Progress in fight against organized retail crime
Chambers of commerce say anti-retail theft law passed this year making a difference
Local business organizations are trying new ways to fight organized shoplifting. The New Mexico Chamber of Commerce has taken the lead over the past year to bring together retailers, legislators, district attorneys, the attorney general and law enforcement agencies across the state to strengthen the state’s laws on theft.
The chamber in September 2022 also launched its own New Mexico Organized Retail Crime Association to serve as a clearinghouse for retailer photos and videos of organized crime in action that law enforcement can immediately download.
Chamber CEO Rob Black also praised an anti-retail theft law that passed this year, saying he has never seen a new law have such an immediate impact.
“In less than two months, 23 individuals were charged with felony organized retail crime,” Black said.
House Bill 234 defines organized retail crime, which had not been spelled out in prior state theft laws. It also lets law enforcement and prosecutors combine multiple small shoplifting burglaries in a 90-day span into one charge that would add up to a fourth-degree felony if all the merchandise is worth more than $500. A group that steals a combined $2,500 in merchandise across one year can be charged with a second-degree felony.
“HB 234 took New Mexico into the 21st century for law enforcement to deal with retail crime,” Black said. “It put us at the forefront to fight retail organized retail crime. Now we have the tools that plug a real[ly] big hole.”
The law has had an impact in Santa Fe, too. “It’s been a game changer,” Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce CEO Bridget Dixson said. “I feel like our retailers have been very frustrated until now. Everything has been considered a misdemeanor and wasn’t necessarily prosecuted. Retailers felt defeated.”
The New Mexico chamber partnered with New Zealand-based Auror on its organized retail crime online information-sharing platform. Retailers can join the New Mexico Organized Crime Association to use Auror at nmchamber.org/nmorca/.
Large retailers were already sharing security footage with law enforcement, Black said, but through the online platform, police and all member retailers can see if the same criminals or vehicles are showing up in different photos or videos.
“It’s across the board, small business and large businesses,” Black said. “I have folks with beauty salons that have been robbed multiple times.”
The Auror technology has shown organized crime groups do not only go to multiple businesses in one city.
“It’s a handful of the same criminals going across the state and committing their crimes,” Dixson said.
The chamber’s organized retail crime coalition meets every fourth Thursday of the month, with 40 to 50 attendees in person in Albuquerque and more tuning in from other cities. Last week, the chamber hosted the first daylong New Mexico Organized Retail Crime Association conference, where one objective was to show retailers how to best gather evidence and testify in court.
“What I love about NMORCA is it gives the power back to the businesses,” Dixson said. “It’s a chance for small business[es] to get together.”