LPRC - Episode 1 – Precision LP

Episode Date: January 15, 2018

The post Episode 1 – Precision LP appeared first on Loss Prevention Research Council.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first episode of Crime Lab, the science of crime prevention. With this podcast, we'll explore helpful topics about preventing crime and loss, the science that's the driving force behind these processes. We'll also hear about and discuss real-life examples from loss prevention and asset protection practitioners. With us today is Director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, Dr. Reid Hayes, With us today is Director of the Loss Prevention and Research Council, Dr. Reid Hayes, co-host Tom Meehan, Chief Strategy Officer at ControlTech, and our featured guest today is Kevin Larson, Senior Manager of Asset Protection at the Kroger Company. All right, well, welcome again, everybody, to our initial podcast, Crime Lab. And, you know, on this podcast, I mean, we anticipate discussing

pretty wide range of topics, but always with a little bit or a lot of science involved because Crime Lab is about the science of crime prevention. And really, our main theme is precision LP. In other words, we want to become, through research and tapping into experience and expertise, very precise about what we do, that we use evidence-based actions when and where possible. And evidence means some systematic information or data that we've collected that shows, you know what, this actually works or this process, this technology works better than another or works better if we do it this way. And the idea with precision is to be more effective in what we're trying to do,

reduce crime attempts, reduce loss, change some behavior, move that needle. But by doing it precisely, we not only are more likely to move the needle the way we want and as far as we would like, but be more cost effective while we're doing it, as well as generate fewer sort of negative side effects. We're not getting blowback with our customers, for example. So with that, I wanted to welcome our co-host, Tom Meehan, who has extensive experience, as you heard, in loss prevention and in technology and deploying cutting-edge solutions, helping put together and run our retail fraud working group, and then really helping put together and drive the loss prevention innovations working group. We also, of course, have Kevin Larson with us. Kevin has well been a driving force behind the LPRC in what and how we do it, helping us plan the last three impact conferences and make them better and better experience and better for our members and participants and what they take home

and put to work. He's also a very, very experienced law enforcement executive from different diverse retail chains such as L Brands and, of course, for several years now, the Kroger Company. Great. Thank you, Reid. I'm really excited. This is Tom Mient. I thank you for the introduction, Reid. I'm the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Information Security Officer with a company called Control Tech. Reid and I have worked together for several years in the LPRC on technology and innovation projects. Prior to my current role, I spent 20 years in retail, almost all 20 of them in asset protection and loss prevention in various different roles. And I'm really excited to be here today with the podcast, The Crime Lab, The Science of Crime Prevention. And it feels like yesterday, but I was looking at some notes,

and Reid and I were down at the University of Florida almost four years ago talking about this podcast and jotting notes down. So this is four years in the making, and the reason I say that is we're always trying to find the right time to do it and the right topics. And with all of the evolution in retail, we were very busy. So super excited to be here. Certainly looking for the participation of the members of the LPRC and the retail community in the sense that if there's something that we're going to do, a topic that is interesting to you,

we'll talk about some current events, we'll talk about some projects, to you. We'll talk about some current events, we'll talk about some projects, and really the evidence-based actions that the LP Research Council takes. And today I'm really excited to have our guest, Kevin Larson. And I think a lot of the folks that will be listening to this know Kevin, but Kevin, why don't you take a couple minutes to tell us a little bit about your history in loss prevention, and not just specifically with Kroger, but just your overall history, and then a little bit about Kroger and what you do. Absolutely. Thank you, Tom. It's a pleasure to be here, and thank you, Reed, as well. So I've been, as Tom mentioned, I currently work at the Kroger Company,

Senior Manager of Corporate Asset Protection. And so I oversee the transaction monitoring team that we have here with our business. And I also am responsible for some of our asset protection technology and special projects that we do as well. So, you know, I've been in loss prevention world for about 20, 25 years. And, you know, started out just out of college with my criminal justice security management degree and really started at ground level. So basically being a store detective, catching shoplifters for a department store out in the Chicago area, and then kind of worked my way up through various companies, Target Corporation, and then

as Reid had mentioned, previously coming to Kroger with L Brands for about 13 years. When I was at L Brands, I progressed up from regional manager to zone directors and then to also director of loss prevention for not only the Victoria's Secret brand, but also the Bath & Body Works brand as well. Great, Kevin. Thank you very much. I'm going to turn it over to Reed. Sure. So I think, you know, a few questions for you today, Kevin. We really want to hear from a current LP practitioner like yourself, one that's been in different environments, as you described, and who sees what's going on at the corporate level, but also in the field from a loss prevention

