Is Sacramento among worst US metro areas for retail crime? Here’s what a recent survey said

Is the Sacramento metropolitan area among the 10 worst in the United States for large cities most impacted by organized retail crime? A survey that asked nearly 200 U.S. retail companies says it is, ranking seventh and tied with Chicago.

These rankings have been plastered in news headlines since last month, when the National Retail Federation released its “2023 National Retail Security Survey.”

The national rankings weren’t based on data compiled by law enforcement, and the report on the survey results does not include data indicating how many organized retail crime incidents occurred in these cities. The rankings were instead based on the annual security survey, which contained insights from 177 retail brands.

The National Retail Federation is an organization based in D.C. that has advocated on the behalf of retailers for more than a century. Retail, which contributes $3.9 trillion to the nation’s annual gross domestic product, is the country’s largest private-sector industry.

“Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire,” NRF Vice President David Johnston said in the published survey. “Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category.”

Survey of U.S. retail companies

The companies that participated in the NRF survey accounted for $1.6 trillion of annual retail sales last year and represent more than 97,000 locations throughout the country in 28 different retail sectors. Most of them are in specialty men’s and women’s apparel; grocery stores and supermarkets; jewelry and accessories; department stores; and shoes and footwear stores.

The cities ranked as the most affected by organized retail crime last year were based on the retail companies that responded to the survey. Three California metro areas made the list, with Los Angeles ranked the highest, followed by the Bay Area (San Francisco and Oakland).

The full list from the federation survey:

1. Los Angeles

2. San Francisco-Oakland

3. Houston

4. New York

5. Seattle

6. Atlanta

7-8. Sacramento and Chicago (tied)

9-11. Denver, Miami and Albuquerque (tied)

But what is organized retail crime? The NRF defined this type of criminal behavior as “theft/fraud activity conducted with the intent to convert illegally obtained merchandise, cash, cargo or cash equivalent into financial gain (no personal use), typically through their online or offline sales.”

The NRF definition also described organized retail crime as “typically involving a criminal enterprise that organizes large scale thefts from a number of retail stores and employs a fencing operation to sell illegally obtained goods for financial gain.”

Retailers also use various factors, indicators and processes to distinguish organized retail crime or ORC-related incidents from other thefts, according to the NRF.

More than 80% of respondents use evidence stemming from investigations, along with their ability to identify repeat offenders, according to the published report on the survey. More than 60% of the retailers in the survey use technologies or software to identify organized retail crime groups, along with monitoring the types of frequency of specific items stolen by individuals or groups.

Based on the respondents in this survey, 81% of the retailers said organized retail crime offenders had become more violent. This year, 41% of retailers said they do not allow any employees to stop or apprehend shoplifters; that’s up from 38% in last year’s survey.

The NRF survey report seems to differentiate between the simple shoplifting (even the more aggressive thefts) and organized retail crime.

“Retail continues to be plagued by growing levels of retail theft, from individuals who steal a few items for personal use to more violent ‘smash-and-grab’ incidents,” according to the retailers report. “Then there are the organized retail crime groups that aid and direct individuals to commit theft for the resale of stolen merchandise to fund other illicit activities.”

Recent surge in Sacramento robberies

The definition for organized retail theft is an important factor in how law enforcement categorize this type of criminal behavior.

The number of robberies in Sacramento rose to the highest level in a decade last year. The largest increases occurred in downtown, East Sacramento, midtown and Land Park, according to a Sacramento Bee review of preliminary Sacramento Police Department data.

Last year’s spike in robberies occurred as the department saw a rise in organized retail theft. Sacramento police Lt. Zach Eaton, a department spokesperson at the time, has said organized retail theft often begins as petty theft crime investigations, commonly referred to as shoplifting. But he said organized retail theft ultimately is listed as a robbery in law enforcement data based on the suspect’s actions during the shoplifting.

Organized retail theft is referred to in legal circles as “Estes Robberies,” in which force or a threat of force was used by a suspect to avoid apprehension and get away with the stolen merchandise.

Sacramento had 1,245 robberies reported last year. Through September this year, the city has had 895 reported robberies. That’s a 6.1% drop when compared to the first nine months last year. Those numbers were included when Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester announced this week that the city has experienced an 18% drop in the overall number of violent crimes this year compared to 2022.

Local law enforcement aren’t denying there’s a problem with organized retail theft in the Sacramento area.

“The Sacramento Police Department recognizes the impact retail theft has on business owners, employees, and community members,” police said in a written statement in response to the NRF survey rankings. “We are committed to working in partnership with business owners to prevent and deter retail theft.”

Data on California shoplifting and commercial robberies

A report published last month by the Public Policy Institute of California, which includes the most up-to-date data, examined commercial burglaries and robberies of commercial businesses.

Shoplifting is defined under California’s Proposition 47 as entering a commercial establishment with intent to steal property valued at less than $950 during business hours. The PPIC report said data failed to reveal evidence of increases in shoplifting until last year, when the state experienced a 28.7% spike from the low rates of COVID-19 pandemic years.

A theft in which force is threatened or used is a robbery, which is a violent crime. Robberies of commercial businesses are much less common than shoplifting and commercial burglaries, the PPIC analysis found. The statewide commercial robbery rate was 53 robberies per 100,000 residents last year, compared to 210 per 100,000 for shoplifting and 231 per 100,000 commercial burglaries.

But commercial robberies are rising — up in nine of the state’s 15 most populous counties last year when compared to 2019 (pre-pandemic), including Sacramento County, where it had a 29% jump, according to the PPIC report. Sacramento’s was the largest increase among the 15 counties; overall, California saw a 13% increase.

Shoplifting hits small stores hard, officials say

Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, said the agency has seen an increase in retail theft. He directed blame at Prop 47, which reclassified certain non-violent property and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors in California.

“They know that nothing is going to happen to them; that there’s no teeth in the law,” Gandhi said about shoplifters. “It’s a lawmakers’ problem; not a law enforcement problem.”

The sheriff’s spokesman said he’s not surprised over the Sacramento area’s ranking in organized retail crime. He said a lot of big retail stores don’t even bother reporting these thefts; they just absorb the financial losses.

“It’s the mom-and-pop shops that get hit the hardest,” Gandhi said.

Even simple shoplifting can create long-lasting harmful affects to businesses and their surrounding neighborhoods, said Daniel Savala, executive director for the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership. He said the Walgreens in the North Sacramento neighborhood is closing for good Nov. 8 as a result of repeated store thefts, including brazen shoplifters who will steal merchandise as employees watch unable to stop them.

Savala said the Walgreens closure will leave another vacant building and property that will attract vagrants and firebugs as business owners and residents seek help to stop crime in their neighborhood.

“We’re triaging everyday,” Savala said. “We can’t get ahead.”