The Bunker Blog

The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security is scheduled to address H.R. 6713, the “E-fencing Enforcement Act of 2008″, H.R. 6491, the “Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008″ and S. 3434, the “Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008″.

The National Retail Federation is making this hearing available online today beginning at 4pm. Click here to go to the site, then click the link at the bottom to view the webcast. It will be interesting to see and hear the various viewpoints offered in this hearing.  

The subcommittee will hear testimony from Joseph LaRocca, VP of Loss Prevention for the NRF;  Frank Muscato, ORC coordinator for Walgreens; and Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County, Florida, among possible others. 

I will have an update by tomorrow here on the Bunker Blog. In the meantime, feel free to comment either here on on the forum.

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According to local news, Police in Genessee County Michigan conducted a shoplifting blitz at a local mall on Friday, September 19th, which resulted in 25 arrests in one day. This came after increased complaints from retailers, who report that losses from shoplifting have tripled since spring.  Police arrested 20 adults and 5 juveniles in the blitz on Friday. Interestingly enough, there were no arrests made on Saturday.

Personally, I love the concept of police and even LP doing blitz style investigations. Every area in a given territory can be visited regularly, and at random. That way, the shoplifters never know when it’s coming. What a great deterrent. 

As the rate of shoplifting increases, retailers and law enforcement are working hard to come up with ways to combat the problem.

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