About the Initiative

RILA Communities Foundation’s (RCF) Vibrant Communities Initiative (VCI) is a comprehensive program that responds to an urgent need to address rising organized retail crime, habitual theft, violence, vagrancy, and blight in and around retail stores. Communities across America are plagued with underlying social challenges – drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness – that are exacerbating a retail crime problem that has persisted for years. Addressing these complex criminal and social problems requires commitment from a diverse group of stakeholders.

In August 2023, VCI launched pilots in Yolo County (CA) and King County (WA). The pilots brought together retailers, district attorneys, law enforcement, social service organizations, civic and business groups, and other stakeholders to identify, test, and promote effective approaches to combat retail crime and disorder. Participating retailers were required to record theft events in a single crime-linking platform, Auror, to identify common high-impact offenders across organizations.

 In October 2024, VCI was expanded to Kansas City Metro (KS and MO) and Manhattan (NY). Key objectives of Pilot #2 are to build on the learnings from Pilot #1 and develop a technology-agnostic approach to information sharing for high-impact offenders. Participating retailers will record theft events in their existing case management/crime-linking platforms (e.g., Auror, ThinkLP, ApprissRetail).

Pilot Objectives

With recent research indicating that 10% of subjects committing retail theft account for 93% of loss (Auror, 2024), VCI seeks to identify patterns of common high-impact offenders, define and communicate the requirements for successful prosecution, test an integrated suite of technologies to develop an ecosystem that has the largest impact on crime mitigation and identify diversion programs that reduce recidivism among qualified offenders.

Focus Areas

Information Sharing: Real-time data sharing across stakeholders to identify high-impact offenders and accelerate multi-agency investigations.

Technology Integration: Leverage integrated solutions for crime-linking, facilitating joint investigations across stakeholders, and streamlining evidence collection.

Prosecution: Work collaboratively with prosecutors to identify training needs and evidentiary requirements and to ensure accountability by the criminal justice system.

Diversion: Partner with social service organizations to build theft-based and place-based referral programs to address underlying causes of crime and disorder and steer qualified offenders away from prosecution.

Developing a Model for Safe Communities Through:

• Collaboration across key private and public stakeholders.
• Evaluation of quantitative & qualitative metrics, including law enforcement sentiment, reporting to law enforcement, recidivism, and diversion program efficacy.
•  Investments in restorative justice programs and community outreach efforts.
•  Development of a blueprint for broader implementation.