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Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told The Center Square
that organized retail crime involves much more than just
smash-and-grab incidents.
“It’s rail theft. It’s theft from warehouses, theft from big box
stores, the Home Depots, the Walmarts and so forth. It’s not
just in urban areas. It’s throughout the state,” Raoul said.
Raoul said his office has worked with local, state and federal
law enforcement partners on this issue.
“It’s undeniably a problem. It manifests itself in different
ways. I think there was a crew hitting gas-station convenience
stores, again the big box stores. Then you have urban and
suburban-area places,” Raoul said.
Raoul added that he established the Illinois Organized Retail
Crime Task Force in 2021, after a government affairs person from
Home Depot tipped him off to the organized crime element of
retail theft.
Illinois taxpayers are spending $5 million on the task force in
fiscal year 2025.
According to Capital One Shopping, retail thefts cost Illinois
an estimated $185 million in tax revenue in 2022.
Capital One Shopping also found that 70.7% of retailers
nationwide reported an increase in organized retail crime
incidents over five years.
Retail Industry Leaders Association Vice President of Asset
Protection Khris Hamlin told The Center Square that organized
theft is definitely a growing problem.
“We can talk numbers up and down and all around all day long,
but the fact of it is that retailers are seeing an uptick in
this activity,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin said the Retail Industry Leaders Association has
partnered with the National District Attorneys Association and
the International Association of Chiefs of Police to address the
issue.
“When you bring all these collaborative parties together, that’s
when you start the effort of slowing down the activity. Most
importantly, how do you end or slow down recidivism,” Hamlin
said.
Hamlin explained that it’s fairly impossible to put a number on
the cost of organized retail theft.
“The one thing I can say is when you look at these events across
the nation, you look at the loss-prevention professional that
lost his life in Philadelphia after an organized group of
individuals came in and stole. You look at retail employees that
lose their lives when individuals come in and knock them over in
the effort of fleeing or eluding apprehension. Those are the
events that are real to us,” Hamlin said.
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