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Editor's Notes

An oldie, but a goodie

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Friday, March 27, 2009

I wrote this post a while back but I love rereading it. It's all about navigating the halls of a large conference (such as next week's ISC West) with the least amount of physical and emotional pain. Sometimes I follow these suggestions and sometimes I don't, but I pledge to all of you that I will abide by the rules while in Vegas ... maybe. Anyway, enjoy:

For the past two days, I’ve been looking at my schedule and panicking more than a little bit. I always have good intentions to not book continuous back-to-back meetings, but once again I have. Figures … If you meet with me at 4 p.m. one day and my eyes are glazing over, I greatly apologize.

So, with regrets in mind I give you my recommendations on how to work the (ISC West) show this week. Otherwise titled, how I would ideally plan my conference if I weren’t an idiot.

*Plan accordingly. Do not overbooked yourself — you are not doing anyone any favors. If you squeeze in that extra 20-minute appointment instead of having lunch, for example, you are not going to be in the mindset to focus on business and you’re going to hate the people who talked you into this mess.

*Network and have fun, just not too much fun. A colleague of mine once eloquently said, “There is nothing worse than walking a trade show floor with a hangover.” Having experienced this first-hand, I wholeheartedly agree. Alternate cocktails with a glass of water, enjoy in moderation and we’ll all be much happier in the morning.

*Reinvigorate. Take 20 minutes out of your day to get outside. The sun will help energize you. Florescent lights? Not so much. Also, try to get some kind of ‘normal’ sleep in. Whether that is nine hours or 40 minutes, you know what you need. Don’t ignore it.

*Walk the floor. I never have a chance to walk the floor because I am running around taking meetings with exhibitors that want to show off their latest and greatest wares. But if you take some time to walk the floor, you’ll probably see some new vendors that have some pretty cool offerings. Even Axis had to start somewhere.

*Attend as many educational sessions as possible. You're here, why not? Additional education is always a good idea. This year's session topics are interesting and the speakers are top-notch. Take the time out to hear just one, I promise it’s worth it if only to get off the exhibit floor.

*Sightsee. This is another thing I rarely do and I always regret it. When my hairdresser asks me what was cool about a city, I want to be able to answer him without saying something about the hotel. Also, I can’t tell you how uninteresting photos that are taken from the window of your hotel room are. My family and friends certainly know. Get out and see some sites — what good is traveling without taking in one local attraction? Come on, it's Vegas.

*Take it slow. Sure you may be five minutes late for an appointment, but you’re not the only one. Take your time with meetings, walking, lunch, etc. and you’ll find yourself much happier and relaxed in the long run.

*Stop by booth #1129 to pick up your latest issue of Security Director News and watch some SDNtvNews interviews occurring. Heckle if you wish.

*Be there: Treasure Island bar on Thursday, April 2 at 10 p.m.

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Editor's Notes

Off the record

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I have lot of great info to share from the second and third days of NRF's LP conference here in Orlando, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to get the final wrap-up as I am trying to shove all my press materials in my suitcase right now and that is taking up a lot of time and energy.

But I did want to talk about one thing. Over the course of the last three days I've heard the media being called all sorts of bad names. Believe me, I fully believe Nancy Grace and Fox News should be on the receiving end of those colorful metaphors but I am a more-than-a-little-bit sick of being bunched with that group.

Last year I spoke at this conference about how retailers could work better with the media. In a write-up about the session the following day, the writer compared reporters to shoplifters and car thieves.

So how can retailers (and the security market as a whole) work better with the media? Well, they can stop comparing us to criminals and making sweeping generalizations about the profession. They will always be bad reporters with shady techniques and no ethical backbone, but many of us are hard-working, good people who are just trying to deliver information to readers.

So before you decide to blame the press for ruining a situation in your next public-speaking commitment, think twice. And please, please — do not even think of saying "off-the-record" to me during conversations we are having at cocktail receptions. That will push me over the edge.

