Small & Mid-Sized Retailers Feeling the Most Pain from ORC

During the Holidays, Small & Mid-Sized Businesses Feel the Impact of Retail Crime

By James Stark, Segment Development Manager for Retail - Axis Communications

While it’s true that many large retailers have attributed store closures to the surge in both theft and violence, its impact is felt even more keenly by small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). If big box stores with significant resources at their disposal are struggling to implement effective security measures, how can local retailers hope to keep their locations safe? Ultimately, the answer lies in making strategic investments in solutions that don’t just improve security, but generate ROI and create a positive impact on the business’s bottom line.

SMBs Are Disproportionately Impacted by Retail Crime

The stores hurt the most by retail crime aren’t big box stores. They’re mom and pop shops — the local businesses that form the lifeblood of countless communities throughout the country. Unfortunately, while larger stores often have security measures like loss prevention personnel, anti-theft sensors and other helpful solutions, those measures usually aren’t financially feasible for small and mid-sized businesses.

As a result, local retailers tend to be less protected than their competitors — and would-be criminals know it. Criminal groups — especially those involved in ORC — know that targeting smaller, more vulnerable businesses can be more lucrative than targeting larger, better-prepared stores.

Using Analytics for Threat Mitigation — and Beyond

Fortunately for SMBs, modern security and surveillance solutions have become both more powerful and more accessible in recent years. The mental image of a security guard monitoring a bank of wall monitors has remained stubbornly lodged in the public perception of what retail security looks like, but technology has come a long way since then.

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NRF Pushes Back Against ORC Skeptics
Addressing the elephant in the room on organized retail crime

Quantifying the scope of ORC is a known challenge, as ORC is not a single event or act

David Johnston - VP, Asset Protection & Retail Operations, NRF

Over the last few months, NRF became the focus of various flawed narratives alleging the retail industry distorts retail theft data to drive public policy goals. NRF made a correction to an April 2023 report on organized retail crime (ORC), withdrawing a phrase that suggested ORC accounted for half of the overall inventory losses suffered by the retail industry in 2021.

NRF’s research partner K2 Integrity mistakenly linked the results of NRF’s 2022 National Retail Security Survey with a statement made by an expert in a 2021 Senate hearing that ORC resulted in $45 billion in annual losses. NRF corrected the citation as soon as the mistake was identified.  

It’s fair to ask questions about the data and the true impact of these thefts and organized groups, but the problem with media coverage that focuses on the known data problems gives many critics an unwarranted excuse to downplay the seriousness of these crimes and delay efforts to address them.

Evidence is everywhere that retail crime is on the rise. Media outlets across the nation continue to report ongoing acts of widespread shoplifting. Law enforcement agencies continue to establish task forces and alliances focusing on organized retail crime. These same agencies are reporting apprehensions of repeat theft offenders and fencing operations involved in stealing and reselling stolen goods. Retailers continue to lock up more merchandise to deter and prevent theft, much to the dismay of legitimate customers who now have to wait for a store associate to unlock commonly stolen items.

Better data is absolutely part of the solution, but we should not delay acting on the obvious evidence of retail theft in our communities every day while arguing over the numbers.

It’s time for critics to stop dwelling on flawed, flashy inferences and focus on the facts. Instead, let's prioritize addressing the flagrant disregard of law that threatens all retailers and weakens our communities. nrf.com


Prop 47 Facing Progressive Pushback
Growing number of Democrats want to roll back Prop 47

San Francisco Mayor London Breed backs Republican initiative to stiffen penalties for retail theft
Democratic Mayors London Breed of San Francisco and Matt Mahan of San Jose have endorsed a tough-on-crime ballot measure effort to reform Proposition 47, a controversial initiative that reduced some drug and theft felonies to misdemeanors.

The measure, called the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, Retail Theft Reduction Act, will reform a 2014 law by increasing penalties for fentanyl dealers and repeat organized retail theft rings, as well as providing mandatory treatment for drug users, according to the proposed ballot initiative.

These endorsements come in the weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters during his January budget presentation that altering Proposition 47 would not curtail the wave of high-profile retail thefts in the state. The Newsom administration instead has proposed six ways lawmakers can expand criminal penalties for organized theft without bringing the issue back to voters. Newsom agreed that tougher enforcement is needed, and has called for more arrests in these cases.

This week, Newsom also assigned 120 California Highway Patrol officers to combat crime in Oakland.

In 2022, San Francisco had the highest rate of property theft among all California cities, according to data from the Public Policy Institute of California, a leading nonpartisan group that researches crime trends and policies. Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Mateo also experienced an increase. However, according to the mayor’s office, property crimes in the city were lower than any period in the last 10 years, except for 2020. This year, in the first three weeks of January, property crime is reportedly down 41 percent.

Proposition 47 raised the threshold for shoplifting to be considered a felony to $950 of stolen goods and reclassified some drug charges from felonies to misdemeanors. It was heavily favored back then as a way for California to address the overcrowding in prisons. latimes.com
 
RELATED: California Democrats support ballot measure to go after retail theft


Two Major Retailers Are Funding the Prop 47 Roll-Back
Walmart, Target Push for New Shoplifting Crackdown in California
Two of the nation’s largest retailers and a pair of Democratic mayors are supporting a campaign to roll back California’s landmark criminal justice reform, which has been blamed for a spike in retail theft.

Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. are the top funders of a proposed ballot measure that aims to undo Proposition 47, a voter-approved law from 2014 that reduced penalties for many lower-level drug and property crimes in the state.

The latest initiative would give prosecutors more power to charge accused thieves as felons and force drug users into treatment with the threat of jail time, said Greg Totten, head of the California District Attorneys Association, which is spearheading the effort.

The campaign has gained the support of San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who represent two of the most liberal cities in the US. Their backing reflects a growing frustration felt by the public and city leaders with the consequences of Proposition 47, which some say has emboldened criminals.

Critics point to a recent wave of smash-and-grab robberies at department stores and the prevalence of open-air drug use on city streets as evidence of the law’s shortcomings. In September, Target closed three California locations as well as six stores in other states, citing crime.

Other large backers of the campaign include a prison-guard union, Macy’s Inc., and businessman and political donor William Oberndorf, who was a major contributor to a 2022 recall effort that ousted San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, Chesa Boudin.

The mayors’ stance puts them at odds with other Democratic leaders in the state, including Governor Gavin Newsom. bloomberg.com

RELATED: Walmart and Target Funding Campaign to Stiffen Penalties for Theft


Is NYC Experiencing a 'Migrant Crime Wave'?
Fears of a migrant crime wave are growing in NYC, but actual evidence is scant

The drumbeat of anti-migrant sentiment has been growing in New York for months.

The fears — or conservative talking points — have been bolstered by two recent high-profile episodes. Two police officers were beaten outside a migrant shelter near Times Square, touching off outrage across the city. Days later, a cell phone robbery ring orchestrated by a handful of recent migrants was busted.

The episodes sparked GOP calls for the deportation of migrants who’ve committed crimes and for the revocation of New York City’s sanctuary city status. But is a “migrant crime wave” really taking hold of New York City?

Nothing in the data, at this point, suggests any broad-based or wide-scale increases in crime is being driven by the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in New York City.

Mayor Adams, who has said he would entertain the possibility of working more closely with ICE if the City Council dialed back some of New York’s sanctuary protections, noted during a press conference on the arrests in the cell phone robbery ring that “the overwhelming number of 170‑plus thousand migrants and asylum seekers are attempting to continue their next leg of their journey of pursuing the American dream,” and that a “small number of people are breaking the law.”

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban suggested a broader problem when, at the same event, he said, “a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city.”    nydailynews.com

RELATED: Body-cam video contradicts NYPD version of migrants beating cops


California Communities Debate Over How to Solve Retail Crime Problem
West Hollywood, CA: Community Debunks ‘Retail Crime Wave’ Panic, Rejects ‘Tough on Crime’ Responses

Retail workers and advocates refuse to return to failed public safety approaches, demanding robust community investment

The Select Committee on Retail Theft and the Assembly Committee on Public Safety convened a hearing at West Hollywood City Hall to explore statewide solutions to the reported “retail crime” surge.

At the hearing, retail workers, professors, social workers, local city council members, and advocates provided public comment disputing the narrative that California should further penalize low-level offenses in response to the misinformation-driven retail theft panic. They will call on local and state governments to center proven, non-carceral solutions to preventing harm.

“Instead of increasing funds for police or adding harsh punishments for retail crime, legislators should look to solutions like raising wages, offering full-time roles (that come with benefits), offering professional development, and shortening store hours,” said Rachel Reyes, former West Los Angeles retail worker and manager.

Community leaders stress the importance of focusing on real solutions that actually address poverty and homelessness, as well as efforts that prioritize small businesses and their customers who have experienced retail theft or violence. “We need solutions that address why people shoplift,” says Claire Simonich, Associate Director of Vera California. “It’s vital we support local businesses and improve in-person shopping experiences by investing in workers.”  davisvanguard.org


Los Angeles DA Under Fire for Having a 'Heart for Criminals'
Grieving mom of shooting victim confronts DA George Gascón over lax crime policies

Emma Rivas accused Gascón of having 'more sympathy' for her son's killer than for her son

A Los Angeles shooting victim's grieving mother confronted progressive District Attorney George Gascón with tough questions last week, slamming his allegedly soft-on-crime policies to his face.

"My child was killed by a gang member, and you had more sympathy for that gang member than my child who was killed in front of my home," Emma Rivas said during a district attorney debate over policies on gang-related crime enhancements last Thursday.

Gascón barred prosecutors from pursuing advanced punishments for gang members after taking over as district attorney, according to FOX 11 in LA.

"We cannot have that kind of progressive DA in office," she said. "This is the first time in history, 180 years, that we've ever had a DA that has a heart for criminals and not a heart for the victims. There are parents that lost their children to murder that are 16, 17 years old and getting five years in jail. Where's the justice in this? foxnews.com

 
Walmart and Target try a new way to take on retail theft

Pataskala, OH: Retail crime climbs in central Ohio