How Organized Retail Crime Presents itself Around Florida
There is theft in every city in the U.S., but the larger cities like Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Atlanta also have to be concerned with rising Organized Retail Crime or ORC. Organized Theft costs businesses much more in losses than individual theft. Law enforcement in Miami-Dade recently stopped a criminal and seized over $7,000 from the vehicle.
This July, 2013, a task force was formed in Miami to seriously combat these ORC criminals. The task force was made up of representatives from Homeland Security investigations team, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FL Department of Law Enforcement and statewide prosecutors from across Florida. The strategy was for each department to form a strategic plan to bring ORC criminals to a quick justice. Retailers from the area also contributed their individual strategies and suspicions on ORC criminals.
For one week, the groups concentrated on uncovering facts that would assist law enforcement in making arrests. It is evident from the statewide reports that the cases of organized retail theft are growing in Florida, which puts every retail market in severe threat of organized theft. The average shopper may not be aware that the items they purchase have a higher price tag because of shoplifters and other theft, but retail theft multiplies that.
The ORC criminal typically takes the products to flea markets or wholesale stores to sell at a greatly reduced cost, but consumers should beware of these items because there is no telling how they were treated. Confiscated products are mainly over-the-counter medicines, such as popular asthma and heartburn medicine, whitening strips and electric toothbrushes.
The ORC thieves are constantly looking for new ways of deceiving the stores. Stolen merchandise is often taken across state lines, and in these cases, law enforcement needs to arrest the criminal quickly before they get to the next state. In coastal cities like Miami, products can also be taken out of the country where there is no chance of recovering the stolen property. The task force this week was dedicated to exposing ORC and increasing the penalties for ORC criminals.