On January 21st, 2004 Bob Ralicki conducted a meeting at the Western Region Operations Center of GIS. The purpose of this meeting was to form a new shared retail theft database for the retail loss prevention community. Loss Prevention industry leaders Doug Marker, Vice President of Loss Prevention and Safety with Michaels Stores, Inc. and George Slicho, Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention at Zale Corporation were both present during this ground breaking meeting.
It was determined at this meeting that there was certainly a need for a new retail theft database that included the following core elements:
- The database must be a pure theft product.
- Incidents such as “theft of time” or other company policy violations would be excluded from incorporation into the new database.
- The database must be “pure and simple” and not watered down with co-mingled unrelated criminal history conviction information.
- Verify ALL incidents before they are disseminated.
- Offer a case management integration system/program which interfaces with the theft database so as to expeditiously allow data incident dumps.
- Only allow retailers that submit their incidents in a timely fashion to utilize the theft database. “If your going to fish from the pond, you are required to stock the pond.”
- Stay compliant will all FCRA procedures.
Over the course of 2004, Bob Ralicki continued to build the infrastructure which was eventually termed, NRMA (National Retail Mutual Association). On October 8th, 2004 the NRMA Retail Advisory Board met in person for the very first time in Las Vegas, Nevada. Attending the inaugural board meeting was:
- Jerry Snider, Former Director of Asset Protection-Dollar General Stores
- Lorri Murphy-Corporate Loss Prevention Manager- GNC
- Doug Marker-Vice President of Loss Prevention and Safety-Michaels Stores, Inc.
- Kevin Katchmar-Vice President of Loss Prevention-New York & Company
- Vic DeBlassi-Director of Loss Prevention-Toys r Us
- J. Patrick Burns-Director of Loss Prevention-Trans World Entertainment
- George Slicho - Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention-Zale Corporation
Throughout the next year Bob Ralicki continued to grow and develop NRMA. Bob passed away on December 4th, 2005 at the age of 58 due to a massive brain aneurysm. He will be missed by his family at NRMA and GIS.
