ACADEMIC VIEWPOINT
NRSS Article: “Business Expense” T
he National Retail Security Survey (NRSS) has been conducted by the University of Florida since 1991. This study is an excellent example of a mutually beneficial research relationship between the academic and business worlds. Without conflict of interest or bias, we have been collecting and analyzing data provided anonymously by retail loss prevention executives from the top 100 firms. For nearly two decades the NRSS Final Report, now published on-line, has been a bellwether study that focuses primarily on average shrinkage levels, sources of retail loss, and the use of various loss prevention countermeasures. Both the retail LP community and the university directly benefit from this type of applied research intended to help address a problem of significant financial magnitude and theoretical interest to both communities. Each year I have summarized the major findings from the previous year’s research in my column in LossPrevention magazine. This year I will provide these results in a slightly different manner. The University of Florida publishes a magazine quarterly called Explore that features various research activities among hundreds of faculty members in various disciplines. In the Fall 2010 issue the editor of Explore, Joe Kays, chose to feature the findings of the 2009 National Retail Security Survey and my role in this research. Rather than repeat these numbers in an
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by Richard C. Hollinger, Ph.D. Dr. Hollinger is a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is also director of the Security Research Project, which annually conducts the National Retail Security Survey (www.crim.ufl.edu/srp/srp.htm). Dr. Hollinger can be reached at rhollin@ufl.edu or 352-392-1025 x217. © 2011 Richard C. Hollinger
executive summary in this column, instead, I encourage each of you to go to the Explore magazine website and read the story titled “Business Expense.” Not only is the full article provided, but you will also find a PDF file to print out, along with a slide show of related photos that were taken in our local Sears store.
For nearly two decades the NRSS Final Report, now published on-line, has been a bellwether study that focuses primarily on average shrinkage levels, sources of retail loss, and the use of various loss prevention countermeasures. The photo shoot accompanying this article is the result of permission and cooperation provided by Bill Titus and Scott Glenn of the Sears Holdings loss prevention team. They gave me and the photographers from Explore full access to the store, merchandise, management staff, and much of the loss prevention technology available. These photos really help to convey the serious nature of shrinkage, organized retail crime, and loss prevention, making the story much more real to the reader. I want to express my thanks to the Sears Holdings LP team for the opportunity to use this store as the setting for this article. I encourage all of you to go to the following URL to read this most interesting story about what we all have dedicated our careers to—namely, providing asset protection in order to reduce the serious levels of shrinkage and crime in the retail store. www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/current/story_5/ If you still have not yet read the 2009 NRSS Final Report, please send me an email at rhollin@ufl.edu, and I will send you the URL link and password. I also want to remind all of the senior LP directors and vice presidents reading this column that data collection for the 2010 NRSS will begin soon after your year-end final inventories have been completed at the end of January. Watch your email in-boxes for the new questionnaire arriving soon.
January – February 2011
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