Loss Prevention – Time to Bring it Back!
Question – If someone shoplifts, gets away without anyone seeing them, or confronting them, do you think they wake up the next day and say, “wow, I am not going to do that again!”
Question – If someone elevates from successful shoplifting incidents to a grab and run when no one pursues, gets caught, or even investigates, do you think they wake up one day and say, “wow, I am not going to do that again!”
Question – If someone elevates from successful grab and runs, to organized swarms in a store essentially looting the store with multiple suspects, and the result is blurry video, no one going to jail, no one pursuing them, celebrity status on the news, do you think they wake up one day and say, “wow, I am not going to do that again!”
If you answered no, you would be correct, however apparently, many of the CEOs who are now victims of crime and criminal activity thought the opposite when they cut or reduced security within their companies.
Crime, theft, identity theft, credit card fraud, all on the rise because CEOs have reduced investigation and security departments with many business models and banks. Some banks have no credit card fraud investigators like they did 10 years ago. They have credit card employees who simply replace a customer’s credit card, but do not actually investigate the fraud itself. Many stores have reduced their Loss Prevention Departments to having a greeter at the front door, or uniformed security standing at the front. No one is actually investigating, tracking, or proactively looking for the criminals who might think the store is a potential payday.
There are fundamentally two glaring problems that are the root cause of CEOs having decided to cut, downsize, or reduce their investigating entities within their companies.
Problem 1 is that our justice system has repeatedly diminished down the punishment for property and financial crimes. I once had a suspect at court thank me, (Thank Me and the Detective) after we got him convicted on several felonies. He got three years in jail. I asked the Detective why he was so cool about it and happy. The Detective said he has an offshore account we can’t touch, with millions of dollars in it. He just as to do his three years, then he is a millionaire and can live freely the rest of his days anywhere he wants without risk of any prosecution now that he got convicted. When I asked if the Judge and Prosecutor knew this, I was told yes. They do not want to have to do a trial.
The Movie: Law Abiding Citizen is a 2009 American vigilante action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray from a screenplay written by Kurt Wimmer is a depiction of this type of behavior within our system.
We have Judges that are annoyed at these types of cases and do not hold people accountable. I once had a case where a cash office employee took $22,000 from a business safe. We caught up with her three days later, she had spent all the funds on her home mortgage and other bills. At her hearing she plead guilty, the Judge gave her probation as this was her first and only offense. He ordered her to pay us (the company) back $20 per month!
Some math about this ROI and case result:
$20 per month = 1100 payments, 1100 payments = 91 years of payments
When I asked the Judge who was going to enforce this 20 years from now if she stops paying, he scolded me and told me to sit down.
Can you blame CEO’s for reducing the cost of investigating such crimes if the results do not deter the crime from occurring?
Problem #2 – Security, Investigators, and Analysts all cost money; they do not make any money for a company. Hence, they are a huge expense showing up month after month on Profit and Loss statements. Since they do, and they can’t show an ROI, much of leadership in an organization start to believe these departments are a waste of company money. During my career, there was not a day I can remember where someone did not make the comment, “must be nice to just walk around and not do anything all day.” Or something like that. That rationale while seemingly harmless usually festers with the people paying the bills and eventually when decisions are made about cutting or reducing labor costs, guess who is the first person on the list?
Why – because in most cases leadership has no idea the value of these departments, what they do, how they do it, how long it takes to do it well, and what the ROI is. In most cases, the ROI cannot be measured month to month or even mathematically, however the ROI is the overall culture of the business, the many things that are done consistently because of that culture to secure the business, and the perception of the business within the community it resides. This is specifically true amongst the criminals residing within any given community.
I find it humorous and somewhat gratifying (sarcastically and disappointingly speaking) that many companies are experiencing crime waves, smash and grabs, and robberies this year. I hate to say I told you so, but “I, or someone like me told you so.” As sure as I am writing authoring this article, someone in HR, RISK, or Loss Prevention told the CEOs of the companies now in the news crying about their losses, that elimination or reduction of the Loss Prevention Department, while attractive on a Profit and Loss statement will have its consequences later. And, here we are, probably with more newsworthy stories to come.