strategy and planning and execution and trying to sort out all the issues and coordinate with your partners in the retail organization and with outside organizations like the LPRC, like NRF and RELA, the LP Foundation and so forth. So, Kevin, I guess in this case, what really excites you about being an LP leader at the Kroger Company? What's that like? What do you like best? What gets you going and rolling in the morning? what gets you going and rolling in the morning? Yeah, you know, it's an exciting time. So it's an exciting time in the industry, an exciting time within the Kroger company from our asset protection standpoint.

We're continuing to do things, you know, kind of, I hate to use the term, outside the box, but we're continuing to try new strategies and new initiatives here within Kroger when it comes to, we talk a lot about the term hardening the target, right? So we're talking about things that we're doing and we're using a lot of data, we're using a lot of analytics to make our decisions. So whether it's from a technology standpoint, whether it's from some type of a shrink reduction strategy, strategy, I think what excites me is that we're continuing to leverage the partnership, especially with the LPRC and other partnerships to really make our strategy, make our initiative here within Kroger effective.

And our goal is to obviously, you know, reduce shrink, but also obviously service our customers and take care of all of our associates. So, you know, the partnership we've had between Kroger and LPRC has really grown over the last several years. I remember when I started here at Kroger, my former director came to me and he asked if I wanted to be the Kroger representative for LPRC. I think at the time I didn't have much knowledge of what LPRC was coming out of the specialty world. I wasn't heavily involved in it. We had a member of our shrink management team, which was separate from our loss prevention team,

that was a representative on LPRC and had worked with Reid and others. But I think back to that conversation, I said, you know what? I thought to myself, I really don't know much about what LPRC does, I said, Noah, I thought to myself, I really don't know much about what LPRC does, but I'm always open to seeing how we form new partnerships in the industry and leverage each other's expertise. And so I think the partnership that we have leveraged from a Kroger standpoint with the LPRC is nothing short of outstanding. And I'm so happy that we continue to grow upon that on a daily basis. So I think one thing, Kevin, another question, I guess, is, all right, so that was a great intro into your getting to know the LPRC, getting involved in the LPRC, and the fact that you and your organization, the Kroger Company, and all your banners are in some way getting involved here. What specifically can you tell us about what you're doing to drive and move the violent crime working group along

so that that group is bringing the right people together and generating what you and other retailers need. And by the way, LPRC membership is, at this point, I believe about 47 retail chains, including the large retail conglomerate in Canada and the large retail conglomerate in Australia. What's that look like, Kevin, driving that violent crime working group? What are you trying to accomplish and how is it working? So I think one of the things we try to accomplish is obviously seeing how we can get more people involved, not only in the LPRC, but obviously within the violent crime working group or any other working group. So I know that one of the things that I do, I think from a growth initiative standpoint, if you want to call it that, is as I'm

talking to the various contacts I have within the retail world, or that I meet or that I network with, obviously talking about asking if they are a member of LPRC, if I don't already know that. And then, you know, when they say they don't, I think really introducing them to what else PRC is all about. Explain to them what yourself and your team of research scientists does on a daily basis down there and how it's really benefited myself and the Kroger company and how we do things and how we think about things. I think the Violent Crime Working Group is a continually evolving working group. I think the Violent Crime Working Group is a continually evolving working group. We have lots of great co-chairs that sit on the working group with me and that assist me in leading the calls and leading discussions on a monthly basis. I think the one thing that I've gotten out of the working group that I think has worked really well is, and Reed, you may talk about this a little bit later, but some of the, we call them summits that we've done. So whether it be the robbery summit that we did down at Houston about a year and a half ago, or whether it be the summit that we did in the Baltimore market. So basically kind of, I call it the

violent crimes roadshow, right? So we go to the markets where we have the retailers that are suffering, being hit the hardest. And we bring together members of the LPRC, retailers, vendors in some cases, or solution providers, and then bring together law enforcement as well. And we just sit down for a day and we just kind of talk about what some of our common themes are, common problems are that we have, and try to work to some common solution within those particular markets. And so I think the ones we've done in Houston, the ones that we've done in Baltimore, have been absolutely successful and beneficial to every member of the working group. So that I think is a huge one that we've done. That's good stuff, Kevin. I appreciate it. And, you know, one thing that we think might be helpful about this Crime Lab podcast is really Tom and myself are both former practitioners in LP and then have different paths.

