Online LP Training?

[RANova]

Hey all, new LP guy here having just been hired on to work Loss prevention for a drug store. The problem is that I have no idea what I am doing! My boss works for a whole district, and was only with me for the interview and the first day I worked for all the paperwork and to make a work schedule. He knows I have no security or Loss Prevention experience. Every shift since my first day I have been on my own and the management of the store has no idea what I am suppose to do other than "catch people".

I have not even seen a theft take place yet in my first 2 weeks so my entire work day has been nothing more then walking around the store trying not to be noticed watching people buy Aspirin and batteries and I occasionally help put away stock. I have told store management that I am not ready to make apprehensions until I have some sort of training under my belt so I can be sure not to be sued and/or beaten up. They can't, or won't train me and they seem ok with me being paid to do, quite literally, nothing!

So I would really like to make this job work, so does anyone know of a good way to train myself? I've done lot's of googleing and reading through this forum and found a lot of valuable information. But nothing I have read has told me things like how to do the paperwork, how to actually see someone steal without them noticing me, and now not to be noticed by legit customers who complain about being watched.

Are there any online training sites that anyone knows of? I'd even be willing to pay for it to a small extent. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[Lynch Mob]

Hey all, new LP guy here having just been hired on to work Loss prevention for a drug store. The problem is that I have no idea what I am doing! My boss works for a whole district, and was only with me for the interview and the first day I worked for all the paperwork and to make a work schedule. He knows I have no security or Loss Prevention experience. Every shift since my first day I have been on my own and the management of the store has no idea what I am suppose to do other than "catch people".

I have not even seen a theft take place yet in my first 2 weeks so my entire work day has been nothing more then walking around the store trying not to be noticed watching people buy Aspirin and batteries and I occasionally help put away stock. I have told store management that I am not ready to make apprehensions until I have some sort of training under my belt so I can be sure not to be sued and/or beaten up. They can't, or won't train me and they seem ok with me being paid to do, quite literally, nothing!

So I would really like to make this job work, so does anyone know of a good way to train myself? I've done lot's of googleing and reading through this forum and found a lot of valuable information. But nothing I have read has told me things like how to do the paperwork, how to actually see someone steal without them noticing me, and now not to be noticed by legit customers who complain about being watched.

Are there any online training sites that anyone knows of? I'd even be willing to pay for it to a small extent. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

Maybe this is not the advice you want to hear, but it is the best advice. Run for the hills. Find a job that will train you.

What kind of company, in this day and age, would ever dream of putting someone out with no training whatsoever. And people wonder why I would be critical of this industry?

[BadBoynMD]

Maybe this is not the advice you want to hear, but it is the best advice. Run for the hills. Find a job that will train you.

What kind of company, in this day and age, would ever dream of putting someone out with no training whatsoever. And people wonder why I would be critical of this industry?

Do you REALLY want an answer to this???????:eek: :eek: :eek:

Or, was this sarcasm?

[N. A. Corbier]

Basically, you're going to end up in jail if you attempt to arrest someone. Seek other employment.

[RANova]

Thanks, it may come to me seeking other employment, but I'll give them a few more weeks to get their act together. The guy that hired me is very busy working like 70 hours a week so I will cut him some slack. In the meantime as long as store management knows I won't be making any apprehensions I'll just get paid to shop for 8 hours a day. Oddly enough they tell me that pilferage has all but completely stopped since I got on. They haven't found any empty packages at all. I guess I am so obviously LP the thieves don't even bother.

[JamesBDH]

just out of curiosity, do you work for rite aid? I had the same problem where I worked for there. I was there for 10 months and talked to my LPM 3 times. The extent of the training was when he looked over my form and said good job.

[Craig S]

1. Find out what you can and can't do legally and ask for your job description in writing.

2. Ask for more training and explain to your management that you do not feel safe doing your job with the amount of training you have received.

3. As for being made, stop helping with stocking the shelves and don't talk to fellow employees in front of the public. Also, don't get too comfortable with your co-workers, they may be your next apprehension.

4. Most thieves can be spotted a mile away, try hanging outside or sitting in your car right outside the door. When you spot a mark, enter the store like a regular and you will eventually catch yourself a junky.:D

PM me if you have any questions, I am more than willing to give you more advice.

[NRM_Oz]

Craig summed up a good starting point. As my experience was formed in the good old days ............... when training was under a mentor, I would follow the simple - LOOK - LISTEN - LISTEN that I was trained under.

Look - watch people, how do normal customers purchase items ? Do they come in and browse or come in and purchase exactly what they need ? Some customers like buying condoms or Imodium may just act differently so you need to learn their behaviours from normal customers.