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Editor's Notes

Policing casinos

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
OK, so this article bugs me. I don't know if it can even be called a story.

The Times Tribune is reporting that the state police are asking for $17.5 million to provide 24/7 staffing at Pennsylvania's seven casinos (there is already a fund that exists with $17.1 million available, which comes from the casinos. Does that mean he only needs $400,000 more?) Col. Jeffery Miller said he wants enough funding to assign 14 troopers to each casino (two stationed at each location.) State trooper presence is needed, officials said, to foil efforts by organized crews to rig slot machines and table games.

That's all fine and dandy — they want to protect the casino games, but the thing is Pennsylvania doesn't currently allow table games in its casinos.

Also, where does these casinos' security and surveillance departments fit into this? Or do they not have such staffing? Did the newspaper think to ask?

Looks like one of the casinos, Mount Airy Resort, might need more than two state troopers to fight fraud.

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The power of surveillance

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
A University of Florida professor is all fired up about surveillance practices nationwide — so much so he has written a book! In case you're interested in checking it out, the title is "Privacy at Risk: The New Government Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment."

As the title suggests, Christopher Slobogin focuses on how surveillance and other related technologies/procedures that are used to increase safety and security in the United States infringe on privacy rights. Here's a snippet:

Acts of government surveillance — from increasing use of closed-circuit televisions and global positioning systems to an array of sophisticated technologies that can access records about our activities — represent an insidious assault on the freedom of Americans that the law has failed to respond to.

OK, I do agree that the government needs to create rules and standards for the use of video surveillance in public places. The U.K. has done it — we should follow suit.

“Privacy concerns seem to be very secondary to the government when it’s engaging in these kinds of surveillance programs,” Slobogin said. “While Congress or the executive branch has ended some efforts, there always seem to be new programs that crop up to take the place of the previous program. So until the government runs out of money, I think we’re going to continue to see these data mining endeavors, even though they tend to be very ineffective, and even though they can potentially gather huge amounts of personal information about people.”

I don't know about you but I AM GLAD that privacy concerns are secondary to the government when they are developing these types of surveillance programs. Why? Because that means the primary concern is SAFETY and SECURITY! Take my information, track my movements, please! Just do your best to make me safe. Need to look through my suitcase — no problem — and yes, I do pack too many pairs of shoes.

Sorry for the caps and the multiple exclamation points — I get a bit fired up about this stuff. Believe me, I understand the privacy issue, but obviously I understand the security issue more.

This gets me to another point. I was on a flight from Dallas to JFK last week and at one point during the flight a woman behind me asked a flight attendant for a blanket. The flight attendant didn't return right away and people began yelling at her because she was standing in front of the cockpit door. The comments went something like this: "Why can't you just get this woman a blanket? All you're doing is just standing there!!!"

Of course, all of you know that she was standing there to guard the cockpit door because the pilot was in the restroom — part of their security policies. But for doing this, protecting passengers and fellow staff, she was publicly berated.

I know that is off the topic of the privacy issue and this blog post is getting to be a bit of an editorial, but I think it shows that the American public needs to have a better understanding of what people are doing to protect them on a daily basis. Forget about privacy and comfort for one second, and think about 9/11. At times, I think we forget about that day, the cost this country paid and that it is the reason we are doing what we can now to increase the security of this country.

OK, off my soapbox for the day. I expect to see some comments (just click the button below and tell me that I am crazy. You know you want to.)

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Editor's Notes

Friday afternoon nonsense

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Friday, February 8, 2008
I am normally pretty happy to hear opinions on things I do well and not so well, but I have to admit that I become a little wary of suggestions I receive at midnight as I did last night. Here's the scoop: A person (who shall remain nameless) sent a comment to my blog that I chose not to publish. As the blog owner, I have that right to do so, or so I thought.

Here is the lovely e-mail I just received (edited for length, grammar and spelling):

I'm not an editor, just a reader who looks to your publication to give me insight into my world and how others are facing the challenges it presents. So if you will, please let me explain myself and why I think the blog responses should be very visibly published.

