Author: Alan Greggo and Millie Kresevich
ISBN No: 97814 200 9006
Review date: 16/12/2025
No of pages: 256
Publisher: CRC Press
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
A new American book about retail loss prevention (LP) is accomplished and sophisticated, writes Mark Rowe. From the April 2011 print issue of Professional Security magazine.
With chapters about how to select staff for your LP department, how to tackle organised retail crime, go about an LP audit, and get retail staff on your side, the authors have shown how much more there is – or ought to be – to preventing loss than chasing shop thieves. The root of the problem, the authors suggest, lies in retail business culture, or to coin a phrase, ‘promises, promises’. If an employee feels let down by the company, whatever the worker’s rationalisation, he make take the opportunity to do fraud. The book encourages LP managers to be alert to the personalities and feel of their business. “There is usually a correlation between poor store performance and high inventory loss.” Also, if in LP you should be creative – maybe being able to speak other languages? – and to keep learning. “Unfortunately, loss prevention is not a profession you can wing. You have to have knowledge to successfully do the job. Because many of us start out catching shoplifters, we gain the knowledge regarding human behaviour rather quickly, which will be used throughout our careers for detecting dishonesty.” To make a career, to make your LP voice heard in retail, as this wise book spells out, you have to ‘grow’, the authors suggest. Catching shoplifters does not make you cut out to be a retailer’s director of LP. While this book is naturally skewed to North America, it’s a fine book to equip you to get on in loss prevention. Recommended for people already in retail security, or retail or security people looking to specialise.
The days are long gone when alarm systems and guard dogs were enough to deter retail theft. Facing security problems on many fronts, including external and internal theft, operational and paperwork errors, vendor error, and Organized Retail Crime (ORC), retail security practitioners must be well-versed on the cause and effect of each problem as they are often called on for answers to mitigate these issues and protect the profitability of their company. This book provides an understanding of the fast-paced world of retail loss prevention, the day-to-day challenges retailers face, and solutions for the threats facing this multifaceted business. It also explains how to successfully assemble a Loss Prevention department and programem.
Chapters –
Root of the Problem in Retail Business Cultures: Promises, Promises
Exploring the Psychology Supporting the Theft Triangle: How and Why Does Criminal Behaviour Begin?
How It All Ties Together
External Theft
Organised Retail Crime
Operational Causes of Loss and Awareness
Developing an Effective Operational and Loss Prevention Audit
From the Ground Up: How to Build a Loss Prevention Department
Investigative Practices of a Loss Prevention Department
Selecting the Best for Your Loss Prevention Department
