Axis Communications Executive Larry Newman Discusses How To Communicate The Value Of Security To The Public

Generally speaking, security becomes a topic of conversation among the general public only after something bad has happened. The context in these situations is: What went wrong? Largely absent from awareness by the public at large is how often things go right; that is, how often security systems work as intended to avoid expensive or even deadly consequences. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can the industry communicate the value of security to the public?

Larry Newman, Senior Director of Sales - Americas, Axis Communications

Security is multi-faceted and nuanced, and it’s important to understand that today’s solutions go far beyond key cards, badging systems, and security guards observing wall monitors. True security must be comprehensive, integrating video surveillance, access control, and other solutions to create a multipurpose system while simultaneously being nonintrusive and enhancing people’s lives. Communicating value to the public isn’t just about making the case for improved security, but also about illustrating how today’s technology can add significant value in the areas of business intelligence and operations, ultimately improving the customer experience.

What was once “security technology” can today be leveraged to create safer driving conditions, enable contactless retail experiences, monitor energy consumption, and more. Security isn’t just about catching bad guys. It’s about creating a smarter, safer environment for everyone.

See other roundtable responses here
 

Auror's Crime Platform Launches in New Mexico
New Mexico Retail Crime platform catches criminals in real time
"These individuals, not only are stealing from stores, but they're four times more likely to be violent," said Auror's vice president of retail partnerships, Bobby Haskins.

A new retail crime intelligence platform to help catch criminals in New Mexico is finally here. The New Mexico Chamber of Commerce and Auror teamed up to implement the system to help catch criminals in real time. With retail crime on the rise, New Mexico Chamber of Commerce officials believe it's a step in the right direction.

So far, the platform has been used in surrounding states, such as Texas, Colorado, Arizona and California to name a few.

"We're a tool to help retailers and law enforcement know who those individuals are, be able to build investigations on those individuals and hopefully stop them and prevent them from increasing crime," said Auror's vice president of retail partnerships, Bobby Haskins. "If you look at what's happening in New Mexico, if you look at what's happening nationally, retail crime continues to increase. New Mexico, locally, what we're seeing is a billion-dollar problem for local businesses."

"These individuals, not only are they stealing from stores, but they're four times more likely to be violent and that impacts customers' experience and customer sales," Haskins said. Auror officials said the platform caters to business owners both nationally and locally.

"Log into the platform. It should take you about 4 minutes, 4.5 minutes to share video, to share images of who that individual was, describe the event that happened and that gets submitted into the Orca platform. It will then alert law enforcement officials immediately," Haskins said. "They start working that case, identifying who that person is, where they're at and working with local prosecutors to actually, hopefully, prevent them and charge them on the crimes they're responsible for. It's a national program. We're sharing intelligence from coast to coast. As soon as the business owner hits the submit button on Auror, it's real time. It's pushed to their cellphones, it's pushed to their e-mails. It's whatever notification set up that they want."

Auror officials said the new retail crime platform for New Mexico launches Friday.  koat.com

Chicago's Crime Debate Heats Up Between Mayor & Businesses
How accurate is the McDonald’s CEO on Chicago crime?
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is firing back at comments the CEO of McDonald’s made last week about crime in the city causing businesses to leave. On Sept. 14, the chief executive of the world’s largest fast-food chain claimed crime had gotten so bad that employees were scared to return to the office at the company’s headquarters.

Lightfoot, however, said the CEO should have “educated himself” before making those comments. She cited a letter from Michael Fassnacht, whom she picked to head World Business Chicago. Fassnacht wrote in the letter that while the departures of companies such as Citadel and Boeing are disappointing, there have been 112 other companies who have moved to or opened their doors in Chicago over the last 18 months.

Looking at crime statistics, there is reason to question some of Kempczinski’s claims. Some crime is actually down this year compared to when McDonald’s decided to come to the city. McDonald’s announced it was moving its headquarters from the suburb of Oak Brook to downtown Chicago in 2016. The move actually happened in 2018.