Back in 2008 when the economy crashed, security employees were cut, and we saw the same outcome. That outcome was an increase in theft, crime, and violence in our parking lots, stores, and business properties. When COVID hit, another impulsive decision was to cut Loss Prevention out of the operation, and/or convert their attention from criminal threats to COVID protocols. And, now not surprisingly, criminals have figured out that with Police Departments under fire for proactive policing, de-funding occurring, combined with business that lack aggressive security, a store, especially higher end stores, are an easy payday. As Gomer Pile once said, “well surprise, surprise, surprise!”
Question - Even if the Police had the manpower or workforce, what do retailers expect the Police to do with blurry images, poor video quality, and spotty information regarding the groups that are looting, smashing, and running out of the stores with merchandise? The lack of specific details is directly related to using cheap cameras without anyone operating them, knowing how to collect such information, or knowing proactive tactics to catch people that do these types of crime.
Some History about Security/Loss Prevention –
The reader should note – there are three types of security entities within the retail and services industry. There are Security Guards, there are Surveillance Technicians/Investigators, and there is Loss Prevention Professionals. Loss Prevention Professionals combine security, investigations, and surveillance roles along with the idea of deploying casually dressed undercover employees. Security and Loss Prevention Professionals also manage most Safety efforts for a company as well as crisis management for emergencies. Some stores in the last five years have decided to put Asset Protection uniforms on employees and stage them at the doors and walking around the store. The talent of these people ranges from experienced to no experience in identifying potential threats to the store. Such an employee wearing a uniform is somewhat of a hybrid of Loss Prevention and a Security Guard.
There was a time when –
Loss Prevention professionals were physically fit, able to fight, grapple, and handcuff criminals.
Loss Prevention professionals spent time teaching and training staff in how to deal with potential criminals in a store, during a theft, or during an emergency.
Many of these people were on their way to the police force, and/or retired from the police force.
Many of these people were former military veterans and knew how to handle chaos, manage complex, dangerous, and confrontational situations.
Many used their networking skills to work collaborate with local COPS to identify, profile, and build cases on repeat offender criminals.
Many used their covert skills to obtain details on suspects. Since many criminals use fake IDs, hot plated cars, and other tactics, the LP professional also used tactics that but case information together so that when it was time for an arrest, there were multiple charges and details for each crime documented.
For example – LP used to spot potential getaway vehicles in the parking lots, sides of buildings, or parked in fire zones in the back of buildings.
I used to walk up to a vehicle we suspected was a getaway car. I would ask the driver for some money, or a cigarette. Or I would ask directions or tell them their tire was low on air. Regardless, while doing so, I was recording their face, tattoos, and anything in the immediate area inside the car with a hidden camera or cell phone.
I used to walk up on suspects inside a store wearing a hoodie or hat, film them from chest level up so their face was viewable via a video or photograph.
Loss Prevention would use Pan Tilt Zoom cameras to zoom in on faces, license plates, Driver’s Licenses, IDs, checks, credit cards, etc. to identify people or identify their alias.
The media used to help Law Enforcement by putting a suspect’s photograph on the news to ID them for crimes committed.
LP would monitor Pawn Shop activity and put out alerts for certain stolen items.
LP monitored Craig's List or eBay for stolen items.
Recognized fraudulent credit card and gift card purchases while they were occurring. Document such purchases and retain that information for when a charge back came from the bank. Then LP would collaborate with that bank on who the suspects were using the credit card so they would get arrested.
Organize, and have police staged in parking lot, fire doors, or nearby when a push out was going to occur.
Identify people purchasing materials for building bombs.
Identify people purchasing materials to build a meth lab.
Provide the police with license plates, car descriptions, and ID information so they could further investigate.
During my days working in a store, the store at a point in time had a kiosk machine in the jewelry department. One could walk up to this kiosk, enter their name, DOB, SSN, Address, and it would apply for a $1000 gift card through a popular credit card brand service. Within a minute, the machine would either deny or print a voucher for up to $1000 in jewelry to purchase.
Question – if a person is seen looking at a piece of paper, and then typing in a name, DOB, SSN, and Address would that look suspicious? If you answered yes, because most of us would know that information, you would be correct. If you answered no, then Loss Prevention might not be your thing.
