Georgia retailers describe organized retail crime network, urge continued support for AG unit
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Summary
Georgia Retailers and the Georgia Retailers Organized Crime Alliance briefed the committee on coordinated theft affecting small and large stores, described cross-jurisdiction investigations and RICO applications, and asked legislators to sustain criminal prosecution resources and community outreach.
Ben Cowart, vice president of government affairs for Georgia Retailers, told the House Small Business Development Committee that organized retail crime (ORC) remains a major problem for retailers and small businesses across the state and described a multi-agency intelligence-sharing effort known as the Georgia Retailers Organized Crime Alliance, or GROC.
“GROC stands as a national model for collaboration, uniting retailers and law enforcement to share intelligence, coordinate enforcement efforts, and strengthen legal frameworks to combat ORC in our state,” Cowart said.
Chad McManus, chair of the GROC council and a senior manager of asset protection for a national retailer, said the alliance now has roughly 750–800 members, including more than 90 law enforcement agencies, and runs monthly intelligence-sharing meetings that link retailer investigations across jurisdictions. “We can kind of all combine, and share that information to get the bad guys off the street and protect our businesses and protect our people,” McManus said.
Roy Stallard, director of organized retail crime for Ulta Beauty and a GROC council member, described recent multi-jurisdiction cases that included burglaries and traveling groups of offenders; he said those cases often require coordination across counties and states and sometimes rely on racketeering statutes to charge networks rather than isolated shoplifting incidents. “It really does take a coalition,” Stallard said, “and the partnership between retail and law enforcement.”
Speakers credited a series of policy and enforcement steps with improving outcomes, including the Georgia Smash and Grab Act and the creation of an organized retail crime and cybercrime prosecution unit in the attorney general’s office. Cowart thanked the legislature for last year’s funding of that unit and highlighted House Bill 447, which he said targets gift-card fraud and was approved by the House and under consideration in the Senate.
Panelists described outreach to small retailers, including a recent session with retail operators at The Battery Atlanta, and offered training and “road-show” intelligence meetings for local law enforcement and merchants. They said GROC hosts an annual retail crime conference — scheduled for Aug. 13 at a Cobb County training facility — and maintains an information portal at Georgiarock.org.
Committee members asked for additional data on statewide retail loss rates and the impact of ORC on prices; McManus agreed to provide a follow-up estimate.
The presenters described ongoing investigations with the attorney general’s unit and with local district attorneys; they emphasized that ORC can affect small independent retailers as well as national chains and that arrests in one state sometimes connect to operations in other states.
