Apex 2022 Conference Recap

APEX 2022 has come and gone, and what a conference it was!

Immediately following the evening Welcome Reception was the APEX Council Dinner, sponsored by CBE, CONTROLTEK and Gatekeeper. The APEX Council, Elite Sponsors and 25 randomly selected attendees were whisked away by buses to a secret destination! Riddled with excitement and anticipation, the APEX buses arrived at Mount Richmore, the private mansion of John Rich (Big & Rich). There, John hosted the APEX group for dinner, cocktails and a private APEX concert to remember! Even the sponsors were surprised!

Guests took the opportunity to meet with John one-on-one, take photos, and hang out for the evening with cocktails and cigars from John’s personal humidor. John even signed a custom TalkLP guitar, autographed it, then handed it to Scott Denton, CEO of Amphion!

On APEX Day 1, the invitation-only attendees were met with relevant and timely content that only APEX can provide, such as:

• Perspective from the US Intelligence Community: Preparing for Political Unrest (Speaker: CIA)

• Face Matching: Misinformation, Trends and Legalities (LP/AP Executives in the arena)

• Modifying Behavior for Maximum Shrink Success from Frontline Employees (LP/AP Executive panel, facilitated by Amber Bradley)

And don’t forget, APEX is known for surprising their attendees, so they provided everyone with the surprise of a lifetime: the real Rudy Ruettiger, subject of the true-life story depicted in the movie, Rudy! How wonderful it was to hear the attendees cheer, “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!” These chants went well into the evening as attendees were having dinner with the limited APEX sponsors.

Rudy gave the attendees an inspirational message of what it means to be a champion – a speech they will not soon forget!

Click here to see what happened on Day 2 and Day 3

Next year’s APEX Conference is scheduled to be in Nashville, TN. September 13-15, 2023. To request an invitation or sponsorship information, email Amber@calibrationgroup.com. There is limited seating, so please request your invitation as soon as possible. APEX sells out every year.
 

500+ Killed in Big City Weekend Gun Violence Since Memorial Day Weekend

1,658 Shootings - 508 Killed - 1,740 Injured in 15 Big Cities Past 14 Weekends
The D&D Daily's Big City Weekend Violence Study - Memorial Day to Labor Day

The Daily's study analyzes weekend shooting data in 15 major U.S. cities from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend 2022

Starting Memorial Day Weekend, the D&D Daily began compiling and analyzing data from 15 major U.S. cities to get a snapshot of summer gun violence.

This past weekend, from August 26th through August 28th, there were 104 shootings recorded in these same cities, resulting in 42 deaths and 108 injuries.

The chart below shows the totals for each of the past 14 weekends dating back to Memorial Day weekend.

The D&D Daily will continue to track this data throughout the summer to capture the weekend violence trend in our nation's big cities as warm weather typically brings about more crime and violence.

Click here to see the list of incidents per city and follow along each week this summer as this spreadsheet will be updated every Monday. docs.google.com

Read more coverage about America's crime and gun violence epidemic in the section below

ORC is Funding Terrorism & Human Trafficking
‘Laws have to change’: Former NYPD official on retail theft
Surveillance footage shows seven suspects strolling out of a Lululemon in Manhattan’s West Village last week with nearly $30,000 worth of clothing. The most shocking part of the video is that the security guards are standing there, watching it happen.

The incident comes just a few weeks after a different fashion bandit successfully burglarized half a dozen high end clothing stores in the same area.

“The security guards want to do something, clearly. It’s their job to do that,” retail analyst Hitha Herzog said Friday night on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live.” “But what is the consequence? If they actually act and try to prevent these thieves from walking out of the store, they run the risk of getting hurt themselves.”

Retired NYPD Deputy Commissioner Wilbur Chapman also weighed in, saying it’s particularly difficult in New York.

“This is considered a nonviolent crime. So therefore, the people who commit them can be released on bail, and that allows them to become recidivist,” Chapman said. “Each time they’re arrested by the NYPD, they’re released on bail. So as a result, they can come back and commit the crime.”

Also, the security guards are not law enforcement officers. In New York, there is an option for businesses to hire off-duty police officers to guard their facilities, but it’s not cheap. Herzog says small businesses are getting hit the hardest by organized retail theft.

“These are rings that are coming in taking merchandise and then selling it on the black market. That money is then being used to support illicit things like terrorism, like human trafficking, you know, some of the most horrific things,” Herzog said.

