Dick's Sporting Goods' Anti-Theft Technology
CSA Q&A: Dick’s Sporting Goods cuts theft with surveillance cameras

Faced with shoplifting and other sources of in-store loss, Dick’s Sporting Goods has responded with camera monitoring.

Chain Store Age recently spoke with Jih-Hao Cheng, director of loss prevention, Dick’s Sporting Goods, about benefits the country’s largest sporting goods retailer has received since installing the Liveview Technologies surveillance camera platform.

Using the Liveview Technologies Platform, Dick’s is able to set up perimeters on its properties. When someone crosses them, store management gets an alert. The camera units come with technology that can sense motion, as well as provide custom sounds and lighting. Dick’s is able to know who's logging in and viewing any camera in the system in real time, track video searches, and monitor system access.

What types of issues was Dick’s Sporting Goods facing with in-store loss and theft?

Like many retailers, we encounter shoplifting and other bad actors in our stores. Our primary focus is making sure that we are providing a safe environment for our associates to work and for our customers to shop.

What made you select Liveview Technologies as an in-store loss prevention solution?

We began a pilot with Liveview in mid-2019. We chose LiveView because they have a great, reliable product, but what impressed us over time was the level of support we received from the Liveview team. They are always readily available to assist and have gone to great lengths to be an excellent solution provider, and we’ve expanded our work with them as a result.

What benefits does Liveview Technologies provide?

One of the unique advantages of Liveview is its deterrent value. We believe that bad actors are less interested in our store when they see it is well monitored. Also, the cost of using this technology can be less compared to some of the more traditional methods used in this space. Most importantly, we’ve seen a material positive impact by creating a safer environment for our customers and associates, and supporting law enforcement with the apprehension of bad actors.

Can you share any future plans for the Liveview Technologies solution and/or for loss prevention?

We continue to source and identify strategies and tactics to provide a safer environment for our customers and associates, mitigate losses, and help law enforcement apprehend bad actors. We are constantly measuring the impact of our solutions and thus far, these Liveview units have provided incredible positive insights and impact in our efforts to promote a safe environment in our stores.

More broadly, what advice do you have for retailers facing growing rates of in-store theft?

Continue looking for new, creative and alternative ways to address safety and loss concerns. Develop a strategy to facilitate constant testing and piloting of new solutions, be patient, and be willing to work through it or move in another direction. Finding the right solution provider, such as Liveview, who is willing to work with you is key. chainstoreage.com

Retail Crime Wave is Upending the Industry
From Bullet-Proof Glass to eCommerce Shift, Crime Spree Spawns Rethink on Retail
As much as high-priced luxury goods are a favored target, the rise in these large-scale, high-profile thefts goes well beyond designer boutiques and high-end stores, and has also seen hits on pharmacies, apparel and even bulk heists of laundry detergent and shampoo from supermarkets.

So prevalent is this spate of theft that 21 CEOs from some of the nation’s biggest retailers asked for help from Congress last week to fight a problem they say is both costly and dangerous to customers and employees alike.

“This trend has made retail businesses a target for increasing theft, hurt legitimate businesses who are forced to compete against unscrupulous sellers, and greatly increased consumer exposure to unsafe and dangerous counterfeit products,” the group added, while calling for quick passage of legislation to address the problem.

Tough Problem, Tough Solutions

Of course, the fact that this troubling trend is happening during the critical retail holiday season has only heightened the need for rapid solutions. Where once a family outing to the mall or other retail venue in December would have included a photo on Santa’s lap amid holiday muzak and colorful decorations, shoppers in hard-hit areas today are apt to find seasonal displays housed behind bullet-proof glass, or have their browsing being watched-over by armed guards or police — that is, if they decide to go at all.

Is It Even Worth It?

For some retailers, including CVS and Walgreens, the rise in crime in a few of the worst-hit ZIP codes in California or Illinois was greater than the business case for keeping a location open, causing some stores to simply close their doors.

