Congressional Efforts to Combat ORC Continue

In response to efforts by ICSC to educate Members of Congress about the growing problem of Organized Retail Crime (ORC), Representatives Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray asking that the U.S. Department of Justice reprioritize resources to help local law enforcement fight back against ORC. They were joined on the letter by several of their Democratic colleagues.

The letter states that while ORC is primarily handled by state and local law enforcement, federal agencies have multiple resources to provide assistance through multi-jurisdictional task forces, as well as the ability to prosecute under the Hobbs Act and in cases of interstate transportation of stolen goods.   

As part of the effort, Swalwell was joined by Dan Kennedy, Senior Vice President U.S. Security Operations for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, at a press conference in which he said that collaborative efforts like those outlined in this letter are needed.

Additionally, the “Improving Federal Investigations of Organized Retail Crime Act” (H.R. 7499), was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA). The legislation is in line with requests ICSC has made to federal policymakers directing the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Service and other relevant agencies to create a cohesive strategy to improve coordination and information sharing among stakeholders such as federal law enforcement agencies, retailers and state-run retail crime task forces, and to assist state and local authorities in compiling evidence for the prosecution of organized retail crime.