Listen - overhear conversations of customers and what they ask for. Don't be shocked when staff are caught stealing as a large chunk of theft is internal.

Learn - it takes time and patience. You can read alot of LP stuff online but it just comes down to you developing your own style and techniques. Good Luck !!

[SecTrainer]

Take a look at this online course for store detectives (http://allng.com/payment/product_info.php?products_id=28). I know nothing about it, but for $45 enrollment fee, you'll probably get your money's worth, at least.

The only precaution is that every state has its own laws regarding the rights of merchants (and their designated agents) to prevent the theft of their property, so be sure you find an appropriate source for that information. Most states now have at least qualified immunity for merchants with respect to shoplifting apprehensions by store agents.

[RANova]

just out of curiosity, do you work for rite aid? I had the same problem where I worked for there. I was there for 10 months and talked to my LPM 3 times. The extent of the training was when he looked over my form and said good job.

Yup, I guess it's not just me! Thanks to everyone for the advice, I'll have to try the watching people from my car idea and walking in with them. What makes the job even more challenging is that we have no cameras, other than the ones at the register and in the pharmacy, and no mirrors. The ceiling panels that I am suppose to be able use to see into the next aisle are warped and useless. Also my LPM requires me to dress "nicely", so it's hard to blend in to customers who are all dressed in ratty jeans and tee-shirts. Therefore it is pretty much impossible for me to watch people covertly.

On the plus side store management says that shrink has decreased remarkably since I started despite working for over a month without a single apprehension. So they seem happy with me for the most part. The problem now is that I am starting to find empty packages everywhere in the past few days that show up during my shift, so I think that many of the thieves have made me and watch to make sure that I am nowhere nearby when they steal. My LPM keeps promising to put in more cameras "one of these days". Yesterday I called him and mentioned the increased pilferage and my inability to catch anyone and he seemed disinterested. He works an entire district so I assume he has bigger fish to fry at the moment.

[CameraMan]

Well, if shrink has all but stopped since you came in, I suppose you're doing your job...?

But you should let the store owners know (in writing, CCed to your supervisor) that if you have no cameras, you have no evidence. If you have no evidence, can you really do stops? I don't know, being a camera man and not a security man, but I don't think so.

[Craig S]

I wouldn't worry so much about the cameras because even if you do see someone stealing something on camera, in the few seconds it takes you to leave the office and begin visual surveilance, the perp can dump the merch and you just found yourself in a liability lawsuit. There are a few smart thieves out there that will try this to make a quick buck in a civil suit. I recommend visual surveilance. CCTV only works when you have 2 or more LP's.

[Lynch Mob]

Well, if shrink has all but stopped since you came in, I suppose you're doing your job...?

But you should let the store owners know (in writing, CCed to your supervisor) that if you have no cameras, you have no evidence. If you have no evidence, can you really do stops? I don't know, being a camera man and not a security man, but I don't think so.

Yes, you can do stops without cameras. It happens thousands of times across this country every single day.

[NRM_Oz]

When I first started you never had CCTV and if it was there it was all just b/w grainy shots of blobs unless you were 3 feet away and perfectly focussed on a subject.

An old trick we were taught in the olden days was to carry a shopping bag from another retailer with something inside and then do your rounds. Keep changing brands and most people forget about you. In my final store level job as a LPM, I had a small CD size bag to toss my notebook in to pretend to be a customer and in my current national team, a 55 y.o. woman LPM told me she carried a handbag when she first started 30 years ago to blend in with the lady shoppers.

[CameraMan]

I always told my customers (when trying to make a sale) that if they have a shoplifter, the best thing they could do was have video evidence. I suppose if you repeat a sales pitch long enough you get to believing it.

[Lynch Mob]

I always told my customers (when trying to make a sale) that if they have a shoplifter, the best thing they could do was have video evidence. I suppose if you repeat a sales pitch long enough you get to believing it.

Why would you tell them that? The best thing they could do is get the merchandise back. You don't need video for that.

[CameraMan]

Why would you tell them that?

Because that's what I was taught?

I was told, way back when, to tell the customer to have evidence in case they get sued for stopping a shoplifter.

I do recall a customer who had a frequent shoplifter (and no security other than a CCTV system). This poor addled bum stole the tip jar every day at the same time of day for three days in a row- not exactly Ocean's Eleven. The forth day, my customer (already on parole for assault) beat the hell out of the bum, sending him to the hospital. As my customer has the local police in his pocket, somehow this was made to go away, even though the bum wanted to pres charges, but the detective I dealt with said that if they didn't have video of the guy stealing the tip jar there was nothing they could do.

Of course, this was in New Jersey. I don't know what its like in non third world countries.