What’s also interesting is the effect that all of this has had on digital sales, or more precisely the corporate and consumer embrace of them. While retail CEOs and trade associations have targeted the proliferation of online black-market resellers as a major reason why mass-shoplifting is rising, the fact that increased digital security fraud and ID verification efforts have made theft on that side comparably small cannot be overlooked.

Add in the general current shortage of individuals looking for (or willing to take) public-facing jobs on the front lines of retail, as well as the ongoing societal comfort and frequency of online shopping, and the case for safely making sales another way starts to make a lot of sense. pymnts.com

More Coordination Needed to Combat Theft Wave
As Smash-and-Grab Raids Go Viral, the Retail Industry Is Fighting Back
Organized retail crime is running rampant in the run-up to Christmas. As captured on smartphones and closed-circuit video cameras across the U.S. and splashed all over social media, thieves have increasingly taken to smash-and-grab raid tactics. They’re looting stores through their windows and brazenly wheeling out shopping carts loaded with stolen goods.

Industry groups have sounded the alarm, saying the thefts are not being carried out by lone actors, but are the handiwork of organized crime rings that pose a major threat to the retail industry and everyday consumers who want to shop in peace.

“Organized retail crime is not something new, but if you think about the things that are stolen and fenced by such groups, usually it's cargo theft or theft from warehouses,” Christian Beckner, VP of retail technology and cybersecurity at the National Retail Federation, told PYMNTS in an interview. “This smash-and-grab trend you’ve seen in the past couple of months is the latest iteration of that.”

The NRF is one of a number of retail industry bodies leading calls for policymakers to do something. It has recently launched a social media campaign calling for more collaboration and partnership between government, law enforcement and the retail industry, and is looking for immediate action to make the holiday season safer for shoppers.

Beckner said the NRF has put a lot of energy into trying to understand how the criminal gangs operate, including how the stolen goods are moved and where and when they’re being resold. At the same time, the NRF is calling for lawmakers to implement policy reforms in order to help law enforcement go after the ringleaders responsible for the raids.

Its voice is being heard, with various prosecutors and attorneys' general offices signaling that they’re about to take a tougher stance on the issue. As Beckner pointed out, California and Illinois have both established organized retail crime task forces to try and tackle the issue before it gets out of hand. Other states, including Arizona, Florida and New Mexico, are trying to emulate that model — but much work remains to be done, Beckner said.

What’s urgently needed is more coordination between the various law enforcement agencies responsible for preventing retail crime. Beckner said there’s not enough collaboration between Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI Postal Inspection Service, local police departments and other stakeholders.

“You have a number of different federal law enforcement agencies that have some responsibility, but there is no single agency that is the clear lead to address this,” he noted.” pymnts.com

Smash and Grab? Don’t Come to Arizona
Op-Ed: Arizona's 'Tough-on-Crime' Approach to Retail Theft

Unlike soft-on-crime California, we take retail theft seriously.

Most Americans remember the riots and the looting of summer 2020. While media attention has dwindled on these crimes, looting in major cities has continued—and is escalating this Christmas season. The center of organized retail theft is the San Francisco Bay Area.

Since 2000, 40 states have increased their theft financial thresholds, including California, where in 2014 voters more than doubled the value of merchandise a defendant could steal before facing a felony charge. The practical effect is that anything up to $950 is fair game, and the incentive for police to act is close to zero. According to a 2020 survey by the National Retail Federation, three of the top 10 cities affected by organized retail crimes are in California.

Studies show as much as $68.9 billion in goods were stolen from retailers in 2019. The economic impact of retail crime is $125.7 billion in lost sales and 658,375 lost jobs. Asset-protection managers believe that such crime will get worse. Organized theft enriches criminal organizations and encourages other types of lawless behavior.

