InsideOutdoor | SPRING/SUMMER 2023 12 senior executive vice president of public affairs. “Establishing a federal task force that pulls together all the respective agencies that have jurisdiction over organized retail crime is necessary to enhance collaboration and transparency in the fight against sophisticated crime rings. Is ORC the answer? RILA also supports the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act. That measure would bring federal law enforcement, including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and United States Postal Service, together to help disrupt and prosecute criminal rings targeting retail stores. Co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), this bipartisan bill would target the rise in flash mob robberies and intricate retail theft schemes. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 establishes a coordinated multi-agency response and creates new tools to tackle evolving trends in organized retail theft. “Stores throughout American communities have not been spared from a national crime wave,” Grassley said when the bill was introduced earlier this year. “These organized theft rings have been developing new tactics to pilfer goods, causing economic harm to American businesses and putting consumers at risk while funding transnational criminal organizations throughout the world. “These criminals are exploiting the internet and online marketplaces to stay one step ahead of the law, and it’s time the law catches up,” he continued. “This bill improves our federal response to organized retail crime and establishes new tools to recover goods and illicit proceeds and deter future attacks on American retailers.” According to the Senate, retail crime costs retailers $720,000 for every $1 billion in sales – up 50 percent since 2015. Criminals shift focus As law enforcement focuses on the rise in drug trafficking and other offenses, criminal organizations have turned to retail crime to generate illicit profits, using internet-based tools to organize flash mobs, sell stolen goods and move money. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act creates a unified government and industry collaboration to address the trend. The bill establishes a Center to Combat Organized Retail Crime at Homeland Security Investigations that combines expertise from state and local law enforcement agencies as well as retail industry representatives. It also creates new tools to assist in federal investigation and prosecution of organized retail crime and help recover lost goods and proceeds. While the bill was introduced in the Senate, the House also has taken it up. “The disturbing explosion of organized retail crime across the country these past couple of years has seriously harmed businesses – large and small – putting communities at risk,” said Rep. Ken Buck (R Colo.), who is one of the co-sponsors in the House. “I’m confident that the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act will help our law enforcement officials stop future crimes, recover stolen goods and property, and punish those responsible. There is still much we don’t know about the depths of these criminal organizations; this bill would help us get to the bottom of it,” Buck said. Report findings The NRF’s comprehensive report provides a detailed assessment of U.S.-based ORC groups, their tactics and techniques for theft and resale and their linkages with other types of organized crime. The report also identifies critical gaps in the current understanding of ORC. Key findings in the report include: • ORC groups target everyday consumer goods — which offer a favorable balance between ease of theft, monetary value and ease of resale. Only 11 percent of the ORC groups examined in the report targeted luxury goods. • The median ORC fencing operation handled about $250,000 in stolen merchandise prior to being apprehended by law enforcement. • ORC fencing operations rely on online marketplaces as one resale channel. About 45 percent of ORC groups for which fencing information was available used online marketplaces for resale operations. • ORC fences that conduct online resale operations appear to be shifting away from third-party online sellers and toward peer-to-peer websites that facilitate direct engagement among buyers and sellers. • ORC groups rely on advance planning to ensure the success of their theft operations. • Significant deficiencies exist in the availability of consistent and consolidated data regarding ORC across national, state and local authorities, as well as the retail industry. Bottom lines at stake “Organized retail crime is growing as a real threat to the safety, operations and bottom line of retailers across the nation and now forms a part of the criminal and illicit financing landscape,” said Juan Zarate, global co-managing partner and chief strategy officer at K2 Integrity. “The ORC industry will grow more dangerous, complex and profitable, and its illicit proceeds will fuel more organized criminal networks and operations in the United States, globally and virtually, if more concerted action is not taken to disrupt these trends,” Zarate added. “Organized retail crime is tormenting communities large and small across the country,” Hanson added. “Key to curtailing the proliferation of ORC is increasing collaboration, information sharing, and transparency among stakeholders. “The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act would do just that,” Hanson said, “By establishing a federal center to help track and prosecute criminals, we can help curb what has become a $69 billion problem for American businesses, a major safety concern for communities, and in many cases, a marker of larger criminal activity at play such as human trafficking, gun smuggling, narcotics and terrorism.” Hanson continued, “Leading retailers are thrilled there is bipartisan momentum for this legislation.” m
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