During the Covid pandemic years of 2020 through 2023, retail losses from external theft leaped from $32.1 billion to $42.6 billion. Additionally, $101 billion in losses from fraudulent returns were incurred in 2023, and over 90% of retailers reported an increase in violence from shoplifters, as indicated by the 2024 report "The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence" from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC). If the statistics continue to follow these upward trends, retailers can expect grim years ahead.
However, there is good news on the horizon. An increased awareness of retail crime, combined with advancements in technology and increased collaboration, means that sellers have more tools at their disposal to combat crime than ever before.
An Understanding of Wholesale Shoplifting
Looking back a decade, the scene is one of loss prevention personnel thoroughly investigating and preparing organized retail crime (ORC) cases for prosecution, only to have to knock on doors and find a tolerant detective or patient prosecutor willing to take the case. Fortunately, times have changed and so have law enforcement attitudes.
Organized retail crime associations (ORCAs), comprising members from the retail sector, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors’ offices, have proliferated over the past decade. Regional ORCA members meet regularly to exchange information about ORC rings or individual frequent fliers who hit stores in their areas. Each membership sector works in a circle because when law enforcement is willing to put time and effort into investigating ORC cases, retailers are more likely to report each incident. And because of this cooperation, prosecutors have begun collaborating with their counterparts in nearby areas to bring charges against thieves who can no longer hide behind the protection of county or state lines and information silos.
Today’s understanding that ORC is not the same as shoplifting for personal use is reflected in legislation designed to facilitate the prosecution of wholesale shoplifters. While the perennial attempt to pass anti-ORC laws at the federal level has not yet been successful, many states have hardened their statutes to make charging these crimes easier. In much the same way that the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statute made it easier for law enforcement to crack down on Mafia-type organized crime groups, contemporary ORC state laws allow prosecutors to bring charges based on patterns of criminal activity in the retail sector.
In the Phoenix, Ariz., area, law enforcement and prosecutors from the city, surrounding towns, and other Arizona counties collaborate through the AZ ORCA group that meets monthly to share information about retail crimes. In addition, the Maricopa County Attorney’s and the Arizona Attorney General’s offices have ORC task forces led by prosecutors who are experienced in retail crime.
In practice, the county and municipal prosecutors collaborate to address the issue of ORC teams or individuals who target multiple Arizona cities. A single incident, for example, might look like a misdemeanor, but because of this cooperation, a pattern of, say, 30, 40, or 50 incidents across the Phoenix Valley or throughout the state might be revealed, which allows the thieves to be charged with a felony, rather than with individual misdemeanors. Prosecutors report that they are committed to charging frequent fliers with offenses whose terms can run consecutively, which is also considered when fashioning plea agreements.
Arizona laws, which serve as a model for ORC statutes, include additional penalties for aggravating factors, such as possessing Alpha keys or magnets to open locked display cases, theft for pecuniary gain, and causing harm to retailers and consumers through theft.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who describes herself as a “traditional prosecutor,” brings a grounded and no-nonsense approach to prosecutions. “ORC is tied to organizations supplying money to other criminal causes, such as terrorism, drug and human trafficking,” she says bluntly. “Retail losses mean lost jobs, lost tax revenue, and lost services in the community,” she adds.
Mitchell indicated that Maricopa County has always been open to taking ORC cases, even when other jurisdictions haven’t taken these crimes seriously in the face of rampant ORC thefts. “Everything we saw happening in California, Chicago, and New York -- why did they continue not prosecuting?” she wonders. “Prosecutors with progressive agendas came into office with the idea of not holding people accountable. I’m the traditional prosecutor. I hold people accountable.”
The County Attorney points to Target Corporation, which recently closed all its stores in Portland, Oregon. Yet Target is opening two new stores in the Valley. Taking a hard line against ORC means that retail crimes are not causing major retailers to shut down their stores or avoid opening them in the Phoenix area.
Recently, two women on a field trip from California stole in bulk from 12 stores in one day, hitting six different cities within Maricopa County. Good communication among Valley agencies avoided treating each theft as a separate one-off. Instead, the County Attorney’s Office considered the crimes in the aggregate, allowing the women to be prosecuted accordingly.