America can’t sustain this crime wave, and no one should tolerate it. Yet many justify the lawlessness. During riots in Washington in May 2020, one restaurant owner whose windows were smashed said: “The rage is justified. . . . If I need to suffer some broken property, let’s be real, that isn’t suffering.” In response to California’s recent crime explosion, some experts discourage the use of the term “looting,” which one described as “a term that we typically use when people of color or urban dwellers are doing something.” With attitudes like these, no wonder these crimes continue to soar.

As Arizona’s attorney general, I have refused to capitulate to the lawless mob. Our office has provided law-enforcement resources and worked with the state Legislature and the Arizona Retailers Association to establish an Organized Retail Crime Task Force in our office. We are prosecuting those who stole at least 70 ceiling fans worth some $28,000 from various home-improvement stores in Arizona and resold them on Facebook marketplace at a fraction of the retail price. We expect our efforts will deter such theft and hope our task force becomes a model for California and other states. wsj.com

SF Mayor & Broken-Windows Policing?
Refunding the San Francisco Police

Mayor London Breed undergoes a law-and-order conversion.

As crime has risen, the defund-the-police movement has become a political liability even for Democrats in progressive cities. Exhibit A is San Francisco, where Mayor London Breed appears to have had a law-and-order conversion for the ages.

“It’s time that the reign of criminals who are destroying our city—it is time for it to come to an end,” Ms. Breed said Wednesday in a fiery speech that defied her previous tolerance for growing public disorder in her once charming city. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies, and less tolerant of all the bull— that has destroyed our city.”

That’s a welcome statement, but it’s a reversal for Ms. Breed, who championed sizeable cuts to the police budget in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. The mayor now says she’ll introduce a supplement to the current budget to pay for more policing. She also wants more funding in the next budget for officer overtime and police-academy classes.

Ms. Breed added that one immediate priority is “fixing the lights, adding additional lighting in very dark areas, dealing with broken trash cans and trash all over the neighborhood.” She wants to target open-air drug dealing, and she’s also coordinating with police and the sheriff’s office on a felony warrant sweep. That sounds suspiciously like broken-windows policing.

What prompted this change of heart? Ms. Breed acknowledged Wednesday that “the fact is things have gotten worse over time.”

No kidding. By Dec. 12, San Francisco had 53 homicides this year, up from 48 in all of 2020 and 41 in 2019. Smash-and-grab robbery gangs and shoplifting in the city have become global viral videos, and police data show an 18% increase in larcenies since last year. Homeless camps on the street, drug use, and public disorder are rampant.

Residents are fed up with the lawlessness, and tourists are afraid to visit. San Francisco’s radical district attorney, Chesa Boudin, faces a recall election in June. There’s a lot of ruin in a city, but apparently even the progressives in San Francisco may have had enough. wsj.com

Minneapolis mayor vows to bolster police staffing, counter wave of youth-driven robberies, violence

Deputy Chief Amelia Huffman joined Frey at a Thursday news conference.

Minneapolis has identified 39 people under the age of 18 who have three or more arrests, while 29 have five or more, he said. Repeat offenders are responsible for 75% of robbery arrests, including carjackings, and they need to be held accountable, the mayor said.

"Nobody here is suggesting that we're just going to arrest our way out of this problem, but if we fail to couple compassion with accountability — and that goes from the courts to the prosecutors, to police, to politicians — we are resigning ourselves to failed outcomes," he said.

Frey said the city will try to quickly replace the one-third of officers lost to attrition over the last couple of years. In lieu of a fully staffed Police Department, he said the city will continue to rely on mutual-aid relationships with other law enforcement agencies. We will bring in 190 new officers over the course of 2022, but there's no guarantee that's going to happen," Sautter said.

Additionally, 638 people were shot, which is up 176% from 234 in 2018 — Frey's first year as mayor. startribune.com

Loveland, CO: Experts say smash and grabs are organized retail crimes

Here’s what to do if you see organized retail theft happening while shopping

US: 51.4M Cases - 824.5K Dead - 40.4M Recovered
Worldwide: 273.3M Cases - 5.3M Dead - 245.5M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 331  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 560
*Red indicates change in total deaths

"No Part Of Country is Safe From Omicron"
Scientists Are Racing to Gauge the Threat of Omicron

The variant will spread quickly through the United States, experts say. What happens after that is less certain.

