Day One - Partnering with Law Enforcement
One of the next round of concurrent morning sessions addressed the topic of partnering with law enforcement. The panel featured John Hawthorne, Publix Super Markets, Inc. and Richard Milburn, Mesa Police Department. Moderating was Frank Muscato, Walgreen Co.
John Hawthorne was the first to speak. John polled to audience to see who worked specifically in LP, active law enforcement or participated in a criminal investigation that involved law enforcement. Almost all hands went up at some point for John’s questions. John’s point was that relationships with law enforcement are an integral part of the LP process.
John showed a video of Sheriff Grady Judd’s press conference on the organized retail crime (ORC) ring bust from earlier this year.
John’s six P’s to partnering with law enforcement:
- Preparation
- Presentation
- Persistence
- Patience
- Participations
- Politics
Preparation
Build a solid foundation before calling law enforcement. Bring quality work and details to the table. This will assist with building credibility. Use your own sources so you don’t waste law enforcement’s time. Also, prepare for an choose the right agency. Things like jurisdiction matter and established relationships. Who can you work with?
Presentation
Know the case and anticipate the need to establish evidence. What is needed to pursue a case? Present visually, do you have video, photography? It’s also important to discuss the value to law enforcement.
Persistence
Continually educated law enforcement about your business using details of the case. Provide statistics and intelligence to fill gaps. Consider re-selling the case to another agency if the first one declines. Continue your work and data collection.
Patience
Retail crime is not as sexy as car theft of murder, with that lower profile comes a larger burden. Often law enforcement looks to address crimes other than retail theft. There are many other things that take precedence. Watch for and respond to low spots in the investigation.
Participation
Avoid simply handing over a case to law enforcement. Be a partner. Team proprietary investigators with law enforcement investigators from the start. If you don’t have the right people working together you can quickly lose credibility. Use the resources of the company to support the investigation.
A great example is the relationship with the vendors, what are batch numbers, how do you track product?
Politics
Never forget the politics. There are local and internal company politics involved, keep these in mind at all times. Find ways to sell the program outside of the investigation. Of course there is value to the ’splash’.
Richard Milburn with the Mesa Police Department follwed John and talked about the law enforcement side of the equation. Richard pointed out the current estimate for retail shrinkage is $41 Billion. That sounds like a good business to get in, and criminals are always getting in the business.
Next up, Richard posted a quick review for working with law enforcement:
- Are we using common language?
- Are we learning the laws in the jurisdictions we work?
- Are we using the law effectively?
- Do we understand “Probably Cause” vs. “Probably Cuz”?
- Complete documentation!
What tools are available?
- SIRAS, serial number database
- LERPnet - document your arrests
- Pawn Data Base Information
- Each other, don’t blame each other, work for the common cause
Working together, remember:
- Retail and law enforcement are two entities
- Imperative to communicate effectively
- Importance of investigation to the individual
- Crime does not stop at the store level, sometime retail theft feeds drug use.
Today’s challenges:
- Retail crime = very large problem
- Potential = put people in prison
- Remember the impact that investigation and prosecution has on the rest of society
