This week, the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) announced a new investment in their partnership to combat organized retail crime. To continue the collaboration between the nation’s prosecutors and retailers, RILA and NDAA are making a $100,000 investment in developing training materials and a nationwide education curriculum to assist law enforcement, prosecutors, and retailers as they work together to safeguard communities.
“Tackling this problem in silos doesn’t work and hasn’t worked,” said Lisa LaBruno, RILA’s Senior Executive Vice President of Retail Operations. “Organized retail crime has become more sophisticated and more violent, and a partnership between law enforcement and retail is the only way we meet this challenge. The investment in a national ‘playbook’ is a great step forward in this partnership.”
“Organized retail crime isn’t one person acting alone. These are professional retail crime rings stealing merchandise – sometimes medications and expired infant formula – and reselling online to unsuspecting consumers,” said Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn, President of the National District Attorneys Association. “In addition to the economic cost, consumers face serious health and safety risks when they unknowingly purchase these items.”
Law enforcement agencies have also identified a nexus between many of these organized retail crime syndicates and other serious criminal activities such as human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, weapon trafficking, and more. Prosecutors and retailers play critical roles in identifying and combatting these organized criminal networks operating in our communities.
To address the continued growth of organized retail crime, RILA and NDAA have committed to additional steps to keep our communities safe, including:
