AI Is Transforming Loss Prevention - But It’s Not the Only Tool You Need

AI is helping retailers put together the pieces of secure retail.

By Craig Szklany - Vice President & Product General Manager, Loss Prevention and Liability, Sensormatic Solutions

Discussions about the importance of developing more secure retail models have intensified amid headlines touting a rising frequency in organized retail crime (ORC) events, the growing cost of shrink, and the spate of store closures that have resulted from these trends. When LPRC convened for its 2023 Impact conference in October of this year, these issues were naturally front and center.

That said, optimism about the future was equally prominent at the event as retailers explored the ways AI is bringing them closer to more secure and agile retail models.

A New Model Takes Center Stage

In practice, it means supplementing existing solutions — like alarms and cameras — with new technologies to harden retail targets and elevate deterrence levels without impacting shopper experiences.

With AI more ubiquitous, effective, and accessible than ever before, its power to unify retail ecosystems has become increasingly apparent as has its potential to help retailers do more with their:

• Acousto-magnetic (AM) Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Systems - When the data that AM EAS systems compile are made available alongside other relevant internal and external datasets through connected systems, retailers can use AI to analyze and reconcile these records to provide more precise insights into operations.

• Cameras and Video - The value of cameras and video surveillance is enhanced significantly when retailers pair these tools with analytics suites. Computer vision, for example, which uses AI tool to monitor video feeds in real-time, can help retailers predict retail crimes.

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems - When paired with advanced analytics and robust data-based recordkeeping, RFID can enable item-level inventory programs that help retailers get a better understanding of what leaves the store, when it leaves, and the other items that go with it.

The Sum of Its Parts

Yes, AI’s predictive and analytics capabilities may just be what was missing from traditional LP programs but holistic LP must be just that: holistic. The insights it yields are only as valuable as the data to which it has access, the other tools in the system, and the people who put it to use. risnews.com
 

ORC in the U.S. is Fueling Transnational Crime
Are progressive prosecutors responsible for setting off this chain of events?

The Crime Wave in America is Crippling Our Nation
While shoplifting is nothing new, there is more than meets the eye with this recent trend. Progressive prosecutors who refuse to prosecute retail theft are enabling Mexican drug cartels, international money launderers, and other highly sophisticated criminal enterprises.

A Grave Mistake

Leftwing reformers hold out the late surge in shoplifting as a non-problem and have refused to prosecute — or even denounce — smash-and-grabs and other brazen thefts. This policy choice, championed by prosecutors aligned with George Soros, fails to appreciate the serious role organized retail theft plays in transnational crime.

It’s a grave mistake to wave organized retail crimes away as a problem of corporate balance sheets. Much like a hub and spoke, organized retail crime is linked to the most heinous transnational criminal organizations. Investigators and industry experts are finding that these Mission Impossible style crimes are a gateway to the world’s worst criminals.

International Criminal Enterprises

These are not pesky shoplifting rings. They are international criminal enterprises integrated with elder fraud, money laundering, and traffickers in drugs and people. At the risk of stating the obvious — not all, or even most shoplifters are international criminal masterminds. But when rogue prosecutors abdicate their responsibility to enforce the law, they create the conditions in which genuinely dangerous syndicates thrive.

New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and the Baltimore-D.C. metro area lead the nation in reported organized retail crimes by volume, according to the Coalition of Law Enforcement And Retail (CLEAR). Soros prosecutors lead LA, Philly, and Chicago. And one of Gotham’s five DAs, the infamous Alvin Bragg, was elected with Soros money.

Soros prosecutors hold themselves out as upright people with big minds and bigger hearts. But their refusal to take shoplifting seriously is a boon for the worst criminals on Earth. stream.org


Forbes: Despite Skepticism Over The Rise In Retail Theft, Stores Are Adopting Police Technology

Companies that sell body cams to law enforcement are now chasing a promising new market even as critics question the extent of the problem.

To battle what they call a rising wave of organized theft, retailers have hired security guards, locked merchandise behind glass, installed face- and license-plate-recognition software and deployed shopping carts whose wheels lock automatically when they’re pushed beyond a certain range.

The problem has only gotten worse, they say.

However, media investigations, as well as a recent report from analysts at the investment bank William Blair, have questioned the severity of losses from theft and suggested that retailers are using the issue to divert attention from other problems, including inventory mismanagement. Viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies have been politicized, some argue, to criticize legislation that relaxed the penalties for shoplifting in some states and promote the notion that lawlessness has flourished under certain elected officials.

No matter. Stores are powering up against crime. The latest: body cameras.

