PRESS RELEASE
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas retailers are facing repeat and organized retail crime (ORC) at a higher rate than the national average, according to newly released data from the global retail crime intelligence platform Auror, but retailers are working together to get ahead of the problem.
Auror (pronounced aura) retailer data shows that the top 10 percent of retail crime offenderswere responsible formore than 71 percent of recorded retail crime across Texas stores last year. In contrast, across the U.S., the top 10 percent of offenderswere responsible formore than 66 percent of the crime, according to Auror data.
The new insights are drawn from some of North America’s largest retailers, which use Auror’s platform to log crime events in a consistent way after they occur in their stores. The structured reportinginthe platform helps retailers connect the dots on repeat offenders and organized crime that historically are treated as one-off incidents.
Boot Barn, the largest American retailer of western and workwear, is one of many major U.S retailers working together to turn the tide and keep their stores safethrough the use oftechnology.
Brian Huff, Boot Barn Director Loss Prevention said, “we have a large presence across the Lone Star State, so we’re focused on giving our people the right tools to surface connected incidents across our stores”.
“Digital collaboration has helped us build higher quality cases to surface repeat offenders - even cross-state ORC - with support from multiple law enforcement agencies such as Katy PD, Texarkana PD and Livingston PD,” Huff said.
“It’s helped us reduce investigative timelines from several weeks to48 hoursor less thanks to structured reporting and effective digital evidence sharing, helping us better address the issue of ORC in our stores.”
Top products reported stolen across the state were consumer electronics such as AirPods and QLED TVs, and health and beauty products including luxury makeup bags and perfume.
Raul Aguilar, Auror Head of Law Enforcement Partnerships, and former Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Deputy Assistant Director responsible for transnational organized crime, said “retail crime isn’t just about shop theft - it’s also about the violence, threats and intimidation directed at vulnerable frontline workers everyday”.
“The repeat offenders impacting stores are just the tip of the iceberg; these crimes are often connected to organized crime rings operating across the country and even transnationally,” Aguilar said.
“Repeat offendersaren’tbrand-loyal anddon’trespect jurisdictional boundaries, soit’sgreat to see retailers and law enforcement working together through digital collaboration to surface those causing the most harm, rather than dealing with them as one-off events.
“When we enable collaboration to get on top of fast-moving organized crime, the outcomes are huge; just last year, a$1 billionmulti-state ORC operation based out of Texas was dismantled thanks to intelligence sharing between retailers and law enforcement.That’sthe power of a true ‘coalition of the willing’.”
Auror Texas retailer data:
- The top 10% of offendersare responsible formore than 71% of retail crime. Repeat offenders are driving the most amount of harm in retail.
- Almost 10% of all retail crime events occur between 9pm-10pm. The volume of events during this time is 2.1x higher than average.
- Top products stolen include consumer electronics such as QLED TVs and health and beauty products including luxury makeup bags.
- 1 in 8 retail crime events are violent, involve the use of weapons or threatening behavior.
- Firearms are themost commonly usedweapon, followed by knives and blades. Firearms made up 47% of all weapon events.
- Repeat offenders are more than 2x more likely to be violent or use a weapon.
All data has been entered by retailers using Auror. Data analysis has been controlled to account for Auror’s growth and increase in software engagement over time.
About Auror
Auror is a global software company providing a Retail Crime Intelligence platform to the world’s leading retailers to record potential crime in their stores after it occurs, better collaborate with law enforcement on crime, and create safer stores for all.
Auror allows retailers to record events in a secure and structured way, helping them connect the dots toidentifyprolific and organized offenders. This information empowers retailers to make informed decisions to protect their people, customers, and property, and address the large scale of retail crimeimpactingour communities.
Globally, Auror is used by more than 85,000 retail stores and in more than 3,500 law enforcement agencies across North America, the United Kingdom,Australiaand New Zealand.