INDIANAPOLIS — Holiday shopping is very big business.

In 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau found that the average American household’s retail spending for that December was $3,800. As a nation, the holiday shopping retail tab was a whopping $531.8-billion. Again, that’s just retail spending.

And where that amount money goes, thieves are sure to follow.

That same year across the state of Indiana, Capital One Shoppers Research found retailers lost $1.512 billion to theft.

To protect retailers and customers in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department plans to be more visible at city shopping centers.

“What we do is have extra patrols (along North Keystone Avenue), and up in 82^nd Street and 86^th Street corridors,” said IMPD Captain Shane Foley. “Our goal is to reduce crime and to make arrests if those things happen.”

Those patrols, dubbed “Holiday Helpers,” are both inside and outside stores. They are intended to deter would-be thieves and assure shoppers IMPD is there to protect them and their purchases.

IMPD will maintain an elevated presence at retails locations through Dec. 29, but more uniformed patrols is not the only line of defense for retailers.

Indianapolis-based shopping mall giant Simon has a security hub. Inside, there are teams of analysts reviewing data and video cameras from its nearly 200 shopping center across the country. In real time, security assessments are made using advanced technology.

“They’re looking at a lot of different things,” Simon Chief Security Officer Russ Tuttle said in a March 2023 interview. “Artificial intelligence. They’re looking at cameras. They’re taking in phone calls. They’re dispatching security officers and police officers around the country.”

There are also signs of increased law enforcement success in thwarting organized retail theft.

Just this week, Queens NY District Attorney Melinda Katz announced a multi-state theft ring has been broken up. The operation allegedly is responsible for stealing $2 million in perfumes, cosmetics, clothes, and other beauty items and then reselling them.

Katz noted that “this group also shipped thousands of products to the Dominican Republic, where they also operated a brick-and-mortar retail store.”

The stores targeted included Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, and American Eagle.

Commonly, the cost of retail inventory losses through theft are passed along in the form of price increases paid for by consumers.

One-way shoppers can protect themselves after making purchases by ensuring their items are not left in plain sight inside their vehicles. IMPD urges people to store purses, packages, parcels and backpacks in the trunk, so they are not visible to would-be thieves.