And so here we are talking with another absolute expert and practitioner in the field. And so we're hoping that the science blended with that experience in the field and at corporate level is going to help our listeners. So let me go over to Tom, the co-host, Tom. Why don't you chime in, if you will, and what are some of the thoughts and questions you had for Kevin? Sure, Kevin. I mean, you talked about the violent crime working group, and as the leader of the group, how has it helped you deal with some of the real life scenarios that are going on today? Yeah, so, you know, I think back to probably several examples, but there's a couple I can think of that, you know, one of the things we had going on probably about maybe a year and a half ago, for example, was we had an increase in pharmacy robberies.

And they were happening within our Indianapolis market. And so through the partnership with the LPRC and the networks of contacts that we built through the LPRC and some of the members of the specific violent crime working group, I was able to put together a conference call, basically kind of a brainstorming session. And I had a member of one of the research scientists on Reed's team that was on the call as well just to kind of listen in. But got together with some of these retailers,

for example, Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, and we basically got on the call to talk about some of the same pain points that we were suffering within the Indianapolis market when it came to pharmacy robbery. So we talked about some of the technologies and strategies that we have been utilizing. So whether it's adding security officers or police officers or public view monitors or GPS trackers and some of the pill bottles, things of that nature. We kind of just got to put our heads together because we're all suffering the same problem and thought about it being a lot better if we fought this together versus fighting it on our own.

And so I think that's one example of where the working group has really assisted myself and the Kroger company in being able to brainstorm and partner not only with the LPRC, but with the other retail members within LPRC so that we could fight the fight together and come to a solution that we know that would work for us. I mean, that's great. I mean, I can still remember my first violent encounter of a store as a store detective working, you know, and what it did. I mean, I had an armed robbery in a Home Depot, which looking back was, I was young and didn't really quite grasp it.

I was a store detective and it was an overnight robbery. But I'll never forget talking to that manager and the impact it had on the manager that was involved. I was at home when it occurred. And looking back, I know that Home Depot was involved in the LPRC at the time, but I can tell you that throughout the years, I had several instances in the 20 years where there was a lot of level of violence whether it be a burglary a store detective being injured and most recently the thing that kept me up at night was someone getting hurt in one of our buildings and to this day I cringe

when I read an injury of someone that is in a store involved in a violent event whether it be a robbery or a break-in. And so from my perspective, one of the greatest things in the LPRC was kind of, Kevin, just what you talked about as the brainstorming. It was my first introduction, and I think it was seven or eight years ago now, where I was on the phone where the phone call, and there were no secrets. There was a group of people that were discussing a common problem and trying to come up with a scientific way to solve it. And it really changed my whole perspective of involvement in associations. And from that point on, I was heavily involved in any way I could. And I know you and I have worked together on some things, Kevin, I know Reed,

and I worked on many things, but I can't stress enough what you just said made a big difference for me and my team of knowing that we could talk about what worked. And sometimes there were studies and things that were done by LPRC that would be, you know, about lighting or about the way to use audio or cameras that really weren't necessarily difficult things. But once there was science behind it, it was very easy to go ahead and do it. And what's more important than keeping our people safe? I remember when I worked at Bloomingdale's, I'd say, we sell jeans and we sell expensive clothing,

but nothing we sell here is worth anybody getting injured. So very similar scenario. The LPSC really allowed me to have an open, and I hate to use this word, but it's the only word I can think of, a safe environment to talk about solutions and collaborate with other people that have similar problems or even the same problems. And, hey, what worked for you, this is what's working for us. So certainly I can appreciate it and can think of a whole bunch of times

where it really helped me keep people safe or go back to a meeting and do something differently. Yeah, I think one thing I was going to mention to both of you, all three of us have caught shoplifters in our past. And some of those were violent. And I know that we've got a major member right now of LPRC that's pushing for some concentrated research in that area to better understand what might precipitate, you know, what's causing this or what might explain why some store detectives have more resistance than others in some locations, some product lines and types of retailers and so forth. And then what are those implications to better select or train the retail LP team? What are some maybe better tactics or some implicated tactics and so on? So that's one area that I thought would be of interest for those that are interested in that violent crime working group, the active attack, shooter, cutter, that type of scenario is under review by this working group as well. Right, Kevin? I mean, what are your thoughts on the broad range of violence that retailers either occasionally or sometimes even regularly have that can be addressed and should be addressed?

