Associates Afraid to Work Amid Hostile Store Environments
Exploring the Emotional Toll of Retail Crime
There is no doubt that incidents of organized retail crime (ORC) can be emotional for retail associates. Whether it's confronting a physical act of theft in stores or being duped online by a fraudster, retail crime can take its toll on team members.

For retailers and loss prevention specialists, it's imperative to have empathy for retail associates and customer service representatives and to provide services where needed. There are also benefits to documenting an associate's experience and using that data to empower the fight against ORC and build success within the retail organization.

Gauging the Emotional Weight of Retail Crime

At an annual security conference, hosted by the National Retail Federation (NRF), San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said the county looks closely not only at the financial impact of theft and ORC, but the emotional toll on employees that can swell to the greater community.

The county considers not just the financial losses from crime, but also the fear and safety of associates, recognizing that the emotional toll of ORC is significant and shouldn't be overlooked. In fact, one study finds 40% of grocery associates are afraid to go to work because of an increase in hostile environments at stores.

In the latest Retail Security Survey by NRF and the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), 88% of the retailer executives said shoplifters are becoming more aggressive and violent than a year ago. The respondents that track actual incidents in stores said shoplifting incidents involving violence increased by 35% on average, according to the survey.

Retailers want to protect profits, but a safe workplace is necessary to retain employees. How well retailers care for, train, and listen to retail associates plays a role in maintaining labor.

Investing in Tech, Retail Staff To Fight ORC

Associates play a vital role in mitigating future cases of fraud and retail crime. Their stories become data, and retailers get smarter in how they fight back against fraud.

AI and next-gen technologies help power investigations and give retail associates a voice to fight back against the crimes they've seen and the retail abuse they can prevent. ORC groups are getting more sophisticated in how they steal and abuse retailers. Retailers must leverage technology to achieve more success in how they train associates and support them in the ongoing battle against ORC. customerthink.com


Another City Surges Police Funding Amid Retail Crime Surge
Aurora, Colorado, pours $10 million more into police as city struggles with Tren de Aragua, retail crime surge
Aurora, Colorado, is a Denver suburb with big-city problems. The migrant gang Tren de Aragua has moved in and is taking over apartment units and enaging in shootouts. Business owners are complaining that retail theft has surged, forcing them to shell out for private security.

Now the city of 390,000 is having to pay up - increasing the budget for the Aurora Police Department by $10 million next year to hire more cops as it deals with crime spilling over from the sanctuary city next door in Denver.

Aurora has allocated 30% of next year's budget to law enforcement, over $165 million in total, according to city officials.

"Right now, we are not at our full complement of officers," Chief Todd Chamberlain of the Aurora Police Department told CBS New York. "Our patrol is impacted by understaffing issues."

Tren de Aragua was spawned in Venezuelan prisons and has sunk its claws into cities across the US, bringing murder, guns, drugs, and human trafficking. It has been subject to at least 100 criminal investigations in recent months.

But it's not just Tren de Argua. One business owner said he's had to hire private guards to fight shoplifting because the police seldom come when called.

Doug McMurrain, owner of the La Plaza retail outlet, said he deals with crime on a daily basis. nypost.com


3,000 Investigations - 3,100 Arrests - $46M in Stolen Goods
California's Organized Retail Crime Task Force Touts Surge of Arrests in August
California's Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) is on track to surpass its total enforcement metrics from 2023 following heightened property crime arrests and stolen merchandise recoveries in August.

Governor Gavin Newsom last week announced that the ORCTF, led by the California Highway Patrol (CHP), facilitated 171 arrests and reclaimed 26,415 items worth about $547,000 from thieves. Last month saw the task force's total number of annual investigations grow to 573, surpassing the number seen throughout the whole of 2023.

Since the beginning of the year, ORCTF has been responsible for a total of 1,055 arrests and the recovery of $7.8 million worth of stolen property. Launched in 2019, the statewide law enforcement initiative has been involved in almost 3,000 investigations that have resulted in the collaring of over 3,100 suspects and the unearthing of over 878,000 stolen goods worth about $46 million.

