Witnesses urge national database, federal coordination to combat organized retail crime at House subcommittee hearing

WASHINGTON — Witnesses at a Dec. 17, 2025, House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing urged Congress to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act and establish a national data/coordination center to connect state, local and federal investigations into organized retail crime (ORC).

Shane Bennett, who leads retail crime strategy for Target Corporation, told the panel that ORC has evolved into a sophisticated, multijurisdictional enterprise that fuels fraud and violence and that industry and law enforcement need a federal partner. "The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act or CORCA would help bridge that gap," Bennett said in his five-minute opening summary. He described industry efforts such as Project Red Hook with Homeland Security Investigations and cited a Department of Homeland Security estimate that fraud losses exceeded $1 billion over two years.

District Attorney Summer Stephan of San Diego said local prosecutors can reach "boosters" and some fences but lack the tools to pursue transnational actors who resell or ship stolen goods overseas. "We brought 336 defendants who were responsible for organized retail theft to justice, with losses to stores of $3,208,000," Stephan said, arguing that a national data bank is needed so jurisdictions can "connect the dots." She described cases in which seized luxury goods were already shipped out of the country before investigators could trace the network.

Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, told the committee that cargo theft inflicts large daily losses on the supply chain, saying brazen thieves are "robbing our industry to the tune of $18,000,000 a day" and that strategic, cyber-enabled theft has surged. Spear said CORCA would centralize reporting and give federal, state, local and industry partners a shared picture of patterns spanning states and international borders.

Scott McBride, chief global asset protection officer at American Eagle Outfitters, described retail exfiltration cases in which RFID and other evidence linked stolen goods recovered at a consolidation point to dozens of stores across multiple states and to shipments abroad. He said retailers recover some shipments with federal assistance but that many shipments slip through without a coordinated national repository of information.

Members pressed witnesses on several points. Some Republicans suggested that "soft on crime" prosecutorial policies and border enforcement problems have contributed to rising ORC; witnesses and other members replied that while migration and border issues can be factors in some cases, much of the recent surge is electronic and transnational in nature and thus requires national data-sharing and technical responses.

Witnesses and members repeatedly identified two gaps: inconsistent definitions and reporting of ORC across jurisdictions, leaving policymakers without reliable national data, and weak coordination when crimes cross state or national lines. Several witnesses said CORCA would establish both a cargo/theft coordination center and an analytical "link" function to help prosecutors and investigators identify chains that span jurisdictions.

The hearing did not include any committee vote. Members entered written statements for the record — Ranking Member Rep. Raskin asked that a letter dated Dec. 17, 2025, from the International Council of Shopping Centers be included — and the chair closed the hearing, giving members five days to submit additional questions for the record before adjourning.

Committee officials and witnesses said next steps would include additional submissions for the record and potential markup once members have had time to review the testimony and the bill language. The hearing showcased broad industry support for CORCA while highlighting political disagreements about causes and about how broadly federal authority should be used to address retail theft.