This edition of the magazine has a wide-ranging selection of feature articles—from product protection to restaurant security to loss prevention professionals of the future to a detective-novel-like telling of access control.
The article about Rent-A-Center’s product protection solution for smartphone losses in their rent-to-own stores is our cover story because it’s one of the first benefit-denial success stories we’ve heard. The concept of benefit denial as a means of making stolen products useless without an unlocking key has been discussed for quite some time. The Rent-A-Center team has put together an interesting approach for protecting smartphones that has saved the company millions of dollars. Congratulations to them for putting a theory into practice.
Our executive interview this time is with David Johnston, who started his career in retail loss prevention, moved to the solution provider world, and came full circle back to retail. He describes his boomerang career and his current role with Dunkin’ Brands—the iconic owner of franchise brands Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins. He also provides a description of the Restaurant Loss Prevention and Safety Association, his role as president, and its upcoming conference.
It is not news that the role of loss prevention professionals is rapidly changing to meet the expanding needs of the retail industry. The magazine is collaborating with the Security Executive Council (SEC) to look at what the future asset protection professional will look like—what skill sets, education, and other attributes will be needed to fully contribute to the retail enterprise. Three members of the SEC faculty offer their observations of the current status of loss prevention and corporate risk management. More importantly, this article is a launching point for a benchmarking survey of all levels of our readership to get your views of what you think you need to do your job in the future. We encourage you not only to read the article, but also to contribute to the survey “LP in Transformation—What Is the Next Generation of You?” by visiting securityexecutivecouncil.com/lpsec2017. The results of the survey will be reported in a future edition of the magazine.
Last, but certainly not least, is a film noir-like telling of one loss prevention executive’s experience with access control. Our friend Dave DiSilva has a thirty-year career in a variety of roles in multiple industry segments. Starting with a part-time security job with a hotel during college, he learned that understanding access control provided him a foundation for success in his career. He explains using numerous examples of incidents and investigations with a good deal of wit mixed with wisdom. Enjoy DiSilva’s writing and learn some things about access control you may not know.
When we first announced the concept of this magazine for loss prevention professionals in 2001, more than one person asked, “Are there enough things to write about to fill a magazine?” This edition is an example of both new and old topics that continue to inform and educate our readers. After sixteen years, we haven’t published a blank page yet.
Jack Trlica
Managing Editor
