Discover the ins and outs of crime, loss prevention & asset protection, and the retail industry through CrimeScience, a podcast that informs, educates, and empowers professionals to implement real, useful solutions.

Discover the ins and outs of crime, loss prevention & asset protection, and the retail industry through CrimeScience, a podcast that informs, educates, and empowers professionals to implement real, useful solutions.
CrimeScience explores a wide spectrum of topics informing the loss prevention industry. Co-hosts Dr. Read Hayes, Director of the LPRC and Tom Meehan, Chief Strategy and Information Security Officer at CONTROLTEK discuss a wide range of topics with industry experts, thought leaders, solution providers, and many more. From conversations with criminology professors to detectives within law enforcement, we aim to explore the science of crime prevention and the practical application of this science for loss prevention and asset protection practitioners and other professionals.
We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.
Interested in being featured as a guest on the podcast? Drop us a line to learn more!
LPRC’s NextRetail Research Center
Create. Test. Grow.
Shoppers expect what they came for is readily available when and where they want it. This CoE is supported by custom as well as multiple LPRC Supply Chain Working Group, and LPRC Product Protection working Group lab and field projects.
Customer demand and online competition are leading all retailers to explore increasingly convenient but secure checkout options. This CoE was established to provide innovation, customer, offender and employee feedback evidence for enhanced layout, tactics, technology checkout solutions. The new center, as well as field testing in several retail formats, supports this CoE and its mission to maximize convenience while increasing basket size, minimizing costs and losses.
Shoppers and employees want to spend their time in safe environments; and fear of crime generates avoidance behavior. Shoppers have so many shopping options available to them, and avoiding your stores means direct revenue loss. This CoE’s mission is supported by lab innovations, as well as field testing in the LPRC Violent Crime Working Group’s multiple projects.
CoE (or Capability Center) Research Models:
Building a C.O.E. to help retailers prepare for the LP consequences of self checkout, scan and go, and other checkout trends
Working Group: LP Innovation Working Group (LPIWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Identifying general capabilities and loss prevention procedures across Goodwill stores
Working Group: Data Analytics Working Group (DAWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Identifying how Gait can be used to identify crime.
Working Group: LP Innovation Working Group (LPIWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Examine the effect of conceal and carry practices on instances of violence in the supply chain.
Working Group: Supply Chain Protection Working Group (SCPWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
In-store test of burglar alarm integration on loss
Working Group: LP Innovation Working Group (LPIWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Testing the effect of Track Cameras in 2 US retailer distribution centers
Working Group: Supply Chain Protection Working Group (SCPWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Exploring the concept of the LPRC serving as the research arm of other retail coalitions, furnishing surveys and helping design studies
Working Group: Product Protection Working Group (PPWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Measuring the ROI impact of a key system that doesn’t require a full rekey when a single key is lost
Innovation Chain: RFID Innovation Chain (RFIDiC)
Zones of Influence: 3
Time and motion study to identify return on investment (ROI) of APG SmartTill
Working Group: LP Innovation Working Group (LPIWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Testing the effectiveness of various SCO training delivery methods/content
Working Group: LP Innovation Working Group (LPIWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Using survey research to identify the relationship between return policies and return loss
Working Group: Supply Chain Protection Working Group (SCPWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Identify ways to limit fulfillment fraud in Supply Chain
Working Group: Supply Chain Protection Working Group (SCPWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Studying the impact of return fraud on shortage
Working Group: Retail Fraud Working Group (RFWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Exploring the best practices available to mitigate buy online and pickup in store fraud
Working Group: Retail Fraud Working Group (RFWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Exploring best practices to combat paper and digital counterfeit coupon fraud
Working Group: Retail Fraud Working Group (RFWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Explore the existing control process in place to delay gift card redemption for dishonest customers.
Working Group: Retail Fraud Working Group (RFWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Studying the impact of merchandise credit on non-receipted returns and shrink
Working Group: Retail Fraud Working Group (RFWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Exploring why offenders specifically target certain retail stores for fraudulent returns, how they circumvent store’s return policy, and recommendation to mitigate fraudulently returns.
Working Group: Retail Fraud Working Group (RFWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Industry survey to better understand, reduce, and prevent crime and optimize the safety and secuirty of employees and customers.
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Exploring opportunities within the incidence reporting platform and best methods to descalte violence associated with merchandise theft from a trianing perspective.
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Assisting retailers to consider factors to provide suggestions when assessing workplace violence from a known individual.
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Working with several Crime Mapping entities to develop techniques in the Baltimore Area
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Studying the effectiveness of the unit on customer’s perception of safety during the day and at night
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 4
Studying the effects of DC perimeter cam placement on loitering, fence cutting, and deviant driver behavior at depot
Working Group: Supply Chain Protection Working Group (SCPWG)
Zones of Influence: 4
Measuring the Offender impact of DNA signage and solutions
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Testing the impact of robbery deterrents such as time delay safes, signage, etc.
Working Group: Violent Crime Working Group (VCWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Studying current retailer facial recognition database entry criteria and establishing standards to facilitate inter-retailer warning functionality
Working Group: LP Innovation Working Group (LPIWG)
Zones of Influence: 3
Testing the effects of EAS tagging of convicted offenders in Seminole County, Florida.
Working Group: ORC Working Group (ORCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Using time-series analyses to identify the effect of higher felony thresholds on retail theft.
Working Group: ORC Working Group (ORCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Using time-series analyses to identify the effect of new state ORC legislation on ORC activity by state.
Working Group: ORC Working Group (ORCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Identifying temporal and geographic trends in ORC, as well as products most targeted by ORC.
Working Group: ORC Working Group (ORCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Studying the relationship between the opioid crisis and organized retail crime (ORC) through in-depth offender interviews.
Working Group: ORC Working Group (ORCWG)
Zones of Influence: 5
Customer, Offender, and Associate feedback on Anti-ORC labels, along with a 10 store test
Working Group: ORC Working Group (ORCWG)
Zones of Influence: 1