A group of attorneys general have turned to Congress for help combating organized retail crime.
On Tuesday, the National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, asking for them and their colleagues to lend a hand in the fight against retail crime.
The initiative, led by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois and South Carolina, has called on the 119th Congress to re-introduce legislation brought forth in the 118th Congress. The bills, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023 and the Organized Retail Crime Center Authorization Act of 2023, would make it easier to deter such crime in their respective states, they argue in the letter.
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While some states have already put money, time and resources toward creating task forces, prosecution units and information-sharing tactics, the attorneys general noted that such resources would be more powerful if bolstered by federal legislation and budget.
The co-signers, which hail from states and territories across the map, noted that retail crime has continuously gotten worse, forcing retailers to shutter stores and leaving employees vulnerable to violence.
The two pieces of legislation highlighted would allow for the creation of an Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center under the Department of Homeland Security, which the attorneys general said would “act as a force multiplier for our offices and facilitate the information sharing necessary to combat the complex cross-border nature of organized retail crime.”
That could come as a relief to those worried about retail crime in their cities; new data from Flock Safety and Zencity showed that more than half of Americans said retail crime is at least a moderate issue in the city they live in. The attorneys general suggest that some constituents may also have concerns about the consequences of crime rings’ actions driving prices on everyday goods even higher.
But as legislators consider the two bills in question, the attorneys general have made an ask beyond what exists in the text of the previously introduced bills. While much of the focus on retail crime is around in-store activity, the states and territories’ top lawyers also have another concern: cargo theft. Data from Overhaul shows that cargo theft volume increased by 49 percent in 2024; the firm expects 22 percent further growth in 2025.
That has the attorneys general sweating a bit. In the letter, they ask Congress to add language about that type of crime into the bills they introduce, in an effort to bring down more comprehensive punishment for thieves perpetuating their schemes in a variety of ways.
“A significant component of organized retail crime is cargo theft, which disrupts supply chains and acts as an inflationary pressure on the price of everything from baby formula to clothing. The theft of essential supply chain infrastructure—such as pallets, crates and containers—further exacerbates these issues by hindering the movement of goods and contributing to delays and increased costs,” they said. “We hope that when this important legislation is re-introduced in the 119th Congress it will be strengthened by including provisions to increase federal penalties for supply chain thefts to act as a strong deterrent against the organized theft of goods in transit, which disrupts supply chains and affects every consumer.”
Preventing retail theft has, by and large, been a bipartisan issue for several years now. Democratic-leaning states and Republican-leaning states alike have passed or begun to consider legislation lowering the threshold for prosecution of retail crime as a felony, enabling prosecutors to lump separate instances of retail crime and more.
The attorneys general have also requested that Congress consider allocating funds to their efforts to curtail crime in their respective states, some of which have already passed more stringent retail crime-related laws.
“Our prosecutors, and law enforcement officials work tirelessly to serve their communities in the face of growing, and increasingly sophisticated organized crime syndicates. But unfortunately, our resources are stretched thin,” they wrote. “As Congress reconsiders this legislation, and continues consideration of the annual appropriations process, we also urge Congress to dedicate additional grant funding for state attorneys general and local law enforcement to support investigations, prosecutions and task force operations combating organized retail crime.”
