As Mac’s works to deter theft, Harvard University is studying the convenience store chain’s approach to crime prevention.
By Erin Rigik Del Conte, Senior Editor
Mac’s Convenience Stores in central Canada is well known for having a multi-faceted approach to fighting crime and maintaining store security.
CSD spoke with Sean Sportun, ICPS manager, security & loss prevention for Mac’s Convenience Stores, about the many initiatives the chain is using to combat crime, and how a Harvard Business Study is assisting its efforts.
Convenience Store Decisions (CSD): Mac’s is known for its partnership with the Crime Stoppers program—including using social media to identify robbery suspects. When did you first begin the partnership and what results have you seen?
Sean Sportun (SS): Our partnership with Crime Stoppers across Canada spans almost 10 years and has helped significantly as part of our crime prevention strategy. The introduction of the MacsCrimeBusters social media initiative in 2012, where we work with the police and Crime Stoppers to identify suspects who have victimized our stores, has definitely enhanced our partnership. Through this initiative, we push viewers to contact Crime Stoppers if they have information that can assist in identifying suspects. Since inception, we have posted 499 suspect images, resulting in 419 suspects being arrested— that’s an 84% clearance rate! Mac’s reimburses Crime Stoppers for the tips they pay out to the tipsters, which has only been $4,500.
CSD: What type of technological equipment does Mac’s use to curb criminal activity?
SS: Out of our Toronto office, we have a 24/7 Security Monitoring Room that has the ability to remotely dial into all our stores in Ontario and western Canada to view live real-time video and recover video when investigations develop. Significant funding has been provided to grow this resource with the upgrade of hi-definition IP cameras at our locations, which provide higher-resolution, quality images.
CSD: About the video monitoring room—when did Mac’s first start this and how does it work?
SS: The Monitoring Room was created back in 2006 and has grown into an important piece of our Loss Prevention Department. We are able to remotely connect to the in-store DVR system to view live real time video. The core function of the Monitoring Room is to identify areas of risk and provide operational support to stores, with the secondary function to provide support to police when it comes to recovering video/images. The Loss Prevention Operators (LPO) who work in the Monitoring Room complete what we call Virtual Inspections, where they will randomly observe a store and the movements of an employee looking for compliance to safety/security standards.
After observation, the LPO will call the store and go through a series of inspection questions with the store employee—after this the LPO will complete the Virtual Inspection by sending the results to the operations team. If the LPO observe suspected dishonest behavior, they will terminate the Virtual Inspection and transition into an active investigation. As a result of the Monitoring Room, we are seeing a decline in internal incidents, but also a decline in employee injury incidents.
CSD: Mac’s encourages communities to assist in painting murals on Mac’s convenience stores as part of its crime prevention strategy. What benefits have you seen and how is the program evolving?
SS: The Mac’s StreetART Program—launched in 2012—strengthens the relationship between the community and each Mac’s store. It builds a community-based shared responsibility to prevent crime—such as graffiti, shoplifting and robbery incidents—not only at the store, but on the property as well.
This forward thinking concept has seen positive results, not only in the reduction of crime at the locations where the murals have been painted, but also in the beautification the mural has within the community. As a result of this initiative, graffiti crime and overall crime at these locations have been virtually eliminated, with these stores (and the overall property) receiving a positive community response, extensive media attention and exposure to new customers.
Not only is the crime going down because of the murals, but our sales are increasing.
Mac’s Loss Prevention is currently being studied by Harvard University, with the report due out this summer. The Harvard Business Study gave us a grant that allowed us to complete 11 murals last summer, which included our first mural in western Canada (Calgary). We now have 17 murals total, and we have another 6-10 murals planned for this coming summer.
CSD: Does the Harvard study only focus on the murals or the company’s overall crime prevention program?
SS: The initial focus was on the StreetART Program, but it has since expanded to encompass our entire platform, including what our training looks like to what happens when an incident does occur. The behavioral team at Harvard is analyzing videos of incidents to determine suspect/employee behavior and have already provided some suggestions as it relates to training that we’ve implemented. We have been able to enhance our security/safety training for our employees using the information from Harvard.
CSD: Can you give an example of changes you’ve made to training based on observations from the study?
SS: We always encourage our employees to keep busy during their night shift; be out on the sales floor and complete duties, such as clean up the store, replenish the items and so forth. That in itself can be a crime deterrent, meaning the suspect wants the employee behind the register because it’s easier for them to get the money and get out. What we were seeing was a trend where employees were mopping or sweeping the floor as required, but when a robbery occurred during this time, the suspect(s) were (in most cases) introducing violence almost immediately. The experts from Harvard suggested that when a suspect enters to commit a robbery their anxiety level is high and if they observe an employee with something in their hands—like a broom— they consider that a threat because it’s perceived to be a weapon, which could explain the immediacy of the violence.
As a result, we added a new portion to our training to emphasize if an employee is out doing daily or nightly duties and a robbery does occur, to immediately drop what they have in their hands, and put their hands up as one way to de-escalate the situation and signal compliance.
CSD: In 2016 Mac’s offered a free comic book about fighting crime. What was the intention behind the comic book and what results did you see? Any plans for more?
SS: Captain Canuck is a very popular superhero in Canada. We are working with Crime Stoppers to develop a second edition of the “Captain Canuck meets Crime Stopper” comic book, which was a huge success last year. The purpose of the initiative was to generate awareness about the Crime Stoppers program into the many communities across Canada. Through our Mac’s locations, we provided 50 comic books in each one of our stores to promote the initiative, at no charge to our customers and within 2-3 days we were out of them.
CSD: Last year we spoke about Mac’s tobacco tracker that tracks cigarette cartons stolen from Mac’s c-stores. What results have you seen?
SS: The Tobacco Tracker initiative continues to be a huge success for us at Mac’s, with a 100% success rate. Since the program’s inception in June 2014, we have had 25 robbery incidents where the tracker was deployed, with 37 suspects being arrested—resulting in full asset recoveries.