Strong partnerships with law enforcement are crucial for any loss prevention team. When a criminal act occurs in your store, you want to already have a relationship with local police—and you want that relationship to be positive.
The LP team at Hibbett and City Gear knows this well, which is why they’ve started hosting law enforcement appreciation events at their stores throughout the country.
“In certain areas, we have had a slow response time with police when reporting incidents such as robberies and grab-and-runs, and this has caused our store employees to feel unsafe,” said Carmen DuBose, LPC, CFI, senior director of asset protection at Hibbett. “We made connections with these departments to talk about what we could do better to combat these issues and to understand what it would take to get a better response.
“With most police departments, they are understaffed and overstretched, causing them to focus on the more violent crimes facing their communities. The feeling we gathered from these meetings is that they were stressed that they could not provide better service just based on their limited resources.”
“It forged a connection between these officers and our store personnel,” DuBose explained. “I think it showed the store personnel who were feeling unsafe that we were trying to do more to get police more engaged with our stores.”
In addition to the delicious food, officers were also given swag bags with water bottles, notepads, pens, and coupons for Hibbett and City Gear products at the events.
“Following the events, we received feedback from the sergeants of the departments that they really appreciated the events because they do not experience this very often,” DuBose continued. “We are currently looking for opportunities for these types of law enforcement appreciation events in other communities. We feel it’s an important initiative for our company to show appreciation for our law enforcement officers who protect and serve our store and communities daily. We will continue to reach out to law enforcement to determine what they need from us to decide how we can continue to make these connections. It’s going to take a collaborative partnership and building of trust between all parties to combat the criminal activity facing our stores and to make our store personnel feel safer.”
LPM is recognizing the unsung heroes of the loss prevention and asset protection industry. In an ongoing column, we will highlight those among us who are going above and beyond to help their community and world around them to be a better place. Whether it be an individual or a team, donating time, money, or bringing joy to others—we want to say, “thank you” and let our readers get to know you better. To nominate an individual or an entire LP team, fill out the form at losspreventionmedia.com/something-good.
