When SWAT officers raided a house in a quiet San Jose neighborhood last month, they uncovered what appeared to be a makeshift hardware store inside. Shelves were lined with boxes of brand-new tools, bathroom fixtures, and spools of industrial wiring – a cache of products worth about $150,000 that had been stolen from actual Home Depot stores.
The discovery underscored the increasingly active role that major retailers are playing in combating organized retail crime rings. A recent CNN review of court records and interviews with over two dozen retail and law enforcement officials revealed that persistent problems with sophisticated criminal networks have compelled many private companies to not only assist law enforcement but often provide the bulk of evidence leading to criminal prosecutions.
Home Depot’s internal security force spent months investigating the San Jose thefts, scouring security camera footage, tracking license plates, and surveilling suspects. By connecting the dots of the alleged criminal network, they could share their findings with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, enabling the execution of search warrants and arrests.
“A lot of times, local and state resources don’t have the capacity to investigate these crimes at that scale,” said Sean Browne, Home Depot’s senior manager of asset protection. “We try to full-service the investigations and ensure we cut off the head of the snake.”
Organized retail crime typically involves groups of low-level thieves who steal items for middlemen, who then sell the products to unsuspecting customers on online marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. This persistent threat has led retailers to implement visible security measures in stores, such as locking up everyday items behind metal gates or plexiglass.
While retailers have long partnered with law enforcement, the industry has bolstered its role in recent years, devoting more staff and financial resources to thwarting theft. Some retailers are researching body-worn cameras for employees, while others, like Home Depot, have invested in police-like investigation centers to analyze data and identify theft group members.
“Retailers themselves are really taking the ball and running with it and then partnering with law enforcement at all levels,” said David Johnston, vice president of asset protection for the National Retail Federation (NRF).
The industry’s push to crack down on organized retail crime comes amid differing policies and law enforcement priorities across the nation. While some states have focused on tackling such theft, with more than a dozen launching organized retail crime task forces, others have faced challenges in policing the issue due to limited resources and jurisdictional boundaries.
Retailers, on the other hand, can track cases across state and county lines with increasingly sophisticated tools, such as artificial intelligence that identifies patterns, and choose agencies with which to share cases.
The threat of organized retail crime and pressure from the industry has led some officials to call for more federal involvement, including through proposed legislation like the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act.