Various industry associations applauded recently-reintroduced bipartisan legislation addressing flash mob robberies and retail theft schemes.
The legislation, entitled the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025, focuses on “a coordinated multi-agency response and create new tools to tackle evolving trends in organized retail theft,” and also:
- establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security that combines expertise from state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as retail industry representatives;
- create new tools to assist in federal investigation and prosecution of organized retail crime; and
- and help recapture lost goods and proceeds
The legislation, which was introduced in similar versions in 2022 and 2023 (in 2023, it was introduced on Fight Retail Crime Day), is led by Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.). Other co-sponsors include: Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“Retail crime has cost Iowa billions, and it’s even worse across the nation,” said Grassley. “Organized theft rings deploy innovative tactics to pilfer goods, and it’s causing financial harm to businesses, putting employees and consumers at risk and funding transnational criminal organizations throughout the world. It’s time for the law to catch up and prevent criminals from exploiting the internet and online marketplaces. Our bill improves the federal response to organized retail crime and establishes new tools to recover stolen goods and illicit proceeds, and deter future attacks on American retailers.”
Feedback for this legislation by industry groups was very supportive.
Intermodal Association of North America President & CEO Anne Reinke noted that organized cargo theft and fraud disrupt intermodal freight supply chains, risk the safety of the sector’s workforce, and harm the U.S. economy.
“The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) applauds Senator Grassley, Senator Cortez Masto, Congressman Joyce, and Congresswoman Lee for their leadership in championing critical legislation to address this urgent threat,” she said. “The bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act will provide important resources to detect and fight organized crime throughout the supply chain, ensuring that our industry can continue delivering goods to American consumers safely and efficiently.”
And Association of American Railroads President & CEO Ian Jefferies said that organized criminal operations continue to evolve and escalate their targeted attacks against the nation’s supply chain and retailers.
“This alarming trend affects every industry — including the nation’s largest railroads, which experienced a 40% spike in cargo theft last year,” he said. “Disrupting these organized crime networks requires a unified, federally led response. Chairman Grassley and Rep. Joyce’s bipartisan legislation provides the strategic framework necessary to disrupt these criminal networks and safeguard our supply chain.”
On the trucking side, American Trucking Associations President & CEO Chris Spear said that the trucking industry takes great pride in delivering America’s freight safely and on time with the caveat that the billions of tons of goods transported by trucks from coast to coast have increasingly become a prime target for organized crime rings, including transnational organizations, putting truck drivers at risk and raising costs for consumers.
“ATA commends this bipartisan group of leaders for addressing this alarming trend and safeguarding our supply chain,” he said. “By empowering federal agencies to improve cooperation across jurisdictions and ramp up enforcement actions, this bill would strike an effective blow against organized crime.”