I love reading the blogs and always look for comments. They are my colleagues' insights essentially and I can learn a lot from them that can help me be better at what I do. Right now, the responses that you get are invisible and therefore useless to your readership. That's why a zero, when you have received comments, is discouraging and kind of turns me off to the blog's value.

Why do that when you can open the comments and establish your magazine as a place to go and read for news and the insights of colleagues as well. I have a comment, now days old, that you have not addressed, ok'd or denied and that's what prompted my original questions on its status. If others have written in and they see the same result, they will stop writing.

I might suggest that the blogs appearing in your publication can engage readers and tie them to anticipating your e-mail news. Part of that is the blog's concept of reader involvement and response. Whole threads create viewers who log on to read them and subsequently read and subscribe to the magazine. That helps subscription rates and in getting advertisers to go with you and not another publication.

Your magazine is positioned as a very important source of industry awareness, info, and news. That's why I suggested turning on the comments so they, after you screen them can appear and you can leverage the blogs accordingly.

So about my comment...still invisible. And not publishing it is of course ok, but please let me know or the respondent know that and why. Don't leave them hanging and wondering.

I have comment moderation enabled on my blog, which means that if someone posts a comment I am able to look at it prior to publishing it (exactly what this person suggests I should have in place). Normally, if a comment is relevant to a topic and does not offend anyone, I will publish it. Unfortunately, I was out of the office sick when this individual's comment was posted to my account and I did not see it until this morning. But by then, I had already received a late night e-mail from this person berating me for not publishing the comment.

The fact is I do not get a lot of comments to my blog postings — the web stats say you are reading and subscribing to the feed — but comments are minimal. And most people I have spoken with says it takes years to build that sort of trust among readers. Hey, it is even rare to get a "letter to the editor" and the publication has been around for four years now.

So, it is disheartening to hear that this person finds my blog has little value because I do not have a lot of comments. But I think my blog is to first, deliver breaking news to you and second, to give you the opportunity to see items I hear about that you may not know about (expand your knowledge of the industry, maybe?) Of course, you are forced to hear about some of my opinions in the process — but that is what will help get some more discussions going.

I believe discussions are great and we've had some good ones on this blog — remember the arming parents at schools feed this past fall? — but I will not post comments because someone tries to strongarm me into it. That is not the point.

But if you think differently, please don't hesitate to let me know.

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Editor's Notes

"A global ticking time bomb"

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Monday, January 7, 2008

Thank god for America's Watchdog — I'm not sure how I'd keep up on the issues facing this country without them (I know, it's already Monday morning and I'm throwing a heavy dose of sarcasm your way.)

Today, the organization put out a press release that says counterfeit drugs or cigarettes purchased over the Internet is "a global ticking time bomb for consumers and the actual manufacturers."

OK — Fair enough. It's good to get the word out that counterfeiting is a big issue. But last year, we reported that counterfeit items cost companies nearly $600B per year. That isn't chump change.

This is the part of the release that I absolutely love:

Thus far Americas Watchdog has been horrified at how lax or uninterested pharmaceutical or cigarette manufactures have been to the growing global counterfeiting problem. Americas Watchdog explained that, "thus far the corporate security people we have talked with regarding counterfeiting pharmaceuticals, or cigarettes have been arrogant, not been very interested in protecting their brands, not that interested in their companies reputations, and not very concerned about their shareholders."

Hmmm ... arrogant? Not interested? Who have they been speaking with?

I did a quick web search and its looks like Pfizer has an eye on the issue; Merck says it is "actively engaged worldwide in efforts to prevent the distribution of counterfeit medicines and vaccines"; Bristol-Myers Squibb also has a FAQ on counterfeits on its web site. Even PhilipMorrisUSA has its own brand integrity department (but you don't need that because you don't smoke anyway, right?)

Yep, these industries are ignoring the counterfeit problem.

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Humble pie

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I have to eat crow. Isn't that the term?

