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'Retail Crime Uncovered' Podcast Presented by Sekura Global

The fascinating podcast hosted by Emmeline Taylor, Professor of Criminology supported by Sekura Global. Retail theft insights from leading crime and loss experts, shop staff and policing bodies. Hard-hitting interviews with ex-offenders and retail criminals.

In this episode of Retail Crime Uncovered, Emmeline explores the notion that theft has been decriminalised in the UK. The official figures do not make for a palatable listen. Emmeline outlines why now is the time to act to turn the tide on the shoplifting epidemic. To understand the importance of early intervention in what might be considered 'petty theft' as someone starts their offending career, she talks to a former prolific offender about her experiences from having a full-time job at a top hairdressing salon to a life of crime and addiction.

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Criminals Posing as Migrants 'Turning Suburban Malls into Danger Zones'
Migrant gang members are terrorizing these cities, and soft-on-crime Dems abetting the mayhem

Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, feared for how it tortures its victims, is setting up shop in New York City

Criminals posing as asylum seekers are turning American cities into war zones. The Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, feared for how it tortures its victims, is setting up business in New York City, police sources reveal.

Gang members recruit migrants from shelters and as they come off buses from Texas, putting them to work in retail theft rings or on mopeds, grabbing phones and handbags and roughing up pedestrians.

"This is organized crime. It's just like the Mafia," says Paul DiGiacomo, president of the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban warns of a "wave of migrant crime." Migrants in moped gangs and retail theft rings, some carrying guns, are terrorizing the Big Apple, Yonkers and New Jersey.

Two-man teams snatch pedestrians' phones and deliver them to Tren de Aragua stash houses, where professional hackers make fraudulent banking transactions and drain cash from all accounts. Then the phones are wiped clean and shipped to South America for resale.

Chicago is also being terrorized. There, professional criminals enlist migrants from the shelters to raid luxury stores at the suburban Oakbrook Center shopping mall, 20 miles west of downtown. These migrants wouldn't have a clue where Oak Brook, an upscale suburb, is, or how to get there without the criminal masterminds.

South American gangs are turning suburban malls into danger zones, explains retired Riverside, Illinois, Police Chief Tom Weitzel. "You're at one of the suburban malls... pushing your kids in a stroller" and you can get caught in the violence, he said in an interview with Fox News. foxnews.com


'California Retail Theft Reduction Act' Focusing on 'Professional Thieves'
Stiffer penalties for shoplifting, retail theft? State lawmakers propose new bill
Nearly four months after forming a bipartisan select committee and two hearings later, state Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced legislation Thursday to combat shoplifting and organized retail theft.

He joined Democratic Assemblymembers Rick Zbur of Los Angeles and Kevin McCarty of Sacramento to unveil the California Retail Theft Reduction Act, which Rivas described as “critical legislation” to address “a serious crime that’s hurting businesses and impacting our communities.”

Focusing on “professional retail thieves,” Zbur said the measure would create a new crime with a penalty as long as three years behind bars for possession of stolen property with the intent to sell. Because “intent to sell” can be difficult to prove in court, evidence can include repeated offenses or possessing an amount of goods that is “inconsistent with personal use.”

Other key provisions of the bill, according to Zbur:

• Aggregation: The value of thefts from different retailers can be added up so they can be prosecuted as grand theft.

• Resellers: Online sellers would be required to maintain records to show that goods were obtained legally, and large retailers would be required to report “theft data” (though details remain unclear).

• Enforcement: Police could arrest shoplifters based on a witness’s sworn statement or video footage of a crime.

• Intervention: Courts could refer some shoplifters to alternative programs instead of jail or prison.

Thursday’s measure is in response to a 29% jump in 2022 in shoplifting (though the rate was still 8% below pre-pandemic levels), including some high-profile smash-and-grabs. Also, there was a 16% rise in commercial burglaries of items totaling more than $950 between 2019 and 2022, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

The $950 is the threshold set by Proposition 47, which voters approved in 2014, to prosecute shoplifting as a felony. Zbur noted that the new bill could be enacted and signed into law without a ballot measure to overhaul Prop. 47, which Republican lawmakers and some Democrats propose. sfstandard.com

Related coverage of California's new theft bill:

• Retail theft outrage could bring California crackdown
• Democratic lawmakers introduce legislation to target organized retail theft, online resellers
• How California lawmakers want to target retail theft
• Calif. lawmakers unveil plan to target organized retail theft — without changes to Prop 47


'Holding Repeat Retail Thieves Accountable'
San Diego County DA, 14 mayors work to put initiative on November ballot
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan was joined by mayors from cities across the county Sunday in an effort to encourage the public and boost signature gathering to place the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act on the November ballot.

