Stores are beefing up security with cameras and cables, but these measures don’t seem to stop coordinated attacks.
It’s a growing threat that’s causing retailers across the U.S. to sound the alarm.
“How do you prevent 30 people from coming through your door and looting and breaking into a neighborhood?” asked David Johnston, vice president of asset protection and retail at the National Retail Federation.
From Los Angeles to Chicago to New York City, retail thefts have left major companies reeling, citing massive losses in profit margins and serious security concerns as major corporations target stores.
“We’re starting to see a growing number of groups that are just playing against everyone, you know, and if we can call them, you know, kids, but they’re not. A lot of them.” “These are adults who just go in and openly and brazenly steal from retailers,” Johnston said.
The National Retail Federation reports that retailers reported an average 26.5% increase in organized crime in 2021 and more than 80% reported an increase in violence and aggression related to theft.
Johnston says in the past, companies didn’t talk about the impact of theft on their bottom line because they thought it was a sign that they had failed to control the security of their stores.
“But what we see today is that we go beyond the retailer and are the individual who can correct what is happening today with the various acts of lawlessness, the brazen acts of shoplifting. This is not a solution that just the retailer has to solve,” Johnston said.
A small business owner in Portland says he’s seen an 800% increase in shoplifting.
“We’ve been through a lot. I actually put my hand in my pocket. Make sure my mace is available. I go to steel gates and have to open them with a key,” Steven Lien, a Portland store owner, said.
From additional cameras to security cables, Johnston says stores don’t compromise on security measures.
“They do everything they can. They are spending more money to protect their employees, their customers and their goods than ever before. But it’s still not enough to stop what we’re seeing today,” Johnston said.
But these measures do not appear to stop coordinated attacks.
“Now it’s about blocking certain intersections and causing havoc outside the store, having teams go in with cutting tools, go to very specific locations and attack different areas of the store and steal, steal from those areas. And then again, like, “They’re very, they then leave at the same time and then regroup somewhere and convert all of these stolen goods into cash,” Read Hayes said.
Read Hayes is the director of the Loss Prevention Research Council. The Florida-based research firm works with more than 70 major retail chains to find effective loss prevention solutions.
“We have a team of 16. We have six indoor labs that can simulate store environments and/or any environment we desire in our simulation lab. We also have outdoor areas that we can test and learn from. And that’s what we’re doing.” “We now have most of Gainesville, Florida, as one large living laboratory, but we will also soon be building similar capacity in places like Atlanta,” Hayes said.
According to Hayes, one reason the current retail theft trend is so alarming is because the thieves are acting so brazenly.
“They are not fleeing from the crimes themselves; I watch a lot of videos every year of them escaping. Now you see so many of them just running away. “They’re not afraid that their actions will have any consequences,” that’s for sure,” Hayes said.
Since 2022, some states, including Illinois, Oregon, New Mexico, Indiana, and Florida, have enacted stricter retail crime laws. A federal proposal would increase penalties in cases where there is evidence of multiple thefts. Experts say that while this is a step in the right direction, more needs to be done.
“It will get worse before it gets better. You know, until the states themselves examine the current laws and their implications and either amend previously amended laws or consider new laws to combat this new form of organized retail crime, that’s it.” “We’re going to move forward,” Johnston said.