[SecTrainer]

About evidence - video or otherwise:

1. There is no "bad" evidence, even if it doesn't prove every (or even any) element of a crime. If all it does is to support the LP agent's testimony (which is the probative evidence in most LP cases), it has value.

2. There is no evidence that cannot or will not be challenged by the defense, so never shy away from evidence merely because it can be challenged. "CSI", suggesting that a case was "proved" by a fiber or a flake of dandruff, ain't reality. Even DNA evidence is no slam-dunk, and there must always be other evidence of which the physical evidence, the video, the eyewitness testimony, etc. all form a body of evidence together to prove the crime.

3. All evidence is defective. This might seem to contradict #1, but not so. By "defective", I mean imperfect, incomplete, degraded in some way since it was collected, etc. Therefore, never shy away from evidence because you think it isn't "pristine" or perfect. Yes, we've all seen examples of video that was something short of "HD TV", perhaps showing nothing more than that the perp was a young white male with dark hair, wearing some sort of hooded sweatshirt. Even just that much IS evidence that the perp was NOT a black female wearing a blonde wig and a sequined ball gown. As such, then, even if it does not, in and of itself, prove that the perp was the defendant, it SUPPORTS the other evidence that will be introduced to show that the perp was the defendant, and it has value.

Video evidence is probably even more powerful than DNA to the minds of jurors, if for no other reason than that they can understand video evidence, whereas DNA evidence is simply mind-numbing. If you can get it, use it. However, it is almost impossible to think of a case in which video evidence would EVER be expected to stand alone to prove the guilt of the defendant. There will (must) always be other evidence anyway.

[Lynch Mob]

Because that's what I was taught?

I was told, way back when, to tell the customer to have evidence in case they get sued for stopping a shoplifter.

I do recall a customer who had a frequent shoplifter (and no security other than a CCTV system). This poor addled bum stole the tip jar every day at the same time of day for three days in a row- not exactly Ocean's Eleven. The forth day, my customer (already on parole for assault) beat the hell out of the bum, sending him to the hospital. As my customer has the local police in his pocket, somehow this was made to go away, even though the bum wanted to pres charges, but the detective I dealt with said that if they didn't have video of the guy stealing the tip jar there was nothing they could do.

Of course, this was in New Jersey. I don't know what its like in non third world countries.

Ok, now you change what you said at first. Yes, video evidence is the strongest evidence in the event you get sued by a shoplifter. But, as SecTrainer said, it is not foolproof.

What you originally said was you told customers that if they were trying to catch a shoplifter the best thing they could have was video evidence. This would be incorrect. The best thing they could have is the recovered merchandise.

As for your story above, well if the customer beat the crap out of the shoplifter, it might be more damaging to HAVE the video than to not have it. The video may clearly show an assault on the shoplifter, rather than a violent shoplifter. Depending on the details, the video can often harm the retailer as much as it can help.

Video is not a catch all solution for anything. It is a tool. If used properly, it is helpful.

[CameraMan]

Ok, now you change what you said at first. Yes, video evidence is the strongest evidence in the event you get sued by a shoplifter. But, as SecTrainer said, it is not foolproof.

What you originally said was you told customers that if they were trying to catch a shoplifter the best thing they could have was video evidence. This would be incorrect. The best thing they could have is the recovered merchandise.

As for your story above, well if the customer beat the crap out of the shoplifter, it might be more damaging to HAVE the video than to not have it. The video may clearly show an assault on the shoplifter, rather than a violent shoplifter. Depending on the details, the video can often harm the retailer as much as it can help.

Video is not a catch all solution for anything. It is a tool. If used properly, it is helpful.

You're right. I should have clarified.

That's why I like this forum. I'm learning to see things through a security manager's perspective, and not just a cctv sales perspective.

[SecTrainer]

Another valuable thing about video is it's use as a training tool, so don't overlook that aspect.

Also, video can be an invaluable "doubled-edged sword" as a tool for management oversight of all kinds of business processes, not just for security purposes. For instance, are retail clerks promptly picking up items strewn around by customers and returning them to their proper racks or shelves? Is the salad bar being replenished in a timely way? Are customers being served promptly? Is the waiting area being kept in order? Are pizzas being prepared with the correct quantity of toppings? Is the hard-hat policy at the construction site being observed?...etc., etc. There was a good article about this "secondary" use of "security" video in a recent issue of one of the security magazines.

This last item (business process oversight) is a very persuasive argument for the security manager who is seeking to convince company executives of the need for more/better video equipment, and especially for the latest gear that permits "intelligent" searching, etc. Whenever an executive realizes that he can get double value out of a capital expenditure, he's going to be much more amenable to the proposal.