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1 1 (January 14, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefdd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional SResearch Service Organized Retail Crime and the Federal Response January 14, 2022 Retailers and retail industry advocacy groups have expressed concern about what they see as a general increase in retail crime, and more specifically an increase in organized retail crime (ORC). Reports of criminal groups, acting in flash mobs, storming stores and at times assaulting employees, have underscored these concerns. Some retail organizations have cited certain elements of the COVID-19 pandemic as possibly contributing to this apparent increase in ORC and have urged policymakers and law enforcement to take steps to educate the public and crack down on ORC. Some law enforcement agencies have increased resources and information sharing to counter these crimes. Organized Retail Crime ORC is a form of retail crime-a broader category of crime that also includes employee theft, shoplifting, and robberies. ORC typically refers to large-scale retail theft and fraud by organized groups of professional shoplifters, or boosters. Organized crime rings resell illegally acquired merchandise via a variety of fencing operations such as flea markets, swap meets, pawn shops, and online marketplaces. ORC differs from shoplifting in that amateur shoplifters tend to steal merchandise for personal consumption. Boosters, on the other hand, are professional thieves who make money by stealing merchandise and reselling it to fences, who in turn sell the goods-through legal or illegal economic outlets-for a fraction of the retail cost. Stolen and fraudulently obtained goods may be taken not only from retailers, but from manufacturers and distributors as well. There are no national data on the prevalence of ORC, and some rely on industry experts to estimate losses. The National Retail Federation (NRF), through its 2021 National Retail Security Survey (NRSS), notes that 69% of retailers responding to the survey reported an increase in ORC activity over the prior year. This follows the NRF's 2020 Organized Retail Crime Survey (ORC Survey), in which 75% of retailers noted a slight (44%) or significant (310%) increase in ORC activity over the prior year. However, possible limitations to these survey data may include small sample sizes, lack of generalizability, barriers to replication, and retailers' varying conceptualizations of ORC. Based on the 2020 ORC Survey results, NRF estimates that ORC costs retailers an average of $719,548 for every $1 billion in sales. This is an increase over the estimated costs of $703,320 in 2019 and $453,940 in 2015. However, the economic effects of loss-related to ORC and other causes of inventory Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11840 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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