JM Blog 01 Medical
Key words Tablet theft 4 Classic N10 3
Alpha Thunder Tag 3
21st Century Hospital, 21st Century Risk; Tablet theft, Use And Security In Modern Medicine
With the volume of medical care needed in today’s hospitals and the limited staff of nurses and doctors available to provide it there is precious little time to waste. Patients need treatment and medical professionals need access to that patient’s information, records and history fast. Modern technology has made this a reality with powerful WIFI and the introduction of iPad and tablets to replace the old handwritten patient charts and massive physical files. Modern technology though is a double edged sword. Data, iPad and, tablet theft have become issues that plague hospital administration, medical staff and security alike.
What can be done? In my life as a retail LP professional the solution to merchandise theft is merchandise protection devices. Items like Checkpoint Classic N10 paired with an Alpha Thunder Tag are used as part of an overall strategy to prevent losses. I’ll wager that it isn’t often that you hear of areas where retail and healthcare overlap but this is one.
I worked security in a large hospital for several years dealing with a host of issues, things I never would have imagined. Violent patients and disruptive visitors were a primary concern for our public safety department. The physical security and safety of a facility are vital to its operation but aren’t its only concerns. Sadly, theft was a fairly common occurrence. Visitors, patients and, staff stealing from the facility are realities. I learned people are opportunists and an environment with valuable goods and information paired with a supply of distracted victims unable to protect themselves is too tempting to pass up.
Tablet technology has improved the speed and accuracy of patient care with the added benefit of making HIPAA compliance easier. Security often deals with a “curious” visitors caught snooping at patient’s charts. Patient data is now stored securely, safe from prying eyes and protected from data thieves who would remotely hack these devices.
Physical tablet theft remains a major concern. On the surface it seems unlikely that a device which is carried by staff would be susceptible to being stolen but, it happens. Watching your iPad is not a priority when the alert is raised and a patient is coding. It is in those moments that the opportunists strike. A few seconds of shifted focus and that tablet ends up in a purse or backpack. Not only does that represent a financial loss to the facility but also a massive HIPAA issue as well. Beyond the hospitals exposure is the loss of the patient’s personal information.
Given the nature of the hospital setting it isn’t practical to anchor every device to a person or secure it to an apparatus. Here the medical field can take a lesson from retail and look for a more elegant and portable solution. Companies like Alpha have developed small security tags, like the Alpha Thunder tag, that attach to a tablet or iPad and do not interfere with its portability or use. These sensors work with EAS devices like Classic N10 to provide both a deterrent for would be thieves as well as a means to notify staff and security if someone tries to exit with a secured device.
Tablet theft will remain an issue so long as staff use them and thieves see hospitals and the technology in them as a viable revenue source. The benefits to patient care and service outweigh the risks so the task of protecting these devices falls to security professionals. With vigilance and the implementation of sound security strategies, like an Alpha Thunder Tag and Checkpoint Systems Classic N10 we can allow staff to focus on patient care and give security a chance to prevent these losses. In the end everyone can win, well except the bad guys of course.
Need information on Alpha Thunder Tags or Checkpoint Systems Classic N10? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now
With the volume of medical care needed in today’s hospitals and the limited staff of nurses and doctors available to provide it there is precious little time to waste. Patients need treatment and medical professionals need access to that patient’s information, records and history fast. Modern technology has made this a reality with powerful WIFI and the introduction of iPad and tablets to replace the old handwritten patient charts and massive physical files. Modern technology though is a double edged sword. Data, iPad and, tablet theft have become issues that plague hospital administration, medical staff and security alike.
What can be done? In my life as a retail LP professional the solution to merchandise theft is merchandise protection devices. Items like Checkpoint Classic N10 paired with an Alpha Thunder Tag are used as part of an overall strategy to prevent losses. I’ll wager that it isn’t often that you hear of areas where retail and healthcare overlap but this is one.
I worked security in a large hospital for several years dealing with a host of issues, things I never would have imagined. Violent patients and disruptive visitors were a primary concern for our public safety department. The physical security and safety of a facility are vital to its operation but aren’t its only concerns. Sadly, theft was a fairly common occurrence. Visitors, patients and, staff stealing from the facility are realities. I learned people are opportunists and an environment with valuable goods and information paired with a supply of distracted victims unable to protect themselves is too tempting to pass up.
