Retailer secures ORC suspect arrest, return of missing minor

AP pros use proactive face matching to stop notorious booster

Here's a FaceFirst client ORC win that dovetails with recent news coverage about missing and exploited children and teens.

When a known ORC booster walked into a retailer's store, FaceFirst instantly notified the designated ORC investigator. The investigator and the ORC AP team acted immediately. Within 90 minutes, their actions led to the suspect's arrest, the recovery of goods worth thousands of dollars, and the eventual safe return of a missing minor.

The case started when investigators identified a man as a prolific ORC booster in May 2022. The man was involved in numerous larcenies at various client locations and other retailers, but he had not been apprehended during any of those incidents. Investigators enrolled him as a known offender in the retailer's custom database.

When the man returned to one of the retailer's stores, the FaceFirst system matched his enrolled face and sent a notification email to the designated investigator. The investigator immediately notified the ORC AP team of the known offender's presence. The man left that store, but within half an hour he entered another of the retailer's locations. There, the AP team observed the man and an unknown young woman concealing large amounts of health and beauty products.

The AP team confirmed the FaceFirst match-combining powerful artificial intelligence with human oversight-and called the police. When the two individuals left the store with concealed products valued at $1,428.91, officers detained them. They found thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods from other retailers.

Subsequent investigation revealed the man also had an outstanding warrant for first-degree burglary. Details about various judicial proceedings against the man are pending. Investigators identified the young woman as a minor who was 12 years old when reported missing in April 2021. There had been no leads on her whereabouts until this incident. Local authorities removed the minor, made appropriate notifications, and arranged for her return to her guardians.

FaceFirst's face matching technology alerts retailers instantly when known threats enter their stores, providing both life safety and loss prevention advantages. Calculate the risks of being caught unaware when a known offender enters your store. If you knew there was a proven solution to keep your valued customers and associates safer from violent offenders and prevent loss, would you implement it? The real risk is answering no. FaceFirst's solution is fast, accurate, and scalable-take action today at facefirst.com.
 

GSX 2023

Visit These D&D Daily Partners at GSX 2023

September 11-13 in Dallas, TX
 

D&D Daily Partner	Booth Number		D&D Daily Partner	Booth Number
	3732			2917
	3233			3549
	1732			3041
	2745			4167
Click here for full list of GSX exhibitors

Join Genetec in Dallas for GSX 2023

We look forward to seeing our customers, partners, and consultants at GSX 2023 from September 11th to 13th. Stop by the Genetec booth, #3315, to discover solutions that enhance your security and operations.

Read more here
 

'Mayhem on Main Street': Retail Theft Epidemic Series

The Widespread Ripple Effects of Organized Retail Crime
Retail theft has serious side effects for wider community

In this series, Mayhem on Main Street, the Washington Examiner will investigate the causes behind the scourge of shoplifting, the role of the cartels, the cost to stores big and small, and the complicity of lax prosecutors. Part 5 will focus on the side effects of retail theft to communities. To read parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, click here, here, here and here.

Organized retail theft has not only cut into the profit margins of big brands — it's seriously affecting the experience of shopping and the broader community in a number of indirect ways. The ripple effects of such theft often stretch far beyond slimmer profit margins and frightened sales associates.

DOMINO EFFECT OF CLOSURES

Big-box stores have, for the past several years, started shuttering locations in high-crime areas due to organized retail theft, which can make continuing operations at some stores simply untenable. Sometimes, the closure of flagship storefronts can seal the fate of the smaller businesses that surround them.

In San Francisco’s Union Square, for example, the departure of a few well-known retailers from the area led to a mass exodus that has resulted in the closure of nearly half of the complex’s stores.

STAFF SHORTAGES

Increased retail theft has driven some workers from the industry, creating a spiral that worsens the crime problem. Surveys show retail workers report feeling less satisfied and safe on the job as crime becomes a more regular occurrence in many of their workplaces.

