Retail Violence Has Outgrown Siloed Responses
Rising Retail Violence Highlights Urgent Need for Cross-Department Collaboration

By the D&D Daily staff

As retail violence continues to escalate across the country, industry leaders are calling for stronger coordination between loss prevention, operations, HR, and store-level teams to keep associates and customers safe.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2024 Retail Security Survey, 88% of retailers reported an increase in violence and aggression in stores over the past year. Incidents range from confrontations over theft deterrence to random acts of aggression against employees. In some cases, associates have been physically assaulted while attempting to de-escalate disputes or prevent shoplifting.

Traditionally, the responsibility for handling these incidents has fallen primarily on loss prevention teams. But the complexity and frequency of retail violence has outgrown siloed responses. Experts now emphasize a whole-company approach — one that leverages the strengths of multiple departments to both prevent and respond to violent incidents.

"LP is still on the front lines, but they can’t do it alone," said a senior safety executive at a national apparel chain. "We need HR to help with training and trauma support, operations to assess high-risk store layouts, and communications teams to ensure everyone’s aligned when incidents occur."

Retailers are also reevaluating their safety protocols. Some are redesigning store entryways to reduce high-speed exits, while others are increasing investments in de-escalation training and panic alert systems. Technologies like remote monitoring and real-time communication platforms are playing a larger role in empowering staff to act quickly without putting themselves in harm’s way.

Still, challenges remain. Staffing shortages can leave employees feeling vulnerable, especially in late-night or understaffed locations. And inconsistent policies on how to engage suspected shoplifters can lead to confusion — and danger.

Industry groups stress that prevention is only part of the equation. Supporting affected employees in the aftermath of incidents is equally critical, both to retain talent and maintain a culture of safety.

With violent incidents showing no signs of slowing, retailers face mounting pressure to treat violence mitigation as a business-wide priority — not just a security issue.
 

New York Retailers Implement New Workplace Safety & Violence Law
NYSDOL's Model Guidance for Workplace Safety + Violence Prevention Gives Retailers a Starting Point

New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act is now in effect; employers with at least 10 retail employees in New York State must adopt a retail workplace violence prevention policy and provide interactive retail workplace violence prevention training to all employees upon hire.

The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) has launched the much anticipated guidance website on the New York Retail Worker Safety Act (RWSA). The guidance answers retail employers’ questions regarding implementation of the RWSA effective June 2, 2025.

The guidance also provides a Model Policy and Training employers can use as a starting point to create their own policy. Retail employers who use this Model Policy and Training are to include their own store-specific information, such as worksite emergency exits, meeting locations in an emergency, and instructions regarding emergency and security-related devices utilized in the workplace. The guidance also dictates that training take place during paid work time.

The RWSA applies to all New York State employers with at least 10 employees working at their retail store(s). Retail stores include any store that sells goods directly to the public at retail. They do not include businesses that primarily sell food to be eaten at the location, such as restaurants.

Workplace Violence Prevention Policy

The NYSDOL allows employers to develop their own workplace violence prevention policy or adopt the Model Policy after customizing it for their workplace.

Employers wishing to develop their own workplace violence prevention policy must include:

1. Workplace violence risk factors;

2. Prevention methods;

3. Relevant state and local laws; and

4. An anti-retaliation statement.

Employers revising the Model Policy to suit their needs will likely want the advice of counsel. jacksonlewis.com
 
  
National Model for ORC Legislation?
US Senator pushes for federal laws to combat rising retail theft with stricter penalties
U.S. Senator Ashley Moody is pushing for federal laws to fight retail theft, suggesting stricter punishments for organized theft groups.

Moody seeks to provide federal prosecutors with additional tools to combat and penalize organized theft rings, especially as retail theft rates have surged. “Retail theft has increased dramatically,” said Senator Ashley Moody, emphasizing the need for federal action.

Three years prior, Florida legislators enacted laws classifying repeated retail thefts as second or third-degree felonies. This state-level approach could serve as a model for federal legislation, as suggested by Moody. wftv.com


Soaring Cargo Theft in Q2 2025
ICYMI: Cargo theft losses surpass $61 million in second quarter of 2025
Cargo theft numbers continued to climb in the second quarter of 2025, according to a recent report.

