TORONTO – The Hamilton Specter describes a recent organized crime retail theft at a Mac’s convenience store: A woman walks into the backroom undetected. She stuffs as much merchandise as she can into what’s called a “booster skirt,” then leaves the store as her two accomplices shield her from the store clerk, who is distracted by two more accomplices asking about merchandise behind the counter. They soon make a small purchase and leave. Within five minutes, $30,000 in tobacco products is gone.

From a Toronto location, Sean Sportun, manager of security and loss prevention at Mac’s, oversees video surveillance for 560 of the retailer’s convenience stores in Canada. The majority of the live video streams show honest customers making purchases. But one day, the video captured the aforementioned crime — “an example of sophisticated, organized retail crime — the kind that is costing Canadian retailers an estimated $4.67 billion a year,” writes the newspaper.

"They work off the highways. They're very transient. They will jump from place to place, from province to province, wherever they feel they can get the biggest bang for their buck," Sportun told the newspaper. "For the most part, these folks are really good at what they do. They train for it."

Don Berezowski, divisional vice-president, loss prevention and safety for Sears Canada, commented that organized crime wasn’t as big 10 years ago, unlike its U.S. neighbor. "Things have changed immensely,” he told the newspaper. “We would have opportunistic theft, now we're dealing with very organized gangs. These guys steal $10,000 to $20,000 a day or more. …We're talking a small percentage of the population here, but they do a lot of damage.”

For the Mac's backroom theft, Sportun said that he sent out a security alert on the Toronto Association of Police and Private Security (TAPPS) network, which is a system accessible by police and approved retailers as an investigative information- sharing portal. Members of the TAPPS system can scroll through pictures of criminal activity and suspects to spot repeat offenders and organized retail crime activity, notes the newspaper.

Berezowski, meanwhile, suggests that the growth of organized retail crime in Canada could be due to the fact that police have more resources to combat drug and gun crimes than they do retail theft. Also, the penalties for retail theft are low and the merchandise is quickly converted into cash.

"Why now? In the U.S., legislation has been brought in targeting organized retail crime with tougher penalties. We haven't gotten to that point yet," he told the newspaper.

While the threat of organized crime is real, Sportun cautions store employees against confronting the thieves. "As soon as you challenge them, they're going to step up their aggression. Their adrenaline is pumping harder than yours — you're going to lose," he said.

Read more in this month’s issue of NACS Magazine about protecting your stores from crime.