Yeah, I think you hit it right in the head, Reed. I think that with the Violent Crime Working Group, it doesn't matter if you're a grocery store or a C-store or a jewelry store or whatever your business is. We all, by some form of violent crime, whether it be a robbery or something that happens out in the parking lot, I think to Tom's point, Tom nailed it right on the head. As it comes into the day, it is all about our associates and protecting our associates

and protecting our customers that shop in our stores. And so I think that regardless of what area of the business you're in or what goods you sell, the Violent Crime Working Group allows you the opportunity to, to your point, read and toss or your point, Tom, is the brainstorm, the opportunity to, to your point, read and toss, or your point, Tom, is the brainstorm and put your heads together and figure out, you know, what, what we can do differently and what we can do to support each other. And one of the things we talk a lot about, our vice president of asset protection here at Kroger is Mike Lamb.

And one of the things that we talk a lot about is how do we harden the target? How do we make it harder for criminals to come to stores and commit theft, commit fraud, and commit violent acts? And so we talk a lot about, spend a lot of time talking about fact-based approach, taking a fact-based approach. We can't test everything. Sometimes it's speed of life, so we can't test everything we do. So I think utilizing some of the facts and analysis that's already been done by Reed's team is the route we have to go. We say a lot at Kroger, take a big swing. And so we use the fact-based approach. We take a big swing, and we figure out what's going to work for us and help us solve

our problems. Now it's interesting Kevin and I know that I can recall a shoplifting incident in Sanford Florida where we had two females come out with garbage bags filled with jogging suits and name brand jogging suits. And this is at Ross Stores. And what should have been and would have been a normal routine apprehension turned into this wild melee, you know, covering across the parking lot with all kind of people getting injured and so forth. You know, what's something, Kevin, that you can recall?

I mean, Tom mentioned that one of his first exposures was him seeing the after effects, the effect of a violent encounter on a store manager or one of the management team. What's something you can relate to us here to help us kind of drive home the point of what we're dealing with and why these things are so important and why it's probably important to take a step back and systematically gather information and focus some of our solutions and then test them together. Yeah, I think, you know, as I think back, you know, on my career and as we all have about things that we've encountered, As we all have about things that we've encountered, I unfortunately have had the situation where I've had to deal with an associate that worked in one of our stores.

A prior retailer that was walking out to her vehicle in a shopping mall after work, and she was abducted and later she was killed by the abductor. And so I was heavily, heavily involved in that situation for several weeks, several months, actually living up at the location in the hotel and being at the store on a daily basis for almost a month and helping with the investigators and the detectives and mall security and other things of that nature and dealing with the family and dealing with the family and dealing with the aftermath and you know consoling the associates and doing what's best for them and and things of that nature and so it's it's a scary topic uh when violent crime does happen and when you when you're part of it when you encounter it as tom mentioned it coming that day you got to think about the associates and you got to think about the family members and who you can take care of when an incident or situation happens like that in the stores or in the retailer that you have.

of the dust settles and we make sure that everyone's all right or we do what we can for the situation and we can go back and we can take more of a different approach to it where I think back, you know, I think back to the early 90s when I started in the LP world. I think if a situation like that would happen, we would just say, oh, it's unfortunate it happened, and we'd handle the situation, and we'd make sure everyone was taken care of, and then we would move on. We might not make any changes. We might not do anything differently within our stores or anything differently within our facilities or buildings where that happens.

So I think by partnering with the LPRC, I think now what happens is that we take a different approach. So when a violent crime or any other type of thing happens within our stores, we react, we take care of our customers, we take care of our associates. And then after the fact, we sit down and think about, okay, now what can we do to maybe not stop it from happening again, but maybe really kind of protect ourselves going forward for the use of technology or any other types of things that are out there that we talk a lot about on the violent crime calls. What are some types of technologies or solutions or things that we can utilize so that we lessen the likely, you know, I'll get back to my term, harden the target, lessen the likelihood

that this type of incident will happen again. We might not be able to stop it 100% from happening, but at least we took the steps to protect our customers, protect our associates. And we do that through a lot of the research and the findings and a lot of the technology that we've learned about through the LPRC. Kevin, what can you tell me about the anti-robbery innovation chain? So the robbery innovation chain, or anti-robbery innovation chain, is kind of a new thing that we have within our working group, and I think it's actually a fantastic thing. So basically, to set this up, we go through the entire zones of influence,