On Thursday, July 17, New Jersey-based logistics security firm CargoNet released its 2025 Second Quarter Supply Chain Risk Trends Analysis. According to the company, cargo theft incidents increased 13% compared to the second quarter of 2024 – up 10% from the first quarter of this year.

In total, CargoNet recorded 884 cargo theft incidents from April through June, with an “acceleration in theft activity” noted throughout the quarter. The company said incidents rose by 14.6% in April, 4.4% in May and by a substantial 21.9% in June. According to the report, there was a total reported loss value of $61.6 million in the second quarter.

In terms of where those thefts were most prevalent, the big three – California, Illinois and Texas – were atop the list. According to CargoNet, those three states accounted for 53% of all reported thefts in the second quarter of 2025. landline.media


New data shows crime is down for Memphis, just not to pre-pandemic levels

NM US Rep sponsors legislation targeting organized crime in border communities
 

$380M Clorox Cyberattack Suit
Clorox files $380 million suit blaming Cognizant for 2023 cyberattack

The attack, linked to Scattered Spider, disrupted production of household cleaners and other goods.

Clorox on Tuesday sued Cognizant, which managed its IT help desk, alleging the company responsible for a 2023 cyberattack that crippled Clorox’s production capability and cost the company $380 million.

Hackers breached Clorox in August 2023 in a social-engineering attack that disrupted its IT infrastructure and its ability to ship core products, including household cleaners and other goods, for months.

In a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court, Clorox argued that Cognizant failed to protect Clorox’s computer systems by handing over credentials to the attackers without proper authentication. Clorox also claims that Cognizant botched its response to the attack, prolonging the recovery time.

“Clorox entrusted Cognizant with the critical responsibility of safeguarding Clorox’s corporate systems — and Cognizant failed miserably,” said Mary Rose Alexander, outside counsel for The Clorox Company and partner at Latham & Watkins. “Cognizant didn’t just drop the ball. They handed over the keys to Clorox’s corporate network to a notorious cybercriminal group in reckless disregard for Clorox’s policies and long-established cybersecurity standards. It’s all captured on call recordings, and it’s indefensible.”

Researchers have attributed the Clorox attack to Scattered Spider, a notorious hacking collective that has repeatedly struck targets in the retail, insurance and airline industries over the past several months. The group specializes in social-engineering attacks that use techniques like voice phishing to trick IT help desks into giving the hackers credentials and bypassing users’ multifactor-authentication protections. cybersecuritydive.com


'America's AI Action Plan'
President Trump’s AI Action Plan Calls for Chatbot Free Speech
The White House on Wednesday (July 23) released a policy roadmap that outlines President Trump’s push to keep America in the lead in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race by focusing on deregulation, building AI infrastructure, expanding export controls and giving chatbots free speech.

“America’s AI Action Plan” follows Trump’s executive order in January that directed federal agencies to dismantle AI regulations put in place by the Biden administration, which focused on oversight and risk mitigation. Trump favors accelerating AI development to “retain global leadership.”

“As our global competitors race to exploit these technologies, it is a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance,” Trump said in the opening page of the AI action plan.

The action plan is organized into three pillars: accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading in international diplomacy and security. Across all three areas, the administration sought to loosen regulatory constraints, expand AI chip manufacturing capacity and ensure allied nations comply with U.S. tech standards.

For AI developers, the administration mandated that their AI systems “be built from the ground up” with “freedom of speech” and adhere to American values instead of shaped by “ideological bias.” pymnts.com


Wave of Cyberattacks Targeting Microsoft Vulnerabilities
What we know about the Microsoft SharePoint attacks

State-linked hackers and ransomware groups are targeting SharePoint customers across the globe.

Government authorities and cybersecurity teams around the world are responding to a wave of cyberattacks targeting critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint. The attack wave began in early July before rapidly escalating late last week, affecting important systems at government agencies, critical infrastructure providers and other SharePoint customers.

The intrusions are exploiting ToolShell, an attack sequence that combines remote code injection and network spoofing vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2025-49704 and CVE-2025-49706. Researcher Khoa Dinh originally discovered the attack chain, and earlier this month, Code White GmbH was able to reproduce the attack chain.

The attacks appear to have escalated because Microsoft released incomplete patches for the initial vulnerabilities, according to Benjamin Harris, CEO of watchTowr. cybersecuritydive.com

 
Trump AI plan pushes critical infrastructure to use AI for cyber defense