As it were, there was not a day that went by where we would not identify someone standing at the machine, looking at their hands, arms, or some kind of “cheat paper” entering information. Of course, once this drew our suspicion the obvious thing to do was to simply ask the person for their Driver’s License and/or ID before they made their purchase. If the person was legit, they had identification that matched the voucher, if they were not, they would yell, scream, cuss, and demand we allow them to use the voucher despite the glaring problem. Other times they would just walk away, but not before we had their face on video, the car, their license plate, and anything else we could get.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the credit card company would not work with us to contact the person whose identity was used at the kiosk. Why not? We were told it was not their policy to work with other companies in such a manner. Even when we had a police report, or an officer themselves would call the card company, they would not share the information or contact the customer whose identity was potentially stolen.
There were some days however where coincidentally we had a Police Officer in the store already for some other issue, and while they were, this same scenario would occur. Only when the customer would refuse to show an ID, the Officer would step in now having probable cause a crime was being committed. On many occasions this would lead to an arrest for warrants, or other crimes. In several instances, the customer/suspect would be female, a prostitute having wrote down their “client’s” information the night before while in a hotel room. They would be already wanted for several other crimes, some violent some property. At the very least, someone we did not want in the store shopping next to our honest and valued customers, their families, and friends.
The Game –
Not only are there games like this occurring in retail store, but these games are not just being played by the criminals. The game is also being played by the credit card company, and the retail store itself. Even though both appear to be victims in this game, the real victims are the people’s whose identity or financials have been taken.
As already stated, the credit card company would not work with us in helping to catch someone committing the crime. One might ask why? Well, one incentive might be that there is money to be made through these purchases, even if they are made fraudulently. The bank still makes money from fees and other income generating points from sales and use of the credit card. There is also a dis-proportioned amount of people who look at their statements and cry fraud. Many never look, so the fraud goes undetected. When it does the bank makes money.
Retail stores also play the game. Retail stores do not like, and/or support their Loss Prevention Professionals interacting with fraudulent purchases. They will state for the record, this is due to the potential liability, however the truth is, they would rather make a sale today, and give a credit back later. Meaning, if there is $10,000 in fraudulent sales today, that is reported to shareholders and booked at profit. When a credit card company sends back what is called a “charge back” the store will have to pay back the bank. The game however is this – out of $10,000 maybe half or so will ever make it to a point where a business is paying back a bank the entire amount. Hence, there is also money to be made despite the fraud happening.
The point, while not perfect and not without its share of challenges, the Loss Prevention Professional used to be a force for good against crime that gathered intelligence on criminals and then gave all the information to the Police. This would result in many gangs, organized crime, and individuals getting caught. Further, once caught and while in jail, they would let all their colleagues know who caught them and gave caution about committing future crimes at that business or location. Hence, the culture of the store and the perception by the community near that store was that this store was not a place to practice being a criminal. It was a place to get caught if one did. CEOs have elected to take this out of the equation and pass on all losses to consumers. They have also ignored the apparent consequences, and now are asking for the government to help, which to me is unbelievable.
A Loss Prevention Professional’s Experiences –
I once had a shoplifter run off from me when stopping him in a parking lot. I had recognized him from a week prior when I had caught his brother. I called his home, spoke with his mother, and she brought him back to the store hours later. I went easy on him for her cooperation, but the point was I knew what I knew because every day, I was retaining information, data, and understood my clientele for my store. Security Guards on shifts, camera systems without an operator, and automated sensor tags on merchandise do not do, nor can they do, what a Loss Prevention Professional can do.
Another example – I was speaking to a Detective one day, and he showed me a photograph of a person who had pulled a gun in a store down the street. I recognized the guy in the photograph, went to my files and found where a year earlier we had arrested the same person for shoplifting. The Detective was able to pull that information, and his current information for an arrest warrant. Case closed.
Final example – I had a guy using a laptop to skim credit cards. When viewing video, I would see him in the video. He was in the area, sitting nearby, and with his laptop open. When this would be the case, we would incur a series of credit card thefts and fraudulent purchases. On one occasion while we were not able to prove fraud on his part, he littered trash from his lunch. The Police and I approached him, identified him, and trespassed him from the property. We explained how if he came back, he would be arrested as soon as we saw him. Ironically the same credit card company and bank involved in the previous kiosk jewelry case, was involved here as well, and would not help us.