Back in 2016, there were 762 homicides in Chicago, The Associated Press reported — a two-decade high. Comparatively, police data shows Chicago can expect to see more than 600 homicides in 2022, according to WTTW-TV. That’s still down more than 10% compared to each of the last two years, WTTW said.

Robberies are also down. In 2018, there were 9,684 robberies, police data shows. Meanwhile, in 2021, there were 7,925 robberies — an almost 20% decrease from when McDonald’s headquarters opened in the West Loop.

Statistics aside, many Chicagoans — like folks in most parts of the country — remain concerned about crime. Throughout Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s time in office, polls show crime has ranked as the No. 1 issue for Chicago voters, NewsNation previously reported. Lightfoot, meanwhile, has said the city is addressing these concerns.  ktla.com

Chicago PD Has Shut Down 58 Businesses Due to Shootings & Violence
Since 2015, police department records show, at least 57 Chicago businesses — liquor stores and bars as well as gas stations, restaurants and other establishments — have been shut down as a result of shootings under the city’s summary closure ordinance, enacted that year. The ordinance gives the police department the little-known but immense power to immediately close businesses associated with violence.

Most of those shuttered businesses have been in low-income neighborhoods on the South Side and the West Side, only one of the businesses the police have shut down was downtown. wbez.org

Convenience Store Robberies: Time to Update Safety Training?
Understanding the dynamics of workplace violence can improve employee health and safety
Workplace violence is a pervasive problem with tremendous costs for individuals, organizations, and society. A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) focuses on convenience-store robberies, one of the most common forms of workplace violence, and finds that robbers are significantly more likely to injure employees who are present on the sales floor rather than behind the cash register when a robbery begins. But industry standard safety training practices encourage employees to get out from behind the register for their safety.

Prof. DeCelles and her colleagues first examined 196 surveillance videos and archival data of convenience store robberies collected over a four-year period. The results showed a significant correlation between employee location at the beginning of the robbery and injury, with lower risk of injury if employees were behind the register when the robbery began than if they were on the sales floor.

Follow-up studies involving 648 people, including both formerly incarcerated individuals and retail clerks, found that when presented with robbery onset scenarios, more than 81% of participants expected employees to be behind the register and anticipated significantly more violence during the robbery if the employee was on the sales floor rather than behind the register.

Finally, the authors conducted a three-year longitudinal field study with revised safety protocols that provided a behavioral script to follow in case of a robbery while employees are on the sales floor. The authors found, in an additional 368 robberies, a significantly lower risk of injury when employees were on the sales floor as the robbery began following the protocol change, relative to before the intervention.

"This understanding of the dynamics of workplace violence and how to mitigate it is relevant for any retail organization and for developing effective policies which promote employee health and safety," says Prof. DeCelles. phys.org

Courtroom Across U.S. Facing Backlogs
In San Francisco, criminal trials face long delays
San Francisco’s backlog of criminal trials continues to persist, in contrast to progress in some neighboring counties.

The reasons for the backlog are murky. One challenge is a staffing crisis plaguing multiple San Francisco public departments that is preventing courtrooms from being open on a given day. Some Bay Area counties have made progress in reducing the backlog of trials.

Backlog could increase. The trial backlog has been a thorny issue for months in San Francisco, but recent demands from the Public Defender’s Office to speed up cases come as San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has pledged to charge violent crimes and drug-related crimes more aggressively than her predecessor, Chesa Boudin.

Peter Calloway, deputy public defender, said, “I have more cases than I ever have in the three years that I’ve been in this role in my office. That’s true of most of my colleagues I talk to.”

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused courtrooms across the country to shut down and backlogs of trials to build up. Four of San Francisco’s courtrooms opened in June 2020, and all 11 courtrooms opened up in early 2021. sfexamier.com

'A Microcosm of Citywide Trends' - Crime Surge in Minneapolis
Embattled north Minneapolis corner has long been epicenter for violence
A half-mile radius surrounding the North Side intersection, home to the embattled Merwin Liquors and a Winner Gas station known as the "murder station," is where nearly one out of every 10 killings citywide has taken place since 2010.

