View in browser

JULY 27, 2023

Loss Prevention Advisory Committee Update

NATIONAL LOSS PREVENTION TASKFORCE UPDATE

On June 28, 2023, the RCC National Taskforce was hosted at the Rexall corporate offices in Mississauga, Ont. to further discuss and define the top priorities identified by the Taskforce, which includes:

A total of 28 retail organizations;
Police agencies in Vancouver, Edmonton, London, Waterloo, Halton, Peel, Toronto, York, Durham, and Ottawa alongside the Ontario Provincial Police, and;
Senior counsel (Ministry of the Attorney General), external, and stakeholder relations (Solicitor General).

The Taskforce met again on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, to action the following next steps for their priorities:

1) Retail Round Up/Blitz

Create a package outlining the process for running a Retail Round Up/Blitz.
Organize events across the country with Police agencies.
Create a calendar of events and shared space where police and retailers can easily access the information.

3) Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Joint Force Operation (JFO)

Identify police services, retailers, and dedicated crown to participate in JFO.
Leverage Ontario’s provincial ROPE (Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement) model to build the structure and functionality of the ORC JFO.
Organize multi-jurisdictional ORC projects.

2) Retail Crime Unit

Work with interested police agencies to implement a retail crime unit.
Identify the activities and workflow for the police officers operating within the unit.
Establish a process for the flow of information between retailers and the officers.

4) Retail Crime Report

Identify partners to support the creation of an annual retail crime report.
Identify data collection methods to inform the report
Identify methodology to disseminate the report to ensure it reaches the intended audiences.

Each program will be spearheaded by one member from a police agency and one retailer. The Taskforce has set a goal to implement proof of concepts for three of the four top priorities in 2023.

RCC Members looking for more information about the Taskforce or any of RCC's Loss Prevention programs are encouraged to contact Rui Rodrigues, Executive Advisor, Loss Prevention & Risk Management, at rrodrigues@retailcouncil.org.

PROVINCIAL ACTIVITIES AND UPDATES

British Columbia: RCC collaboration with retailers and Vancouver police

RCC, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), and retail members collaborated on retail blitz projects this Spring, focused on repeat violent and prolific offenders and organized crime.

VPD ran Project Barcode 2 from April 24, 2023, to May 9, 2023, to build on the success of Project Barcode 1, which ran from February to March. The project is a collaboration between retailers, police, and a dedicated prosecutor working to identify, apprehend, and prosecute repeat, violent and prolific offenders during a targeted time frame. During Project Barcode 2, 157 police files were generated, 138 individuals were arrested – 14 of which were repeat offenders – 12 weapons seized, and 71 individuals arrested were flagged as violent. Five of the violent offenders were repeat offenders with an average of 60 previous incidents.

VPD is collaborating with RCC to arrange Project Barcode 3 which is scheduled to run from September 11, 2023 to September 26, 2023. RCC will be following up with more details and inviting other police agencies to run similar events during the same time period.

Alberta: RCC hosts Retail Crime Round Table

On March 28, 2023, RCC organized a meeting with Minister of Safety, Mike Ellis and a group of retailers, to ask for the Minister’s support in establishing a Retail Security Task Force responsible for developing a retail crime strategy for Alberta. As a result of the meeting, it was agreed to assemble a table of key stakeholders to provide guidance on an action-oriented strategic plan to address the serious retail crime impacting Alberta’s retail workers.

RCC organized a half-day event on June 23, 2023, in Edmonton, that was facilitated by MNP LLP and included stakeholders from Edmonton Police, Calgary Police, RCMP, Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Public Safety and Emergency Services, as well as representatives from private security and retail organizations with a presence in Alberta. The event had great participation and discussion amongst all stakeholders and RCC has asked MNP to produce a report with an overview of the roundtable event, outline themes, key takeaways, opportunities, and recommendations that were identified by the group, accompanied by a request for support from the Government of Alberta. RCC anticipates having the report finalized by end of July and will submit it to the Government of Alberta with an ask to respond to the requests made in the report.

Manitoba: Over 100 businesses submitting data for Project Safe Shop

Over 100 retail storefronts are submitting data through Project Safe Shop, a common platform to facilitate the ability for police to quickly and efficiently identify repeat and violent prolific offenders.

The Project kicked off September 2022 with retailers submitting incidents, with the expectation that Winnipeg Police Services (WPS) would commence to access and use the information as of December 2022. Unfortunately, WPS has not been cleared to officially commence their part of Project Safe Shop and to date, they are not actively accessing and using the information that is being uploaded by the retail participants to the common platform.

RCC is working with the Winnipeg operational table to help define the protocols for retail theft incidents that are submitted through Project Safe Shop, hopefully formalizing the process, and ensuring police agencies and courts follow a set protocol with dispositions for violent and prolific offenders.