The problem worsened during the pandemic. From 2018 to 2020, assaults at grocery stores rose 63% and assaults at convenience stores rose 75%, according to the New York Times.

In some of the largest retail stores, however, company policy prevents frustrated employees from taking any action. High-profile incidents of workers facing termination over their efforts to stop a theft in progress have helped drive morale even lower.

HIGHER PRICES & LOCALIZED SHORTAGES

Consumers are likely to pay higher prices for some goods — not just because of inflation but because of the effects of retail theft, according to the National Retail Federation. Retailers are losing as much as $100 billion per year to retail theft, and some of that loss gets passed on to shoppers in the form of higher prices for the goods that remain. Localized shortages can also complicate shopping in areas hit significantly by organized retail theft.   washingtonexaminer.com


Imprisoned Shoplifter Says New Laws & Anti-Theft Measures Won't Work
What will stop ORC? We went behind bars to ask a prolific shoplifter

Convicted felon explains how he ripped off stores & why anti-theft measures don’t work

Martin Castaway is currently serving seven years in prison for theft convictions in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Castaway led a crime ring known as the "Castaway Crew," which hit big box retailers throughout the Portland area. We spoke with him inside the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario.

Kyle Iboshi: Did the presence of a security officer or loss prevention impact your decision on whether to go into a store or not?

Martin Castaway: Not really. If I see a security dude with a gun, I know he can’t touch me. I got to a point where it was almost like a game to me. I wasn’t stopping for nothing. Now, if I see a suspicious car in the parking lot who looks like a police officer, I’m going to have second thoughts on that. I’ll probably just cruise through and keep going.

The Oregon state legislature tried to address shoplifting by passing several bills, including harsher penalties for those convicted of organized retail theft. Do you think tougher laws will help reduce shoplifting in Oregon?

I don’t think so at all. I think anybody who is engaged in this type of crime — I would say 70 or 80 percent of them are on drugs. They need treatment, not prison.

So, what can be done in our community to help reduce shoplifting?

We need more treatment programs for those struggling with addiction.

They call it organized retail crime. Is it organized?

I would say it is pretty unorganized. Everyone is messed up on drugs. I would find people who were on fentanyl. I would exploit that. I would recruit them. They’d be running around with me.

Several stores have instituted tougher security measures to prevent shoplifting. Would that stop you?

No, not at all. kgw.com


ORC is the New Drug Smuggling
'Many robberies are executed by some of the most dangerous criminal cartels in the world.'

‘Flash Mob’ Retail Crime Closing Stores, Funding Cartels
All told, shoplifting mobs and smash-and-grab robbers are costing retailers $100 billion in losses in what law enforcement calls organized retail crime (ORC). Many robberies are executed by some of the most dangerous criminal cartels in the world. The profits from retail theft in New York and Chicago help fund drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking in Mexico and Central America.

And American shoppers may unknowingly be contributing to the cartels’ profits.

“These folks that are going from store to store and state to state with lists and compiling all the merchandise and warehouses cleaning it and selling it on online marketplaces,” said Alysa Erichs with United to Safeguard America from Illegal Trade (USA-IT), a public-private partnership fighting the sale of counterfeit, illicit and stolen goods.

“Like, it’s legitimate street gangs,” added Erichs, a former executive associate director at Homeland Security Investigations. “Depending on where you are, there are different gang names for different areas and regions. … We’re seeing that gangs are recruiting juveniles because it’s basically a revolving door when they get caught because they’re below adult age. If they get caught, they have more sources that are out there.”

Easier to Steal Than to Smuggle Drugs

There is also the potential for human trafficking. Erich says some ORC suspects are people who were smuggled across the border. “They’re finding it more easy to pay off their debt doing ORC-related activity as opposed to smuggling drugs.”

The National Retail Federation agrees. Its 2021 National Retail Security Survey reported retailers experienced a 26.5% increase in ORC from 2020 to 2021 — including ORC-related violence and aggression.