Tablet technology has improved the speed and accuracy of patient care with the added benefit of making HIPAA compliance easier. Security often deals with a “curious” visitors caught snooping at patient’s charts. Patient data is now stored securely, safe from prying eyes and protected from data thieves who would remotely hack these devices.
Physical tablet theft remains a major concern. On the surface it seems unlikely that a device which is carried by staff would be susceptible to being stolen but, it happens. Watching your iPad is not a priority when the alert is raised and a patient is coding. It is in those moments that the opportunists strike. A few seconds of shifted focus and that tablet ends up in a purse or backpack. Not only does that represent a financial loss to the facility but also a massive HIPAA issue as well. Beyond the hospitals exposure is the loss of the patient’s personal information.
Given the nature of the hospital setting it isn’t practical to anchor every device to a person or secure it to an apparatus. Here the medical field can take a lesson from retail and look for a more elegant and portable solution. Companies like Alpha have developed small security tags, like the Alpha Thunder tag, that attach to a tablet or iPad and do not interfere with its portability or use. These sensors work with EAS devices like Classic N10 to provide both a deterrent for would be thieves as well as a means to notify staff and security if someone tries to exit with a secured device.
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ablet theft will remain an issue so long as staff use them and thieves see hospitals and the technology in them as a viable revenue source. The benefits to patient care and service outweigh the risks so the task of protecting these devices falls to security professionals. With vigilance and the implementation of sound security strategies, like an Alpha Thunder Tag and Checkpoint Systems Classic N10 we can allow staff to focus on patient care and give security a chance to prevent these losses. In the end everyone can win, well except the bad guys of course.
Need information on Checkpoint Systems Classic N10? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now
PROTECTING FRAGRANCE FROM SHOPLIFTERS
Over the past couple of years, I have forged a partnership with law enforcement agencies and fellow retailers across my home state. I call it the “LEARN” program. (Law Enforcement and Retail Network). It all started when I just got fed up with the amount of shoplifting I was dealing with. We were doing all we possible could to prevent shoplifting in our store, but the thieves were continually targeting us. I approached my local sheriff’s office and partnered up with a great detective.
We began working together and eventually started going retailer to retailer, talking to managers and especially the loss prevention staff. We’d collect email addresses and when someone had a shoplifter, we’d share that information with the group. Over the years the group has grown larger and larger. There are over 150 different retailers in my state participating, along with dozens of law enforcement agencies. If someone steals and gets away, we are usually able to identify them with relative ease. We also hold quarterly conference to share intel and discuss crime patterns. While our store teams are doing everything in their power to prevent shoplifting, we are constantly investigating it on the backside.
Just recently, an email was shared from a local merchant that specializes in designer clothing and fragrances. Apparently, even though price-points for some bottles approach $100, they’ve never thought to use EAS devices to protect fragrance. The email was contained some still images of a couple boosters that cleaned them out on a certain line of perfume. They were hoping someone could identify the clean smelling cohorts so they could attempt to recover their bouquet of bounty.
A few days later, the same merchant sent out another “BOLO” regarding the same duo. They had targeted another store location and cleaned up another haul of perfume. Seriously guys, if this is a popular target, there are several options available that can help you protect fragrance. This time, the photos were a little better quality and I immediately recognized one of the shoplifters. I kid you not, her name is Essence. Law enforcement was able to track her down and luckily for the store, a large portion of their product was recovered before it could be sold through various online mediums.
How many of you out there, reading this right now are in the same boat? You try to prevent shoplifting by using the latest technology, but there are those commonly stolen items that you simply overlook. If you sell high end fragrance, then PROTECT FRAGRANCE with keeper boxes!
For more information about Alpha Keepers contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Over the past couple of years, I have forged a partnership with law enforcement agencies and fellow retailers across my home state. I call it the “LEARN” program. (Law Enforcement and Retail Network). It all started when I just got fed up with the amount of shoplifting I was dealing with. We were doing all we possible could to prevent shoplifting in our store, but the thieves were continually targeting us. I approached my local sheriff’s office and partnered up with a great detective.
