That $80,000 Bottle Needs LP Too

TalkLPnews Podcast Host Amber Bradley chats with Catherine Stasiowski, Vice President of Loss Prevention and Safety at Total Wine & More, about what LP looks like when your stores sell everyday wine, high-theft cigars and bottles that can hit five figures.

Catherine talks store-first leadership, a lean team covering nearly 300 stores, ORC creeping into supply chain and why AI still has some proving to do before it gets the keys to retail security.

Oh, and the worst career advice she ignored? You’ll want to hear it. Give it a listen.

What actually IS Deterrence?

What does effective deterrence actually look like — and how do you prove it works?

TalkLPnews host, Amber Bradley, and Steve Lindsey,  Co-Founder & Chief Technologist, LVT open a new series on deterrence and prevention, starting with a cold definition of what makes deterrence effective. Using the LPRC’s framework — “See it, get it, fear it” — Steve breaks down the psychology behind why some deterrents work and others lose their edge fast.

They dig into the TikTok era, where cameras have lost their authority. A recent Harris Poll found 75% of people still improve their behavior on camera — but 25% simply don’t care anymore. Steve explains the symbiotic relationship between accountability and deterrence: without consequences, the deterrent collapses.

The conversation moves from prerecorded messages that get ignored like motion lights to AI-powered talk-downs that call out what someone is wearing and doing — in any language, any style, any persona. Surfer dude. Teenager. Old English. The scalability problem is real, and LVT’s approach uses AI to filter noise before escalating to humans.

They also tackle the hardest question: how do you measure something that didn’t happen? Steve walks through a practical ROI framework — baseline your crime rate, apply deterrence, watch for that 70% reduction. But he warns: a solution that works in month one can fail by month three as desensitization sets in. The key is future-proofing with a dynamic system that adapts as fast as the red actors testing it.

This episode launches the “Game Over for Guesswork” research survey, debuting at Apex, with a chance to win a retro gaming system. Take the 2 minute survey and help us define how to quantify prevention!

Learn more about LVT here.

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What a decade at CVS taught him about vendor pitches

Matt Johnson spent 15 years inside retail, from catching shoplifters at a Target in upstate New York to running operations and the technology team at CVS. Four months ago he crossed over as VP and GM of loss prevention at siffron, a company he calls the biggest one you’ve never heard of.

Here’s his read on the industry – and it hits different.  (haha! Just kidding, AI didn’t write this – his read is pretty much spot on: Budgets are thin, so retailers are leaning back into mechanical solutions that scale to every store while everyone else talks AI. The two also got into mentorship, where Amber finally told the story about the industry legend who agreed to mentor her and then went silent.

siffron is at APEX for the first time this year, so Matt walks back into a room full of retailers he used to be one of.

Curious about siffron? Check them out here.

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Stop Asking for a Seat. Bring the Risk.

TalkLPnews Podcast Host Amber Bradley catches up with Scott McBride, Chief Security Officer at American Eagle, to talk ESRM without the corporate snooze button.

Scott makes the case that AP has moved way past “please invite us to the meeting.” If shrink, safety, business continuity, marketing risk or customer experience is on the table, AP better be in the room before the bad decision gets made.

Also, “internal influencers” is now officially a thing. Give it a listen.

Finding the Missing Dollar

Is that a person behind your DC at 3 a.m., or a raccoon? Cameras have trouble with that call at night. Sunil Mudholkar, VP of Product for Physical Security at Octave, joins me to talk about the camera as a sensor that feeds inventory and POS instead of sitting in a security silo, lidar on the loading dock, and why he thinks the video wall stops being the center of the room.

Octave spun out of Hexagon and listed on the Nasdaq in May, but the physical security group inside it has been pulling data off cameras for 15 years. Oh, and by the way, I did return the favor for all the knowledge out of this one…..by providing a SPOT ON example of how all this works (yes, now you have to listen).

For more information about Octave – check it out here.

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ORC Is National. CLEAR Is Acting Like It.

TalkLPnews Podcast Host Amber Bradley catches up with John ‘JC’ Clark live from the NRF PROTECT show floor to talk CLEAR 2026 in Las Vegas, and yes, they are already ‘cooking’.

CLEAR, the Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail, is bringing in national players, cargo theft conversations, serious networking and the kind of retailer/law enforcement agenda that keeps people coming back year after year.

CLEAR takes over Palace Station in Las Vegas, November 9–12. Take a listen.

Shoes Are Currency. Cargo Thieves Know It.

TalkLPnews Podcast Host Amber Bradley brings Jason Cornewell back for round two to talk cargo theft, footwear crime and why the bad guys are not waiting for product to hit the sales floor anymore.

Jason breaks down how supply chain loss is forcing LP teams to think earlier, faster and way beyond the store. He also has a message for solution providers: tell the truth, solve the problem and do not sacrifice the future for the sale.

Train robbers with chainsaws? Yep. Give it a listen.

Prosecution vs. Policy: Retail Crime in Reform-Driven States

TalkLPnews has partnered with ALTO on series of Legal Briefing to bring an important conversation on retail crime in the Northeast and Midwest, to the table. This webinar’s topic is Prosecution vs. Policy: Retail Crime in Reform-Driven States.

Featuring insights from Ray De Leo and Jennifer Zucker Healy, this session explores the topic from multiple angles to give you a well rounded perspective and to gain actionable insights on navigating retail crime in today’s landscape.

No More ORC Hero Shots

TalkLPnews Podcast Host Amber Bradley chats with Ed Fritz, Crime Prevention Supervisor from Boise Police Department, and Mike Zacher, Law Enforcement Vice President from Western States Organized Retail Crime (ORCA) about the ORCAs of the Southwest Conference, where the goal is not another victory-lap panel with recovered merch in the background.

They want the messy stuff: what broke, what worked, who needed to be in the room and how retailers, law enforcement and prosecutors can build stronger cases together.
Oceanside, California. October 26–28. Take a listen.

For more information and to register visit here.

Your Career Isn’t Going to Knock on Its Own Door

TalkLPnews Host Amber Bradley catches up with Dan Petrousek, Senior Vice President of Asset Protection at ULTA Beauty, live from the NRF PROTECT show floor.

Dan has spent almost 25 years at ULTA, but his path to the SVP seat was not a straight climb. He talks career pivots, building advocates, asking for the next opportunity and why stepping sideways can sometimes be the smartest move.

If you’re in LP and thinking about what your next move should be, this one is def worth your time.