When LP Chooses Not to Intervene
Retail’s Hardest Security Decision: When Not to Intervene

For LP teams, preventing a theft from becoming a violent incident can sometimes matter more than recovering the merchandise

By the D&D Daily staff

For loss prevention professionals, stopping theft has always been part of the job. But in today's retail environment, one of the most important decisions may be knowing when not to make the stop.

The calculation has become increasingly complicated as retailers confront concerns over violence and aggression connected to theft. An attempted apprehension involving a few hundred dollars in merchandise can quickly become a confrontation that puts employees, customers and LP personnel at risk.

That reality has helped push many retailers toward more restrictive apprehension and pursuit policies. But choosing not to physically intervene doesn't necessarily mean choosing not to act.

For LP teams, the response can continue long after a suspected offender leaves the store.

Surveillance footage, transaction records, incident reports, vehicle information and other evidence can help identify repeat offenders and connect activity across multiple locations. Information can then be shared internally, with neighboring retailers or with law enforcement as investigators work to build a broader picture of an offender's activity.

The changing approach also puts greater responsibility on frontline LP professionals.

In a matter of seconds, an investigator may have to consider the behavior of the suspect, the possibility of a weapon, nearby customers and employees, available backup, company policy and whether an intervention could escalate the situation. Recovering merchandise is only one part of that equation.

The challenge is finding the balance between deterrence and safety.

Retailers can't simply ignore theft, particularly when repeat offenders learn where vulnerabilities exist. At the same time, no merchandise recovery is worth turning an otherwise nonviolent property crime into an injury or potentially deadly encounter.

That makes restraint an increasingly important part of modern loss prevention.

Success isn't always measured by whether the merchandise makes it back onto the shelf. Sometimes it's gathering the evidence, protecting the people inside the store and making sure today's theft doesn't become tomorrow's violent incident.


Retailers Strengthen Workplace Violence Prevention
How retailers can use threat assessment to help prevent workplace violence

Practical ways retailers can evaluate threats, support employees and reduce risk

A quick Slido poll among the LP/AP leaders present showed that 78% had investigated a case involving anonymous or threatening text messages — and many still weren’t sure of the best path forward. At what point should they step in? How might they de-escalate rather than inflame the situation? Who helps decide? And were there red flags along the way that were missed?

It’s a crucial conversation, and not only because threats are climbing. Workplace violence cases increasingly involve long-running threats, harassment, spillover from domestic violence, disgruntled employees and anonymous threatening messages.

Without a clear path for assessment and action, teams can lose time in debates while fear escalates. Assaults are now the fourth-leading cause of work-related death. In 2023 – 2024, assaults brought 54,230 injuries that resulted in days away from work, and in 2024, there were 470 fatalities. Firearms were used in nearly 80% of workplace homicides. More than 40% of workplace homicides occur in public buildings, and 29% occur in retail establishments.

NRF’s recently released Impact of Retail Theft & Violence report showed that for many retailers, “strengthening safety measures reflects a deliberate shift toward a more proactive and preventive strategy for addressing workplace violence.”

According to the report, those increased safety measures include management training (72%), employee training (65%) and the use of risk intelligence technologies (61%), among other proactive measures. “Preventing violence in a retail environment requires a structured approach that includes identifying, reporting, assessing and training for a wide range of possible threats,” the report states.

As workplace violence has become a significant operational and safety issue, retailers — and LP/AP leaders — must take a holistic approach. The session presenters encouraged organizations to identify threat managers or build cross-functional threat assessment teams, with potential representation from operations, HR/associate relations, loss prevention/security, communications, legal, environmental health and safety and, when needed, external experts. nrf.com


Chambers Push Retail Crime Legislation
U.S. Chamber, Utah Chamber Host Fraud, Retail Crime Roundtable with Rep. Celeste Maloy in Partnership with Google

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Utah Chamber, in partnership with Google, recently hosted a roundtable discussion on fraud and retail crime with Rep. Celeste Maloy (UT-02) in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Utah Chamber, in partnership with Google, recently hosted a roundtable discussion on fraud and retail crime with Rep. Celeste Maloy (UT-02) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The roundtable focused on the Guard Act and Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) and how fraud and retail crime impact local businesses and communities. The event also featured a Digital Scam Readiness Demonstration, led by Google, on personal and family security in an age of artificial intelligence and digital life.