Dozens of retailers, including 25 of the 100 biggest, began exploring or using the law-enforcement technology in their stores in roughly the last 18 months, the largest body-cam manufacturers told Forbes. Body cams on retail employees are already pervasive in the U.K. at stores like Tesco, the eighteenth-largest retailer in the world.

“This is one of the top three technologies that retailers are exploring,” David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, told Forbes. The other two are technologies that leverage artificial intelligence or radio frequency identification, which tracks the whereabouts of an item.

“The minute something pops off in a store, everyone has their iPhone out. Retailers are starting to say we need to have our own side of this.”

-James Stark, retail segment development manager at Axis Communications

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Shoplifting Stats: New York Up 64% - Los Angeles Up 61% - Dallas Up 73%
Shoplifting up 73% in Dallas as retailers rush to put merchandise out of reach

Shoplifting in Dallas was flat throughout the pandemic but started to spike late last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.

The shopping experience in Dallas is starting to change as retail theft increased 73% through the first six months of this year, according to a report released Tuesday.

Dallas and Los Angeles, where shoplifting increased 109%, experienced the highest reported retail theft in the first half of this year, according to an analysis of 24 major cities by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice.

Many cities saw a decline in shoplifting during the COVID-19 pandemic because more of their stores were closed. That wasn’t the case in Dallas where shoplifting rates were flat throughout the pandemic, but started to rise in November and December of last year, said Ernesto Lopez, a research specialist and co-author of the Council’s report.

“Going into 2023 you start to see the steady climb in shoplifting in Dallas,” he said.

So far this year, shoplifting cases reported to the Dallas Police Department increased by 56.1% from the same period last year ended on Nov. 5.

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Retail Theft in D.C. Has Surged 21%
Stores in US city crackdown on shoplifting with antitheft measures such as receipt checking, as new crime bill proposed

Stores in Washington D.C. are amping up their antitheft measures after a sharp increase in crime over the last year.

Big box stores in the capital are doing everything they can to stop the theft of basic goods — including supporting new legislation, according to local news station WTOP. Stores like Safeway and CVS have had to increase anti-shoplifting measures to protect against theft.

Safeways in southwest D.C. now ask shoppers to scan their receipts upon exiting the store through a special area that is separate from the entrance. And some stores are keeping the lanes of closed checkout aisles blocked to further discourage theft.

Many stores in the area have also begun placing higher-value items behind glass, requiring a store associate to access them and hand them over to a customer. The problem has been getting worse in the last few years.

District officials have said that retail theft across the city has gone up by 21% compared to the same period last year. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced a new crime bill last week that included elements meant to reduce the rise in mass organized retail theft.

The new law would create a new charge for taking part in organized theft and increase the penalties for those found guilty of the crime. the-sun.com


States All Across America Take Aim at ORC Rings
From Ohio's new bill to major busts in Florida, Michigan and Arizona

Ohio retail businesses welcome potential help with organized retail crime
The Force Act, expected from Rep. Haraz N. Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) would update state law and policies to let officers and prosecutors respond to organized retail theft.

“Ohio is not going to tolerate our retailers and communities being preyed upon by organized theft rings,” said Ghanbari. “We are not going to stand idly by. The Force Act prioritizes the safety and well-being of Ohio retailers and their customers. This legislation is a comprehensive approach to the complex challenge of organized retail crime.”

Gordon Gough, president and CEO of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, welcomed the help: “Far more than this financial impact, the Force Act also addresses Ohioans’ growing concern over violence and safety for customers and store associates,” Gough said. “This legislation will give Ohio law enforcement officials and our judicial system more tools to apprehend and punish criminals while protecting consumers and retailers. We look forward to working with Ohio leaders to tackle this problem effectively.”

The NRF study showed external theft, including organized retail theft, accounted for an average of 36% of total loss for retailers.

Florida officials recently busted an organized retail theft ring they say caused more than $20 million in losses to more than 20 different retailers statewide, including Walmart, Target, Publix, Home Depot, Lowes, several pharmacies, major department stores and small businesses including pool supply stores and music businesses.

Michigan and Arizona prosecutors also recently announced significant busts in similar rings. mahoningmatters.com


New Statewide Anti-Shoplifting Law Hopes to Curb Holiday Theft
First holiday shopping period since new law passed aims to crack down on theft

This year, a new law is in place aimed at helping protect stores and crack down theft.

Retailers and police are hoping the Retail Crime Prevention Act will make a difference with deterring shoplifters. According to the law signed by Governor Kay Ivey earlier this year, shoplifters face stiffer penalties if they steal over a certain amount, and it doesn’t have to be all at once.