RCC has sent a formal letter to the Winnipeg Police Services Board and the Mayor of Winnipeg requesting a meeting to discuss how they may support facilitating WPS’s formal involvement in the Project and further ensuring that there is a process to avoid any future obstacles or delays that could arise.

RCC has established a monthly meeting of the Manitoba Business Working Group in an effort to provide a forum where retailers can gather on a monthly basis to discuss retail issues and share best practices. The last Business Working Group meeting took place on July 11, 2023, and a key ask of the group was to request police and crown to attend a portion of the meeting on an ongoing basis. RCC has contacted representatives from the Winnipeg Police Service and prosecutions asking if they could each nominate a representative to attend.

Ontario: Ontario Crime Prevention Committee organized

RCC has organized an Ontario Crime Prevention Committee in partnership with the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police's (OACP) Community Safety and Crime Prevention Committee, Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP), and retail representatives.

The committee met on June 20, 2023, to build on the initial discussions by identifying key activities, programs, and initiatives that would form the Retail Crime Strategy for Ontario. In addition to the initial above-mentioned groups, this meeting was attended by Chief of Staff (Solicitor General), Toronto Police Services’ Public Safety Division (Solicitor General), York Regional Police, Halton Regional Police, Crown Counsel (Ministry of Attorney General), OPP Provincial Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) squad, and their Private Security Investigative Services Branch (Solicitor General).

The Committee identified key themes and recommendations for a crime prevention strategy for Ontario focused on:

Addressing jurisdictional boundaries that prevent seamless and effective exchange of information between retailers, police agencies, and the crown’s office;
Bridging the efforts of businesses, police, courts, and government-supported safety programs supported by the government to create a funded harmonious community safety and security plan, and;
Creating a multi-jurisdictional provincial unit to focus on organized retail crime.

In addition, the Committee also identified the opportunity to create additional resources, tools, and guides to be created for the use for retail businesses in Ontario.

The administrators of the committee are organizing the key themes and recommendations arising from the last meeting and compiling the list of resources, tools, and guides. We will be scheduling the next meeting to take place in September 2023 to have the committee make decisions on the recommendations that will be pursued and resources, tools and/or guides that will be actioned.

Quebec: Inaugural Quebec Retail Crime Roundtable held on Montreal

RCC/CCCD hosted the first inaugural Retail Crime roundtable for retailers in Quebec on June 29, 2023. The meeting was hosted at the CCCD offices in Montreal and was conducted in French. The purpose of the initial gathering was to identify the key issues facing retailers in Quebec, ask retailers who they would like to be part of the roundtable on an ongoing basis and identify the cadence, frequency, and objective of the roundtable. The inaugural group identified organized retail crime as a key issue they would like tabled and made a request to have additional stakeholders, including police become standing members of the roundtable. RCC is working with all stakeholders to identify the next meeting date.

Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Retail Crime Roundtable

On July 13, 2023, RCC and a select number of retailers met in Halifax with representatives from the Department of Justice’s Public Safety and Security Division, Cape Breton Police, and the RCMP to discuss and strategize solutions to address the increasing level of repeat and prolific violent offenders and organized retail crime. Although the roundtable was arranged to initiate discussions, a commitment was realized by all parties to participate in an ongoing forum attended by law enforcement and retailers. A representative from the Department of Justice Public Safety and Security Division will invite a senior crown representative to join the forum.

RCC will be working with the Department of Justice to organize the stakeholders for the forum and the next meeting date.

Events Page Feature images 2023 600x400 (29)

RCC CyberSecure Webinar:
Brute Force Attacks – September 28, 2023

Brute force attacks pose a significant threat to the retail industry, where the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive customer information and business data are at risk. As cybercriminals continue to exploit vulnerabilities in various retail modalities, such as e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores, it becomes imperative for retailers to adopt robust security measures to safeguard their digital assets.

Join our panel of industry experts as they share their knowledge and experiences to equip retailers with actionable insights for fortifying their defenses against brute force attacks. Together, we can build a more resilient and secure retail ecosystem while ensuring a frictionless shopping experience for customers.

SIGN UP NOW

Guest Speakers:

Raja Sundarrajan, Business Development Engineer SAT, Security Awareness Training, Fortinet, Inc

Eric Jensen, Business Development Engineer, Security Awareness Training, Fortinet, Inc

UPCOMING LOSS PREVENTION MEETINGS

Manitoba Business Working Group

Next meeting: August 8, 2023 at 2pm ET

Loss Prevention Supply Chain Committee

Next meeting: August 9, 2023

Loss Prevention Advisory Committee
Next meeting: August 16, 2023 at 3pm ET

National Loss Prevention Taskforce
Next meeting: September 27, 2023 3pm ET

RCC CyberSecure Advisory Committee
Working with Committee to organize date

For more information about these committees, please contact Rui Rodrigues, Executive Advisor, Loss Prevention & Risk Management, at rrodrigues@retailcouncil.org.