In response to an alarming rise in organized retail crime the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), National Retail Federation (NRF) and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) collaborated with the FBI to create LERPnet in 2007. Since then, retailers have used the system to share information on retail theft and other critical incidents among themselves and in collaboration with law enforcement.
“Organized theft rings steal billions of dollars of merchandise every year, victimizing retailers, endangering the safety of retail employees, and raising the price of consumer goods,” said Joe LaRocca, vice president of Loss Prevention for NRF. “We’ve built a strong alliance with retailers, and we’re building on a strong platform while applying the lessons that we’ve all learned in the last five years to strengthen the message to criminals: we will not tolerate your behavior, and we will stop you.”
Lisa LaBruno, vice president of loss prevention and legal affairs for RILA, added, “By strengthening LERPnet and enhancing its functionality, retailers and law enforcement can leverage recent technological advances to further protect our stores, our brands, our employees, and — most important — our customers. We’re excited to work with Verisk Analytics given its exceptional track record in developing and managing world-class crime data management and analysis systems.”
“LERPnet has demonstrated the potential for retailers and law enforcement to identify and respond to a variety of theft patterns while making connections between events not easily identified by a single retailer,” said Rhett Asher, vice president of industry relations for FMI. “LERPnet 2.0 will allow retailers and law enforcement to fully realize this potential.”
“Verisk Analytics has a long history of supporting retailers with a number of initiatives specifically focused to support the retail asset protection industry,” explained Kevin McMenimen, vice president at the ISO Crime Analytics unit of Verisk Analytics. “We’re excited to further assist the retail industry in taking their crime fighting efforts to the next level by combining the retail industry experience and significant data management capabilities of Verisk Analytics.”
Retailers lose more than $30 billion dollars annually to theft and loss, resulting in decreased profits, higher prices, and safety concerns for retail employees and customers. According to the 2010 NRF ORC Survey, 89 percent of retailers said they have been victimized by organized retail crime and 59percent say the problem has increased.
About ISO Crime Analytics
ISO Crime Analytics, a unit of Verisk Analytics, encompasses divisions that help retailers, manufacturers, logistics companies, equipment owners, and their insurers combat crime through data management, analytics, and theft-prevention services. ISO Crime Analytics follows a crime-fighting strategy that includes prediction, mitigation, response, and recovery. For more information on Verisk Analytics, visit www.verisk.com.
About NRF
As the world's largest retail trade association and the voice of retail worldwide, the National Retail Federation's global membership includes retailers of all sizes, formats and channels of distribution as well as chain restaurants and industry partners from the U.S. and more than 45 countries abroad. In the U.S., NRF represents the breadth and diversity of an industry with more than 1.6 million American companies that employ nearly 25 million workers and generated 2010 sales of $2.4 trillion. www.nrf.com.
About RILA
RILA is the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and operate more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad. www.rila.org.