By many accounts, organized retail crime (ORC) is the 800-pound gorilla of modern-day retail theft. No longer are professional thieves interested in maintaining low profiles by keeping thefts small. Criminals now extensively and meticulously preplan daring raids with multiple individuals involved, often employing sophisticated technology and strategies previously reserved for high-profile thefts like bank heists.
These organized criminals can hit a retail store and make off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of goods in minutes, then go on to hit multiple stores in the same day, and multiple cities in the same week; altogether stealing millions of dollars worth of goods in a very short period of time.
Up until recently, these ORC hits often caught loss prevention and store personnel off guard, since mechanisms for rapid communications between competing stores and with law enforcement did not readily exist. Thankfully, that is largely changing with the increase in retail-law enforcement partnerships nationwide, one of the first of which was LAAORCA, the Los Angeles Area Organized Retail Crime Association, created to squelch organized retail crime in the Los Angeles basin.
The "O" in Organized Retail Crime
How organized is organized retail crime? According to Detective Kent Oda of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), they are very organized. Oda, a 26-year veteran of the force and currently assigned to the Commercial Crimes Division, has witnessed multi-store, multi-city operations that utilize sophisticated criminal tactics.
For example, the thefts typically involve multiple "boosters"—the thieves who actually steal the targeted items. Also involved are personnel who act as "mules," the same term used in drug trafficking to signify individuals who transport the stolen property. A high-end ORC operation can involve many individuals, such as getaway drivers, multiple boosters and mules, and lookouts, as well as the use of disguises or distractions to deter store personnel and the employment of sophisticated countermeasures to defeat store loss prevention equipment.
The boosters may employ a range of equipment to help them accomplish the thefts, including sophisticated smuggling girdles or specialized lined merchandise bags intended to defeat electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, and they usually rent getaway cars or use cars with paper plates to avoid detection.
These criminals target stores with laser-like precision, staking them out and casing well in advance, arming themselves with a large amount of intelligence before making the strike. They target specific hot products, such as baby formula, cosmetics, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, DVDs, and other items that are expensive, yet have a small footprint for easy theft.
The impact to an individual store only can be massive, but when taken as part of a larger picture, the losses are staggering. A well-organized group of ORC criminals has been known to strike as many as ten stores in a day and forty stores in a week. Their crimes take place across multiple cities and jurisdictions, making it hard for law enforcement agencies to track them.
The individuals involved in these crimes are hardened veterans. LAPD, for example, rates boosters by levels, with Level 1 being the least organized. A Level 1 booster typically works alone and often steals casually or to support dependencies—your classic serial shoplifter. A Level 2 booster also usually works alone, but adds the element of stealing for resale. Level 2s are also known to travel to perform their thefts, all of which are the hallmarks of people that steal for a living. A Level 3 booster works as a member of a team, and steals almost purely for resale, as well as traveling far out of the area to conduct widespread crime. It's the Levels 2 and 3 career professionals who comprise the majority of the scourge known as ORC.
ORC isn't pure profit for the criminals involved; they have expenses just like any other business. Stolen property is usually shipped via extensive freight networks across the country and even internationally, usually for resale. The goods are usually fenced through an elaborate network of brick-and-mortar retailers, many of which are small "mom-and-pop" stores, or via online stores or auction sites.
A Danger and an Expense
In some cases ORC may additionally represent a health hazard to consumers who unwittingly buy stolen product at discount stores used to fence the goods. Baby formula and OTC pharmaceuticals are two examples. Both are perfect targets for ORC since they are relatively expensive, have small footprints, and are in high demand on the fenced market. Criminals steal these products and often store them improperly, potentially causing a health hazard.
The loss of tax revenue is another side effect of ORC that is often lost on the general public. Every product that's stolen is done so tax free. The hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of product stolen each year represents a significant loss of tax revenue that does not go to cash-strapped local and state governments to support legitimate public services.
Another ugly facet of organized retail crime is that it is not only highly lucrative, unfortunately it's a crime that's often lightly punished. A criminal operative with no prior record who is caught stealing $5,000 worth of goods, for example, can expect a sentence as light as probation, not much more than a slap on the wrists. Contrast that with stealing the same $5,000 from a bank in the form of a robbery, which carries a minimum sentence of twenty-five years to life, and it's easy to see why criminals have migrated into this sector. Oftentimes, ORC is a gateway crime to other illegal activities, such as drug trafficking, and the more experienced criminals usually dabble in a host of other illicit operations.
