How Organized Retail Crime is Threatening the Retail Industry

Organized Retail Crime (ORC), the coordinated theft of merchandise for resale, has grown exponentially in the U.S., necessitating increased security measures and even causing store closures. The issue is projected to escalate, demanding modern, tactical security solutions that allow retailers and law enforcement to combat ORC while maintaining a pleasant shopping environment.

Cloud video security is a powerful tool in fighting ORC. OpenEye's comprehensive guide delves into the current methods for defining and measuring ORC's impact on businesses and the economy. It explores effective security strategies for mitigating inventory loss and enhancing the shopping experience. The guide also highlights the advantages of cloud video surveillance in tackling ORC, and how the integration of other security systems can provide a more robust solution for retailers.

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ORC Impacts Grow While Congress Stalls
Making the case for immediate passage of Combating Organized Retail Crime Act

CORCA is the only viable federal path to disrupting criminal organizations

Over the past year, Congress has taken promising — but still incomplete — steps toward addressing the growing national threat of organized retail crime. ORC is not a talking point or a public relations buzzword; it is a sophisticated criminal enterprise defined by large-scale theft, interstate logistics and illicit financial networks designed to convert stolen goods into profit.

These schemes jeopardize retail workers, customers, supply chain partners and the economic safety of communities across the nation. Congress has done the early work. Now it must finish the job. Passing the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act is the only viable federal path to disrupting these increasingly dangerous criminal organizations.

Waiting for passage allows criminals to prosper

As CORCA sits stagnant in Congress, retailers, law enforcement agencies and our communities continue to learn of the reach and magnitude of ORC groups, a reach that often spans state and national borders.

Some recent situations include an Armenian organized crime ring charged with stealing more than $83 million in Amazon cargo, using fake trucking carriers to divert high-value loads of electronics and appliances; the largest theft ring in The Home Depot company history, responsible for over 600 thefts at 71 stores with losses exceeding $10 million across multiple Southern California counties; a nationwide surge in cargo theft, with the U.S. supply chain suffering nearly $455 million in reported losses, driven by sophisticated impersonation and digital freight fraud that allow criminals to steal entire truckloads of goods; and nationwide gift card schemes tied to fentanyl and human trafficking, as Chinese gangs gain millions preying on retailers and consumers in large-scale gift card tampering.

The good news is that Congress recognizes this growing threat. The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (S.1404 / H.R.2853) was reintroduced on a bipartisan, bicameral basis last year and has now secured more than 250 co-sponsors. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees held hearings with testimony from retailers, transportation providers and law enforcement leaders. They all underscored the same point: Current organized retail crime enforcement is fragmented, jurisdictionally inconsistent and wholly inadequate for fighting multistate, digitally enabled crime rings.

CORCA offers a practical federal solution. By establishing an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center, the bill aligns investigative resources, enhances interagency information sharing, and enables state and local law enforcement to “connect the dots” that span borders — linking store-level theft crews to warehouse diversions, online resale operations and the complex financial flows that sustain these enterprises. nrf.com

Retail Crime Blame Game
Retail stores not doing enough to tackle shoplifting, Met chief says

Retailers are not doing enough to help police officers catch shoplifters, according to Scotland Yard’s head of business crime.

Following calls by high street giant Marks & Spencer and the British Retail Consortium for the government and police to tackle the rising rate of retail crime, an interview with Chief Inspector Rav Pathania by The Telegraph reveals that there are many challenges.

In four out of five shoplifting cases, vital CCTV footage has not been given to the police, Pathania said. He added that this was frustrating, as when provided, the force had a high rate of apprehending the perpetrators.

He specified that in 80% of cases, when clear images of suspects were made available, officers could identify them with the help of crime databases and facial recognition software.

Yet, Pathania explained that the force didn’t always receive digital evidence from retailers, specifying that in about 80% of incidents reported last year, store managers were unable to provide security camera or body-worn video recordings of suspects.

He acknowledged that this was partly due to the lack of a unified system for sharing such video footage with the police, with each company or store handling the handover of evidence in a different way. Also, access to security footage varied significantly.

He added that staff members were also reluctant to appear in court to give evidence against perpetrators, especially as they do not get compensated by their employers for their time there.

When prompted, Pathania, however, "rejected" suggestions by The Telegraph that his remarks constituted a "blame game" - following mounting criticism from the retail sector that not enough was being done to tackle retail crime. theindustry.fashion


Facial Recognition & Other Tech to Fight Crime
UK turns to better CCTV, facial recognition use for national knife crime strategy
The UK government has presented a new national strategy to tackle knife crime, which includes upgrading CCTV coverage to minimize blind spots and improve the use of retrospective facial recognition (RFR).​

The “Protecting Lives, Building Hope” plan aims to halve knife crime over the next 10 years by increasing police deployment and targeting the most affected areas.

Last year, the Home Office invested £5.5 million (US$7.4 million) in a pilot program to detect and prevent knife crime in 11 areas with the highest crime rates. The initiative included visible patrols, upgrading CCTV and face biometrics systems, and using youth workers to reach out to young people at risk.

This year, the government plans to allocate £26.25 million ($35.3 million) through its Knife Crime Concentrations Fund to expand the program in 27 “hot spot” areas, which together account for 90 percent of all knife crime in England and Wales. The areas were determined by using the national knife crime mapping tool.

“We are putting 13,000 additional police personnel in neighborhood roles, strengthening police powers, targeting police activity where knife crime happens and investing in technology to catch more knife offenders,” the strategy document notes. biometricupdate.com


Police to use live facial recognition technology
North Yorkshire Police has said it plans to begin using live facial recognition cameras in a move it says will "help protect vulnerable people and tackle serious crime".

2026 Milwaukee crime data; 1st quarter statistics

NOPD Releases Violent Crime Statistics from First Quarter of 2026