California Goes All Hands on Deck to Combat Organized Retail Crime

In the wake of a summer surge in retail thefts that saw a Nordstrom stripped of $356,000-worth of merchandise by a targeted flash mob, an Yves Saint Laurent boutique robbed of $300,000 in luxury goods, and a Nike store repeatedly ransacked for apparel and sneakers, Los Angeles legislators and law enforcement are determined to contain what has become a shoplifting free-for-all.

August saw the emergency launch of the L.A. Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF), instituted by Mayor Karen Bass. California Governor Gavin Newsom concurrently instructed California Highway Patrol (CHP) to triple its retail crime-fighting resources in the area in response to the uptick in theft. Within weeks, Newsom also announced the state’s largest single investment in statewide organized retail crime-fighting units, pledging $267 million in immediate funding to 55 local law enforcement agencies.

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Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher told Sourcing Journal that the L.A. ORCTF has recovered approximately $125,000 in property and cash since it took shape just eight weeks ago, leading to 42 arrests and about 25 criminal filings. The vast majority of suspects have been charged with robbery, while others have been charged with burglary, organized retail theft and grand theft.

“The task force was organized in the city of L.A., but we ended up including some contiguous jurisdictions like Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, the City of Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Torrance,” Pitcher said. These departments have all provided investigators dedicated to organized retail crime, working in concert with the California Department of Justice, the governor’s office, a CHP lieutenant and about 12 of its investigators. The task force also includes prosecutors from the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, the L.A. City Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General at the California State Attorney General’s Office.

“The collaborative effort across jurisdictions is because we share typically the same suspects—from those who are very highly sophisticated to those who are not,” Pitcher added.

The Deputy Chief said the operation is “using all of these resources first and foremost in a preventative method,” working undercover at target-identified locations to root out individuals gathering at retail locations for nefarious purposes.

The task force has also been conducting “blitz operations” at the area’s heavily impacted big box stores. “This goes on in the Targets, the Walmarts, Home Depots, Lowe’s, 99 Cent stores, and all the warehouse shoe stores and those kinds of places,” Pitcher said. With so many repeat offenders, examining historical crime trends has proven a successful method for predicting criminal activity.

In addition, three teams of investigators are tasked with responding to flash robbery incidents on a 24/7-basis, going to impacted malls, shopping centers and stores to pull surveillance videos, interview witnesses, look for DNA evidence and fingerprints.

“We’re looking at our data and our analytics, and then we work with the retailers and we are deploying inside of those stores, watching their surveillance cameras and working with their people,” he said. When thieves walk out with stolen merchandise, they’re met by dozens of uniformed and undercover officers. “We have run probably 10 to 15 [blitz operations] since the inception of this, amounting to several every week,” with five to 15 suspects arrested during each sting.

The state funding will further bolster the task force’s rapid response capabilities, Pitcher said, noting that the city and the department were awarded a $15.6 million grant from the governor’s office in September. The L.A. ORCTF has chosen to use the funding to install fixed and mobile Automated License Plate Reading (ALPR) cameras across the city, “covering major retail corridors and the areas that we have found to be more problematic” in recent months. Each bureau and each of the 21 precincts will be equipped with “real-time crime centers” staffed by officers monitoring dozens of camera feeds.

Pitcher said thieves that manage to initially evade capture often provide useful information that ultimately leads to their apprehension. They unwittingly leave digital footprints across social media that let officers know where they’ve been, who they’re interacting with, and how they’re selling stolen goods. Newer retail technologies, like RFID tracking tags, tracking wafers and tracking tiles embedded in merchandise has also aided in solving “several cases,” he said.

LAPD is now encouraging retailers to join the L.A. Area Organized Retail Crime Association (LAAORCA), which pulls together information about local crimes and arrests on an online portal and organizes meetings with law enforcement on a monthly basis. “We discuss preventative measures, best practices, how to participate with their local law enforcement agencies, share numbers with them and provide direct connections,” Pitcher added.

CHP, which also serves on the board of LAAORCA, has been supporting LAPD and other regional law enforcement agencies amid the coalescing of the new task force. “One of the major collaborative efforts discussed between our agencies was conducting more joint operations at retail centers which have experienced an increase in retail theft as we move into the holiday season,” said Lieutenant Sergio Perez, who leads CHP’s Southern Division ORCTF.

The additional statewide law enforcement funding will help drive similar results across California, he believes. It’s essential given the escalation in criminal activity, which now extends beyond mere shoplifting. “Retailers have reported experiencing an increase in the level of violence associated with retail theft, often times directed at retail employees and asset and loss prevention personnel,” Perez said. “The more personnel and resources law enforcement agencies can dedicate to reducing organized retail crime, the safer the work environment for employees, and the safer the shopping experience for the public.”

