Grab-And-Dash Thefts On The Rise in California
Police Blame Prop 47 Law Meant To Make ‘Neighborhoods Safe’

You’ve likely seen the videos on social media or the local news: groups of people rushing into a store, grabbing armfuls of merchandise. The brazen crimes are on the rise and CBS13 has learned, in most cases, the crooks get away from authorities.

“They know the law,” said Lieutenant Mark Donaldson, Vacaville PD. “One of the first things they ask us [is] ‘Can’t I just get a ticket so I can be on my way?’” He explained many suspects know theft under $950 dollars is now a misdemeanor, meaning most get a written citation, a court date and are released.

WHY POLICE BLAME PROP 47

Donaldson and the California Police Chief’s Association attribute the growing problem to Prop 47. ”I think if you would ask most in law enforcement, [it] has had a significant impact on why we’re experiencing this,” Donaldson said.

Prop 47, known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, passed in 2014. It was intended to keep non-violent criminals out of crowded prisons. And, among other things, the law more than doubled the amount a suspect could steal before facing a felony from $450 to $950.

Since 2014, police records show the annual loss to retail theft in Vacaville has more than doubled. Records show reports of organized retail theft in Vacaville, crimes with multiple suspects, are up 40% this year compared to before Prop 47. FBI crime data also shows retail theft state-wide is up.

The National Retail Federation’s annual survey found in more than half the states with laws like Prop 47, when the felony threshold increases, so do losses to organized retail crime. According to the survey, “In states where the felony threshold has increased, over half report an increase in (organized retail theft) case value. None reported a decrease. It appears that criminals understand the new threshold and have increased their thefts to meet it.”

PROP 47 SUPPORTERS POINT TO OTHER FACTORS -- DA's NOT CHARGING THEFTS AS FELONIES

Prop 47 supporters - like retired police chief and former parole director for the state Thomas Hoffman - note that crime is caused by many factors and they warn that statistics don’t prove Prop 47 is to blame.

Hoffman pointed to the new “organized retail theft” law took effect this year that does allow cases with multiple suspects, or multiple stores, to be charged as a felony. “And if that isn’t happening that’s not because of Prop 47, those are local decisions often made by DAs, city attorneys, whoever is in charge of prosecuting those cases,” Hoffman said.

CBS13 reached out to the District Attorneys in more than half a dozen local counties and found, despite the increase in crime, only two DAs have charged anyone with a felony under the new law. Seven cases total so far this year.

RETAIL POLICIES MAY BE CONTRIBUTING

Donaldson said there are many factors that go into to why suspects are not being captured more often. One significant factor: “there seems to be less and less store employees getting involved.”

The Police Chiefs Association points to a growing number of retailers with policies not to engage – or even report these crimes. The National Retail Federation said that the trend is due, in part, to policies focused on employee safety because of more aggressive shoplifters.

“With the advent of more aggressive retail criminals, many retailers do not want their untrained non-loss prevention associates risking their personal safety while confronting suspected shoplifters,” said Robert Moraca, the Vice President Loss Prevention for the National Retail Federation. “We prefer that they observe and report incidents to their loss prevention or management team.”

THE PUSH FOR CHANGE

The Police Chiefs Association is now sponsoring legislation that would amend Prop 47, adding a felony for serial theft with a value of $250 below the pre-Prop 47 limits.

“The Keep California Safe initiative would help California by revising the theft threshold, adding a felony for serial theft. The initiative would require that when a person is caught for the 3rd time stealing with a value of $250, it becomes a felony,” said Ronald A. Lawrence, CPCA President. cbslocal.com
 

Retail Fraud Attempts Double Year-Over-Year and Triple since 2017,
According to LexisNexis Risk Solutions True Cost of Fraud Report
Successful fraud transactions grew 84% since 2018, leading to sharply increasing fraud costs

LexisNexis® Risk Solutions has released its 10th annual True Cost of Fraud report for the retail sector. The study, which includes both in-store and e-commerce merchants, shows that U.S. retail fraud grew significantly during the past year for businesses of all sizes, with fraudsters adding small business targets, which typically utilize less anti-fraud solutions than mid-to-large sized merchants.

Overall fraud attempts doubled year-over-year and tripled since 2017. The LexisNexis Fraud Multiplier, which measures the cost for each dollar of fraud loss, found merchants pay $3.13 per lost dollar on average, up from $2.94 last year, a 6.5% increase.

"There currently exists a perfect storm of increased cross-border, digital and mobile fraud and executives are under pressure to deliver prevention solutions that stem escalating fraud losses," said Kimberly Sutherland, vice president, fraud and identity management strategy, LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

Key Findings from the Report:

• Less Secure Small Retailers Offer Digital Goods – While mid-to-large sized retailers and e-commerce merchants are more likely to offer digital goods, small retailers offering digital goods more than doubled year-over-year, from 11% to 26%, broadening the landscape for fraudsters.

• Mobile Commerce – The average monthly fraud volume rose 133% for mid-to-large sized retailers selling digital goods through the mobile channel.

• Synthetic Identity Fraud – E-commerce merchants who transact through a mobile browser or app believe that the rise of synthetic identities is their greatest challenge fighting fraud during digital goods sales transactions.   prnewswire.com

Download a copy of 10th annual True Cost of Fraud report for the retail sector here.