“The laws have to change, and they have to give police the authority to lock people up and not worry about them being released 15 minutes later,” Chapman said. “Allowing people to commit these crimes, and to continue these acts of violence against property, will just extend itself to acts of violence against people. It’s just a matter of time.” newsnationnow.com

Looters Wiping Out NYC Stores
High-end stores in SoHo and West Village come under siege from looters

New York City's high-end stores are becoming a target for robbers after another instance wipes a local Lululemon out of about $30,000 of merchandise

New York City's high-end stores have become a target for looters as a gang of thieves stole $30,000 worth of clothing from upmarket sportwear brand Lululemon while a security guard stood by. The brazen robbers, targeting the posh West Village neighborhood, rushed out of the store with their finds - without being apprehended by the security guard.

New York's shopping districts - including SoHo - have been under siege by robbers and looters in recent weeks, while law enforcement have been slammed for their lax approach to the crimes.

Meanwhile, some security guards said they feel hopeless as the thieves take off with thousands in merchandise without consequences. Marni manager Kristin Aureden told The New York Post that her associates just allow thieves to run free at their store located at 159-161 Mercer St.

Major crime in NYC is on the rise with a 35 percent increase since the same time last year, according to NYPD data. Robberies, grand larcenies, and auto thefts fueling the crime wave. There were about 3,000 more robberies reported to NYPD in 2022 through August 21 than there were last year.

Mayor Eric Adams indicated he won't be entertaining calls to decrease the number of cops in the city, but will discourage 'heavy-handed' policing from NYPD officers. dailymail.co.uk

Another Store Victimized by Fatal Gun Violence
Bend, OR: Two people fatally shot at grocery store, suspect takes his own life
Two people were fatally shot on Sunday night by a gunman who opened fire at an Oregon grocery store before he was found dead, authorities said. Police responded around 7 p.m. to reports of a shooting at the Forum Shopping Center in the city of Bend, which is about three hours outside of Portland, according to the Bend Police Department.

Officials said the gunman, armed with an A-15-style rifle, began firing in the parking lot before entering a Safeway and fatally shooting a person at the entrance, adding that the gunman kept firing and killed a second person. Bend officers arrived and heard more gunshots before finding the apparent gunman dead inside the grocery store, authorities said, noting that the rifle and other weapons were scattered nearby. Police said the investigation is ongoing. The identity of the gunman was not released.

A witness told the Bend Bulletin the shooter walked down every aisle, spaying bullets at shoppers. She said she grabbed her handgun but ended up retreating through the back door, where employees were getting shoppers out of the building. thehill.com  bendbulletin.com

Does New DA Restore Justice & Safety In SF - Time Will Tell
San Franciscans have called the new D.A. a hero or villain
To her fiercest critics, she’s an icy, corrupt puppet of the mayor who will stuff San Francisco’s jails with low-level offenders and probably cackle as she does it. To her most loyal supporters, she’s Superwoman, a savior in a suit who’s arrived to restore justice, safety and accountability to our failing city. She was quit her job as a homicide prosecutor to join the campaign to recall her boss, District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

Some of Boudin’s supporters have tried to paint her in stark terms — conservative to his progressive — when the truth is she’s fairly middle-of-the-road in San Francisco, pledging to continue some of Boudin's reforms while paring back others.

Jenkins said she has “no desire to fill up jails,” but said she does intend to seek incarceration more often than Boudin did — mostly for people repeatedly accused of serious crimes. Asked whether she considers herself “tough on crime,” she said, “I think I’m tough when I need to be.” “We’ve been living in a universe where regardless of how many times people offend and in what ways, there has been no consequence at all.”

This week, she also announced her cash bail policy, saying she, like Boudin, is generally opposed to cash bail because it harms low-income people. Their policies appear similar — including seeking pre-trial detention in serious, violent crimes when public safety is in jeopardy — though Jenkins is likely to seek pre-trial detention more often. sfchronical.com

Security Guards Under Attack Nationwide
Six Security Officers Killed, Three Dozen Shot in 1 Week in U.S.
In just seven days, three California security officers, have lost their lives while on duty. At least two of them were unarmed.

The murders occurred at a casino, a marijuana dispensary, and a patrol assignment. In total, six security officers were murdered across the country during this time, and over three dozen were shot.

And on Friday, the Mall of America security team also were credited with capture of an armed robbery suspect who robbed a store with an AR-15 style rifle. Mall security officers were able to surveil the man on their extensive video surveillance system while notifying the Bloomington police. Because he posed an extreme danger to mall shoppers and staff, they formulated a plan to have plainclothes officers pose as shoppers and wait for the right opportunity to subdue him while uniform mall officers waited nearby to assist.

Multiple mall security officers caught the man by surprise as they tackled and quickly handcuffed the man who has since been charged with robbery and multiple other offense.

An unidentified marijuana security officer in Los Angeles County was killed during a robbery and a second Loss Angles security officer was murder while trying to stop a car burglar LAPD said. Also in California, 27-year-old Sean Bernal a security officer was murdered during a robbery at the Capitol Casino.

