On The Job -Retail Security Agents --(PART TWO) www.privateofficer.com

On The Job -Retail Security Agents http://www.privateofficer.com

Atlanta GA. Nov 29 2008

BY: Rick McCann
NTL. ASSOC. PRIVATE OFFICERS
http://www.privateofficer.com/
Her day starts with a review of security video footage from the stockroom and loading dock area as well as several other sensitive areas of the store.

She sips her coffee and scans the video for any telltale signs of internal theft or someone found where they shouldn’t have been.

On this day, she spots an electronics department associate in the electronics security cage several times without any apparent reason.

The associate doesn’t leave the area with anything visibly in their hands but they could have concealed merchandise on their person so she makes an incident report of this and she decides that she’ll set up a covert camera inside the cage later tonight after the store is closed and all employees have left.

The rest of the video showed basic activity so she calls one of her loss prevention agents on the 2-way radio and they meet at the center of the store and take a walk through together looking for shoplifting activity as they talk.

The LP agent fills her boss in on a shoplifting case that she had the night before that resulted in three arrests. The three had concealed a laptop computer and tried fleeing with it. The LP had been watching them since they first had entered the store because of something that just didn’t look right about the trio and as an experienced loss prevention agent she decided to observe them for a while and it didn’t take long for them to prove her suspicions right.

While the average shoplifter ranges in age from 12-80 and from every employment and financial background imaginable, there are a few things that store security agents watch for. Big empty bags are his biggest red flags, heavy coats when the weather is warm, lingering in an aisle for long periods of time, or piling shopping carts full of expensive electronics or clothing signal possible door busters, (those who run for the door with the cart) merchandise stockpiled in an out of way area of the store usually is a sign that one person planted it there for another to pick up later and there are other signs as well.

Karen Brown spent nine years as a police officer before her career came to an end as a speeding drunk driver crashed into her patrol vehicle as she was on a traffic stop and issuing a citation. She sustained multiple fractures, lacerations and other injuries and although she recovered and went back to her beat four months later, she continued to experience flashbacks and sleepless nights and post traumatic anxiety which eventually led her to resigning and taking a retail security position. A decision that she doesn’t regret as she now leads a team of thirty agents in numerous stores as a regional loss prevention director. She said that she has fully made the changeover from a law enforcement officer to a private security agent and that she thoroughly enjoys her work. Much of her time these days is spent looking at the paper trail of refund scammers or shipping errors or video of suspected dishonest employees, credit card, and check fraud suspects, investigating slip and falls and training and mentoring her loss prevention staff. And she often works on cases with her friends and former co-workers at police headquarters as well as numerous other local, state, and federal agencies. She has initiated and ran joint investigations with area police, the U.S. Marshal’s, U.S. Secret Service and several state law enforcement agencies. It’s something different everyday Brown says with a smile on her face. I can really see myself doing this until I’m too old to see or drive or my mind is completely gone, she laughs as she glances across the wall of video monitors.

Undercover security officers are used by retail stores to stop theft, both internally (employees) and externally (customers). These officers are plain-clothed and blend in with shoppers. Others monitor and record suspicious activity or thefts in progress from a security officer somewhere off from the sales floor. It’s not like it was twenty years ago when Craig Moore first started with the K-Mart company. We would have to climb up onto these little platforms that were in the back stockroom area with one way glass that looked out onto certain areas of the store. Sometimes we’d be stuck there for hours observing a particular employee or we’d have to maneuver from one perch to the other trying to keep an eye on a shoplifter while staying out of sight. Once a shoplifter concealed the merchandise we then had to race to the floor while trying to keep an eye on them until they left without paying for the stuff. It was hard to do but we got the job done and caught the thief he said shaking his head. Now, there’s camera everywhere and no more climbing or jumping around Moore laughs as he points to a female mannequin. See her eyes, those are cameras. Pretty cool he says with another hearty laugh. Yup, we got it much easier than the store detectives did ten or twenty years ago.

Retail security agents do have the authority to stop and detain you and in certain states “arrest” a suspected shoplifter or person involved in criminal activity within their store or on the store’s property. Although most of the time loss prevention agents are busy with theft issues, they can also find themselves in the middle of a domestic fight, child abuse case, assault incident, lost or missing children searches, “peeping toms” incidents and an array of other criminal activity that they are called to.

The job is high-stress as the demand to meet certain productivity levels creates a lot of pressure. Though there might not be a quota put on the security agents, like law enforcement officers there is an expectation of production and job performance which really equates to monthly quotas Brown said. If a full time loss prevention agent in a high traffic or a high shrinkage store is only averaging three or four apprehensions a month there is a problem she said. Maybe they need to be retained on what to look for or maybe they spend too much time talking to store associates or on the phone with friends and family. While there is no certain number of shoplifters that a loss prevention agent should catch each month, in most cases there is a goal based on what previous security agents accomplished in that particular store. Some agents are very good at their job and will easily apprehend 20-30 each month while others average 6-10 apprehensions. The numbers depend on store location, volume of sales, floor traffic, and a number of other criteria that loss prevention management considers when looking at productivity.

While the entry level pay for loss prevention agents exceed minimum wages by a few bucks more and most stores offer some form of medical insurance, vacation and holiday pay and other perks not often seen in a uniform security guard position, no one is getting rich. But there is plenty of room for advancement especially with large box type stores who are still expanding and opening new stores. The next level above an agent would be a store security manager and then a district loss prevention manager position and from there a regional position which is where someone can make a very good living Brown said. It doesn’t take long either. I started out as an agent and three years later I’m the area manager so as you can see there is opportunity in retail security if you like the security business.

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