MAORCA’s 1st Annual Training Day
MAORCA’s Fall Training Day Was A Success!
MAORCA’s 1st Annual Training Day, at Tyson’s Corner Mall in VA, was a huge success, hosting over 115 retail and law enforcement professionals. President Sgt. Howard “Merg” Mergler welcomed attendees, and Fairfax County Chief Kevin Davis highlighted the impacts of ORC on communities. Experts provided insights on legislative updates, State Police fusion centers, OSINT tools, and ORC collaborations with HSI. Awards were presented to outstanding retail and law enforcement investigators, including Andres Oliveri, Rahmi Arikan, Stafford County Police Special Problems Unit, HSI Special Agent Michael D'Angelo, HSI Special Agent Emily Grove, and Jennifer Verret.

"Operation Save the Sale" and "Operation Door Buster" teams received commendations for their ORC cases. VP Jeff Meyer emphasized the importance of collaboration in combating ORC and gratitude was expressed to the attendees, presenters, organizers, and sponsors including Live View Technologies, Target, Amazon, Auror, IAFCI Mid-Atlantic Chapter, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Under Armour, Giant/Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Walmart.

Read more about the event, see photos and presentations at their website: www.maorca.org

California's Disappearing Theft Suspects
Ahead of Proposition 36 vote, state data show California is not tracking retail theft suspects after arrests
Governor Gavin Newsom announced last month that California's Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCT) had made more than 1,000 arrests in 2024. For more than a month, CBS News California has been trying to find out what happened to those people after their arrests.

No one - not the Governor's Office, the attorney general, nor the California Highway Patrol (CHP), which runs California's task force - could tell us how many of the people arrested for retail theft were sentenced, let alone how many showed up to court, went to jail, received treatment, or re-offended. None of the agencies could even provide the names of those 1000+ people, so we could not independently track them down.

The CHP did provide arrest statistics, which reveal that out of the 1,126 arrests made by the Organized Retail Crime Task Force as of early October, more than half (684) were cite-and-releases, which means those offenders received the equivalent of the ticket and a notice to appear in court. District Attorneys say many of those people never show up in court.

A week before California voters decide on the tougher-on-crime Proposition 36, Gov. Newsom held a virtual news conference Monday to announce that more than 10,000 arrests over the past year by local law enforcement agencies statewide. These arrests were for various crimes, but he attributed them to the hundreds of millions of dollars California invested in cracking down on organized retail theft (ORT) last year.

Newsom awarded approximately $267 million worth of grants to 55 California cities and counties in October 2023. The governor said that money "has generated 10,128 arrests and counting just from the local law enforcement efforts." Of those arrests there were "nearly 8,000 for organized retail theft," according to the governor's office. cbsnews.com


Police Are Solving Fewer Crimes
Crime debate misses key point: Police have more resources, but are solving fewer crimes
Here’s a potentially game-changing fact that has been completely absent from the virulent debate over Proposition 36 (the ballot measure that could roll back many of Proposition 47’s criminal justice reforms): California has not gotten softer on crime during the reform era, but tougher.

An arrested person in California has considerably higher odds of being incarcerated today (20.2%) than in 2013 (18.5%), the year before Proposition 47 passed, or in 2010 (17.7%), before reforms began. This is clear from California’s Department of Justice, local jail, and state prison statistics.

So, are Californians mistaken to believe that many individuals are “getting away with crime,” particularly retail theft? No. But everyone is wrong about why that is.

The reason is that, despite being given more resources, law enforcement across California is solving vastly fewer crimes today than in the past. That means DAs (liberal and conservative alike) have far fewer arrested persons to prosecute.

While DAs and courts have gotten tougher, police and sheriff agencies have gotten much softer on crime. Law enforcement’s “crime clearance” (solving) rate has plummeted by over half since 1990.

On average, each sworn officer arrests nearly 70% fewer people today than officers did 30 years ago. In 1990, the average officer arrested 33 people; in 2010,19; in 2023, just 10. Per-officer arrests plummeted even though California’s crime decline has left officers with hundreds of thousands fewer reported crimes annually to investigate. Reforms are not responsible for the growing failure of police to solve crimes. Law enforcement clearance rates began plunging 20 years before California’s recent reforms began in 2010.

It’s a mystery why law enforcement efficiency has fallen so drastically even amid large increases in funding and fewer crimes to solve. Californians spend $230 more per person annually on law enforcement in constant, inflation-adjusted dollars today than in 1990. pressenterprise.com


The View from the Other Side
Myths and Realities: Prosecutors and Criminal Justice Reform

There is no clear relationship between pro-reform prosecutors and increased crime.