Regardless, the Credit Card fraud stopped that day and he did not return. Six months later, he was found beat and stabbed to death in a hotel room. He had apparently picked up a European tourist and copied his credit cards. The tourist found out somehow and at a point, a fight started. The credit card suspect ended up dead. The same Detective contacted me and told me what had occurred. I passed on this information to the store’s leadership to show them while we did not have an ROI specifically for an arrest, we did stop the problem, and prevent future charge-back payments, which was a win for us at the time based upon the circumstances. Our customers while not having a clue about what had occurred were now free to shop in our store without worry of their identities or credit cards being used fraudulently.
Question – if each time you went to your local retail store, your credit card was stolen, and used, causing you to get a new one, and hold all your credit, how often would you go back to that store or that area? Once, twice, maybe three times. But we can all agree on the third occasion most of us would say, well I am not going into that parking lot anymore, each time I do, my credit card gets hijacked. Now imagine the business impact on all the stores in that shopping mall, parking lot, or shopping plaza each time a customer decides what we just decided. That is the ROI of a Loss Prevention Professional.
Another thought – what if the bank would have helped us by telling us what he was doing so we could have arrested him. Maybe he would not be dead if they had.
These examples occur daily not just in my career, but in most cases many Loss Prevention employees could speak to the same experiences within their days of working in a store or shopping malls across the US. However, that is only if they are employed.
Unfortunately, many companies have decided that the liability to too much due to violence or problematic detainment that have occurred. This is somewhat misleading because just as with any occupation, there are good and bad employees. Personally, when hiring Loss Prevention employees, the good ones are well paid, take their jobs very seriously, and are well trained. Strict rules and background checks provide the ideal Loss Prevention professional. Quality leads too little to minor risk and liabilities. Conversely, when a company is tight on pay, low paying Loss Prevention, poor training, and poor decisions leads too problematic situations and liabilities. These are the situations one can see on the news as well.
Companies have also decided to unman their cameras and allow a computer system to watch all areas of the store. Lock all items up and hinder customer service while preventing the honest person to look at what they want and continue shopping. Ever got tired of waiting, so you just left your cart and went somewhere else? I have. Finally, most if not all companies simply pass on the loss to customers through raising prices to off set the losses.
I once was told that the company was not concerned with the amount of something was costing us, that we (company) will just raise the price of bananas and oranges by two or three cents, and by doing so, that will generate enough profit to offset the losses occurring from claims.
The problem?
Passing on the losses to customers only serves to make customers pay more, while allowing criminal activities to flourish.
Not fixing or not getting rid of the criminal element subjects’ customers to unsafe conditions and potential attacks on them. If a store is an easy mark for criminals, do not be fooled, those criminals are also in the store, outside the store, and nearby that store. Anyone shopping there is a potential victim.
A computer does not recognize a threat, it cannot overcome hats, fake IDs, getaway vehicles, and it cannot collect the significant data unless someone directs that process. An unmanned system does not call Police, network with Detectives, or report a suspect in a store with many arrest warrants for previous incidents. Nor does it direct Police to where a suspect might be or advise any threats to the Police before they make contact.
Not having a dedicated Loss Prevention Professional, or more hinders the ability to gather intelligence, details, and information about who is threatening your store. Law enforcement will not be able to do what a Loss Prevention professional will do.
And now, you are informed.
If you are a Loss Prevention Professional feel free to share a story or two, or three right here or in the comments. Love to hear them. Keep up the great work everyone!
Here are some Internet Searches for Loss Prevention success stories and video:
(Just copy and paste these titles to You Tube)
Thieves Run Right Out The Door And Into Seattle Police!
Thief disguised as Walmart professional strikes again: Sheriff's Office asks for your help
Loss Prevention Expertly Catches Shoplifter (Loss Prevention Breakdown)
About the Author – John Peterson – is a Commercial Security & Safety Expert who specializes in Service, restaurant and retail, and commercial property safety. John evaluates safety plans, prevention plans, and strategies for slip, trip, and fall prevention. John also evaluates incidents involving striking, collisions, colliding with, or materials handling events where someone was hit or struck by equipment. John has years of experience as a Loss Prevention Professional. For more information, please visit our website at www.rlcsafety.com.
Comments