Fighting Canadian Organized Retail Crime Tight Job Market & Lack of Resources Makes the Fight Even Harder   During our research and coverage on Organized Retail Crime Groups here in the U.S., we've established nearly 50 groups with thousands of Loss Prevention, Banking, and Law Enforcement Professionals involved in combating ORC. Our next question was, what's Canada doing? The Glaring Differences The first thing we needed to keep in mind was that $5,000 is the felony threshold for shoplifting in Canada, nationwide. All shoplifting below $5,000 is treated as a misdemeanor. There's no three-strike law, no difference if it's your first offense or 30th. Convicted offenders can be fined and can be sentenced to up to two years in prison. Canada's Privacy Laws Impact Collaborative Efforts Understanding the difference between ORC in the U.S. and Canada begins with the sharing of information. The building block of ORC here in the U.S. is the ability to share information. In Canada, the protection of Personal Information Privacy had long been a restriction on Retailers until June of 2015 when Bill S-4 was passed. Without getting into the pages of information on Bill S-4 and PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), the restriction pertaining to Retail Loss Prevention prevented the sharing of any information on a suspect without Law Enforcement being directly involved in an investigation. Even though Canada has passed Bill S-4, many of the retailers are still reluctant to share information because the fines for violating a citizen's rights range from $10,000 to $250,000, and the potential lawsuits and bad press have most retailers holding back. Canada's ORC problem is just as big as U.S. - Comparatively Speaking This year The DAILY reported on Calgary's largest recovery of stolen merchandise; $1.5 Million of stolen items were seized. In April of 2016, we covered an elderly couple in Vancouver that paid shoplifters in drugs to steal; $200,000 of merchandise was recovered. Back in 2015, York Regional Police, along with a number of Retail Loss Prevention professionals, were involved in a $1 Million case called 'Project Resale'; 4 people were arrested. Also in 2015, York Regional Police, working with Police from British Columbia and Quebec, arrested 16 people involved in a theft ring, recovering $88,000 in merchandise in 'Project CALI.1'. Just a few examples that show how Law Enforcement and Retailers are working together even with their emphasis on privacy.     ORC Associations in Canada - A Work in Progress During this research, it was sad to note that most have few options on where Retailers and Law Enforcement can get together to share information. In the past, many ORC groups have started but fizzled out, either because of the privacy laws or budgets. Calgary Police and a number of Retailers have created 'RetailCOP', the only online Retail Crime Prevention community administered by Law Enforcement in Canada. On Sept 7, 2016 the Leithbridge Regional Police, in Alberta implemented a similar program. Toronto has TAPPS (Toronto Association of Police and Private Security), Toronto Crime Stoppers and Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers, which have supported ORC initiatives, but their overall mission is a much wider scope than just ORC. Currently in Toronto, a small group of retail Loss Prevention professionals meet, with no real schedule and not even a name for the organization. But they are meeting and making a difference. The RCC Loss Prevention conference (September 29th) is a great opportunity for Retail Loss Prevention executives and Law Enforcement agencies to come together and re-energize the ORC efforts across Canada. With privacy laws having played such an impactful role throughout Canada's history and with retailers being as risk adverse as they are, given the social media consequences and the consumer lawsuit mentality, establishing a strong ORC Association model based on information sharing may be quite the difficult task. In this respect, Canada is much different than the U.S., because in Canada the rights of the individual supersede the rights of corporations - a fact that, quite frankly, the Canadians are very proud of. Given that Canada is one tenth the size of the United States and couple that with the current economic retail environment, and what you have is a very tight Loss Prevention job market that, quite frankly, doesn't have the resources to dedicate positions to fight ORC and therefore build the ORC Associations we see here in the states.