so from Zone 1 all the way to set this up, we go through the entire zones of influence. So from zone one all the way to basically zone five. And within that chain, basically, it lists out in each of those zones what type of technology that the retailers that are part of the violent crime working group or the retailers that are part of LPRC are utilizing the different types of technology that we can utilize within those various zones. So whether it's zone five, whether it's zone one, we talk about the various types of technology that you have. So for example, you know, if in one of the zones you're talking about utilizing GPS tracking units because you've had an increase in robberies and you want to start using GPS tracking units maybe from a pharmacy side or maybe from a cash side.

So that type of technology obviously fits within that particular zone. And so we started with this whole process in Baltimore. We got together some retailers that are prominent in the Baltimore area with Rite Aid and 7-Eleven and some others. And we kind of put our heads together and said, okay, what can we do within particularly the Baltimore market? What can we do in some other markets? Even if your retailer doesn't have stores, for example, from a Kroger standpoint, we really don't have stores within that Baltimore market. But even though that, what are some things that we can use with the anti-robbery chain and some of our other markets from a technology standpoint and learn from what some of the retailers have used with that. So a prime example is, so we have a division of convenience stores, C-stores,

and one of them being Turkey Hill, which is out in the Pennsylvania market. And as an example, they just recently, through the partnership that they have, they're a member of the LPRC and also they're a member, obviously, of the Violent Crimes Working Group as well. They have some representatives on group as well they have

some representatives on there as well and so through that they learned about these GPS trackers that you can place inside money packs and we were being hit by a large amount of robberies in the Pennsylvania market Lancaster PA area and so through the use of this, through the support of this solution provider, we're able to start testing and piloting some of these. And within the first two weeks that we had these in place in a couple stores, we made three apprehensions from robberies that occurred within our stores. And we made them within a minute, made them within 60-minute timeframes. Some of them came within 15 minutes after the robbery had occurred. So again, even though you may not have stores in the Baltimore market area,

some of the stuff that you learn from this anti-robbery chain, you can use within your market or within your specific retailer. Great. Thank you. And I had a question, but I think you answered it. I was going to ask what type of retailers were involved in the innovation chain, but I think you got to that just by running through. So that was a great explanation of it. Reid, what are some of the things that we're testing in the innovation lab

that's rolling out to stores as a part of the anti-robbery innovation chain today? No, I mean, that's good, Kevin and Tom. And keeping with the spirit of the innovation chain, you know, as Kevin described, there are links in what we do, and they're like dominoes. So we, in the innovation lab in Gainesville, Florida, at UF, we array, I guess, different sensors as well as action tools for the retailer in the parking lot in Zone 4, as we call it, as well as the entry point into the store space. We have it simulated space here, set up like a store, that's zone three. And then as you move through that zone three, the interior of the store up to whether it's a cash register or a safe or a pharmacy counter or it's the cash office,

we have all types of signage and technologies, cameras, public view monitors, enhanced public view monitors. We're working with the CSI Selecta synthetic DNA in different forms. We're working with all types of GPS trackers. We've got three types of trackers here that we're working to integrate together with really high-res still photo and day-night video. So we might get a potential robber, for instance, in the parking lot, their face before they've masked up, and maybe their vehicle and the tag number and things like that that maybe even the would-be robber knows as they come in, uh-oh, they already know who I am, and I haven't even come into my robbery, so maybe we can get a U-turn. We're working on those concepts, and the same

thing on the outbound. And if they go with a tracker that we know positively who they are, not just where they are, but who they are, because of the imagery and the very distinct DNA that would link back to a specific location and time and picking up all kinds of signals from their phone and so on. So that's just some examples here. We're working with about, I think, 18 different technologies in the lab that we're going to roll through the stores in Baltimore. And we also will use Atlanta stores and in Pennsylvania, as Kevin mentioned. Thank you, Reid. I think that's really helpful. I think one of the things that I often talk to folks about, and I have an interesting

dynamic because I was a retailer, a practitioner, and now I sit on the solution provider side, and I'm often asked, what is the innovation lab? And I think you covering that and the fact that there is an actual building on the campus of the UF where things are tested and then transition into retailers in a store lab environment. And it's interesting because over the years I'm often asked, well, what is the LPRC and what is this lab? What are these store labs? And there was a lot of misconceptions of what it was. And I know folks that had the opportunity to go to Impact really were able to grasp it. And I know there's a lot of great pictures on the website.

