Organized retail crime is a new term to many people. It refers to retail crime, usually theft, that is part of an organized, coordinated effort, as opposed to petty shoplifting or smash-and-grab crimes of opportunity.
Much of the organized retail crime we see targets big box retailers, but the trucking industry is also harmed by this type of criminal activity, with cargo theft being a popular tactic among criminal enterprises.
Organized retail crime hurts all Americans because the cost to businesses—$70 billion annually—gets passed on to consumers as higher prices. Businesses not only lose merchandise; they face higher costs for security and insurance.
It’s important to understand, too, that the perpetrators of organized retail crime don’t limit their criminal activity to just this kind of theft. Their efforts to steal goods from retail outlets and transporters help fund broader criminal activity like drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, and violent crime. These are bad actors who think they can operate outside the law for their own personal gain.
I have made fighting organized retail crime a priority since being sworn in as Arkansas’s Attorney General in January 2023. Not long after taking office, I joined Homeland Security Investigations’ nationally focused Organized Retail Crime Alliance and the regionally focused subgroup called LAMA (as an Arkansan, I like to call it ALMA), which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. This group shares information and intelligence about organized retail crime in our states and coordinates on efforts to take down the criminal syndicates behind these offenses.
I’ve also led on this issue at the state level. I added an investigator dedicated full time to organized retail crime to my Special Investigations Division, and I’ve pulled together law enforcement agencies and retail partners to meet regularly to share intelligence and strategies to take these criminals down. And it’s working. Last year in August and September we led a series of organized retail crime “blitzes,” yielding 17 arrests.
During Arkansas’s current legislative session, I have championed three bills to enhance criminal penalties for organized retail crime offenses, including one bill directly tied to cargo theft. This particular bill will give prosecutors extra leverage when dealing with cargo theft and will add up to 10 years of hard time on top of current sentencing norms. We’re sending a clear message to criminal enterprises that in Arkansas, we’re not just giving organized retail crime lip service. We’re coming after these criminals, and we’re going to use every tool available to us to take them down.
The Arkansas Trucking Association has been a key partner in our efforts to combat organized retail crime, and I encourage you, its members, to reach out to my office if you have information to share or if we can be of assistance in any way. My dedicated team of investigators are among the best in the state, and we stand ready to help the trucking industry erase the terrible impact that these types of crimes have on companies, their employees, our roadways, and our communities.
Please reach out at (501) 682-2007 or oag@arkansasag.gov if we can help in any way.
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
