Retailers and FBI plan to fight organized shoplifting
Retailers have a new plan to fight crime.
A pair of national retail groups has joined up with the FBI to launch a national database that will let retailers privately share information about issues including robberies, counterfeiting and online auction fraud, the National Retail Federation reported today. The database will launch Monday.
Retailers and data experts have been working for more than two years on the program, which is intended to cut down on thefts, particularly those by organized crime rings. In a 2006 NRF survey, 81 percent of retailers claimed they've been victims of organized retail crime. And nearly 50 percent of retailers surveyed said they'd seen an increase in organized crime.
Using the new database, retailers can communicate details about a theft to other stores and law enforcement agencies. These reports can include photos and video footage. Collecting data about thefts through the system, the federation says, should help law enforcement officials and companies connect different thefts that might have been committed by the same person or group. And the system will let retailers share this information nationwide, so that theft rings can be tracked from one city to another.
The database, called LERPnet, also will let retailers arrange to receive e-mail alerts about retail crimes in their areas and to search online auction sites where stolen goods might be listed.
Using the system will cost individual retailers about $1,200 a year, according to the database Web site. It is unclear how many local retailers will be participating in this program.