On Thursday, October 10th, the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association (“GNMAA”) hosted their annual Security and Safety Information Meeting.  This meeting included presentations from John Chikow, the GNMAA President, Commander Alfred Nagode with the 1st District and Sgt. Ray Palczynski with the 18th District.  Titan attended the meeting as well as several of our clients.  A summary of the topics discussed is as follows:

Concealed Carry Law

• The concealed carry law only applies to private citizens
• Vehicle Safe Harbor
  • Can carry a loaded handgun in plain view while driving
  • Unattended vehicles: handgun must be out of view or placed in a trunk
• Licensing Criteria
  • Must be 21 years of age
  • No prior domestic violence convictions
  • No felony convictions
  • No more than two (2) DUIs within a five (5) year period
  • No misdemeanors within the last five (5) years
  • No misdemeanors of a controlled substance or cannabis within the past year
  • No intellectual, developmental, or mental disabilities
  • No diagnosis that poses a “clear and present danger” result
• Nuclear facilities is the only place that can restrict safe harbor in a vehicle
• If a company allows concealed carry they need to provide their own proper background checks on employees
• If a company does not allow concealed carry they need to have employees report anyone they see doing so in order to enforce the rules
• Applications will become available on January 5, 2014 with the licenses being approved by late February or early March
• Only Illinois concealed carry licenses will be valid at this time

When to call 311 vs. 911

• 911 – There is an emergency in progress and having a police on site will solve the problem
• 311 – A crime happened but having a police officer on site right away won’t solve the issue

Retail Theft and Security

• Retail theft has been reduced significantly so far this year
• Most retail theft offenders are repeat offenders
• Stores should have employee theft and prosecution policies in place that state what the employer expects from employees
• Store managers should be aware of blind spots in the store
• Security cameras should not be a secret to shoppers
• Employees should be repeatedly background checked every two (2) years
• When calling the police and fire department to a scene the person who is calling should be as descriptive as possible as to which doors to enter

Credit Card Theft and Security

• Skimming is a current trend that involves the thief using a device on an ATM to capture credit card data
• Thieves are re-encoding credit cards with the stolen data to cards with their names on them
• Most of the money is being taken out at currency exchanges