DA Stephan says the measure would make communities, businesses and streets safer by restoring the rule of law, holding repeat retail thieves and fentanyl dealers more accountable, and incentivizing individuals who are addicted and homeless to accept life-saving treatment.

Supporters say the ballot measure is a way to fix the unintended consequences of Proposition 47. The 2014 measure reclassified drug possession and nonviolent theft of less than $950 in property as misdemeanors rather than felonies.

Neighborhood Market Association President Arkan Somo says many businesses had to shut down due to rampant theft. “Proposition 47 unleashed a tidal wave of theft and violence that harms our small business owners, their employees and families, and most importantly, our customers.” said Somo. “This proposed ballot measure will give law enforcement the tools it needs to keep all of us safe. “

The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act would impose stronger penalties for those engaged in the trafficking of hard drugs or for repeat offenders of retail theft. It will still give first and second chances for those who commit theft and possess hard drugs to be treated with a misdemeanor.

However, on the third conviction, there’s a requirement that drug treatment be completed to earn a misdemeanor or be held accountable for a felony creating a new category of “Treatment Mandated Felony.”

A fourth conviction results in a felony crime. fox5sandiego.com


Walmart & Target Donate $1.5M in Campaign to Change Prop 47
Target and Walmart embrace controversial shoplifting stopper
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan have served as the lead voices for the effort to change Proposition 47. Walmart has donated $1 million to the cause while Target has put up $500,000.

The attempt to change the law, which would appear on the ballot during the state's next statewide election, would "allow separate thefts to be added up to surpass the $950 threshold for felony charges, and it would also ramp up sentencing for people working as a group to steal goods or for taking more than $50,000 in property," Supermarket News reported.

If the rule change passes, it would enable both retailers to use security footage to build cases against repeat offenders. It would also continue to protect people who fail to scan an item or make another mistake that may or may not be an attempt at shoplifting.

Organized retail crime has been growing and California is not the only state taking steps to prevent it. The National Retail Federation has been working with Congress and various states to pass laws that make it easier to go after people who work in groups to steal from stores.

"The effort has been successful, with at least 32 states passing ORC laws, and NRF is currently urging states to update the definition of ORC and adopt sufficient criminal penalties."

Despite those efforts, 87% of retailers surveyed by NRF say that a national law is needed. thestreet.com


Another State Considers Retail Theft Bill
Yates’ bill addressing organized retail theft in Ky. up for vote Feb. 23
Legislation sponsored by Senate Minority Whip David Yates, D-Louisville, to address the growing challenge of organized retail theft in Kentucky, has been scheduled for a Senate floor vote on Feb. 23.

Yates says Senate Bill 48 has a targeted approach to the issue, "This bill will give law enforcement the tools they need to track organized retail theft to more effectively stop crime that is hurting our local businesses."

The heart of the measure is expanding the theft aggregator period from 90 days to one year. That means if a person commits two or more separate thefts during that time the crimes can be combined to increase the value of the thefts to be treated as a single offense, since higher theft amounts have stronger penalties.

Yates says the bill would allow law enforcement agencies to more effectively track, connect, and analyze criminal activities over extended periods and across jurisdictions. This will provide law enforcement agencies the opportunity to identify and prosecute the "unindicted co-conspirator" who often orchestrates these organized crimes without direct involvement in thefts.

For more information on the legislation, you can go to Senate Bill (SB) 48. kentuckytoday.com


Feds Step Up Gun Store Scrutiny
Gun shops that sell the most guns used in crime revealed in new list
The federal government has stepped up its scrutiny of gun stores that sell guns used in crimes, with the number of stores singled out more than doubling in the past four years.

Which gun stores sell the most crime guns has been kept secret for more than two decades, since 2003 under the George W. Bush administration. But a Freedom of Information Act request from USA TODAY unearthed a glimpse of them.

Among the more than 1,300 outlets targeted in 2023 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are many of the largest sellers – Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, Rural King and Sportsman’s Warehouse – along with some less well-known stores, such as Town Guns in Richmond, Va. and Ammo Bros in Ontario, Calif.   usatoday.com


Mass Shootings in the US Fast Facts
There have been more than 50 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, leaving more than 75 people dead and 175 injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA).


Hochul shares more details on plan to fight retail theft

Sacramento ranked 7th highest in U.S. for organized retail crime