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Yesterday's Hearing on Organized Retail Crime

House Subcommittee Hears Testimony About Growing Threat of ORC
Kansas AG Kris Kobach testifies about retail theft at Washington hearing
Attorney General Kris Kobach testified about Kansas retail theft Tuesday in Washington, D.C., during a U.S. House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance hearing.

Kobach claimed Kansas is in the top 10 states hit by organized retail crime in terms of money lost. He highlighted cases such as the owner of a Kansas City, Missouri, pawn shop pleading guilty in March to gathering items stolen from retailers and reselling them online.

“You typically see box stores being hit two to three times per week,” Kobach said. “The fence at the center is usually, in Kansas, is usually a pawnshop. But oftentimes, it’s just a warehouse that’s used to move the goods. Almost all of the products are sold online.”

The hearing about a rise in organized retail crime and the threat to public safety began with an opening statement Rep. Andy Biggs, chairman of the subcommittee and an Arizona Republican, who said he was disappointed he needed to hold the hearing.

“We are coddling criminals and (fanning) the flames of this problem, and it’s open season on our stores, and criminal syndicates are taking advantage,” Biggs said.

Kobach listed factors in the legal system that worsen the problem, including a lack of prosecutorial capacity, the threshold amount that must be stolen in order to prosecute the theft, investigative capacity, bail being set too low and the speed at which suspects are released.

Wisconsin Republican Rep. Thomas Tiffany asked Kobach if he believed the lawlessness of the country and the “defund the police” movement contributed to the problem. “I do, sir,” Kobach said. “And there’s, at the end of my comments I briefly noted on this, is there’s a cultural element here, too. It’s a lack of respect for the rule of law. And it gets to a point in certain areas where people feel like shoplifting is accepted, or at least tolerated, or nothing’s being done about it.”

John Milhiser, a former U.S. attorney, and John Flynn, president of the National District Attorneys Association, also spoke about organized retail crime at the hearing. Lorie Mohs testified as well. Her son, Blake Mohs, died in April during the theft of a phone charger from the California Home Depot where he worked as a guard. kansasreflector.com


Business Community Applauds ORC Hearing
'Thank you ... for your attention to this "national crisis.'

U.S. Chamber Letter on the hearing, "The Rise in Organized Retail Crime and the Threat to Public Safety"

This Hill letter was sent to the Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, on the hearing, "The Rise in Organized Retail Crime and the Threat to Public Safety."

Dear Chairman Biggs and Ranking Member Jackson Lee: Thank you for scheduling the hearing on, "The Rise in Organized Retail Crime and the Threat to Public Safety," and for your attention to this "national crisis."

Last year, Congress took an important step on this issue by approving the INFORM Act, which aimed to close off online markets for stolen goods by establishing verification requirements for third party online marketplace sellers. In addition to the efforts in your Committee this Congress, Senator Grassley’s Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 (S. 140), which would establish a coordinated multi-agency response to organized retail crime and would create new tools to tackle evolving trends in organized retail theft is a positive federal response.

At the state level, there has been significant progress with 34 state laws increasing penalties and enforcement including in:

• Virginia, which passed a law to make organized retail theft a felony and make those convicted of the crime eligible for prison sentences of up to 20 years

• Georgia, which sought to make it more difficult for organized gangs to sell stolen goods online

• Minnesota, which created a separate offense for organized retail theft with a possible sentence of 15 years depending on the value of the good stolen

• Oregon, which passed a law allowing for prosecutors to combine organized retail crime offenses happening across jurisdictions

• North Carolina, which made a felony of organized retail crimes that result in $1,500 or more in damage.

This is an outstanding foundation to build on but sustained effort in all 50 states is needed to ensure that no jurisdiction is a safe haven for these organized criminal operations.  uschamber.com


Lowe's 'Project Unlock' Highlighted at NRF PROTECT 2023
Lowe has seen a 180% increase in acts of violence against associates & customers since 2020

How Lowe’s uses collaboration and tech to battle theft

NRF PROTECT: Tap into individual expertise and collective thought leadership to create new asset protection tools and strategies

Lowe’s Innovation Labs and Asset Protection teams are collaborating on the next big idea in asset protection and loss prevention — Project Unlock.

Vice President of Asset Protection and Safety Scott Draher, Vice President of Lowe’s Innovation Labs Cheryl Friedman and Senior Director of AP Operations Luke Moeller discussed the early-stage project during a presentation at the NRF PROTECT conference and expo in Grapevine, Texas.

Project Unlock is designed to tackle the theft of powered products — in Lowe’s case, power tools — in a way that is virtually invisible to retail customers. Products are embedded with an RFID chip and are set to inoperable. When the item is purchased at a store register with a point-of-sale RFID scanner, the item is unlocked and ready to use, ensuring that only legitimately purchased products are activated. If it’s stolen or not unlocked, the product won’t work.

In addition, the product and box barcode are embedded with a unique serial number so the transaction is recorded on the blockchain. That allows vendors, resellers and law enforcement to quickly verify the item was legally purchased.

Project Unlock is just one of many security and asset protections initiatives that have come about from collaboration among Lowe’s Innovation Labs and Asset Protection teams.

Lowe’s has seen a 180% increase in acts of violence against associates and customers in stores since 2020 and a 77% increase in weapons-related incidents over the last year, Draher noted. Criminals are becoming more brazen, he said.

In response, Lowe’s has put in place several security solutions to keep people and products safe from criminals, creating a full-organization, collaborative ecosystem to detect, deter and respond to thefts and violence.

