Retail crime fighting in the state goes high tech
Building a case against a man recently charged as an alleged “fence,” who resold stolen high-dollar perfumes, purses and clothes, can largely be attributed to data collected by the New Mexico Organized Retail Crime Association and its use of Auror, a retail crime intelligence and loss prevention platform that shares information between law enforcement and retailers.
A fence is someone who resells stolen goods. The fence in this case appears to be one of the first charged under the Organized Retail Crime statute, which was passed during the 2023 legislative session. It is part of a suite of legislative efforts and collaboration between businesses and law enforcement to fight back against retail crime across the state.
Law enforcement used information obtained through NMORCA to build a case against Raul Fernando Garcia, 43, and charge him with organized retail crime, money laundering, racketeering and tampering with evidence. His alleged crimes took place from July to March. The repeated thefts at Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Target and Lululemon exceeded $10,000 from each store, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in Metropolitan Court.
“When we first joined the NMORCA last year, it took us a little while to learn how to use the platform and actually realize the capabilities,” BCSO Sgt. Donnie Hix said. “But since last February, we’ve been able to not only establish partnerships with retailers countywide, but even departments and retailers statewide, in order to combat the shoplifters that travel from city to city to avoid detection. So the platform is the best fusion platform on the market, in my opinion.”
Auror allows retailers and law enforcement to upload photos, videos, incident information, suspect and vehicle descriptions, what was stolen, the estimated amount of the theft as well as other useful analytics. NMORCA uses the information to track suspects and build a case against perpetrators. It also can share information with other ORCAs.
“It actually enhanced our communication availability, because a lot of us work different shifts, different departments and maybe even different levels of law enforcement, like patrol and investigation,”
Hix said. “It gave us a place where we could receive alerts or we could receive feeds and constantly monitor the Albuquerque area. And eventually, somebody would know this suspect from either a past arrest or a current investigation due to the recidivism.”
NMORCA was created two years ago through the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce. It currently has more than 500 members, including 15 law enforcement agencies.
The association holds monthly meetings with retailers, prosecutors and law enforcement from around the state who attend in person or via Zoom. Participants discuss what is happening in their community and share information that has been useful in combating retail crime.
NMORCA is free to join and helps businesses across New Mexico report, track and try to stop organized retail crime. Businesses can sign up by visiting nmchamber.org/ nmorca.
“We have a special vetting process to log onto the system to make sure that you’re an asset protection employee, that’s your role at a company, you can’t just be anybody,” said Rob Black, president and CEO of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce. “That you are law enforcement. That we have a verifiable email and that we can check your references. The bad guys aren’t here being able to post things or see things.”
Auror makes it easy for law enforcement to download information and not have to visit a store to find it.
“They get the statements from the loss prevention officer, the pictures, the video, all very easily accessible,” Black said. “But also other retailers can see this and they can compare notes.”
Smaller businesses benefit from being part of NMORCA by being able to “piggyback” off larger chain stores.
“Whether it’s Lowe’s or Albertsons or Home Depot, a variety of larger retailers also utilize these platforms as well,” Black said. “So in some ways, if you’re a local, small retailer, this allows you to kind of piggyback on the asset protection resources of big box or national brands because you can see the people that they’re capturing or they’re getting on video. And it might be a way to identify the person who actually broke into your store as well. So it’s a way to leverage (resources) across the community and across the state.”
Law enforcement encourages businesses not to intervene or attempt to apprehend suspects but instead document the incident. Hix said that many people involved in large-scale retail crime are addicted to drugs. In fact, Garcia, the first fence charged in the state, often bought stolen items from drug addicts, according to court documents.
“My instruction is usually to just be a professional witness,” Hix said. “They don’t need to intervene and they don’t need to try to stop a theft, because the risk automatically goes through the roof once they confront the offenders because of the