Retail Crime

According to a 2017 National Retail Federation survey, organized retail crime (ORC) is on the rise. That's useful information for corporate industry executives, but loss prevention professionals in stores—those who see loss prevention issues like ORC every day—are well aware of the problem.

It's amazing how witty we are when it's twenty seconds too late. But when we're in that room and people are uncomfortable, we need to anticipate both emphatic and explanatory denials, handle them properly, and return to rationalization.

"This year's conference promises to be our best ever," said Curt Crum, president of the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR). The national organization's ninth annual training event will take place October 8—11 at the Crown Reef Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Law enforcement partnerships with the retail community can establish a foundation of mutual support. When agencies, retail investigators, and prosecutors make a sincere effort to share information in response to ORC concerns, they are more likely to resolve issues and make arrests that can halt theft operations.

In this week’s Wicklander-Zulawski / International Association of Interviewers interview and interrogation training tip, Brett Ward, CFI, divisional vice president for client relations and business development for WZ, kicks off a four-part series on the investigatory interview process.

It is equally important to be able to align and describe how a selected protective countermeasure or treatment actually works to affect a problem.

What happens when the criminal behavior of a shoplifting ring is actually connected to something even more ominous than a high shrink rate? What about when it's tied to modern slavery?

In the last few years, it seems that more and more organizations are conducting interviews remotely, whether that means over the phone or with the use of some type of videoconferencing tool.

A more effective way to attack this type of theft is to bring together retailers and law enforcement resources in order to share trends and case details.

Employee swipes $11K

Two pepper-sprayers

Amazon Go's for three

Shoplifter's hit list 2

Couple arrested for refund scam