Just one week ago I used this forum to complain about Target, a retailer that has been near and dear to my heart for some time (affordable Proenza Schuler!) Target had stonewalled me for some time on a couple of issues I desperately wanted to talk with them about. One was their Safe City program, a fantastic program the company sponsors that helps create public-private partnerships, with the goal being to increase security and reduce crime in cities across the country.

Well, after getting the dreaded "No trade publication" policy repeated to me one too many times, you could say I lost my cool (not so slightly) and used this blog to communicate that to a greater audience (They should have thought twice before giving me a blog.)

Anyway, less than 24 hours later Target's communication's department responded to my interview request on Safe City and this afternoon I actually spoke with two individuals who are heavily entrenched in this program. I think it is going to be a great story.

So, regardless of what happens tomorrow — who knows maybe their policy will be back in effect — I promise all of you, dear readers, that I will refrain from using this forum for my personal rants.

And, my apologies to Target as well. I hope this is only one of many opportunities I have to speak with the company's asset protection executives.

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Editor's Notes

No trades allowed

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Monday, December 10, 2007

I have always been a big fan of Target, or Tar-jay as it is commonly pronounced. The gleaming aisles, the clean displays, the Isaac Mizrahi line I can afford. But lately the taste I have for the department store has soured.

Target is a big company and many of their loss prevention executives are big names in the industry. Take Brad Brekke, for example. He testified before Congress to push legislators to develop tougher penalties for online auction sites that sell fenced goods and those criminals that call organized retail crime their profession. What a great supporter to the industry.

That is why Target's unwillingness to work with our editorial staff here infuriates me so much. Whether we are working on a story about Target's Safe City program or if I am looking for a comment on a LP issue that has been covered in the mainstream press, the communications department always informs me that Target does not speak to the business-to-business, or trade, press. They say it is not their core market.

So imagine my surprise when I opened up the latest issue of Loss Prevention Magazine to see an article that outlines all Target has done to reduce return fraud at its stores. Eagerly, I contacted the author of the article (who, of course, happened to be a member of their communications department) and asked her if the "no trade press" policy had changed.

I got an e-mail from her this afternoon and she informed me that the company "still (has) a no-trade publication policy in place and the article that was produced for Loss Prevention Magazine was a rare occurrence."

(To clarify, I mean absolutely no disservice to Loss Prevention Magazine here. It is one of my favorite LP focused publications and they obviously succeeded where I failed.)

I think Target is missing the boat here. So many of their executives in security and loss prevention are doing fantastic things and some I have spoke with want to talk about their initiatives, but can't. Or they can only talk to a select group of media.

Robert Brown, system architect with Target, was set to serve as the closing speaker for our TechSec Solutions event last year and one week before the conference, the company informed us that he was not allowed to present. How great would it have been for our attendees to hear how Target had used IP technology to network security at its hundreds of stores?

So from now on, Target is a distant shopping memory for me (we did have some fun, didn't we?) And that's too bad because I had a lot of money to spend this holiday season.

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Pretty colors

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Monday, December 3, 2007

The snow is in full swing here in Maine and I'm not sure when it is going to let up. So I've had plenty of time to search the wires this morning.

I think the Chicago Tribune is a pretty good newspaper but this article makes me think they are struggling to find strong online content. The headline of the article is what frightens me most: "Good security as simple as a colored badge." Well, sure badges are an important part of any access control program, but isn't that is only one part of a layered approach to security?

Just a thought.

Also, love the reporter's thought that these temp badges are "like a pregnancy test but without the anxiety."

Nice.

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I'm going to get you ...

by: 
Whit Richardson
  - 
Friday, November 9, 2007

I love Friday — also known as "strange but true" news day. It's not even 3 p.m. Eastern time and already there is puppy theft and now, check this out.
A store owner in Arizona has posted surveillance video on YouTube in an effort to catch a thief that stole two watches from him. You can watch the video
here.
Now that's taking social networking into a completely different realm.

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