Even as scientists race to understand more about the Omicron variant and the threat it poses, one fact is abundantly clear: It spreads quickly everywhere it lands.

In Britain, officials have estimated that 200,000 people are becoming infected with Omicron every day. In Denmark, Omicron cases are doubling roughly every two days

And early data from the United States suggest that Americans will not be spared. “No part of the country will be safe from Omicron,” said Shweta Bansal, a disease ecologist at Georgetown University.

Delta remains the dominant variant nationally and was driving a surge in cases and hospitalizations even before Omicron emerged. Roughly 120,000 new Covid cases are being reported every day, a 40 percent increase from two weeks ago, although the figures remain below last winter’s peak. nytimes.com

Cases & Hospitalizations Surge 40%
Covid-19 'viral blizzard' is about to hit the US, expert says, with 'millions' to be infected soon
The coronavirus will hit millions of Americans in a "viral blizzard" within a few weeks as infections from the Omicron variant pile on top of Delta, an expert predicts. Already, hospitalizations are rising as the holiday season gets into full swing. Long lines for Covid-19 testing formed Thursday in metro areas, including New York, Boston and Miami.

The Delta variant remains a problem. And Omicron, with its high transmissibility, could strike millions more soon, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Omicron will cause a serious strain on the health care system as more workers will likely get sick, Osterholm said, even though most cases from Omicron seem to be mild.

With the US averaging 118,717 new Covid-19 cases each day -- 40% higher than a month ago, per Johns Hopkins University data -- some colleges and universities are moving to online classes and exams while multiple Broadway shows are canceling performances and professional sports leagues are postponing games.

Coronavirus hospitalizations continue to climb, having now trended upward for more than two months as hospitals across the country face staffing shortages. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 67,306 are hospitalized with Covid-19, 40% higher than a month ago. Beds in intensive care units are 78% full, and one in five of those patients are Covid-19 patients. cnn.com

Officials from Calif. to Washington sound the alarm about the Omicron variant
Spreading rapidly in the United States and other countries

Delta, Omicron could overwhelm hospitals soon
The rapid growth of Omicron is prompting officials to warn that hospitals could easily become overwhelmed, potentially within weeks, as they deal with a combination of the newest variant of the coronavirus along with patients hit by a holiday wave of the Delta strain.

California and the rest of the nation now face a formidable winter. According to the state’s COVID forecasting models, there are plausible scenarios in which a winter surge could hit hospitals worse than the summer Delta wave, which strained facilities across swaths of the state.

The combination is “a perfect storm for overwhelming our hospital system that is already strained,” said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, a deputy health officer for Orange County.

So far, the year-end spike in Delta has been nowhere as severe as the rise a year ago.

This December, hospitals are coping with a significant staffing shortage as a number of exhausted employees have left the industry while at the same time demand has risen for non-COVID-related reasons such as the flu and other healthcare needs that were put on hold earlier in the pandemic. latimes.com

Deja Vu: Another COVID Wave Sweeping New York
As Virus Cases Surge, New Yorkers Feel a Familiar Anxiety

Vaccinated residents who had embraced a return to some normalcy are unsettled: “It’s scary — it feels like we’ve been here before.”

Holiday plans abruptly reversing, restaurants closing, Broadway shows going dark while, blocks away, long lines form outside testing sites — it’s as if it were 2020 all over again. The startling rise in coronavirus infections has whiplashed New York City and the surrounding region. Once more, most everyone seems to know someone who is infected.

Millions of people who have followed the city’s guidelines and received two or even three vaccination shots, who have in recent weeks and months enjoyed a return to many of their old practices — riding the subway, dining indoors, partying with friends — face an uncertain future.

