Organized Retail Crime

Organized retail crime is theft carried out by professional criminal enterprises ranging from regional gangs to international crime rings, distinguished from ordinary shoplifting in that a single person acting alone is not generally considered an example of it. Members typically work in coordinated teams, with some creating distractions while others steal items, or stocking up on specific goods at a leader's request for later resale. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated annual losses at around thirty billion dollars in 2010, and Canada reported five billion dollars in losses in 2023. Lawmakers have increasingly treated it as its own offense rather than ordinary theft: the United States Congress considered federal legislation including the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, introduced in January 2023 to create federal penalties and a coordinating law enforcement center, and California designated organized retail theft as a distinct crime with expanded penalties in 2024.