Two Men Have Accidentally Shot Themselves at Kroger Stores in Two Weeks, Despite Policy Asking Shoppers to Not Carry Guns
Kroger, a popular supermarket chain throughout the midwest and south, has seen not just one, but two bizarre incidents in which a man has shot himself in the company's stores.

The first incident happened in Huntington, West Virginia on September 9. An unidentified local man was visiting a Kroger gas station when he dropped his gun and was shot in the chest. He was taken to a local hospital, where his condition was listed as stable. No one else was hurt in the incident, though the store was temporarily closed to aide the police investigation.

The second incident occurred Friday, when a man in a Memphis, Tennessee Kroger accidentally shot himself in the leg when a gun strapped to his hip went off. The man told officers reporting to the scene that he was adjusting his pants when he accidentally pulled the trigger and the gun went off. Aside from the wound on his leg and a shredded pant-leg, he was unharmed. However, some level of damage was incurred to the store, as Local Memphis says Kroger declined to press charges against the man for vandalism.

Kroger has requested its customers not to openly carry their guns after two deadly mass shootings in southern Walmart Superstores - one, the infamous El Paso, Texas shooting and another in Southhaven, Mississippi. Those two shootings combined took 22 lives and injured over 20.

Other stores have also asked customers not to carry firearms while shopping, including Walmart. However, there have been a number of cases of Second Amendment activists testing the policy by carrying guns into stores. newsweek.com

Publix joins retailers closing ranks on gun-carrying customers

“Instead of check out, let’s focus on check in”
Are smart carts a smarter way to ‘Just Walk Out’?
A new startup is aiming to fix some of the pain points of Just Walk Out checkout technology by thinking smaller. A company called Veeve has built a solution that lets shoppers pay without checking out, but rather than using ceiling-mounted cameras like Amazon Go, it’s building all the necessary technology into shopping carts.

Veeve’s smart cart addresses a few of the concerns about existing Just Walk Out stores. Since the technology works at the cart level, it can scale to larger stores. retailwire.com

Ahold Delhaize pilots Amazon Go-style portable store

Minor league team makes autonomous checkout history with new store

PwC Fined $7M for Audit Independence Violations
PwC has agreed to pay more than $7.9 million to settle allegations that it improperly performed IT and other non-audit services for audit clients.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the firm violated auditor independence rules in connection with 19 engagements on behalf of 15 issuers between 2013 and 2016.

In the case of one client identified only as Issuer A, PwC partner Brandon Sprankle allegedly negotiated and supervised two software projects for the company and mischaracterized them to the client’s audit committee as audit services.

The services “involved financial software systems that were planned to be implemented in a subsequent audit period and providing feedback to management on those systems — areas outside the realm of audit work,” the SEC said in an administrative order.

In its work for other clients, PwC allegedly failed to discuss with their audit committees the scope of its services and the implications of performing the work on its independence. cfo.com

Mass retail store closures will continue to rip through the US: Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs thinks it'll probably get even worse
Store closures are only pushing more people to shopping on desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones —which is usually a less profitable transaction for retailers due to free shipping costs and investments in building out digital capabilities.

There are already 11,000 store closures this year, exceeding the annual number of the past several years, according Terry. CoreSight Research, which is cited by Terry, projects the retail store closure number to reach 12,000 by year end. yahoo.com

Holiday Hiring Expected to Stagnate or Fall
Early uptick may not mean a holiday hiring boom this season. According to a recent Challenger, Gray & Christmas report, hiring for the full season is expected to either stagnate or fall this year. Last year added the lowest number of seasonal hires since 2009 despite a record number of announcements. According to data Challenger analyzed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, retailers added 625,600 jobs in 2018, a 6.4% decrease from 2017 when hiring numbers reached 668,400.

The rise of e-commerce has driven lower hiring rates than years past, though the firm noted that more retailers will shift seasonal hiring to transportation and warehousing positions. retaildive.com

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director Security/Risk at Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits - based in Las Vegas, NV
The Security Director (SD) will provide a secure environment by developing physical and technical security programs. The SD will implement security programs and procedures to protect company personnel, property and reputation. southernglazers.com

Quality Control Officer of New England Meat Packing LLC - Admits Fabricating E. Coli Test Results

Congress to Vote on Cannabis Industry's SAFE Banking Act Today

Massachusetts to ban sale of all vaping products for 4 months in toughest state crackdown

Arby's to Buy Jimmy Johns

Australia: Franchisors could face penalties in new wage-theft laws

Hong Kong: 9.4% of stores in shopping district are empty as protests continue


Quarterly Results
Ikea 2019 Financial year sales up 5%, online sales up 46%
Nike Q1 sales up 7%

The LPRC's Ultimate Prep Guide to IMPACT 2019
With LPRC IMPACT 2019 quickly approaching, first-time attendees might be wondering what to expect at the industry's fastest-growing conference. Even seasoned-IMPACT goers might need a refresher once in a while. Read the "Ultimate Guide to IMPACT" on LPRC News and learn how you can get ready for IMPACT 2019!

IMPACT is a two-day event, taking place Sep 30 - Oct 2 at the University of Florida, designed to help participants better understand how they can use research approaches to help reduce crime and loss, and increase sales. This year's conference will explore the theme of Trust, and how customer trust is key through our interactive Learning Labs, panels, presentations, and much more. Register here!