Multi-Jurisdictional Cases
When considering locales with the highest rates of ORC, Kansas is rarely at the top of mind. However, California, Texas and Florida, Kansas and Missouri are among the top ten states hit by organized retail crime.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who testified at the 2023 Hearing on Organized Retail Crime and the Threat to Public Safety before the U.S House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, indicated that the Sunflower State makes the top 10 list because of “the I-70 corridor, which has become a pipeline not only for drugs, but also for organized retail crime. There is a link between drug trafficking and organized retail crime,” he stated.
Interstate 70 runs east-west, spanning from Maryland to Utah and cutting through Kansas City, which is shared between the states of Kansas and Missouri. In addition to the two states, several surrounding municipalities make up the KC metropolitan area.
The lack of prosecutorial capacity in smaller jurisdictions meant some ORC cases were unaddressed. In 2023, Kobach made a request, which was granted, to address this issue. “I asked the state legislature for original prosecutorial authority in all cases where a course of criminal conduct occurs in two or more counties,” he said. “This allows my prosecutors to prosecute cases with state resources where a county or district attorney cannot prosecute.”
Kansas became the first state in the country to adopt this measure. Last year, Kansas enacted legislation allowing thefts to be aggregated over a 12-month period. The area takes an active stance against ORC, with the Missouri Organized Retail Crime Association (MORCA) and the Midwest Organized Retail Crime Association (MWORCA) bringing together Midwestern retailers and law enforcement to collectively combat the rising problem of retail theft and other crimes.
In addition to the beefed-up state statutes and increased area collaboration, federal prosecutors have also been interested in retail crime in the Kansas City Area. For example, a May 2025 theft ring case involved six suspects who used KC as a distribution hub for stolen items. In Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, ORC offenses were committed. The case involved investigators from the Internal Revenue Service, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 16 Kansas City area municipalities in Kansas and Missouri, and a dozen other agencies. According to federal court documents filed in Kansas City, Missouri, the thefts from 23 beauty and liquor stores occurred over 10 months in 2023 and 2024, with an estimated value of nearly half a million dollars. The case has resulted in a plea agreement for at least one defendant, carrying a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole, as well as restitution to be paid to the affected businesses.
First National ORC Blitz
Now that more states are taking a proactive stance against retail crime, even those that had a laissez-faire attitude toward ORC in the past have seen the light. California, for example, whose three major cities, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, rank in the top 10 for retail organizations impacted by this issue, has seen several chain stores close locations because retail thieves so heavily targeted them. However, the state has recently reversed course, deciding to prosecute these cases.
The Golden State has engaged in carefully coordinated blitzes to draw attention to and make arrests for ORC. The Operation Holiday Watch blitz, held to promote safe shopping experiences for communities throughout the state, took place in December of 2023 and 2024, resulting in the California Highway Patrol arresting more than 100 suspects last year. Also in December 2024, Ventura County’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) conducted its "Shoplift with a Cop" blitz, resulting in the arrest of 37 individuals engaged in holiday shoplifting at the Pacific View Mall. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office coordinated with Allied Security and LP teams from Target, JCPenney, and Macy’s to make the arrests and recover merchandise at the shopping center.
The first National Organized Retail Crime Blitz was planned for the week of May 26, 2025. Over 30 states are participating in this initiative, which is being coordinated by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Cook County Regional Organized Crime (CCROC) Task Force, with support from the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA).
The goal of the Chicago area crackdown is critical but straightforward: disrupt and dismantle local ORC networks by simultaneously coordinating focused enforcement operations across the country. The message the blitz is meant to get across is that retail theft is not low-risk or victimless; instead, it threatens store employees and communities and is often tied to broader criminal activity like drug trafficking and fraud.
Law enforcement, retail investigators, and prosecutors nationwide are all encouraged to participate in the coast-to-coast blitz. After the event, participating groups will share results, intelligence, and lessons learned. All municipalities are encouraged to contact CCROC to participate.
With the proactive stances that ORCAs, prosecutors and law enforcement are taking, the tide can likely be turned on the climbing trends of ORC, fraud and violence in the retail sector. It has become apparent that reducing the floor amount for thefts to qualify as felonies and allowing boosters to remain in the community will not win the war against retail crime.
The triad of cooperation, collaboration, and education fosters a climate in which retailers build cases that law enforcement investigates, and prosecutors prosecute—all of which results in the prosecution of thieves for extended periods and the maintenance of safer communities. It takes not only a village but towns, states, retailers, and prosecutors to work together to combat retail crime.
