PA joins coalition asking Congress to tackle organized retail theft
By Liam Hibbert | The Center Square Contributor
(The Center Square) – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes cosigned a letter with 37 other attorney generals asking Congress to draft a bill to crack down on organized retail theft.
Dated Feb. 24, their letter to leaders of the House and Senate cited assault of retail employees, over $121 billion in losses, and the closure of major retail locations by Walmart, Walgreens and Target.
“Organized retail crime isn’t just about stolen merchandise. It’s about criminal networks exploiting communities, threatening workers and driving up costs for families,” said Mayes. “Congress must act now to provide stronger tools to disrupt these operations, hold offenders accountable, and protect businesses and consumers alike.”
The letter asked for the reintroduction of measures similar to those in two never-passed bills, Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 (H.R. 895/S.140) and the Organized Retail Crime Center Authorization Act of 2023 (S.139). The attorney generals, who represented 36 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, argued it would “bring the organizations and individuals behind this nationwide problem to justice.”
The letter also asked for unspecified federal penalties for supply chain theft to deter “organized theft of goods in transit.”
It is unclear how far these actions would go toward reversing retail shop closures.
Coresight Research, which is focused on future trends in retail and technology, agreed with the attorney generals that 2025 would be a bad year for store closures.
The organization said the number of shutdowns would be worse than 2024 and the most seen since 2020.
But their data, as reported by Berkshire Hathaway’s Business Wire, disagreed about the source of this pain.
“Inflation and a growing preference among consumers to shop online to find the cheapest deals took a toll on brick-and-mortar retailers in 2024,” said Coresight Research CEO Deborah Weinswig.
“Retailers that were unable to adapt supply chains and implement technology to cut costs were significantly impacted, and we continue to see a trend of consumers opting for the path of least resistance,” Weinswig said. “Not only do they want the best prices, but they also have no patience for stores that are constantly disorganized, out of stock, and that deliver poor customer service.”
Still, recent high-profile crimes have made people especially wary of organized retail theft. As reported by The Associated Press, there was an Arizona train robbery in January of over $440,000 in unreleased Nike sneakers when thieves cut an air brake hose on a freight train.
The FBI theft-tracker over time, although not separated to great detail, showed the category that organized retail theft falls under, larceny, proportionally decreased about 56% from 1990 to 2022.
The letter to Congress was signed by attorneys generals from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington and West Virginia.