“We’re just so glad that they enacted this act so regardless of the amount of merchandise stolen they can be prosecuted,” said Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin. “The thing that’s going to happen now is these individuals that are going around and taking advantage of these retailers by stealing low amounts of items or something under $500 then now they’re going to be prosecuted and if they’re prosecuted over three times then they’re going to serve some jail time.”

For example, the law says if you steal more than $2,500 in a 180-day period you could get a Class B felony. That comes with up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

“The penalties changed for what we refer to organized retail theft where you’re acting in juncture with another person or you’re trying to scam the system where you’re changing prices or you’re trying to get items out in self check out that you didn’t pay for and all those kinds of things,” said Nancy Dennis with the Alabama Retail Association. “What they do is created a separate crime of retail theft and there’s separate crime of organized retail theft.”

For Chief Irwin, the law is right on time. He says the hope is with the new law on top of what they’re already doing with other agencies at the shops on Grand River, shoplifting should cut down a lot. wbrc.com


San Francisco DA is Waging War on Retail Criminals
‘Brazen retail theft is over,’ declares DA Jenkins after jury convicts burglar
A San Francisco jury convicted a man of burglary for a 2021 smash-and-grab incident at a Market Street Walgreens, prosecutors said Thursday. Daron Wilson, 23, faces up to three years and eight months in state prison, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 30.

“The era of consequence-free-smash-and-grabs and brazen retail theft is over,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. “This jury’s verdict sends a loud and clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated and that those who seek to engage in this conduct will be held accountable and face consequences. My office takes these cases seriously and will prosecute them accordingly.”

In a separate case, on Oct. 16, Jenkins announced felony burglary charges against five suspects in connection with a mass retail theft scheme that targeted a Walgreens store on the 900 block of Geneva Avenue in October.  sfchronicle.com


Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 Update
U.S. Senate: Senate Bill 140 - Combating ORC Act Adds 1 New Cosponsor
Now reaching 11 Senate Co-Sponsors - 7 Republicans, 4 Democrats. Is your member of Congress supporting the bill? Check out the list here.


Is blaming crime the whole story behind retail 'shrink'? Experts say maybe not

Shoppers Complain About Locked Up Items Slowing Down Store Visits

In this special Travel edition of Tom's Tek Tips, Tom Meehan, CFI will cover essential cybersecurity and tech tips to get the most out of your tech while staying secure amidst traveling and the upcoming fall trade show season.

Tip #10 - Enable Offline Mode for Entertainment: Many streaming services offer offline modes for movies, music, or books. Downloading your entertainment before you travel ensures you'll have access without needing an internet connection. This preparation can make travel delays and long journeys more enjoyable.
 

Monroe County women plead guilty for stealing nearly $170,000 in merchandise from beauty supply chain in Erie County
24-year-old Kashmonay U. Holley and 23-year-old Nahzaire N. Murray, both of Rochester, pleaded guilty this morning before State Supreme Court Paul B. Wojtaszek to one count of grand larceny in the second degree (class “C” felony). Both defendants pleaded guilty to the highest sustainable charge.

On numerous occasions between March 7 and Aug. 24, 2023, the defendants, while acting in concert with one another, stole merchandise valued in excess of $50,000 from Ulta Beauty locations throughout Erie County.

Over the course of six months, Holley admitted to stealing merchandise valued at approximately $73,397. Murray admitted to stealing approximately $93,043 in merchandise during the same time period. Holley and Murray, who are suspected of committing similar crimes in neighboring counties, signed confessions of judgment to pay full restitution to the retailer.

Murray is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, Dec. 21. Holley is scheduled to be sentenced the following day. Both defendants, who face a maximum of 15 years in prison, were remanded pending sentence. whypapers.ocm


4 arrested, responsible for $49K in San Francisco retail theft: SFPD
Four retail theft suspects have been arrested after carrying out numerous crimes in San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department announced Monday. Altogether, the suspects are responsible for $49,000 of stolen goods, per SFPD.

The suspects were identified as:

• Savannah Church, 24-year-old woman
• Shalia Brown, 24-year-old woman
• Erykah Thomas, 20-year-old woman
• Emoni Thomas, 20-year-old man

Church was arrested in connection with 10 retail thefts that happened between April and September. All of them involved multiple other suspects.