But I always talk about it as, yes, it's a lab and a scientific environment, you know, when you think about science and trying to prove things. But what it really is, it's a melting pot of just phenomenal innovation and technology. And not pie-in-the-sky technology, technology that could be implemented today. So it's always really eye-opening for me when I talk to people and continue to deliver the message of, this isn't a bunch of people with white coats on doing experiments. This is the latest and greatest technology that's available to retail in an environment where it's tested scientifically and then part you can partner with retailers and have it in a store environment to do a store lab and really grasp what what the impacts going to be how it really works and it's

an it's a learning environment a development environment you know the the lab for me was always hey I want to learn about something new and figure out, is it a good application for me in the real world? And I can go and look at it, and it's in an environment that isn't a selling environment. It's a learning environment. So I can learn how it works, how it might apply, and then actually transition into the store lab. And, Reid, I know I think you wanted to talk a little bit about the store labs. We're on version 4.0 of the UF and LPRC Innovation Lab. And as you said, I think we're over 80-plus technologies in here.

Many, many are integrated and more to be integrated soon. And that we're talking about in that Zone 4, all around the building, the lab building and the exterior out in the parking lot, we have all kind of sensors that bring that local place manager up to speed. They have transparency. They have situational awareness about what's going on. If somebody's screaming, there are gunshots, glass breakage, metal banging. If a vehicle is driving too fast, if there's a crowd forming,

if, you know, we have all these sensors out there so that that store manager can know what in the world is going on in their parking lot that they might want to know about. We have cables that run through ride-along mowers and so on for the Lowe's Depot tractor supply type retailer. If those are cut, then we have cameras that will swing to that cut cable and start rolling that footage to the store manager's smart device or over to the screen location or gunshot location or crowd. They can quickly diagnose what's going on. Somebody's in my emergency, you know, in my fire lane. Are they here because they're lazy or there's a handicapped situation or is this somebody that's getting ready to stage a robbery or hit and run so that's kind of what just a another taste of

what's going on at the innovation lab the second link though in a chain is to the individual store lab of a retailer and kevin you've got just such a store um can you maybe go ahead and describe how was that store selected to be the Kroger Company's innovation store, part of the LPRC store lab and innovation chain program? Yeah, we're very excited to have this lab started within our Atlanta market. It's the first LPRC lab store that we have ever stood up within Kroger Company and we're excited it's been in place now for probably about three or four months and as far as the selection of store again what we did is we took a market that was fairly close to Gainesville, Florida where Reed and his team is based out of and basically we took a market where we have some

shrink opportunities and theft opportunities and criminal activities and things of that nature. And so one of the things that we utilize with our company is, again, fact-based approach, but we utilize basically, for lack of better terms, kind of a risk tier system. And so we basically take our 2,700 plus stores and based upon shrink rate and cap index and incidents that happen internally, incidents that happen externally, and then also feedback from our AP teams out in the field, out in the divisions, we kind of behind the scenes put together some analytical data and we come up with a scoring. So basically you're scored way at the top your scored way at the bottom and So what we did is we went to the Atlanta market and we wanted to we wanted to set up our first lab store

We took a look at the stores in the Atlanta market that were ranked pretty high on the chart from a risk standpoint and then you know, so for example if there's 15 stores in the Atlanta market, that may be what we consider maximum or on the very top end of our analytics and top end of what's happening within our stores. So we took a look at those. And the next thing we have to do is we have to pick the right store. And so, you know, you may not pick the store that's number one in the Atlanta market from a theft standpoint, a crime standpoint, a shrink standpoint. It is important to us to pick a store that also had good leadership in it. So

good leadership from the store management standpoint, from a co-manager standpoint, because they would be the ones that would be in that store on a daily basis and have a lot of that technology around them and be able to respond to any types of customers that inquired about, hey, I've been shopping at the store for 20 years and all of a sudden I see all these EPVMs up in the aisles and now I'm going to the self-checkout area and I see a 10-inch EPVM monitor in front of me when I'm scanning, self-checking and scanning out my groceries. How come this is here? How come I see this new technology out in the parking lot?