The outside of each store has robot parking lot patrols, security towers, integrated CCTV and camera platforms that use analytics to identify vehicles, not just plates. Vehicle analytics has been particularly useful, Moeller said: Within the first 60 days of deploying the technology, the AP team was able to close 478 active cases. nrf.com


Dollar Tree Warns of Store Closures, Price Hikes & More to Combat Theft
Dollar Tree warns it could follow Walmart and CVS with major store change in ‘defensive’ strategy

Discount retailer is concerned about a rise in crime in stores

In a post-earnings call with analysts, Dollar Tree Chief Financial Officer Jeff Davis said the company may be instituting what they call “defensive merchandising” to discourage theft, according to reporting by the U.S. Sun.

On the call, Davis said he defines defensive merchandising as any steps taken to prevent in-store theft. Davis said Dollar Tree aims to "improve our performance on shrink through defensive merchandising efforts, real estate optimization, and perhaps higher prices to compensate for areas of systematically higher shrink.”

Target and Walgreens have both said they would take steps towards increasing measures around theft prevention in the coming months.

Walgreens recently opened a store specifically designed to prevent theft, with hardly any shoppable areas on the store floor. The store is located in Chicago’s South Loop, an area that has experienced an uptick in crime. Walgreens has said the store could be a blueprint for other locations.

Davis added that Dollar Tree headquartered in Chesapeake, Va., is looking into real estate optimization and even higher prices to combat shrink inventory. Target CEO Brian Cornell said recently shrink inventory will cost the retailer over $1 billion this year alone.

"And we're taking all the appropriate steps that we can to control and mitigate this where we can."

Along with defensive merchandising, Dollar Tree said another way the issue can be resolved is by closing stores or local governments taking action. The warning by Dollar Tree came after the company missed earnings expectations from Wall Street. supermarketnews.com the-sun.com


Facial Recognition & Other Tech Can Help Prevent Crime
The Retail Threats That Impact the Safety of Retail Employees

As the retail landscape evolves, employees rely more on enhanced video surveillance and data analytics to prevent loss and boost productivity.

Detailing the trend, NRF notes that “the majority of retailers report that in-store, ecommerce and omnichannel fraud have risen.” Violence is another a growing concern. In response, retailers have made addressing guest-on-associate violence, external theft and organized retail crime a priority, NRF says.

Enhanced Video Surveillance Improves the Employee Experience

One potential solution to deter this activity is OnView’s real-time security system. Andy Szanger, director of strategic industries at CDW, recommends OnView for multiple uses in retail. “It’s obviously deterring the nuisance crimes, but it’s also helping with employee safety and customer experience,” he says.

Enhanced video surveillance can also be used to prevent repeat offenses, alleviating stress on employees. Link Simpson, CDW’s enhanced video surveillance practice lead, explains that facial matching can be used when a person commits crimes repeatedly, even across multiple locations. “By establishing that someone is a repeat offender, you’re much more likely to get a response in terms of somebody showing up from the police department. OnView does that type of thing,” he says.

Tech Tools Allow Employees to Improve the Customer Experience

While enhanced video surveillance and data analytics can allow employees to focus on providing good customer service, other tech tools can amplify those efforts. Automation allows store employees to spend less time on tasks such as inventory management and more time on providing the face-to-face service shoppers have come to expect from an in-store experience.

The rise of mobile devices and edge computing have given retailers access to real-time data that’s extremely valuable when working with customers. According to Accenture, “Empowering retail workers with data means giving them actionable insight, which should look to augment their retail expertise, thereby helping them decide what activity would be most valuable at any given moment.” biztechmagazine.com


Retailers in the Bay Area Fight Back Against Theft
Bay Area stores locking up more merchandise to combat theft
An increasing number of stores around the Bay Area are locking up merchandise as a way to combat a rise in organized retail crime.

From vacuums and cleaning products at Home Depot, to hard drives and headphones at Office Depot, to shaving cream and detergent at Target, big box retailers are putting more items behind plexiglass.

Retail theft isn't a new problem. It's happening all over the country. Recent surveys show San Francisco and Oakland are part of the five top metropolitan areas being targeted.

Home Depot said high-risk products will always have multiple levels of security. In a statement, Target sad aside from increasing security, the retail giant is also working with lawmakers to address the rise in crime.

"Theft and organized retail crime are urgent issues that are increasingly impacting the team and guests…limiting product availability, creating a less convenient shopping experience and putting our team and guests in harm’s way. We will do everything in our power to continue to keep our stores open," Target stated. nbcbayarea.com


Shoppers Respond to the Retail Theft Crackdown
Walmart worker enforces new anti-theft ‘clip’ measure – but shopper says it will lose them hundreds
A Walmart employee has been spotted locking up items with security clips in a bid to combat theft. But, the measure designed to tackle shoplifting has been slammed online by shoppers.

Walmart execs have blasted the impact of theft on customers and its stores and have resorted to introducing a raft of measures. In a viral video, a Walmart staffer placed a clip on the pegs holding e.l.f cosmetic products.

The clips are designed to prevent shoppers from sliding products off a peg without the peg's removal. Shoppers are required to ask a staffer to open the peg. But, the anti-theft measure has been ridiculed by viewers.

One shopper said she struggles to find a staffer whenever she needs someone to unlock the security tag. Another influencer said she would not shop at Target if required to ask someone to unlock an item. the-sun.com


Shoplifting Is Getting Worse. Retailers Are Fighting Back.

Virginia State Police releases 2022 crime report