Organized retail theft in New Jersey affects everyone. Products such as baby formula, over-the-counter medication, energy drinks, teeth whitening strips, expensive cuts of meat, seafood and other high-demand items are ripped off the shelves and resold. Consumers are put at risk because the safety of those products can no longer be guaranteed when expiration dates are altered, or food items are stored without proper refrigeration. Organized retail theft also endangers retail workers and customers. Retailers are forced to take unprecedented security measures and prices increase. The impact is so pervasive that a 2023 National Retail Security Survey found that retailers faced an estimated loss of $112.1 billion nationwide. New Jersey is deprived of an estimated $200 million in sales taxes that could support essential programs to benefit New Jerseyans.
The New Jersey Food Council is leading the fight against organized retail theft by working with legislators on an omnibus bill that will protect consumers and retail workers, ensure collaboration between retailers and state prosecutors, and hold leaders of organized retail theft accountable for their crimes. The New Jersey Food Council applauds Senators Burzichelli and Schepisi as well as Assemblymen Danielson and Sauickie for introducing this legislation.
The legislation targets professional theft rings that methodically move from community to community and across state lines, stealing high-demand products and selling them to the gray marketplace. The legislation also targets gift card fraud which results in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars across the country.
If enacted, prosecutors also would be able to demand harsher punishment for persistent offenders, while prosecutors could dive back a year in determining the total amount of theft and upgrade the offense. Ringleaders of organized retail theft also would face first-degree offenses and increased penalties for tax evasion.
The omnibus bill includes other effective initiatives, such as:
- Establishing a state-run unit or office, organized by the Attorney General, to investigate and prosecute organized retail theft cases and assist county prosecutors. The bill earmarks $1 million for staffing this special unit.
- Instituting new tamperproof gift card packaging and requiring third-party gift card resellers to track who is selling and buying the cards.
- Creating the offense of fostering the sale of stolen property, while clarifying that the existing theft statutes also apply to online sales of stolen goods. The legislation also would protect store employees, creating the specific crime of aggravated assault of a retail worker.
New Jersey is not alone in this campaign; neighboring states have already taken critical steps to curb organized retail crime, as part of a nationwide battle.
Pennsylvania recently created a new first-degree felony offense for major organized retail theft and regional units in the Attorney General’s Office to attack organized retail theft. Further, the city of Philadelphia lowered the threshold for the retail value of stolen goods the purposes of criminal grading, established means for retailers to communicate in real time with law enforcement, and implemented other important initiatives.
Earlier this year, New York increased criminal penalties for anyone who assaults a retail worker. New York’s new law also allows prosecutors to combine the value of stolen goods stolen in different stores when they file larceny charges and criminalizes fostering the sale of stolen goods to third parties. Additionally, New York’s budget invested $40.2 million for State Police, local prosecutors and local law enforcement to fight organized retail theft, as well as offered tax credits to help small businesses add security measures such as cameras to their retail establishments.
In Maryland, a law enacted in May requires that gift cards sold in stores be encased in secure packaging so thieves can no longer steal their numbers.
Efforts to combat organized retail theft aren’t unique to the mid-Atlantic region.
California has invested millions of dollars to fund prosecutors, law enforcement and investigators to address organized retail crime. Further, just last month, new laws were signed that would mandate sentencing enhancements for large-scale operations and permit the aggregation of stolen goods to enable prosecutors to combine the value of multiple stolen items to help meet the threshold for felony grand theft.
Illinois allocated $5 million in the current fiscal year to an Organized Retail Crime Task Force led by the Attorney General to fight organized retail theft. The Attorney General is working in concert with retailers, law enforcement and prosecutors in these efforts.
Now is New Jersey’s moment to combat organized retail theft by enacting state legislation that directly targets the crime syndicates that threaten New Jersey consumers. We urge all our lawmakers to join in this fight to protect business owners, store employees and shoppers who depend on affordable, quality products that can be purchased safely and confidently.