Since that time, Newsom has funneled $1.1 billion into funding the development of localized retail crime task forces, which have hired more officers and invested in technology, training and prosecution. The governor's Real Public Safety Plan has also seen CHP deployed en masse to retail crime hot spots like Oakland, Bakersfield, San Francisco and Los Angeles, resulting in a 310-percent increase in proactive operations targeting retail crime as well as special operations related to public safety.

And last fall, Newsom announced a historic, $267-million investment into 55 local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of developing such capabilities. During the first six months of the grant cycle, agencies across the Golden State reported over 6,900 arrests for retail theft, motor vehicle theft and cargo theft offenses.

August's favorable retail crime data coincided with the historic signing of a 10-bill bundle of retail theft legislation that included new penalties for stealing with the intent to resell, regulations for online marketplaces, aggregated charges across jurisdictions and retailers, higher penalties for repeat offenders and an elimination of the statute of limitations for prosecuting organized retail theft.  yahoo.com


Thefts Surges 16% in LA
LA activist calls for community involvement to combat retail theft
According to LAPD's End of Year Report for 2023, citywide thefts increased by 16%, which included 137 flash robberies. An Organized Retail Theft Task Force was created in August of last year, but Hutchinson is calling on the community to do more.

"The LAPD, the LA County Sheriffs Department, they can only do so much. So now it's time for the community to step up. Community engagement, community watches, community alerts," Hutchinson said. "That's not telling and suggesting people put themselves in harm's way, no. But people see things in the community."

Some in the area think a community group would help.

"By having community involvement I think it would happen less because when people from the outside know there are eyes and ears on what's going on, they tend to stay away," said Asha Abdella from Windsor Hills.

Others feel like it could be dangerous and it doesn't address the underlying issues. abc7.com


More Cities Get ORC Funding
Springfield, Ore. PD awarded $500K grant to combat retail theft
Recently, members of the Springfield Police Department, with the support of area retailers, applied for grant funding through the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission's 2023-2025 Organized Retail Theft Grant Program.

SPD was awarded over $500,000 to be used over the next two years to combat organized retail theft in Springfield.

"These funds will be used to continue the efforts of the Crime Reduction Unit, which has already successfully recovered thousands of dollars in retail goods and arrested dozens of perpetrators since its inception roughly a year ago," SPD said in a media release. katu.com


6 myths about California crime as voters now favor this measure on drugs, retail theft

Stores are cracking down on retail theft in Pennsylvania
 

Iceland: Thieves Target Elko Stores, Arrested Before Leaving Iceland
(ELKO, the largest electronics store in the country, opened in 1998.) Tens of millions worth of goods stolen from ELKO It is thought that four people who were remanded in custody yesterday after a large-scale break-in at ELKO stores over the weekend are connected to organized crime. They are suspected of having stolen tens of millions ISK worth of items. Yesterday, three men and one woman were remanded in custody on suspicion of breaking into two ELKO stores, in Lindir and Skeifan, on Monday night. Three more were arrested, but two of them have been released and the third will be questioned further. Heimir Ríkarðsson, assistant superintendent of the police in the capital region, says that it looks like this was carefully planned. "It seems to have been pretty well prepared. We see on cameras that they come twice, like in Kópavogur [Lindir], and take a significant amount of goods and money there, and in Skeifan as well," says Heimir. He says he does not know how exactly much was stolen. "I'm not going to go into detail, but it was tens of millions." ELKO released a statement after the break-in saying that a stocktake needed to be done so that the scope could be properly assessed. There may be a shortage of certain types of mobile phones due to the theft. It took less than 24 hours for the police to track down the suspected thieves, all of whom are foreign nationals.  icelandreview.com


Toronto, Canada: Suspects stole $2.2 million worth of merchandise from semi trucks in motion
Canadian police have arrested one man in connection with a series of major cargo thefts targeting semi trucks that were in operation in the Toronto area. Marius Ionescu, 36, has been charged with two counts of Theft over $5000, Conspiracy to Commit an Indictable Offense, and Robbery, according to Peel Regional Police. Additionally, warrants have been issued for Florian Porumbita, 29, and Florian Porumbita (same name), 27. Police say that the three suspects were involved in a series of cargo thefts that took place in Mississauga and Oakville in May and June 2024.