Two Texas security officers also died this week. A shooting in Houston left one officer dead while a missing security officer was found almost two weeks later in a submerged vehicle in a lake on the property where he was on duty.

An Augusta Georgia security, forty-three-year-old Cynthia Wright, was found murdered in the morning hours at the Union Agener Animal Health Distribution Center. Police identified a suspect, identified as 32-year-old Cornell Thomas.

The shootings, murders, and serious assaults of security officers during the past week continue to highlight the extreme dangers that mostly unarmed, and poorly trained security officers face every day.  privateofficerbreakingnews.blogspot.com

Violence Erupts at 'Straight Pride' Rally
Fireworks, pepper spray and arrests in Modesto as protesters clash at straight pride rally
Insults turned to violence on Saturday as participants in a National Straight Pride Coalition rally were met by a much larger number of LGBTQ and pro-choice counterprotesters in Modesto. Police estimated the straight pride crowd at “30-ish” people and their opponents at 125 to 150.

It’s the fourth consecutive year that straight pride demonstrators have assembled in front of the Planned Parenthood building on McHenry Avenue, and like last year, violence quickly ensued.

A scuffle ensued as a Proud Boy attempted to push past the police, said a man who gave his name only as Richard. He said he watched the violence as a “straight pride” supporter but did not identify as a Proud Boy himself. Counterprotesters started throwing water bottles in retaliation. A blast went off, and a firework ballooned from the street in red streaks. modbee.com

Illinois: Theft on the rise at local hardware stores

Lynnwood, WA: Police working to quell organized retail theft

US: 96M Cases - 1M Dead - 91.6M Recovered
Worldwide: 606M Cases - 6.4M Dead - 581.6M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 794
*Red indicates change in total deaths

One of Many Ways COVID Changed Retail Forever
Curbside pickup is here to stay, and retailers are going all in

With inflation causing consumers to change their spending habits, major retailers are leaning into “omnichannel” shopping options to draw in customers

Curbside pickup, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) and other “omnichannel” approaches meant to make shopping seamless no matter the point of purchase — in-store, by phone, app or desktop — were already gaining traction before the coronavirus crisis took hold in early 2020.

But the pandemic forced retailers to adapt quickly to new safety concerns and social distancing norms, and now there’s no going back for many consumers: 33 percent of adults younger than 50 who started using curbside pickup during the pandemic say it’s a habit they expect to continue, according to a study from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the SCAN Foundation.

Retailers ranging from major department stores to local hardware stores are leaning into the demand. But some may take it a bit further — by adding fees.

“Retailers have started to see it as a competitive advantage,” said Katherine Cullen, the senior director of industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation. “They know it’s something shoppers like … and it addresses the reality that there’s not really a distinction in consumers’ minds anymore between online or in-store.” washingtonpost.com

Retail's COVID Bounceback
Retail is back: Empty space now below pre-Covid levels
As the office market continues to struggle with vacancies, retail has bucked the trend. National retail availability is not only below where it was when the pandemic hit, but at the lowest level since the Great Recession, according to a Bisnow report of an analysis by CoStar.

As retail vacancies decline, rents are shooting up. The average asking rent for retail properties is growing at its fastest pace in more than a decade, according to the analysis.

Consumers have been increasing their retail spending in recent weeks, despite talk of a recession. From June to July, consumer spending excluding automobiles increased by 0.4 percent, according to the Census Bureau.

While consumer spending influences whether companies fill retail spaces, other factors are at play. Retail bankruptcies are at their lowest level in seven years. And inflation could be prompting Americans to spend money before prices go up. therealdeal.com

The Office’s Last Stand
It’s either the end of the era of flexibility around where work takes place — or the beginning of outright rebellion.
Each pandemic fall has brought with it employers’ hopes of a broad-scale return to the office. Last year’s plans were derailed by the Delta variant. But this time, business leaders are adamant that they won’t change course. Seriously.

It’s been more than two years since the rules of the working world snapped. On all sides of the debate over returning to the office, the stakes feel high as ever. More than one-third of U.S. workers who can do their jobs from home want to stay permanently remote, according to recent data from Gallup. Meanwhile, executives realize that if they don’t persuade their employees to come back now, with pandemic restrictions eased in most areas, the new norms of flexible work will be hard to unstick. So, some sense a standoff coming. Bosses say the office deadlines are real; workers are testing just how much they mean that. nytimes.com

Monkeypox Cases Are Declining in New York City and Globally
Rising vaccinations rates combined with changes in sexual behavior have shifted the disease’s trajectory, health officials said.

Google workers frustrated after office Covid outbreaks, call to modify vax policy

Government website to suspend orders for free COVID tests due to limited supply