Yet, as the reports of violence have gone up, the data show proactive policing measures have all but vanished at these two businesses — a microcosm of citywide trends as Minneapolis police have adopted a more reactive strategy since summer 2020, tracking with a surge in crime and mass resignation of officers, leaving the department severely shorthanded. Some north Minneapolis community members also blame city officials and the businesses' owners for failing to disrupt a thriving open market for Fentanyl pills and other drugs. startribune.com

No More Using Radio Traffic to Avoid Police After Committing a Crime
Or Posting on Social Media The Cops Are Coming, or Not

Chicago police joining national wave of encrypting radio communication, raising transparency concerns
The Chicago Police Department is moving all of its radios to digitally encrypted channels by the end of this year. The end to citizens around the country having full access to know what police are doing as they work.

Still be available for the public to listen on a 30-minute delay on Broadcastify, dispatchers will have the ability to pause the transmissions when personal identifiable information is being discussed.

Response to ‘rogue radio’ In response to harmful “rogue radio” calls that put officers in danger. It’s just related to officer safety. We don’t want any nefarious (radio traffic) to lead to officers being injured or hurt,”
Brown pointed to this year’s increase in the number of officers being shot as an example of why police need an extra layer of protection.

Illicit use of police radio - Some people have used radio traffic to avoid police after a crime or to avoid DUI checkpoints, Wandt said. As technology increased, it became common for some to broadcast such information over the internet and smartphone apps.

States including New York have passed specific vehicle and traffic laws that prohibit the monitoring of police radio frequencies from a motor vehicle.

Other major cities have already moved to fully encrypted digital radio channels, including Denver; San Francisco; San Jose, California; Louisville, Kentucky; and others. chicagotribune.com

National Youth Trend Continues as Crime Surges in Philly
Watch rampaging youths ransack Philadelphia Wawa, twerk on counter
Dozens of rampaging youths trashed a Wawa convenience store in northeast Philadelphia Saturday night — video of the chaos shows.

The rowdy group of about 100 young people were captured on video — shot inside the chain location at 7001 Roosevelt Blvd. — as they ransacked the shop at about 8:20 p.m. and recorded the pandemonium on their phones.

An employee filming the wild scene from behind a sandwich counter in the store can be heard scolding the vandals. “You’re all stupid,” he said in the video. “For real. You’re all stupid, ugly, broke.”

A video of the aftermath shows the store completely torn apart.

The youths unleashed anarchy inside the convenience store as crime surges across the City of Brotherly Love. nypost.com

Baltimore is in chaos due to rampant crime, drug cartels
The city’s gaping wound is bleeding out with more than 230 homicides and hundreds of additional nonfatal shootings. With a police force that is admittedly hundreds of officers short, the task ahead provides an uphill battle to control the explosion of violence.

A portion of the DOJ report claimed “Drug dealing practiced on the scale by the Sinaloa Cartel members in Baltimore fuels the violence that plagues the city. The continuing war in our streets is the result." . Their goal, here in Baltimore and elsewhere, is to create a much larger group of users. baltimoresun.com

CA. Attorney General Bonta Launches Nation's First Office of Gun Violence Prevention
Office of Gun Violence Prevention

Losses add up as Clark County businesses deal with surge in shoplifting

US: 97.9M Cases - 1M Dead - 94.5M Recovered
Worldwide: 620.3M Cases - 6.5M Dead - 600.5M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 797

"Remote and hybrid work can bring many benefits, but it doesn’t address burnout and overwork."
4-Day Workweek Brings No Loss of Productivity, Companies in Experiment Say
73 companies, 3,300 empoyees in Britain are undergoing a six-month experiment in which their employees get a paid day off each week. So far, most companies say it’s going well.

They had seen no loss of productivity, and in some cases had seen a significant improvement, according to a survey of participants published on Wednesday.

35 of the 41 companies that responded to a survey said they were “likely” or “extremely likely” to consider continuing the four-day workweek beyond the end of the trial in late November. All but two of the 41 companies said productivity was either the same or had improved. Remarkably, six companies said productivity had significantly improved.

