, and Merchandising departments. Provide insights that drive AP standards across the company. Demonstrate the company's core values of respect, honesty, integrity, diversity, inclusion and safety. kroger.eightfold.ai

Loss Prevention Business Partner job posted for DHLeCommerce in Whittier, CA
The Loss Prevention Business Partner will conduct audits, investigations and training within their geographically assigned areas including Distribution Centers, 3rd party locations of regional carrier and vendor cross dock locations. Up to 30% on demand and/or scheduled travel as required. Role will be accountability for workplace safety/OSHA, TSA regulatory compliance, customer losses and physical security & systems. phg.tbe.taleo.net