Prosecutors play a vital role in the criminal justice system, determining not just which cases to pursue but also what charges to file and penalties to seek. Over the past decade, some prosecutors have developed approaches that aim to reduce racial and economic disparities and unjust outcomes in the legal system — such as excessive sentences or the criminalization of poverty through cash bail — while preserving public safety.

Far from a unified group, these prosecutors bring many different approaches to their work. They span the political spectrum and are found in urban and rural jurisdictions alike. They are often grouped under the label “progressive prosecutors” or “reform-minded prosecutors.” For the purposes of this analysis, we use the term “pro-reform prosecutors” to indicate chief district attorneys, county attorneys, commonwealth attorneys, and state attorneys who campaigned on or promised to reimagine the role of their office to broadly reduce unjust disparities in the justice system and decrease unnecessary incarceration.

Some critics have alleged that pro-reform strategies have driven increases in crime. We evaluate those claims, drawing on recent crime data and an understanding of how the criminal justice system works in practice, and find that these claims lack support. In fact, there is no evidence that pro-reform prosecutors are responsible for crime rising or falling. brennancenter.org


CA's ORC Task Force Making More Progress
Hammer comes down on burglars, retail thieves
Ventura had 20 commercial burglaries in August and 10 in September, according to the crime map released by the Ventura Police Department. While these numbers fluctuate, detectives on the Ventura County Organized Retail Theft Task Force are on a mission to combat organized retail, vehicle and cargo theft to prevent an estimated $10 million in yearly losses.

“It started last year in October, but we didn’t really get going until mid-April,” said Sgt. Baltazar Tapia who serves on the task force. “It lets people know that we’re serious. We’re not LA County. We’re trying to be like Orange County, with their no-nonsense approach toward crime, and we arrest everybody. Whether it’s a misdemeanor or not, they end up going to jail.”

The latest blitz operation by the task force occurred the weekend of Oct. 4 at the Camarillo Premium Outlets, and resulted in the arrests of 14 adults and one juvenile, where an estimated $23,000 in stolen property was recovered, along with a stolen vehicle, around 90 grams of methamphetamine and several types of burglary tools.

“That takes weeks of planning just because we need the personnel,” Tapia said of the operation, adding that cities are contacted to secure the right number of officers for the operation. ojaivalleynews.com
 

Homicides are finally and significantly falling in Oakland

Data check: Mass shootings in 2024
 

Training Is Key to Emergency Prep
Employees Say 25% of Companies Not Prepared for Emergencies

Poor training is a major issue according to Fusion survey.

When asked about the biggest threats their companies face, 51% employees said cyber threats/attacks, 33% said massive tech failures and 33% said natural disaster, according to a recent survey from Fusion Risk Management.

To address these threats most companies have written emergency preparedness plans, and the survey of 1,000 employees found this to be the case. Seventy-six have access to a written plan. Looking at specific events, 83% had plans for natural disasters, 65% for cyber threats, and 62% had plans for active shooter events.

When asked how often the emergency preparedness plans were updated the response is as follows:

• Annually -- 53%
• Not regularly tested or updated -- 28%
• Twice a year -- 9%
• Once every two years -- 6%
• Every three years -- 4%

Another method to prepare for emergencies is to use drills or simulations. The survey found that 76% of employees participated in natural disaster drills, while 43% were involved in active shooter drills and 28% experienced cyber attack simulations.

Even with all of these preparation methods available, the survey found that one in five employees say they received no emergency preparedness training at all. ehstoday.com


More Walgreens Job Cuts
Walgreens to lay off over 250 people

The decision regarding the support center roles follows a recent announcement that the pharmacy retailer plans to close 1,200 stores over the next three years.

As part of a move to “further” its focus on the company’s core retail pharmacy business, Walgreens is laying off 256 employees who filled support center roles, a spokesperson confirmed to Retail Dive on Wednesday. Affected employees will receive severance pay and outplacement support, the company said.

“While decisions like these are always difficult, we believe this action is necessary to position us to rapidly respond to the changing external environment so we can best serve the millions of patients and customers who depend on us every day for their healthcare needs,” a Walgreens spokesperson said in an email. “We are grateful for the many contributions by team members who will be leaving, and we are committed to supporting them as much as possible during this transition.”

This week’s announcement is the pharmacy retailer’s latest round of job cuts over the last year. In February, the company laid off 145 people, most of whom were part of the corporate workforce. And last November, Walgreens cut 267 people, or about 5% of its corporate workforce at the time. retaildive.com


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