SAN ANGELO, TX – 11th District of Texas Congressman August Pfluger, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, has brought attention to the growing concern of organized retail crime in the United States.
He recently held a hearing to examine the alarming rise in organized retail crime, a criminal enterprise of groups stealing from businesses across the United States.
These criminal organizations often have international ties and are taking advantage of President Biden’s open border policy to steal from American businesses of all sizes.
“Soft-on-crime policies across the country have incentives criminals to commit these heinous crimes- putting employees and customers in danger,” Pfluger stated. “Organized retail crime leaves no one victimless. I will continue exposing the consequences of soft-on-crime policies while working to secure the southern border.
“As many Americans flock to the store to complete their holiday shopping this Christmas season, large organizations of professional shoplifters or boosters are exploiting soft-on-crime policies to ransack American businesses,” he said at the hearing. “This type of organized activity involves multiple occurrences and may transpire across various stores and state jurisdictions.”
He mentioned that transnational criminal organizations are taking advantage of our open borders and are also engaging in retail theft.
“It is important to note that these criminals do not show any bias when selecting targets,” the state representative said. “This crime occurs across a wide spectrum from big cities to small towns in both urban and rural areas.”
Pfluger went on to mention how some stores are combating the issue, mentioning things like placing common items like detergent and baby formula behind anti-theft plexiglass and utilizing smart shopping carts equipped with automatically locking wheels to prevent thieves from exiting the stores with the cart without paying.
One CVS store resorted to displaying rolls of toilet paper as photographs and not the actual product, according to Pfluger.
The National Retail Federation surveyed over 230 retail asset protection professionals and found that 90 percent of the professionals indicated that organized retail crime is more of a risk to retail businesses now than it was three years ago.
To watch to the full hearing, click here.
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