Organized Retail Crime (ORC) isn’t just a retail issue; it’s a community crime problem that fuels broader criminal networks, funds illegal activities and poses a threat to public safety. For law enforcement, addressing ORC requires more than just reactive policing. Instead, it demands intelligence-led collaboration between agencies and retailers to target sophisticated criminal enterprises.
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Auror, the retail crime intelligence company, has partnered with Axon to launch the Retail Crime Hub to provide law enforcement with the tools needed to disrupt ORC networks faster than traditional police practices. The Retail Crime Hub connects agencies with real-time retailer data, streamlines evidence collection and finds repeat POIs, all while fostering partnerships between police and businesses.
Let’s explore how Auror’s Retail Crime Hub works, why ORC is a critical issue for law enforcement and how agencies can leverage this technology to build safer communities.
The growing threat of organized retail crime
Organized retail crime enterprises are highly sophisticated operations that extend far beyond simple shoplifting. These groups steal merchandise in bulk and often use violence and intimidation to complete the theft. The stolen goods are then resold through online marketplaces, flea markets, underground fencing operations, or sold directly to legitimate vendors. According to the National Retail Federation, ORC costs retailers more than $100 billion annually, with an average loss of $244,509 per case.
ORC is often connected to other serious offenses like fraud, identity theft and assaults. When repeat shoplifting groups are active, they can overwhelm police patrols and investigative teams and pull resources away from other emergencies and important community needs. As Steve Francis, Executive Associate Director with Homeland Security Investigations shared, many ORC groups are also involved in other serious crimes: “Organized retail crime is leading to more brazen and more violent attacks in retail stores throughout the country. Many of the criminal rings orchestrating these thefts are also involved in other serious criminal activity such as human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, weapon trafficking, and more. Tackling this growing threat is important to the safety of store employees, customers, and communities across the country.”
The effects of ORC go beyond individual stores. Widespread retail theft can lead to store closures, job losses and lost tax revenue, all of which can harm and destabilize local neighborhoods.
Investigating and enforcing ORC laws can be tough, especially since police resources are limited. These cases are hard to prosecute because of jurisdictional issues, poor information sharing between agencies, or simply because retailers are hesitant to cooperate with police.
How the Retail Crime Hub by Auror & Axon solves these challenges
The Retail Crime Hub helps agencies prioritize resources and resolve retail crimes faster by surfacing the top people, sites, and vehicles of interest directly within Axon Evidence, including all digital evidence. Built to fit into existing workflows, the Retail Crime Hub enables agencies to process more cases at once, with greater speed and accuracy than traditional methods. Designed for U.S. law enforcement, the platform supports multi-agency collaboration, secure data-sharing, and seamless integration with current systems.
Furthermore, the Retail Crime Hub makes investigating ORC cases easier by allowing police agencies to:
1. Access critical retailer data and intelligence
The Retail Crime Hub integrates directly with Axon Evidence and Auror to give law enforcement agencies access to the largest US retail crime intelligence database in the world, which includes millions of US retail crime events across 26,000 retailer locations. This intel gives law enforcement teams a more complete picture of criminality in their communities and offender connections, filling in the wide gaps in cases as 70 to 90% of retail events don’t get reported to police.
2. Identify repeat offenders and ORC networks
The Retail Crime Hub platform aggregates data on over 254,000 repeat POIs, allowing agencies to track prolific POIs across jurisdictions, uncover ORC networks through linked case insights and prioritize enforcement in high-theft hotspots. This significantly speeds up the intelligence gathering stage and provides agencies with key targets to maximize their efforts.
3. Seamless evidence collection and collaboration
Instead of chasing down CCTV footage via email or USB drives, officers can securely request digital evidence directly from retailers within the platform and receive automatic notifications when new evidence is available, saving 3.5 hours per retail crime report.
Real-world impact: A detective’s perspective
In an interview with Sergeant Donnie Hix from the Bernalillo County (New Mexico) Sheriff’s Office, he shared how Auror transformed their ORC investigations: “We work a lot of organized retail crime cases, and it’s one of our biggest trends here in Albuquerque… [Auror] was the one thing I needed to speed up [these] investigations.”
Sergeant Hix gave an example of a retailer who reached out to his team because two individuals kept stealing from their stores. “We solved two retail crimes and identified one offender in 12 minutes.” What used to take weeks or months to solve can now be solved within minutes.
On the other side of the world, law enforcement agencies are experiencing similar success using Auror. Recently, Australian police made a significant bust, arresting 19 offenders as part of a $10 million organised retail crime ring. The group was said to be stealing-to-order products such as baby formula, toothbrushes and alcohol.
Meanwhile, retailers are also seeing significant gains after partnering with Auror to improve retailer-law enforcement collaboration. In less than two years since partnering with Auror, one retailer saw a staggering 1,844% increase in the number of investigations created YoY and the total value of those investigations increased by nearly 2X. 82% of police investigations with that retailer have resulted in a conviction.
How command staff can implement the Retail Crime Hub
Adopting new police technology isn’t always easy, but real progress begins with strong leadership at the top. Auror makes it easy for command staff because the system was created specifically to address your agency’s needs.
“Retail crime is having a serious impact on our communities and frontline workers,” said Auror CEO and Co-Founder Phil Thompson. Police leaders should partner with retailers and educate them on how sharing data helps law enforcement and the community. “This is about helping police focus their precious resources, reducing paperwork and administrative tasks, and providing them with high-quality, actionable information direct from the retailer community.”
Conclusion: It takes a network to defeat a network
ORC is growing nationwide, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Retail Crime Hub provides law enforcement with the technology, data and partnerships needed to dismantle these networks efficiently. By leveraging real-time intelligence, automating evidence collection and fostering collaboration, police agencies can solve more cases faster, target repeat POIs, proactively build stronger cases for prosecution and create safer retail environments for communities.
The fight against ORC requires a united front. By embracing intelligence-led policing and retail partnerships, law enforcement can turn the tide against ORC, making communities safer and more resilient. With the Retail Crime Hub, law enforcement has the tools to lead that fight.
For more information, visit https://www.auror.co/.
