(The Center Square) – The Ohio Chamber of Commerce believes the state should spend more than $1 million to create a special task force to combat the growing trend of organized retail theft.
Almost six months after the chamber formed a Crime Task Force, the group focused on organized retail theft as it issued its findings report and legislative recommendations.
“Public safety is a top priority for the Ohio Chamber,” Ohio Chamber President and CEO Steve Stivers said. “None of the other work we’re doing to strengthen our state’s economy matters if people are afraid to live, work and start businesses in Ohio communities.”
According to the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, retail theft costs Ohio businesses roughly between $2 billion and $3 billion annually. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says 3.59% of all retail crime in the nation occurred in Ohio.
“Retail crime continues to be one of the top challenges facing our industry today,” Bryan Lindsay, major crimes investigations Manager at Walgreens, said in a release. “We are focused on the safety of our patients, customers and team members, and have programs in place to reduce organized retail theft in our stores.”
Organized retail crime is the large-scale theft of retail merchandise, typically by a large group, for resale to turn the merchandise into cash.
The chamber’s Crime Task Force, led by former U.S. Attorney David DeVillers and retired Judge Scott VanDerKarr, met over the past six months to discuss criminal justice reform, prosecutorial authority and stronger penalties.
It settled on organized retail crime and wants the state to create a task force in the Organized Crime Investigations Commission in the attorney general’s office.
The group said the new task force should cost $1.5 million in the first year and $1 million annually.
It also wants changes to Ohio law to allow cross-jurisdictional prosecution, mandatory sentencing and combining theft from multiple victims to create one value.
In early November, Rep. Haraz N. Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, introduced The Force Act to update state law and policies to let officers and prosecutors respond to organized retail theft. It’s currently moving through the committee process.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel partnered with local agencies and the FBI to target organized retail crime this year. In the spring, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced he created a 10-person Organized Retail Crime Unit to investigate multi-jurisdictional retail crime.
