Posts

Man enters business wearing face mask during COVID-19 pnademic

Reopening Your Business During the Pandemic

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Reopening Your Business? Check Your Security.

Idling business owners are still awaiting the opportunity to reopen, both here in New England and across most of the country. When these businesses finally come back online, cash and inventory will be flowing again — enticing potential burglars.Businessman with mask is going to work during COVID-19 pandemic

Given all the other challenges businesses face, besides the lost time and revenue, protecting future revenue should be a priority. Now is a good time to think through the safety and security processes involved in ramping back up your business’ physical location. 

Read more →

NetOne logo

Top Loss Prevention Conferences for 2016

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

iStock_000060897742_MediumIf you own a business, you understand the frustration of missing product. It is disheartening to put so much time and energy into your company only to find items unaccounted for when you take inventory.

Learning from the experts is a great way to improve your company’s loss prevention strategy. We have put together a list of some of the most attended and best reviewed retail loss prevention conferences around the country.

New England Loss Prevention Expo

This conference, sponsored by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, is taking place on Thursday, September 15 from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. in the DCU Center, 50 Foster St., Worcester, Mass. Read more →

Shoplifting Rises During April School Vacation

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

iStock_000084928009_SmallAs that old saying goes, April showers bring May flowers. April also brings kids a week off from reading, writing and arithmetic.

In New England (with the exception of Connecticut and New Hampshire) spring vacation week is typically the third week in April. Without the structure of school, teens will be looking for fun things to do to occupy their time.

Unfortunately, some kids may turn to other types of not-so-fun activities. In the United States, shoplifting and arrest rates increase when students are off from school including during April school vacation.

When they don’t have regular routines, teens typically hang out at the local mall. No merchant is immune as shoplifting juveniles will steal from all kinds of stores, including big box stores, department stores, supermarkets, drug stores, and even convenience stores.

Teenagers may steal items from merchants for the thrill of it, or to impress their friends. Some of the most common items teens will steal include clothing, books, music, jewelry and anything they can fit into their pockets or purses. Read more →

Loss Prevention Tech Trends for 2016

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Loss Prevention Tech Trends for 2016When it came to loss prevention back in the day, retailers hired security guards, off-duty police officers, or other such folks to catch criminals trying to rip off their stores. The effectiveness of a retailer’s business security was mainly judged in terms of the number of arrests its security personnel made.

Times have changed, however. Now the name of the game is “loss prevention,” minimizing retail loss rather than making a lot of arrests. To that end, retailers are turning to innovative technology to help them mitigate theft and fraud.

Here are the four trends in “asset protection technology” for 2016, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

Read more →

4 Ways Employees Can Compromise Your Network Security

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

4 Ways Employees Can Compromise Your Network SecurityIf you ask CIOs and business owners what keeps them up at night one of the answers you’ll hear most often is securing their corporate networks and their sensitive data.

However, the risks don’t just come from bad guys outside an organization; rather some of the greatest threats to an enterprise’s data security often come from the very people entrusted with protecting it–its employees.

Of course, that doesn’t mean workers intentionally compromise their companies’ networks and data. What it may mean, though, is that they haven’t received the proper security training, or the security policies of the business aren’t being properly enforced.

Here are four ways employees can compromise your network security–and what you can do to prevent it:

Read more →

Retail Theft Ringleaders Busted in Concord, NH

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Retail Theft Ringleaders Busted in Concord, NH Crime doesn’t always pay. In Concord, NH, police recently arrested a group of four women who stole more than $1000 worth of merchandise at a local Walmart. This is just the tip of the iceberg—with the cost of retail crime up 27 percent over the last year, how do companies keep losses down and items on store shelves?

Read more →

New England Cyber Security Team Offers Lessons for Local Business

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

New England Cyber Security Team Offers Lessons for Local BusinessNew England is rapidly becoming a technology haven—the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce has plans to focus on “the technology sector and innovation economy” in 2015, according to the Boston Herald. Groups like the Advanced Cyber Security Center (ACSC) are looking for ways to help keep tech companies safe in this burgeoning investment environment; what can brick-and-mortar businesses learn from these tech-focused efforts?

Read more →

Is Your Business Prepared for a Disaster?

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Is Your Business Prepared for a Disaster?Can your business survive a major fire, hurricane, flood, or other natural disaster? The fact is 25 percent of businesses that are forced to close because of fire or weather-related disasters never reopen.

While you can’t lower the risk of a natural disaster like a hurricane, there are steps you can take to protect your company from nature’s wrath. Putting a disaster recovery plan in place – and reviewing it annually – is key to keeping your business secure in the face of catastrophe.

Here are some tips to help you plan ahead to better protect your employees, your customers, and your assets in the event of a natural disaster:

Read more →

Providence Election Spurs New Focus on Public Safety

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Providence Election Spurs New Focus on Public SafetyThe mayoral race in Providence is heating up — both Republican and Democratic candidates are calling out opponents who they say haven’t done enough. Their big concern? Crime.

According to a recent WPRI.com article, the crime reduction plan forwarded by Republican Michael Solomon came under fire from Democrat Brett Smiley, who says that his opponent “has not provided any real leadership on public safety.” Solomon’s campaign manager shot back at Smiley, calling his statement “more sad, empty rhetoric from someone who hasn’t even lived in the city for ten years.”

Read more →

Five-Finger Felons: How to Stop the Shoplift

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Five-Finger Felons: How to Stop the ShopliftIn 2013, Boston police responded to over 8,000 complaints of property crime, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR). This equates to over 20 incidents per day and doesn’t indicate how many of these reported crimes led to arrests. What’s more, statistics can’t account for shoplifting and other property crimes that go unreported or unnoticed.

It’s no surprise that small businesses are feeling the pinch with profit margins slimming and high-value items disappearing thanks to five-finger discounts. How can you stop the shoplift?

Read more →