Brown was arrested in connection with three retail crimes:

Thomas and Thomas were involved in the June 10 and Aug. 21 robberies with Church, and the Oct. 1 and Oct. 3 robberies with Brown, police said. kron4.com


Crash and Grab: California Thieves Deliberately Cause Accident to Make Off with Jewelry Haul
Authorities say that a group of thieves deliberately crashed into another driver on a Los Angeles freeway so that they could steal jewelry. The brazen example of highway robbery was captured on video on October 24. A black Dodge Caravan smashed into a black Alfa Romeo sedan to force it onto an embankment on the road’s shoulder, California Highway Patrol (CHP) tells KTLA. In the video, four men in dark clothing can be seen jumping out of the Dodge Caravan and rushing to the Alfa Romero sedan. While the thieves grab all they can, the victim kneels on the ground with his arms raised in submission. The thieves then flee the scene in a different vehicle, a white Chevy Malibu, and ditch the Dodge Caravan. CHP says that the suspects are still at large as of Monday. CHP says that the victim of the robbery was a jewelry dealer who was visiting the States from Hong Kong and that the victim left America a day after the robbery.  themessenger.com


Naperville, IL: An undisclosed number of electric devices stolen from Naperville Apple Store after car drives into retailer Monday morning
An undisclosed number of electronic devices were stolen from the downtown Naperville Apple Store Monday morning after a car drove into the retailer and took down its glass front doors, according to police. At about 6:05 a.m. Monday, Naperville Police received a 911 call about a vehicle crashed into the store at 120 W. Jefferson Ave, police spokeswoman Kelley Munch said in an email. After preliminary investigation, police determined that the vehicle — a beige Hyundai Elantra — struck the retailer at around 5:56 a.m. At that time, three suspects entered, took an undisclosed number of electronic devices and fled the scene in a dark colored SUV — all prior to police arrival, Munch said. The Hyundai Elantra driven into Naperville’s Apple Store is believed to have been stolen out of Lisle. No arrests have been made but investigation is going, Munch said.  chicagotribune.com


Memphis, TN: 4 vehicles involved in smash-and-grab at City Gear
A store in South Memphis was broken into Monday morning. Burglars rammed three cars on the left side of City Gear on South Third Street. Memphis police officers responded to the call around 4 a.m. and noticed a GMC Savana backed into the side business with damage to the rear. According to police, suspects rammed the side of the wall to gain entrance with the box truck. The suspects drove off in the vehicles when the officer arrived on the scene. There is no suspect information at this time. City Gear’s manager arrived on the scene and said some items were taken. It is unclear how much was taken in this smash-and-grab.  fox13memphis.com


Man arrested after stealing nearly $5K of items from Nashville Home Depot, yelling outside store for hours
A 51-year-old man is facing a long list of charges after police said he stood outside a Nashville Home Depot for hours yelling at staff and customers when employees caught him with stolen merchandise. The charges stem from an incident that occurred on Sunday, Nov.5 after Metro police were sent to the Home Depot on Powell Avenue to respond to a report of a man that was cursing and yelling outside. Employees allegedly told officers that the man — identified as 51-year-old Christopher Turner — walked out of the store with a cart full of merchandise earlier that day. An arrest report states Turner returned later, loaded up another cart and got angry when staff asked to see a receipt. Authorities reported Turner then stood outside the store for hours yelling at customers and employees until officers arrived. Turner allegedly refused to tell officers his name and told them, “I own everything. I can do what I want,” according to an arrest report. Home Depot staff then showed officers surveillance video which showed Turner taking $4,525 worth of merchandise outside. Metro police said when officers tried to place Turner into custody he resisted by tensing up and trying to hide his hands, and allegedly told one of the officers he would “hunt him down and kill him” once he got out of jail.  wkrn.com


Concord police, CHP arrest 13 in weekend anti-retail theft operation
Concord police and the California Highway Patrol joined forces over the weekend, launching an anti-retail theft operation that led to 13 arrests and several thousand dollars of merchandise recovered.

Cases are on their way to the district attorney’s office for prosecution, said police, and they plan on doing similar operations in the near future. kron4.com


Salem, OH: Silly string used in robbery
Salem Police Department was called to a Home Depot store after three men left without paying and sprayed employees with silly string, according to reports. Police responded to the Home Depot on E. State Street in Salem just after 7 p.m. Sunday for reports that three men left the store without paying for a cart full of items. Reports state employees attempted to approach the three men when one reached for his waistband, suggesting he had a gun, while another man brandished a knife before spraying the employees with silly string. The men then left the store with the unpaid items. No identities or descriptions of the men have been released at this time. The report stated they drove eastbound in a dark sedan.  fox8.com


San Diego, CA: Shoe stores targeted in overnight burglaries
Several San Diego shoe stores were targeted in a series of overnight burglaries, police said Monday. At 2:20 a.m., thieves broke into Kick Stock at Westfield Mission Valley and got away with “a significant amount of merchandise,” Lt. Adam Sharki told FOX 5 in an email. Less than an hour later, around 4:45 a.m., Fire Kicks in Hillcrest was burglarized. Thieves stole an undisclosed amount of merchandise, but Sharki described the loss from the University Avenue shop as “significant.”  fox5sandiego.com