The Kansas Legislature passed a classification bill Wednesday. organized retail crime (ORC) is a felony, joining nine other states that passed similar laws last year.
ORC refers to an organized shoplifting ring that targets stores and freight forwarders by snatching and robbing them.
The state senate passed House of Representatives bill In 2144, felonies will be divided into two levels. Theft of merchandise valued at $3,000 or more is classified as a felony, and those convicted can face 31 to 136 months in prison. If the amount stolen is more than $15,000, the sentence ranges from 38 months to 172 months.
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Manhattan Beach Police are asking the public to help identify a suspected purse snatcher. (Manhattan Beach Police Department)
The bill must be signed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly before it takes effect.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach supported the bill, writing that ORC is more than “just shoplifting.”
“These crimes typically involve theft for personal use, which is grand theft of retail goods, represents a concerted effort to victimize a business, and is often , with the purpose of reselling goods for financial gain, often using the financial proceeds to fund further criminal activities.”
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According to a 2023 report from the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail association. organized retail crime Theft by non-employees was the main factor behind the mass “downsizing” of retailers in 2022, accounting for 36%.
The term “shrink” typically refers to theft or other forms of inventory loss, and retailers across the country experienced $112 billion in losses in 2022.
A T-Mobile store in Philadelphia was destroyed in a robbery. (FOX 29 Philadelphia)
Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Oregon enacted retail theft laws last year, as did California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana and North Carolina. enacted the ORC Law in 2022.
“While the impact of theft on retailers’ margins and profitability is undeniable, retailers are extremely concerned about the rising levels and threats of violence related to theft and crime,” the NRF said on its website. Stated.
State Senate Republicans who voted for the bill argued that the ORC would have its own He argued that categories were necessary.
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The owners of Meza’s Jewelry in El Monte fought back against would-be robbers in September 2023. (Meza Jewelry)
“Right now, we don’t have adequate tools to prosecute those types of crimes, so this bill is about that,” Republican state Sen. Kelly Warren said of the bill, as reported by the Topeka Journal. said.
Some states hit hard by retail theft have gone so far as to establish their own law enforcement units to combat it. NRF discovered that Los Angeles was one of the hardest hit cities in California for ORC and led the creation of the Organized Retail Theft Crime Task Force within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
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Opponents of such harsh crime laws, on the other hand, argue that harsher penalties are too extreme for the crime and can hinder a person’s rehabilitation. The Maine Legislature this week passed a bill in the House of Representatives that would prohibit charging a person with a second-degree theft conviction if the third-degree theft is worth less than $500. The state’s current law allows a third conviction to be a felony if all crimes occurred within 10 years.
