Jacksonville Division: Retail Theft by ORC (Organized Retail Crime)

ORC (Organized Retail Crime) is becoming a bigger financial burden for retail stores to deal with. It is estimated that Organized Retail Crime costs over $30 billion a year which represents just over 2% of retail sales. ORC is not garden variety shoplifting or what would have been considered shrinkage, it is organized and it is big. Major players organize what is to be stolen, they get a team to go into retail outlets and steal specific items that are then resold back into the market. Selling back into the market can be done online or at flea markets among other outlets including other retail stores. These teams will come into an area and in the course of a day hit a number of retailer and then leave the area with the police looking for them. In order to deal with this threat retailers and policing agencies will have to coordinate their efforts often with agencies outside of their jurisdiction.