ANNALS OF RETAIL about the high-tech approach to catching shoplifters. On a recent morning, a dapper man in his fifties strolled along the main floor of a midtown Manhattan department store. He was the store’s VP of corporate asset protection, second in command in the store’s loss-prevention department. Loss prevention is devoted to reducing the erosion of profits resulting from shoplifting, employee theft, and organized retail crime. Describes the “Camera Room” in the department store’s asset-protection complex. The TV screens in the camera room show high-angled views of customers moving through over two hundred thousand square feet of sales floors. Loss-prevention agents are trained to recognize the behaviors that betray a person’s intention to steal. Mentions the case of a well-dressed older man who was recently caught for stealing designer sunglasses. In June, the National Retail Federation’s Loss Prevention Conference and Expo took place at the Orange County Convention Center. Most of the presentations centered on organized retail crime. No one can say precisely when shoplifters began to organize themselves into professional gangs, but King Rogers was one of the first people to isolate the problem. Rogers, the former head of Target Corporation’s asset-protection program, now runs his own consulting firm, the King Rogers Group. Describes Rogers’s experiences as head of asset protection at Strawbridge & Clothier. In those days, there were no cameras and no live video monitoring. In the late seventies and early eighties, many stores began installing closed-circuit cameras and electronic-article-surveillance technology, known as E.A.S., tags. In the mid-nineties, after Rogers had joined Target, he established a national investigations team to focus on organized retail crime. Rogers and his investigators learned that stolen goods were entering a highly organized distribution chain that began with hundreds of suburban flea markets. In 1998, Target began an investigation of an organized retail-crime ring in Atlanta. The F.B.I. was brought into the case, and in October, it launched Operation American Dream, which resulted in the bust of one of America’s biggest organized retail-crime rings. Rogers retired from Target in 2001 and was succeeded as head of asset protection by Brad Brekke. Brekke had the revolutionary idea of creating a crime lab inside office headquarters. Describes Target’s fingerprint and computer forensics labs. Mentions Rick Lautenbach and Brent Pack. Target’s crime lab has increasingly been used to fight “e-fencing,” the resale of stolen goods online through eBay, Craigslist, and other e-commerce sites. By far the biggest theft problem faced by retailers, however, is employee theft, which accounts for nearly 47% of profit erosion. Describes the arrest of an employee the writer calls Jeffrey, who was ringing up returns for merchandise that hadn’t left the store and then putting the credit on his own card. He also was making out gift cards in amounts of up to $5,000, then giving the cards to accomplices.
译文:
蟊贼！住手！---【纽约客】
零售业编年-高科技捉贼.最近清晨,人们经常可以看到一个50来岁的精悍男人在曼哈顿百货商店的主楼闲逛，其实他是商店资材安全科副科长,也就是防损科的二把手.防损科旨在减少因入店行窃,员工偷窃以及有组织性的零售店行窃而造成的利润损失的部门.说起百货商店的"监控室"那可复杂着呢.监控室里的电视屏幕可以高角度观测到200，000平方英尺之外的货架附近客人的活动.防损科的员工都经过训练,可以识别有行窃动机的人.以前,他们就抓到过个衣着体面的老人在偷由大师设计的太阳镜.六月份,国家零售业者协会防损会议和展览在橙县会议中心举行.其中绝大部分的演讲都针对有组织性的零售店犯罪,但是没人能说清楚行窃者开始形成有组织的专业团伙的具体时间,但是罗杰斯.金却属于首批解开此疑问的人.罗杰斯是Target集团资材保护项目的前负责人,现在开设了自己的咨询公司-罗杰斯.金集团.说到罗杰斯在Strawbridge & Clothier担任资材保护科科长的那些经历,那时候还没有摄像机和视频直播监控.在70年代晚期80年代初期,许多商店开始安装闭路循环摄像机和电子商品防窃检测技术,比较出名的是E.A.S标签.在90年代中期,罗杰斯加入Target集团,他成立了一支全国性的专门针有组织的零售店犯罪调查小组.罗杰斯和他的团队发现被偷的商品已经形成了从郊区的跳瘙市场为源头的高组织的分销链.1998年,Target开始对亚特兰大地区有组织的零售店犯罪圈进行调查.美国联邦调查局也介入此事,并在10月成立"美国梦实现计划",从而导致了美国最大的零售店犯罪集团的破产.罗杰斯于2001年退休,由布里克.布兰德继任资材保护科科长.布里克有一革命性的思想就是在总部内部建立一个犯罪实验室.说到Target的指纹和计算机取证实验室,以及Rick Lautenbach 和Brent Pack计划,Target的实验室被越来约多用到对付e-fencing：通过eBay, Craigslist等商业网站在线再售被偷商品的一种方式.至今为止,零售商最大的问题还在于员工偷窃,这占了所损失利润的47%．一位作者称为珍弗尼的员工被逮捕，他将商店的货物的利润转换成积分添加到自己的卡上，然后再做成价值５，０００美圆的购物卡分发给他的共犯．
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