“It’s scary — it feels like we’ve been here before,” said Emma Clippinger, 36, waiting in a long line outside a testing site in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Thursday. “It feels like last year, last winter, despite the vaccines and despite the boosters, and it’s the same game plan, but it also feels like we get defeated often.”

New York City and the surrounding Northeast, the epicenter of the coronavirus’s arrival in 2020, is being buffeted by a new surge in infections that seems poised to disrupt the long awaited return to normalcy. New case reports in New York State have skyrocketed nearly 60 percent in the last two weeks.

“It is clear that the Omicron variant is here in New York City in full force,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday. nytimes.com

Retail Workers Feel 'Anxious, Overwhelmed, Abused'
What it’s really like working in retail during the pandemic

Between the fear of catching Covid and the stress of dealing with irate customers, staff have gone through a year of hell

Retail is already not an easy job, but when you add a highly contagious deadly pandemic and people’s lack of care, it really does take a toll. We started off the year with a sense of “normalcy”; masks weren’t required indoors, the virus wasn’t in our state and it seemed all other states were doing well too.

Most retail companies got complacent and even lowered some of the restrictions for their stores. In June, cases were going up, and the New South Wales government’s lack of immediate action meant that most people went berserk, shopping before stores closed again.

Customers refused to social distance. Many would simply take their masks off to speak to us, and there was massive tension in the air among retail workers, specifically because everything else was closing except shopping centres.

Many of us just accepted the fact that eventually we were going to get Covid-19, because the safety precautions were just “strongly suggested” and not enforced.

The problem started when the lockdown had no end in sight and customers became agitated. We had customers yelling at us over the phone and many tried to force their way into the store’s front door.

We went to work just convinced we were eventually going to catch it, just like before lockdown. When it was announced that retail could open up again, we had mixed feelings. We were happy because this meant we could visit friends and family, but also we knew that eventually we would probably have to deal with all the bottled up anger customers had from things they couldn’t say or do.

This pandemic made it clear how expendable retail and hospitality workers are, how little our work is appreciated and how much is expected of us. theguardian.com

COVID Surge Could Halt Retail's Comeback
Manhattan’s Retail Rebound Threatened by Surge in Covid Cases
Manhattan’s retail market shows signs of bouncing back from pandemic lows, but the recent jump in Covid-19 cases threatens to upend that progress.

Retail sales have increased in the past two quarters as more people return to live in the city and tourist traffic grows, according to a report Thursday by the Real Estate Board of New York. That’s resulted in more demand for store space, and tenants are agreeing to longer lease terms.

Still, foot traffic is far below pre-pandemic levels. Rents have fallen from a year earlier in the majority of shopping corridors, with areas such as Herald Square and Fifth Avenue showing steep declines in the past six months. The average asking rent in Times Square slipped to its lowest in more than a decade, REBNY said.

The sudden surge of Covid-19’s omicron variant could erase the recent gains by sending office workers and tourists back home. A failure to contain the virus “would jeopardize the progress already made, in what has turned out to be a marathon rather than a sprint to recovery,” the trade group said in the report. bloomberg.com

If Hochul pushes the lockdown panic button, NYC is dead
With daily positivity rates soaring even in the Big Apple, Hochul — untested in high-stakes economic and social governance — will soon come under enormous pressure to lock us down once again.

Simply put, the city’s real estate, retail and hospitality industries won’t survive even a brief second lockdown. Every landlord and business owner I know tells me the same things: The city’s irrepressible, beating heart will be stilled — institutionally and among millions of us who were ready to brave an uncertain, sometimes interrupted future that no one was ready to give up on. nypost.com

Apple gives all staff $1,000 after delaying return-to-office indefinitely

COVID-19 hospitalizations jump in Southern California as Omicron alarms grow

Governor Abbott Says “No” To Vaccine Mandate for Texas National Guard

Omicron Drives Record Daily Covid-19 Case Count in U.K.