We began working together and eventually started going retailer to retailer, talking to managers and especially the loss prevention staff. We’d collect email addresses and when someone had a shoplifter, we’d share that information with the group. Over the years the group has grown larger and larger. There are over 150 different retailers in my state participating, along with dozens of law enforcement agencies. If someone steals and gets away, we are usually able to identify them with relative ease. We also hold quarterly conference to share intel and discuss crime patterns. While our store teams are doing everything in their power to prevent shoplifting, we are constantly investigating it on the backside.
Just recently, an email was shared from a local merchant that specializes in designer clothing and fragrances. Apparently, even though price-points for some bottles approach $100, they’ve never thought to use EAS devices to protect fragrance. The email contained some still images of a couple boosters that cleaned them out on a certain line of perfume. They were hoping someone could identify the clean smelling cohorts so they could attempt to recover their bouquet of bounty.
A few days later, the same merchant sent out another “BOLO” regarding the same duo. They had targeted another store location and cleaned up another haul of perfume. Seriously guys, if this is a popular target, there are several options available that can help you protect fragrance. This time, the photos were a little better quality and I immediately recognized one of the shoplifters. I kid you not, her name is Essence. Law enforcement was able to track her down and luckily for the store, a large portion of their product was recovered before it could be sold through various online mediums.
How many of you out there, reading this right now are in the same boat? You try to prevent shoplifting by using the latest technology, but there are those commonly stolen items that you simply overlook. If you sell high end fragrance, then PROTECT FRAGRANCE with keeper boxes!
For more information about Alpha Keepers contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
I got my inventory results for this past year, and they were a lot worse than I had expected. I just took over this location a few months ago, and I knew the controls were lacking before my arrival, but we missed our shrink budget by over $2,000. I figured out a couple of the worst categories, books and soda, were caused by vendor paperwork errors and those have since been corrected. I can at least look forward to a swell next year. However, we have had some significant thefts in the cosmetics section and of course, that was our worst category for shrink. We had figured out who was in the group that was hitting us and we had to create an action plan to stop shoplifting in that quadrant of the store.
We went through and adhered Checkpoint Labels to our entire stock of foundations and lipsticks over a period of two weeks. I saw the ring leader of the group enter the store about three weeks ago. At the time I didn’t know it was her, but something about her made me suspicious. I even had a feeling right then that she was our makeup thief. I watched her for a bit, and then I got called to the front checkout to assist with a customer. I hated to leave her unattended, but I have to put my paying customers first. I was able to watch her from the front and I could see she was picking up lipsticks and quickly replacing them. I knew right then those Checkpoint Labels were working and I knew that woman was our culprit. She was able to get to a spot where I couldn’t see her, and she stole some eyeliners and mascaras. She did not activate the alarm on the Checkpoint Systems because we had not tagged those items. I was able to verify the theft later via camera footage.
Then last week, exactly two weeks from the day I figured out who the thief was, I was working the evening shift. I was just about to leave to take the deposit to the bank, when someone down one of the aisles caught my eye. You guessed it! It was her. I smiled at her, went back to the front, and told my cashier to call the police. Then I went outside quickly to figure out where the getaway car was. I walked over behind the car and jotted down the license plate number. (There was a dude in the driver’s seat, glaring at me in the mirror! I seriously did not care at that point though. Enough was enough.) Then I went back inside and verified her position in the store. I walked past her and the only thing in her cart was her giant purse. I asked her if she needed help and she said she was fine. Then her phone rang. I walked back toward the front to see if the police had arrived and not long after that she came to the front. She approached me and loudly asked me why I went out and got information from the car. I calmly told her I did it in case she left before the police came; I wanted them to be able to find her. She was not pleased with my answer. In the cart she was pushing were several packages of name brand facial care items. (All that added up to over $400 retail) She left it all and stormed out the door. They pulled out of the parking lot, but were pulled over right afterward.
I would like to point out that all the stuff she had chosen to steal this time were all lacking Checkpoint Labels. Our “stop shoplifting” plan was working in cosmetics so she moved over to a different category. She knew she couldn’t defeat our Checkpoint Systems, so she was carefully choosing items that were not protected.
Get more information on Checkpoint Labels. Contact us or call today 1.770.426.0547
