Wicklander-Zulawski and LPRC form retail risk partnership

By AI, Created 2:10 PM UTC, May 21, 2026, /AGP/ – Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates and the Loss Prevention Research Council announced a strategic partnership on May 21, 2026, aimed at expanding research, training, and professional development for retail risk and asset protection teams. The move links WZ’s interview training expertise with LPRC’s research network as retailers face organized retail crime, violence, fraud, and operational disruption.

Why it matters: - The partnership connects two influential retail risk organizations as stores face more theft, fraud, violence, and operational disruption. - The deal is designed to strengthen training, research sharing, and decision-making for asset protection, investigative, and enterprise risk teams. - The collaboration could help retailers and solution providers respond faster to emerging security threats with evidence-based methods.

What happened: - Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, LLC and the Loss Prevention Research Council announced a strategic partnership on May 21, 2026. - The announcement was made in Chicago. - WZ is known for investigative interviewing and human risk education. - LPRC focuses on reducing theft, fraud, violence, and operational risk through evidence-based innovation.

The details: - The partnership will expand education, research dissemination, professional development, and thought leadership for retail risk professionals worldwide. - LPRC has spent more than two decades building a research ecosystem that includes retailers, solution providers, manufacturers, law enforcement leaders, and university researchers. - LPRC uses controlled lab work and field research to validate data-driven strategies that aim to prevent crime, reduce violence, improve safety, and protect profitability. - WZ brings more than four decades of practitioner-led expertise in investigative interviewing, human behavior, and risk-based training. - WZ’s non-confrontational interviewing methodology is used by major retailers, law enforcement agencies, corporate security teams, compliance leaders, and enterprise risk professionals. - The partnership will include participation in LPRC programming, educational collaboration, professional development opportunities, and support for key industry events. - Those events include LPRC IMPACT and Wicklander-Zulawski’s Elite Training Days hosted by the International Association of Interviewers. - The organizations also plan to collaborate on thought leadership and education focused on retail crime, workplace violence, fraud, investigative interviewing, enterprise risk, and offender behavior. - LPRC says it was built on the belief that collaborative research leads to evidence-based decisions that strengthen the industry and create safer places. - WZ says the partnership will help bridge the gap between research, frontline operations, and human-centered investigative training.

Between the lines: - The partnership reflects a broader retail security shift toward combining research, field testing, and training rather than treating them as separate functions. - LPRC’s research network and WZ’s training reach give the partnership a practical route to influence both strategy and day-to-day operations. - Retailers are under pressure to improve outcomes without relying on guesswork, which raises the value of measurable methods and scalable instruction.

What’s next: - The organizations will begin working together across programming, events, and educational initiatives. - Retailers and solution providers can expect more joint content and training tied to evolving retail crime and safety issues. - The partnership aims to help organizations build safer stores, strengthen investigative outcomes, reduce operational risk, and better protect employees and customers.

The bottom line: - WZ and LPRC are pairing research with interview training to give retail risk teams more practical tools for a more complex threat environment. - For more information, visit Wicklander-Zulawski on LinkedIn.