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Senate Bill Targets Organized Retail Theft

[ April 22, 2025   //   ]

A Senate bill was reintroduced April 10 that would establish a “unified, federal response” to the rampant spread of cargo theft by criminals who often operate across state and international borders.

The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, reintroduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) would go after thieves that target freight shipments and cost the supply chain up to US$35 billion annually and fueling price inflation for consumers.

The act, which has bipartisan support, would establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security that pulls together state and local law enforcement resources, as well as retail industry representatives. The bill would also create tools to assist in federal investigation and prosecution of organized retail crime and help recapture lost goods and proceeds.

Strategic theft has risen 1,500 percent since the first quarter of 2021, and the average value per theft is more than $200,000. More than 84 percent of retailers report that violence and aggression from criminal activities has become more of a concern, resulting in injuries and deaths among employees, customers, security officers and law enforcement personnel, according to the National Retail Federation.

NRF also estimates that larceny incidents increased by 93 percent in 2023 compared to 2019, as criminal organizations have increasingly turned to retail crime to generate illicit profits, using internet-based tools to organize flash mobs, sell stolen goods and move money.

“Billions of tons of goods transported by trucks from coast to coast have increasingly become a prime target for organized crime rings, including transnational organizations, putting truck drivers at risk and raising costs for consumers,” said American Trucking Associations President & CEO Chris Spear.

The nation’s railroads have seen a 40 percent spike in cargo theft in 2024, said Ian Jefferies, Association of American Railroads’ president and CEO.

Cargo theft comes in many forms and causes significant financial losses and operational disruptions, whether it involves imitating a legitimate company, pilfering goods over time, breaking into a parked tractor-trailer, double-brokering fraud, or holding freight hostage. Increasingly, thieves are employing sophisticated cyber methods to steal product.

Grassley and Masto introduced similar legislation in 2022 and 2023.

CAPTION: Cargo theft comes in many forms and causes significant financial losses and operational disruptions.

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