“The U.S. Chamber is proud to support Rep. Maloy and her work on combatting fraud and retail crime. The Guard Act and CORCA will help provide the necessary resources to local, state, and federal law enforcement to fight fraud and the organized crime rings that are hurting businesses and communities. We commend Google for its leadership in promoting personal and family digital security in the battle against scammers,” said Thomas J. Wickham, Vice President and Managing Director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Guard Act is a bipartisan bill that would fight financial fraud and scams targeting older Americans. The bill provides resources and cutting-edge technologies to local law enforcement to aid investigations into scams against retirees.

CORCA is a bipartisan bill that would help increase collaboration between jurisdictions to curb retail crime and cargo theft while strengthening the partnership between law enforcement and businesses to dismantle the criminal syndicate networks that carry out retail crime and cargo theft schemes. Rep. Maloy has been a strong proponent of the legislation, which passed the House on May 16. uschamber.com


Murder Rate Hits 20-Year Low
Violent crime plummeted in 2025, with murder rate hitting 20-year low, FBI says
Violent crime rates in the U.S. have plummeted, with the nation's murder rate reaching a 20-year low in 2025 and violent crime overall showing the biggest one-year drop on record, according to data released Friday from the FBI's annual crime report.

The FBI's report, which compiles crime data from about 87% of the country's police departments, shows an 18.1% decrease in the murder rate compared with the prior year.

Violent crime rates in multiple categories also saw significant year-over-year decreases across the country, with aggravated assaults falling by 7.2%, rapes declining by 7.6% and robbery down 18.5%, according to the FBI's report.

In other categories, motor vehicle theft decreased by 22.7% in 2025 and burglary decreased by 15.8%, it said.

The data reflects a trend experts have been tracking for several years as reported numbers of violent crimes continue to drop from a spike immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This release confirms that crime in the U.S. is falling at or near a historic clip," said Jeff Asher, co-founder of the data analytics firm AH Datalytics. "This is the third straight year of a record drop in murder and the data for 2026 points to a continued large drop this year."  cbsnews.com


Making Crime in California Illegal Again:
Bill to Undermine Prop 36 Blocked Permanently in Senate Appropriations
California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36 in 2024 to restore felony penalties for repeat theft and drug crimes in November 2024. Prop 36 passed by 68%, and passed in every one of California’s 58 counties.

Within months of passage of Prop 36, Democrats in the Assembly passed AB 2108, a bill authored by Assemblywoman LaShae Sharp-Collins (D-La Mesa) that creates a pretrial diversion program for retail theft, shoplifting, forgery, and vandalism, allowing the offender’s record to be wiped after completion, undermining Prop 36.

Prop 36 restored felony penalties for repeat offenders after a decade of disaster and rising crime under Prop 47. Fed-up voters demanded accountability for smash-and-grab thefts, organized retail crime, and open drug dealing.

AB 2108 passed the Assembly 41–22 in May along partisan lines, passed the Senate Public Safety, and was heard in Senate Appropriations Thursday. The Senate Appropriations Committee held AB 2108 in suspense file Thursday, permanently.

“This outrageous bill, which would have destroyed Prop 36 supported by 70% of voters, is completely dead now!” said the California Coalition against Drugs (CCAD). californiaglobe.com


Republican seeks boost for retail theft bill after statewide sting
A member of House majority leadership hopes recent news of dozens of arrests tied to organized retail crime gives his proposed legislation aimed at coordinated retail theft momentum heading into lame duck.

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