From Peel Regional Police:

On Tuesday, May 28, 2024, the suspects of this investigation were in the area of North Service Road in Mississauga, closely following a Purolator Tractor-Trailer in a vehicle of their own. They breached the trailer to get onboard the transport truck while it was in motion, with the intent of committing theft. Once onboard, the suspects stole $1,800,000.00 worth of merchandise, and managed to get off the trailer while it was stopped at a red light. On Monday, June 10, 2024, the suspects were in the area of Creditview Road and Burnhamthorpe Road West in Mississauga, and used a similar set of techniques to distract the driver of another Purolator Tractor-Trailer, while it was in motion, with the same intent to commit theft. During this instance, the suspects stole $300,000.00 worth of electronics. Once again, the suspects got off the trailer when it was stopped at a red light and fled.

On Thursday, July 11, 2024, the suspects were in the area of Hogan Drive and Britannia Road West in Mississauga and attempted to use a cube van, and a passenger van to force a tractor trailer to make an abrupt stop in an attempt to board it. The trailer was loaded with $1.2 million worth of cellular phones. They were not successful in their attempt as the driver continued to operate the tractor trailer, and was aware of the suspect's presence.

On Friday, June 28 2024, the suspects were in the area of Trafalgar Road and Burnhamthorpe Road in the Town of Oakville when they attempted to board a tractor trailer which was loaded with electronics such as TV's, laptops and printers. The suspects were confronted by the driver, at which time one of the suspects threated violence by acts and gestures, the driver did not back down and the suspects fled the scene. No firearm was seen on any parties. $120,000 worth of electronics was stolen.  cdllife.com


Chicago, IL: Man sentenced to 2 years in federal prison for running Crestwood fencing operation
A southwest suburban man will spend more than two years in federal prison for selling stolen goods out of his Chicagoland stores. Ziad Zayed, a 49-year-old Frankfort resident, pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in 2023 after prosecutors said he ran a fencing operation using his Crestwood business "Crestwood Electronics Inc." and other businesses, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Illinois said Monday. According to prosecutors, Zayed knowingly purchased stolen electronic devices and other merchandise before he repacked them and sold them to buyers state and overseas. The stolen items included laptops, fitness tracking devices and digital cameras, some of which prosecutors said had been stolen from railcars near the city. On Wednesday U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman sentenced Zayed to two years and four months in federal prison, he was also ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution.  wgntv.com


Upland, CA: Getaway driver abandons accomplice carrying bag full of stolen clothing, sneakers
Surveillance videos show a retail theft suspect -- carrying a bag stuffed full of stolen clothing and sneakers -- was abandoned by his getaway driver earlier this week in the parking lot of an Upland shopping center, police said. Officers responded about 9:30 p.m. Monday to a report of a theft in progress at the Colonies Crossroads on Campus Avenue, just south of the 210 Freeway, according to the Upland Police Department. "As officers arrived, the suspect exited through an emergency exit with a bag of loot and ran towards a waiting car," police said in a statement. "The getaway car saw the police car and bailed on their partner." Authorities released footage from inside a store that allegedly shows the suspect calmly removing Nike boxes and stacks of denim jeans from shelves and placing them inside a large plastic bag. Outside of the store, surveillance video appears to show the same person carrying the bag and running toward a white sedan. The vehicle's driver-side rear door is open, but the person behind the wheel drives away before the suspect reaches the car.  abc7.com


Amsterdam, NY: Traffic stop leads to $1700 of Lowe's stolen goods, two arrests

Windsor, ON, Canada: Caught on camera: thieves steal sneakers worth thousands from Devonshire Mall