Most disturbing, law enforcement says, is the violence that has become more common in these crimes. Target executives reported a 120% increase in violent theft at its stores this year. Shoplifting teens tend to run away when confronted. Gang members fight back; at least two store employees have been killed. gvwire.com


Retailers & Online Sellers Join Texas ORC Task Force
Texas organized theft task force includes reps from Amazon, eBay and H-E-B
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Tuesday announced 10 appointments to the state's newly created Organized Retail Theft Task Force, which is expected to meet quarterly and report to the Legislature in 2024, before the next regular session begins in 2025.

The appointments include representatives from Amazon, eBay, H-E-B and Target as well as law enforcement and state agencies.

Reports of dramatic organized robberies have been rare in Houston, with the most notable occurring in recent years when pickup trucks have slammed into convenience stores — and even the Highland Village Apple Store — in so-called smash-and-grab efforts. Still law enforcement agents and retailers say organized retail crime is a concern in the city and state, as well as across the country.

The state's new task force was created by a law passed this year, House Bill 1826, after the Texas House's Business and Industry Committee took up the issue.

At a committee hearing on the subject held in June 2022, a key point made was that organized retail crime is different than shoplifting, although bystanders might not see a practical difference and low-level thieves, or "boosters," might not be aware they are part of a larger effort.

The phenomenon has been around since the 1990s, he continued, but the rise of e-commerce platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp has helped boost the boosters by offering spaces for stolen goods to be sold.

Law enforcement agents also said that organized retail crime rarely carries the stiff penalties associated with drug trafficking, for example. Many offenders are simply charged with theft.

Nine states have already passed laws aimed at curbing the organized thefts, and Congress in 2022 passed a law, the Inform Consumers Act, which requires online marketplaces to disclose and verify the identity of high-volume sellers to deter the sale of fenced and counterfeit products.  houstonchronicle.com


Calif. Police Departments Seek Money for Theft Task Forces
Peninsula Agencies Seek Grant To Fight Theft At Shopping Centers

Three police departments are asking for money to create a retail theft task force focused on three of the region's shopping centers.

Police in Daly City, San Mateo and San Bruno say San Mateo County's three regional shopping centers are frequent targets for organized retail theft and are asking for help.

The three police departments have applied for a joint grant that would provide funds to combat the problem.

The grant is being offered by the California Board of State and Community Corrections specifically to address rising retail theft, according to a press release last week from the San Bruno Police Department.

"If the funds are awarded, these three agencies will establish a joint task force that will leverage a variety of tools, technologies, and strategies to significantly reduce retail theft in all three cities, and throughout San Mateo County," the department said in the release Thursday. patch.com


'Wild West-Style' Anti-Shoplifting Posse
Cheyenne, WY: Wyoming Sheriff Forming 'Wild West-Style' Posse To Fight Shoplifters
As the number of retail thefts continues to rise across the country and crooks become more brazen with their smash-and-grab attacks, one Wyoming sheriff has a solution to the problem. Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak is planning to start a new "Wild West-inspired" posse that will patrol shopping centers and other high-crime areas across the county. "Talking to the shop owners here in Cheyenne and some of the major box stores, they tell me there has been an increase in theft the last few months," Kozak told Cowboy State Daily. "They would just feel better having a civilian uniform presence — someone who can immediately call the police." Kozak said the volunteers would not be tasked with arresting suspects. Instead, they would immediately call the police department for assistance. "It frees up deputies," Kozak explained. "Volunteers can do things you do not need a cop with a gun to do." Kozak promised that once the alleged criminals are arrested, they will be punished by Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl. "There seems to be a perception out there that (thieves) are not going to be prosecuted; however, our new district attorney is doing a really good job of prosecuting cases and going back and prosecuting (old) cases," said Kozak.  iheart.com


Workplace Violence & Safety Bill Moves Ahead in California
California's Workplace Violence Protection Bill Clears Key Hurdle
A California bill that aims to help protect most workers from violence at their job sites has cleared a key hurdle in the Legislature, and heads now for a full vote in the Assembly.

