Lessons from the Denver Marijuana Retail Store Safety Event

On January 29th, Vanessa and I attended an industry event held by the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses – Office of Marijuana Policy, with the help of Native Roots. The event included representatives from the Denver Police Department, the Denver Fire Department, Crime Stoppers, and the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED), in addition to the representatives from Denver’s Department of Excise & Licenses.

Purpose

The purpose of the event was to review with law enforcement and industry members suggestions to deter crimes from occurring in the first place, suspicious behaviors that warrant reporting to police, and what to do in the event of an armed robbery. Due to the sensitivity of the conversation, the event was limited to cannabis industry employees and representatives with MED badges. 

This event was in response to a string of retail store robberies that have occurred in the last couple of months in the Denver area. Retail stores hit by the armed robbers include Native Roots on Tower Road, A Cut Above, Frosted Leaf’s Harrison Street location, Green Man Cannabis on Hampden Avenue, and the Green Heart dispensary in Aurora. Furthermore, there was an attempted theft at Cherry Peak in Glendale. The crimes are believed to be connected to the same group of suspects. However, as of now, only one suspect has been arrested. Needless to say, Denver dispensaries are nervous and seeking justice and safety.

Relevance to Simplifya

You may be asking yourself, “Why were Katelin and Vanessa at an event specific to licensed Denver retailers? Simplifya isn’t a Denver licensed retailer?” Good question! Vanessa and I draft many SOPs that are geared towards safety and security for retailers. Our retail SOP bundles include security templates such as:

• Opening and Closing Procedures;
• Facility Access Control; and
• Secure Retail Operations.

We gathered some good insight and plan to use information gathered at this event to supplement our retail security SOPs. The conversation centered on employee training. It seems as though employers are desperate to keep their employees safe, above everything else. And it was concluded that an efficient way to keep employees prepared and safe was to invest more time in training employees on the different alarms that can be utilized, how to interact with robbers, keeping safes closed and front doors closed at all times, and continuously surveying the front of the store in order to decrease employee carelessness.

On that same note, it was concluded that, in the case that lower-level employees are casing the dispensary, security protocols and plans should be kept at the management level. Furthermore, we learned of a concept called CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design), an integrative approach for deterring crime through urban and environmental design. Vanessa and I agree it would be widely beneficial if this approach were used by our clients.

Bigger Picture

At THIS point, you may be asking yourself, “Okay that’s great that we got some additional information for SOPs, but why does this matter to the company as whole?” Another good question!

I think that sometimes, as employees at Simplifya, we get a little disconnected from the reality of our clients. Whether it’s an industry conference in Las Vegas or a regulatory update or a software bug, we all get caught up in our Simplifya bubbles. But what I learned at this event, and what I think we can all learn, is that what our clients and their employees do is actually pretty risky. And the tools we offer them can get them one step closer not just to complete compliance but overall safety.

One attendee, an employee of one of the dispensaries that was hit, described his experience of being ambushed and tied up, with a gun to his head. I was in complete disbelief. I’ve read about these robberies prior to this event and considered myself educated on the issue given my background working for a licensed operator, but I did not put myself in the shoes of the employees in these types of situations until that moment. That must have been a life-changing moment for that employee and his coworkers.

This was a humbling event to attend. It reminded me of the importance of security-oriented regulations and our role in aiding clients to go above and beyond in following these regulations. I’m confident that if all Simplifya employees attended, this sentiment would be shared amongst everyone. Hopefully, this simple post will remind everyone here of the safety risks our clients face and the role we play in reducing these risks.