The Challenge of Organized Retail Crime

Organized retail crime has become a growing concern for retailers and communities nationwide. Criminal networks are increasingly targeting stores and reselling stolen goods through online marketplaces, creating significant financial losses and safety risks for employees and customers.

This page explores the key factors driving the rise of organized retail crime and highlights policy and industry efforts to address it.

How did we get here?

Strained police resources, changes in thresholds for prosecuting theft as a felony, and the surge in popularity of online marketplaces created a perfect storm in which organized retail crime was able to fester.

Low-risk, high-reward

Prosecutorial policies across the country, specifically increasing thresholds for prosecuting theft as a felony rather than a misdemeanor, have created an environment in which retail theft is a low-risk, high-reward endeavor. Since 2000, at least 37 states have raised felony theft thresholds. That means criminals can steal higher dollar amounts of merchandise without the fear of significant jail time in many cases.

Why are some saying crime is going down? Are they right?

Some groups have incorrectly concluded that property crimes, such as retail theft, have decreased despite felony thresholds rising. Pew published one such study. A closer look at the effects of these policy changes here. Why are these people wrong? What Pew and others who cite their work fail to account for is that most retail theft goes unreported and unprosecuted. The studies that rely on police data make the false assumption that every theft is reported, when in reality, most are not. 

Solutions

In addition to advocating for effective policies at the state and federal levels, retailers are investing significant resources to address this issue, aiming to keep stores safe and ultimately restore vibrancy to the communities in which they operate. Explore RILA’s Vibrant Communities Initiative, in collaboration with the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), here.

Retailers are making big investments in security and technology.

Retailers advocated for the passage of the INFORM Consumers Act to make it harder for criminals to hide behind fake screen names and sell stolen products online.

Retailers are supporting organized retail crime task forces in states across the country and are urging every state to invest targeted resources to prosecute organized theft rings.

Mapping the impact

Organized retail crime is a challenge in communities large and small across the U.S. Criminals and bad actors don’t discriminate when it comes to targeting stores, and organized retail crime is happening in red states and blue cities. Explore the headlines state-by-state below.