Under SB 553, employers in all kinds of industries would be required to implement a workplace violence prevention plan developed together with their employees. Similar protections have been in place for healthcare workers since 2017.

Democratic lawmakers in the Appropriations Committee advanced the measure last week, after amendments included exemptions for very small businesses. The California Chamber of Commerce, which lobbied for the changes, withdrew its opposition today.

Aggressive or violent behavior at work sites has increasingly become a serious concern, especially in industries such as retail, which has suffered a spike in reported assaults, particularly at grocery and convenience stores.

One of the 57 Californians who died (PDF) from work-related violence in 2021 was Miguel Nuñez Peñaloza, a clerk at a Rite Aid in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old was fatally shot after confronting a shoplifter at the store.

SB 553 would help improve safety by pushing more employers to communicate at least annually with workers about how to minimize hazards, as well as keep a log of violent incidents, she said. kqed.org


Bringing the Police Station Into the Store
Atlanta Walmart to open a store that also houses a police substation
Walmart is adding a new feature to one of its upcoming Neighborhood Market locations in Atlanta.

In December 2022, Walmart’s store in the city’s Vine City neighborhood closed after it sustained fire and water damage due to suspected arson. The location is being converted to the retail giant’s smaller-format Neighborhood Market banner and is scheduled to reopen in May 2024. Along with a pharmacy and grocery offerings that range from prepared foods to fresh produce to full-service deli, the store will also include an Atlanta Police Department substation where an officer’s presence is intended to help deter criminal activity, reported local media source roughdraftatlanta.com.

The substation will be a place for Atlanta officers to fill out paperwork, hold meetings, or charge their phones or body cameras, according to the report. It will not be occupied at all hours.

The goal is to keep people safe, but also to make sure shrinkage does not hurt Walmart’s bottom line so “they don’t want to stay here anymore,” Mayor Andre Dickens said in the report.

The move to include the police substation comes as retailers across the board say rising levels of shrink due to organized retail crime and theft are cutting into their profits. chainstoreage.com


60% Decrease in Law Enforcement Deaths - 79 Year-to-Date
9 Deaths in August: 4 Auto/Vehicle-Related, 2 Gunfire, 2 Health-Related, 1 Train
In August, 9 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty. The cause breakdown (August 2023 only) is: 2 automobile crashes, 1 vehicular assault, 1 duty related illness, 1 inadvertent gunfire, 1 motorcycle accident, 1 struck by train, 1 heart attack, and 1 gunfire. This means that the year-to-date total for line of duty deaths is at 79, a 60% decrease from the same time last year.

The Officer Down Memorial Page extends our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and agencies who lost a loved one to a line of duty death this past month. We encourage our supporters to read the memorials of each of the officers who died in the line of duty. odmp.org

NYPD Overhauls Unrest Tactics
N.Y.P.D. Will Drop Contentious Tactic Used to Crack Down on Protests

The department agreed to set new rules and create an oversight board for protests in a sweeping deal with the state attorney general, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society.

After years of clashes in the street and the courts, the New York Police Department has agreed to a legal settlement that will overhaul how it handles demonstrations and ban the practice of boxing in protesters and then arresting them.

In addition to ending that practice, known as kettling, the department will use a tiered system of de-escalation for protests before deploying more officers and will install a high-ranking executive to make sure officers are complying with new rules.

The department agreed to the sweeping changes as part of a deal filed in federal court on Tuesday with the office of Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, who sued the agency in January 2021 over what she called widespread abuses during protests the previous summer after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Commissioner Edward Caban said the protests had “presented many unique challenges for officers, who did their best to protect people’s rights to peaceful expression while addressing acts of lawlessness.” But he said that the agreement “represents the department’s commitment to continually improving to ensure the public remains safe and individual rights are protected.” nytimes.com


Opinion: Are SoCal mob robberies part of a retail crime wave? It’s complicated

Fort Wayne PD working with Glenbrook Square security after 2 mall shootings