Or how come I see this new signage here on the door or in the aisles or things of that nature? So it was important to have the right leadership, the right manager in place. Again, the lab has been set up now, like I said, for about three or four months. And how we envision the lab to utilize is basically it's our playground. So it's our sandbox. So this is where we can take technology that we either currently have used before within the Kroger company or really what we wanted to do is use technology that we haven't used before.

And so when we partner with a solution provider and say, hey, this is our lab store, this is our sandbox, and we put the technology in there and we kind of see how it works. What are the results from a shrink standpoint? What are the results from a customer experience standpoint? And so, because that's always important as well, we can flood a store with technology, but we also want to know not only how do the vendors feel about it, but also on the flip side of it, how do the customers feel about it? And so that's what the lab store has been set up to do is really put technology, whether it's in the parking lot, whether it's signage, whether it's inside the store with EPVMs or other types of alerts or things that happen within the store. That's what we're going to utilize it for. of alerts or things that happen within the store.

That's what we're going to utilize it for. And the one thing that's important I talked about is that we will, down the road here, probably within the coming months, is we'll start to bring offenders into the store. So with the help of Reed and his team, we'll bring in some offenders into the location and we'll ask them questions about the various technology that we have and what do you think about this and what do you think about that and what would maybe scare them away from trying to steal this type of product that we had this type of technology there. So basically, you know, offender interviews if you want to call it for that standpoint. And then on the flip side of it, we'll also do customer intercepts because that's important as

well. And so we'll do customer intercepts where we will have dialogue with the customers that are shopping the stores and ask them what they think about the new technology that they see within the stores. So whether it's a new monitor, a new camera, a new signage, or a new display that's housing razor blades or housing baby formula or whatever it may be that we're trying to protect in the store because we want to know their feedback as well. And that's important to us as well. So we're very excited to have the lab store in place. We're excited about the partnership with the lab store with Reed and his outstanding team. And so we're looking forward to it and good things are going to come from it. That's good feedback, and we really appreciate that, Kevin.

And Tom, another big thank you to you. I think we talked about offender interviewing at the past Impact. Kevin, you brought it up and mentioned how much we weave offender insights into what we're doing at the beginning of an innovation chain, at the middle, and then even at the end to get innovation chain, at the middle, and then even at the end to get an idea, hey, what are they noticing? How are they interpreting it? And of course, most importantly, how are they responding to what we're doing? Is it causing them to think harder or go somewhere else? Because not here, not now is our goal. Look forward to next impact

in 2018. That's that first week in October again as per normal on the University of Florida campus and they want us to mention impact has grown from year on year was particularly about 100 participants each year and now it's grown to 200 and then this year we're at three almost 3 LP executives, and they're integrating, talking, interacting, collaborating in the breakouts for each of the eight LPRC working groups, going into the seven different learning labs to go through concentrated learning, 30 minutes, rotate in, learn about an issue, what research was done, what was found, and what are the implications, whether you're a convenience store or a jewelry

store or a supermarket or a big box or department store and on and on. So we'll go in the future more into impact. What is it like? What's the experience? In future episodes, we're going to talk about RFID and other signatures and signals that are coming out of electronics as well as our own bodies. We're going to have an episode on, of course, employee deviance and how do we better screen and implement and maintain controls and things like that. We're going to have episodes on, of course, shoplifting, product protection, in-store theft. We'll go into better identifying and disrupting organized retail crime, whether it's theft or fraud or violence. We've kind of extended to all three with these burglary and

robbery and other types. We've got supply chain protection on the agenda. We've got a working group here that's working hard with the major retailers around the U.S. and the world to better track and trace and work out efficiencies as well as protect and plug holes. And finally, we'll be doing some things with cybersecurity. The University of Florida has a world-class cybersecurity team of top-notch professors in computer science and electrical engineering that are mentoring almost 100 doctoral students. They're going to join us on one as well. Tom, I'm going to go to you. Any last thoughts or words as we sign off this episode of Crime Lab?

No, just to keep an eye out for future episodes, feel free to reach out to myself, Reed, or anybody at the LPRC if you have an idea or a suggestion for the podcast. Anybody at the LPRC, if you have an idea or a suggestion for the podcast, we're really excited to be here. Kevin, thank you so much again for joining, and be sure to tune in to the next one. One last shout out to Crime Lab podcast producer and director Kevin Tran. Super job of pulling this thing together and trying to ride herd on three LP characters. Thanks, everybody. See you next time.