Some leaders said the four-day week had given employees more time to exercise, spend time with their families and take up hobbies, boosting their well-being and making them more energized and productive when they were on the clock.

Experiments similar to the one conducted in Britain are being conducted in other countries too, mostly in the private sector, including in the United States, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. In a trial in Gothenburg, Sweden, officials found employees completed the same amount of work or even more. nytimes.com

NYC Leads the World in Office Vacancies
New York City’s Empty Offices Reveal a Global Property Dilemma

The rise of remote work will hurt older buildings, leaving landlords in the lurch

In the heart of midtown Manhattan lies a multibillion-dollar problem for building owners, the city and thousands of workers.

Blocks of decades-old office towers sit partially empty, in an awkward position: too outdated to attract tenants seeking the latest amenities, too new to be demolished or converted for another purpose.

It’s a situation playing out around the globe as employers adapt to flexible work after the Covid-19 pandemic and rethink how much space they need. Even as people are increasingly called back to offices for at least some of the week, vacancy rates have soared in cities from Hong Kong to London and Toronto.

The US is likely to have a slower office-market recovery than Asia and Europe because it began the pandemic with a higher vacancy rate, and long-term demand is expected to drop around 10% or more, Barkham said. New York, America’s biggest office real estate market, is at the center of the issue. bloomberg.com

Long COVID-19 may be more common among your employees than you think

The disease is likely being underreported in the health system

Long COVID-19 is expected to affect the labor force, but the statistics that have emerged on the topic vary. According to the CDC, 19% of those have long COVID-19. A UCLA study put the number at 30%.

Only 1.8% of workers who had COVID have been diagnosed with long COVID-19. There are likely several reasons for the low number.

Physicians may be reluctant to code a set of symptoms as long COVID-19 when billing insurance.

People may be having symptoms "and just deciding, 'I don't feel that good. But ... I'm just going to wait around and see what happens,'" Young said.

They may drop out of the workforce entirely. In fact, up to 4 million full-time equivalent workers may be sidelined, according to an August analysis from the Brookings Institution. hrdive.com

Is the pandemic over? Pre-covid activities Americans are (and are not) resuming.
Biden says the pandemic is over — and when it comes to casinos, concerts and cosmetic procedures, Americans seem to agree. For theater, therapy and funerals though, not so much.

Hotel CEO describes how COVID altered guests' behavior

How One California Town Survived Covid Better Than the Rest

DOJ Holding Individuals Accountable For Corp. Wrongdoing
Compliance Program Certifications - The DOJ's Stick

DOJ Pushing Ahead With Corporate Settlement Policy That Could Make Execs Liable, Official Says

The U.S. Justice Department is charging ahead with a new policy that makes top executives certify the effectiveness of their compliance program as part of corporate resolutions

The U.S. Justice Department isn’t backing away from a policy, criticized by some in the corporate sector, of having compliance officers sign off on the effectiveness of their programs as part of settlements.

The certifications serve as a tool for the Justice Department as it tries to hold individuals accountable for their role in corporate wrongdoing, said Alixandra Smith, the deputy chief of the criminal division at the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.

“That’s something you’re going to see more of,” Ms. Smith said at a compliance conference in New York on Thursday, referring to the certifications.

The DOJ’s move was in part aimed at raising the stature of compliance officers within companies to help ensure they can run effective compliance programs, but some of those officers have expressed concerns. wsj.com

DOJ's New Corp. Crime Crackdown in Action

Wholesaler of Arsenic Tainted Juice to Retailers Sells Company 2 Months Before Fed's File Suit
Langer, Safeway, Jamba Juice, and Kroger juice products clientele

Former President of Washington State Manufacturer-Wholesaler Charged with Selling Tainted Fruit Juice
Mary Ann Bliesner, 80, of Sunnyside, Washington, and her company, Valley Processing Inc. (VPI), conspired with others to distribute tainted and potentially unsafe apple and grape juice concentrate to customers in the United States and abroad. The indictment alleges that between October 2012 and June 2019, Bliesner’s juice products were made under insanitary conditions and contained potentially harmful levels of contaminants, such as arsenic.