Funds generated from retail theft have been used to back other illegal dealings, he said. But “selling stolen product with ease to a multitude of readily available buyers appears to be driving motivation for criminals,” and making a quick buck from pilfered products has been made infinitely easier by web-based platforms, Perez said.

He hopes to see retail crimes meaningfully curbed with the implementation of Senate Bill 301, signed into law by Governor Newsom on July 1. The legislation requires high-volume third-party sellers on online marketplaces who sell to buyers in California to disclose certain specified data including contact information, bank account number, or the name of the payee benefiting from the sale. The added transparency provided by the law, which mirrors provisions from the federally mandated INFORM Consumers Act, could make it more difficult for criminals to digitally fence stolen goods. “With the implementation of SB 301, stolen retail merchandise sold through online marketplaces should decrease,” Perez added.

“We’re thrilled because we’re seeing some of the things that we pushed for starting to materialize,” California Retailers Association (CRA) president Rachel Michelin said. “Unfortunately, though, we’re not seeing a change in behavior in terms of people who feel emboldened to go into our stores and continue to steal.”

Michelin said she is hopeful that statewide efforts will make a dent in the crime rate. “The more we can show that there’s going to be a consequence for the behavior, the bigger the deterrent,” she said.

The proliferation of smash-and-grabs and flash mobs and the increasing level of violence associated with these crimes has already done a number on the Golden State’s retail sector. Over the past few years, once vibrant retail hubs have become wastelands, Michelin said. San Francisco lost its iconic Westfield-owned San Francisco Centre, a 20-year fixture in the downtown area, with the property’s owners citing “challenging operating conditions” as their reason for abandoning the location. Nordstrom, the mall’s last-standing anchor store, was more candid, announcing its intentions to flee the market due to “deviant shopper behavior.” Saks Off Fifth, Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Athleta and Old Navy have all closed stores in the area in recent seasons.

In another blow to the Bay Area, Target announced in September that it would close three stores in San Francisco and Oakland “because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance.” Michelin worries that the trend will continue across the state. “For Target to make that decision took a lot,” she said, noting that the retail exodus is forcing San Francisco policymakers to “wake up a little bit, and realize that they need to do more to get a handle on this.”

Changes in legislation are needed to underscore the efforts of law enforcement, Michelin believes. She and the CRA have consistently supported legislation to amend Proposition 47, which raised the felony threshold for certain non-violent property-based crimes in 2014. Prior to its passage, commercial burglary of $400 or more in merchandise could result in felony charges, but over the past nine years, the bar has been set higher. Passed by voters as a ballot measure with the aim of addressing prison overcrowding, Prop. 47 classifies the theft of $950 or less as petty theft, resulting in misdemeanor charges. “It’s death by 1,000 cuts [for retailers]—folks go in and steal under that $950 threshold, because they know they will not be held accountable,” the CRA lead said.

California State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, who represents the 66th district located in the South Bay of Los Angeles County, has been among the most vocal advocates for “restoring balance” to California’s justice system, which he believes has swung too far in favor of perpetrators of organized retail crime.

Earlier this year, Muratsuchi introduced Assembly Bill 1708, which would allow either felony or misdemeanor charges for any individual with two or more theft-related convictions who is subsequently convicted of petty theft or shoplifting. The bill would also require those charged with petty theft with prior convictions to take part in a diversion program for substance abuse or mental health treatment, if appropriate. Sponsored by CRA, the California Police Chiefs Association, the California League of Cities and the California District Attorneys Association, the the bill died in the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Muratsuchi is no stranger to setbacks on this front. “I’ve introduced at least five bills to attempt to restore what, in my opinion, is a balance between holding criminals accountable while at the same time recognizing that California voters…want to focus more on serious and violent crimes, and reduce the overcrowded prisons we’ve had for decades,” he told Sourcing Journal.

In December, Muratsuchi introduced A.B. 23, which would have amended Prop. 47 and lowered the dollar threshold for incidences of theft and shoplifting punishable as felonies back to $400—an effort that also stalled. “I’ve been trying to approach this issue from different angles, and as long as it involves increasing criminal penalties [the bills] have received the same fate in the Assembly Public Safety Committee.”

The Assemblymember said he is “hopeful that there is a growing public outcry over the increasing numbers of retail thefts… that Californians are seeing not only in their neighborhoods and in their communities, but also on the news and social media.” He believes that the issue’s growing visibility could “cause public sentiment to swing” toward an approach that prioritizes both diversionary services and penalties for criminal offenses.

“Law enforcement agencies across the state report that there’s a disproportionate number of retail theft that is committed by repeat offenders,” and under Prop. 47 and the new bail law, he fears that they may emboldened. “We need to hold [them] accountable with more serious prison and jail time, and that’s what I’m going to be working on next year.”

“I will continue to work to introduce legislation, but ultimately, change has to come from California voters,” he added.

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