Organized retail crime (ORC), already a large national problem, continues to grow rapidly. According to the FBI, the losses attributed to organized retail crime are in the tens of billions of dollars each year.
Mac’s Convenience Stores has joined Circle K, owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard, in using social media to identify thieves, according to a Net News Ledger report from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Industry partnerships, concerned law enforcement officers and resilient retailers have done their part in making a small dent in the growing problem of organized retail crime, but research shows there is still a lot of work to be done.
During the third quarter of 2011, there were 1,094 reported violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statue, a decrease from the 1,325 reported violations in the same quarter of 2010.
An emerging methodology with technological roots – flash mobs – enables individuals using social networking sites (e.g., Facebook.com, Twitter.com, or Meetup.com), instant messaging and email to gather at a particular location, date and time and carry out legal or criminal activities (e.g., sabotage, robberies, and beatings).
When security video was placed in public places, crime decreased at varying degrees. But the most impact was when there are many cameras that are monitored live by the city or law enforcement.