The indictment further alleges that Bliesner (the former president and primary owner of VPI) and VPI lied to customers about the age and quality of their products. The indictment alleges that in some instances, the defendants sold juice products after storing them for years outside and exposed to the elements. According to the indictment, at least some of those products later were sold to customers who supplied the National School Lunch Program.

In November 2020, the United States filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking to enjoin Bliesner and VPI from producing, storing or selling juice or juice products.

The criminal indictment returned today charges Bliesner with 12 felony counts of fraud, conspiracy, false statements, and violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. justice.gov

Sep 16, 2020: Valley Processing, Inc. terminates contract with Port

SUNNYSIDE — After 40 years operating as Valley Processing, Inc., the juice company is being sold to Milne Fruit Products of Prosser, “So I can retire,” Valley Processing Company President Mary Ann Bliesner recently announced in a letter to the Port of Sunnyside Commission.

Its clientele included such popular brands at Langer, Safeway, Jamba Juice, and Kroger juice products, which all begin at the Sunnyside plant. sunnysidesun.com

Editor's Note: IT Security is all over third-party providers and certainly finance is auditing AP. But how far is your organization going in validating suppliers? ERM is all about increasing your vision and impact.

Retail Employment Surpasses Pre-Pandemic Levels
2022 Final Seasonal Retail Hiring Outlook:
Labor Shortage an Issue for Seasonal Hiring, But Recession Fears May Limit Need
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. predicts Retailers will add 680,000 workers during the 2022 holiday season, down from the 700,000 the firm predicted last year.

The 2021 holiday hiring season saw Retailers add 701,400 jobs, revised up from 684,100, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That is down 5% from the 736,300 jobs added during the holiday season in 2020. Related: See the Final 2020 Seasonal Hiring Report here.

Walmart has announced hiring plans for just 40,000 seasonal workers, down significantly from the 150,000 the company announced last year. Target plans 100,000.

Retail employment has surpassed pre-pandemic levels. August employment in the sector is 15,772,900, according to preliminary non-seasonally adjusted data from the BLS, the highest for the month since 2017 when the sector employed 15,810,200 in August. It is up 419,000 jobs from February 2020 and up 136,500 jobs from January 2022.

Transportation and Warehousing, which has seen employment explode since 2014 as consumers increasingly went online to shop, added 552,300 jobs last holiday season, highest on record. It is up 12% from the 493,800 added during the holidays in 2021. Preliminary employment in this sector is 6,407,400, the highest in August since at least 1972. challengergray.com

Be On Alert: Hurricane Ian is Coming
Florida bracing for potential hurricane
Tropical Storm Ian was forecast to rapidly strengthen and become a hurricane by Monday as it continues a path through the Gulf of Mexico and towards Florida.

As the storm intensifies, residents are rushing to gas stations and grocery stores to stock up on supplies. Governor DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency for the entire state and activated 2,500 national guardsmen. The storm expected to reach at least a Category 3 status in the Gulf. wesh.com
 
Florida officials urge evacuations as Hurricane Ian barrels toward gulf coast

Macy's to Hire 41,000 - Last Year 76,000

Dick's Sporting Goods to hire 9,000 - 1,000 Fewer Than LY

1.5M Americans Could Lose Work Over Fed's Self-Induced Recession


Last week's #1 article --

Former Employee Sues Kroger Over Mass Shooting
Kroger employee sues company for $10M following Collierville mass shooting
A Kroger employee who was shot the day a gunman opened fire inside of a Collierville grocery store is suing the company for a total of $10 million. According to a lawsuit, Mariko Jenkins worked at the Collierville Kroger when a recently fired employee of a contracted sushi company inside of the store began shooting, injuring 15 people and killing Olivia King. Authorities said the shooter then shot and killed himself.

The lawsuit claims that Kroger and Snowfox, the contracted sushi company inside of Kroger, "knew or should have known that (the shooter) presented a danger" after he was fired. The court documents claim that the shooter had a history of being confrontational towards employees and shoppers, one such incident resulting in his firing that fateful day on September 23, 2021. fox13memphis.com