Retail workers face increasing threats from shoplifters brandishing “knives and guns,” a top Home Depot executive told a congressional panel looking to pass legislation amid the scourge of organized retail theft.
Scott Glenn, head of loss prevention for the 2,000-store chain, joined industry leaders and law enforcement officials in pleading for help during a hearing held by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counter terrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence in Washington, DC, Tuesday.
“Retailers are not exaggerating this problem,” Glenn said of the dangers posed to Home Depot’s 470,000 workers from organized retail crime.
Big-box stores like Target and Walmart, along with smaller retailers suffered $112 billion in inventory losses last year, up from nearly $94 billion in 2021, According to the National Retail Federation.
The NRF 2022 survey reported external theft, including organized retail crime-related events, accounted for an average of 36% of total loss.
Aside from the financial losses, Glenn said the retailer has “tragically” lost employees as well.
In April a Home Depot security guard in California — and Boy Scout leader — was gunned down after pursuing someone who was stealing a phone charger.
And another worker died this year after being shoved by a shoplifter.
“These individuals are dangerous and [becoming] increasingly more dangerous,” said the executive, one of seven witnesses, including officials from the FBI, Secret Service and Homeland Security, who testified before the committee.
Glenn also railed against the “rise of third party [retail] platforms” including “reputable ones” that sell the stolen goods.
One of the committee members, Dina Titus (D-Nev.), is co-sponsoring a bill “Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act,” which would establish a federal coordinated response to retail crime.
If passed, it would support an increase in federal coordination with state and local law enforcement to fight retail crime, according to the National Retail Federation.
Homeland Security special agent Michael Krol testified that organized retail theft is often linked to “narcotics and weapons trafficking and money laundering,” while FBI deputy assistant director Jose Perez said the agency is tracking theft groups in South America that are “exploiting Visa waiver programs.”
San Diego’s District Attorney Summer Stephan blamed “a very inadequate legal framework and weak laws that deal with this issue,” for why this “crime has become more prevalent.”
Her office has prosecuted 76 people this year for retail theft, she said, including a ring that was responsible for $1.25 million worth of stolen goods, including $230,000 goods from Sun Glass Hut stores alone.
This year, congress passed the INFORM Consumer Act, which requires third-party marketplaces to collect information about sellers and to identify them.
“That was a great first step,” Glenn said.