Dickson, TN: Two Arrested with Fake IDs and Passports in a Rental Car; skimming equipment and thousands in high end merchandise recovered
Agents described what they found during the stop as eye opening and said it shows just how easy it is to get into America and set up a criminal enterprise. Ortega, who authorities later determined is actually Jorge Quinons, said he and Ruidud flew in from Guatemala to Charlotte, North Carolina. As the agents question the men about the multitude of gift cards, Quinons said, "These gift cards [are] to buy the things he is going to take back to his country." Jimmy Mann, Assistant Director of the 23rd Judicial Task Force, told News 2 receipts indicated some of the items found in the car, including purses valued at $2,800 each and MacBook Pro computers valued a nearly $2,000 each, were purchased at Opry Mills and the Mall at Green Hills. Authorities said Quinons has been deported twice before after entering the country illegally. wkrn.com

Cool Springs, TN: AT&T Burglars smash through an adjoining wall, loss estimated to be tens of thousands
Officials confirmed the suspects had initially pried open the door at the nail salon that's adjacent to the AT&T store. They were able to make their way into the bathroom of the nail salon where tools were used to burst through the shared wall to enter the AT&T store. Authorities said they believe the crime was the work of experienced criminals. The suspects stole dozens of smartphones, tablets, and other items. Losses have initially been estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars. Reports stated the burglary possibly happened sometime around 4:30 a.m. newschannel5.com

Danielsville, GA: Lottery scheme lands three Rite Aid Pharmacy employees in jail
The Rite Aid had been one of the top lottery sales stores in the state. The surprisingly high sales of lottery tickets alerted officials to a possible problem. The Police Chief said he watched in shock as a Rite Aid employee suspected of stealing cash used money from the register to play the lottery. Vickie Matthews, 51, allegedly took the money, bought lottery tickets, scratched them off, cashed them out and repeated the process on numerous occasions. "On several days of surveillance I watched Vickie unlock the store, get the systems up and running, and then begin to play the lottery," the Chief said. Two more employees were accused of taking money during the investigation, the two were working separately. ajc.com

Suspect in Hobby Store theft may be tied to 25 Thefts at Target across Wisconsin
A Sun Prairie man identified as a person-of-interest in a Monroe retail burglary is a suspect in more than dozen rip-offs at Target stores in the state. Monroe Police officials say 22-year old Robert J. Olson was linked to the burglary of a high-end, remote controlled toy car from a hobby store Sept. 7. Warrants for Olson's arrest were issued from both Milwaukee and Waukesha counties last month. Documents from four Waukesha County theft cases identify electronics from Target stores in Delafield, New Berlin and Waukesha as stolen items. A criminal complaint says during an April interrogation, Olson admitted to a heroin addiction, and stealing and pawning items from Target. "The defendant further estimated that he had done this about 25 times in the past three weeks," Target Senior Investigator April Kieta believes Olson may be working with another Sun Prairie man as part of a team thieves responsible for more than a dozen theft incidents at Target stores in Wisconsin. wkow.com

Enumclaw, WA: 3 arrested fleeing Safeway with stolen goods; tried to run Police off the road in wild chase
The drama began just before 1 a.m. Thursday when officers got a report of a shoplifting and theft at Safeway in Enumclaw. When police arrived on scene, the truck with the suspects in it was taking off. As officers took off in pursuit, the truck began swerving all over the road and stolen merchandise was flying out of the back of the pickup at police cars. As the officers tried to dodge the flying loot, the suspects' truck tried to swerve into a police officer's vehicle to knock it off the road. K-9's were used to make the apprehension following a short foot chase. komonews.com



Ark City, KS: Thieves steal two cartloads of merchandise from Wal-Mart
Ark City Police are asking for help in identifying three subjects they say filled two carts at the town's Wal-Mart and walked out without paying for about $1,000 worth of merchandise Saturday night. The theft was reported about 11:30 pm. kwch.com




Mercer County, PA: Police investigate $2,000 in thefts from Grove City Outlets
in September
State Police are investigating a series of thefts that took place over the past few weeks at the Grove City Premium Outlets. Police say, a man and a woman stole goods from the Nike Store on September 1, September 8, and September 11. It's estimated that the thieves took an estimated $2,000 worth of merchandise. Another theft was reported at the Tommy Hilfiger Store on September 11. Three women concealed goods in their purses and left the store without paying. wfmj.com


Jackson, MS: A real Hair Pulling incident at Beauty Star, ORC thief doesn't get away
A thief is caught red handed stealing hair from a beauty shop. The crime happened Tuesday at the Beauty Star and More beauty supply shop. Video captured a woman stuffing bags of hair into her purse. A store clerk sees what she is doing on camera and goes to confront her. The woman then tries to run away, but the clerk manages to stop her, holding her by the collar of her shirt. A customer jumps in and helps and pulls the woman back in the store and called the police. wjtv.com


Woodbury, MN: Man allegedly stole $4,400 of iPhones at Woodbury Walmart