Retailers joining forces with California DOJ to fight organized retail crimes

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Retailers in California are banding together to fight organized retail crimes.

Corporations like Home Depot are teaming up with other businesses and online marketplaces to protect their goods and merchandise from being stolen and resold through e-commerce and third party sites.

“These rings of criminals go beyond petty shoplifting,” said Rory Stallard, with Home Depot’s assets protection investigation team. “They are professional thieves running a business, stealing from retailers and our communities.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday announced a first-of-its-kind commitment between the state’s Department of Justice and businesses, which will tackle these complex and orchestrated crime rings.

“This is not about one-off thefts from stores,” Bonta said. “It’s not about the occasional smash-and-grab at your local big box store. This is about a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise.”

He said every form of retail theft or retail crime disrupts the supply chain.

“It hurts retailers and businesses and puts the public at risk,” Bonta said.

Bonta also said the only way of stopping organized retail crimes is by working together.

“By agreeing to pool our intel and our investigations and to share in the detection and reporting of retail crimes we will be nimble, we will be in sync and we will be much more organized,” Bonta said.

He said this isn’t the only answer in fighting organized retail crimes but he calls it unique.

He says they’re also launching an online portal through the DOJ’s website where people can submit complaint or tips.