Retailers ponder loss prevention practices at conference

Dec 1, 1997 12:00 PM, GEORGE PARTINGTON

By one estimate, retailers lost $26 billion to shrinkage last year due mostly to customer theft, employee theft and workplace violence. Not coincidentally, those three subjects were the focus when some of the brightest minds in retail security convened in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 25-26 for BrainStorm '97, held at the Orlando Marriott. The third annual conference, hosted by Loss Prevention Specialists Inc., Winter Park, Fla., gathered together retail loss prevention professionals and security equipment vendors for two days of intense debate focused on cost-effective loss control solutions.

"We hold the meeting to bring all the different retailers together to discuss the problems facing the retail industry when it comes to crime and loss control," says Holly Atkins, BrainStorm project coordinator.

Organizers aim to keep the conference small - about 125 attended this year - in order to encourage a lively exchange of ideas from all participants. At a typical session, which usually lasts 3 1/2 hours, a loss prevention professional presents two or three case studies, each detailing a situation and the steps taken to correct it. Attendees contribute by asking questions, presenting tough decisions they had to make and sharing ideas and theorie s.

"They don't always get through all of the studies," says Atkins. "People will stop them with questions: Why did you do this? and so on."

Participants are encouraged to attack the problems presented in the following manner: - Describe the problem (violence, customer theft and employee theft) and the impact. - Explore the causes of the problem (psychological, opportunity, etc.). - Look for common factors in each incident to predict future incidents. - Use the prediction variables and theory to design a prevention program (or set benchmark components). - Critique a current prevention/reaction program and develop a model one. - Come up with ideas for further research and development. Tangible results of the conference include better policies, procedures and programs, which participants then take back to the workplace to educate their loss prevention staffs and other store personnel.

About 30 percent of this year's 125 attendees were loss prevention directors and vice presidents, many of whom were asked to present case studies. The remainder were junior level loss prevention professionals, dubbed "future leaders," and vendors, or "solution providers." The vendors were asked to bring no more than two representatives, at least one of whom is in research and development.

The conference shies away from a selling environment, says Atkins, and fosters an academic atmosphere. A team of eight loss prevention vice presidents and directors meet two times per year to work out the agenda and come up with three general topics. Prior to the conference, attendees receive a packet of reading material on the topics to be discussed.

By the fifth year of the conference, organizers hope to balance the conjecture and opinion of the sessions with original empirical research, says Read Hayes, CPP, a conference organizer and consultant with Loss Prevention Specialists. To achieve the goal, the firm has enlisted the services of Professor Joshua Bamfield of Nene College, North Hampton, England, and Richard Hollinger of the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

Several research opportunities came out of conference sessions. "We came up with nine initiatives, and retailers signed on to conduct studies at their places of business," says Atkins. The University of Florida will help with some of the studies.

This year, for the first time, Loss Prevention Specialists will offer a write-up of the ideas that came out of the conference for a small fee to cover postage and handling, says Atkins.

For more information, call Loss Prevention Specialists at 407-671-8226 or e-mail to lps@lossprevention.com.

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