Reports Examine Trends in Organized Retail Crime

By Ed Scarpo
A survey of 129 retailers conducted by the National Retail Federation estimates that organized retail crime (ORC) losses cost retailers about $37 billion last year, up from $34 billion in 2009, reports Security Management.

But a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on ORC, prepared for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, and also released this week, takes issue with the industry's estimate of the size of the problem, saying that "it remains difficult to extrapolate ORC estimates to the retail industry as a whole from a limited sample of respondents."

However, the GAO does not disagree that "ORC is a multibillion dollar issue that affects retailers and consumers nationwide."

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