ORC Conference Draws Large Crowd in Los Angeles

Nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers and retail loss prevention professionals gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center February 16 for an education and networking conference sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Organized Retail Crime Association (LAAORCA).

Setting the Stage

Opening remarks by Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley included both good and bad news. “The good news is our crime rate is at a sixty-year low,” he said. However, because of recent legislation know as AB 109 realignment that requires certain state-held prisoners to serve at local facilities, he warned the attendees to anticipate “the greatest spike in crime in our lifetime.”

Dennis Zine, a retired thirty-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) who now sits on the city council, continued the discouraging words by flatly stating that local governments “have run out of money,” so law enforcement “will have to partner with the private sector to combat crime.”

Partnering of law enforcement with retailers to share information to fight retail crime was the focus of LAAORCA when it began three years ago. The organization was initiated by Captain Bill Williams and Detective Kent Oda of the Commercial Crimes Division of the LAPD in conjunction with a number of LA-based LP professionals from companies that included CVS, Target, GAP, JCPenney, Lowes, Vons, and others.

Educational Sessions

This third annual conference included numerous educational sessions presented by both law enforcement and LP professionals on topics such as

- Joint ORC investigations,

- Highway heists,

- Targeting fences,

- eBay partnership,

- Online investigations,

- Surveillance techniques,

- Gang involvement in ORC, and

- Defining the role of LP professionals.

Future Challenges

Joe LaRocca, senior advisor for asset protection to the National Retail Federation (NRF), presented the attendees with statistics from recent surveys of NRF members that spoke to the scope of the ORC problem. Following are some of the results:

- 95% of retailers say they have been victims of ORC.

- 64% say that ORC incidents are increasing.

- 13% of incidents turn violent.

- 47% are allocating additional resources to address ORC.

- 49% have been victims of cargo theft.

Beyond the statistics, LaRocca warned the attendees that new technologies will “change the game” to make retailers’ loss prevention efforts even more difficult. The game-changing technologies mentioned included

- Mobile POS where hand-held devices used by retail associates can scan and take payment anywhere in the store.

- Near-field communication that allows customers’ smartphones to pass payment information to POS devices without showing traditional credit cards.

- Google wallet and credit cards with “chip-and-pin” intelligence that present new challenges to retail loss prevention efforts.

Awards and Recognition

The day concluded with awards for Law Enforcement and Industry Investigators of the Year as well as recognition of numerous individuals for contributions to the success of the LAAORCA organization.

Information about LAAORCA can be obtained from either Detective Oda at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or George Torres, Southwest U.S. investigations, ORC unit of CVS Caremark, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To read more about the organization see “Taking a Bite out of ORC” in the November-December 2011 issue of LP Magazine at LPportal.com.