Canadian Retailer - Store 2017 - 24

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS

sent. Under the new law, retail investigators do not tailers meet with law enforcement in many jurisneed to obtain consent to share personal informa- dictions to trade information about ongoing
tion if it compromises a criminal investigation.
investigations and suspected criminals. They
"For ten years, retailers had to investigate ORC collaborate on case files and discuss trends in
alone, but now they can share what they know criminal methods and the black market.
about organized rings," says O'Keefe.
The investigation moves quickly and orderly.
Since Bill S-4 became law, retailers have suc- "The criminals are organized. We need to be
cessfully prosecuted several high value cases more organized," says Raam.
against organized criminals. These
"FRAUD AND THEFT-BOTH MONSTERS ARE GROWING.
investigations, conducted by cor- THESE CRIMINALS HAVE AN OBJECTIVE AND A PLAN, AND
porate security officers like Raam, THEY HAVE BUYERS FOR THE GOODS THEY STEAL."
are turning out to be an important
- NIALL RAAM
bulwark against organized criminal
Retail Crime Investigator
syndicates, who use retail crimes to finance the Grey market
activities more commonly associated with organOrganized crime operates like a business, with
ized crime-prostitution, drugs, terrorism.
a leadership structure and a division of labour.
While the costs of ORC are hard to assess, re- One steals, another fences, another repackages
searchers estimate organized criminals siphon and redistributes stolen goods through the varupwards of four- to five-billion dollars from Can- iety of channels that make up the black market-
adian retailers each year. They generate such the Internet, flea markets and private sales.
vast numbers through sophisticated financial
The other channel of distribution, lesser-known
crimes as well as older methods, like stealing by consumers, is the grey market. In the grey martransport trucks loaded with goods and smash- ket, legitimate goods, including discount and resale
ing and grabbing merchandise-like twenty pairs merchandise, mix with illicit black market goods.
of blue jean-off store shelves.
The grey market creates a complication for Canada's retailers. In the grey market retail buyers
Organized defence
searching for low-cost merchandise can find great
By the afternoon, Raam and his team begin in- deals-but they can't always know if merchandise
vestigating the crimes they identified in the mor- has been legitimately sourced. The chase to imning. Raam takes the case of the twenty blue jeans. prove margins means that retailers might be buyFirst, he contacts the loss prevention team at ing back merchandise that was stolen from them.
the store. They confirm that the blue jeans were
Retailers know that ORC drops when cheap, legitstolen and not misplaced.
imate merchandise hits the resale market. When
Next, Raam sends a BOLO to his stores-a "be Target fell in 2015, low-priced merchandise flooded
on the lookout"-warning them that a crew is tar- the market, driving down demand for stolen mergeting blue jeans. Gangs often hit multiple stores chandise and shrinking the grey market.
until they're caught or their methods have been
The grey market represents a major impediment
detected. Raam and his team will identify trends to curbing ORC. Retailers who purchase stolen merin criminal methods and modify store security to chandise on the grey market-wittingly or not-mocompensate. In the coming days, they will train tivate organized gangs to continue their crimes.
floor staff about what to look for.
Raam also feeds his information into a network Hard evidence
that exists between retailers and police. He calls
The case file is the most important tool in the
other retailers to see if they've had blue jeans investigator's kit. It houses all the evidence the instolen, and if they haven't, he alerts them.
vestigator has collected. When the investigation
He will brief the police, too. Each quarter re- is complete, the retailer will pass the case file to
24 |

CANADIAN RETAILER

| THE LOSS PREVENTION ISSUE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Store 2017