Stores say they've seen a rise in organized theft, now Kansas has a specific crime for it

The Kansas Senate passed a bill criminalizing organized retail crime, a form of organized theft from a retailer for the purpose of reselling the stolen items.

The term typically refers to thefts by groups of people and includes stealing cargo trucks, shoplifting, cargo theft, and smash and grabs — where a protective barrier like a display case is destroyed in the process of a theft.

The bill in Kansas, Substitute House Bill 2144 , doesn’t require multiple parties and opens up anyone who stole more than $3,000 worth of goods over the past year.

The bill would establish a penalty for people who have stolen between $3,000 and $15,000 as a level 5 nonperson felony with sentencing between 31 and 136 months, and greater than $15,000 as a level 4 nonperson felony with sentencing between 38 and 172 months.

The National Retail Federation reported a rise in organized retail crime last year, and at least nine states passed laws imposing harsher penalties on organized retail crime between 2022 and 2023. The bill was supported by state and regional chambers of commerce, Walmart and Attorney General Kris Kobach, who would be authorized to prosecute organized retail crime under the bill.

“Organized retail crime is not mere theft, and it is not mere shoplifting," Kobach wrote in support of the bill. "These crimes typically involve stealing for personal use. It is large-scale theft of retail merchandise that represents a concerted effort to victimize a business — often with the intention of reselling the items for financial gain, and often using those financial proceeds to fund additional criminal activity.”

The NRF’s numbers have been questioned, though, and its annual retail shrinkage report found overall rates of theft to be similar to prior years. It was opposed by the Board of Indigents Defense Services, the organization that represents public defenders in the state. The BIDS highlighted the disparity in claimed organized retail theft with actual instances of theft in Kansas, which dropped consistently since 2017, and that typically thieves are experiencing substance abuse disorders or extreme poverty.

“In the articles we read about Wichita, there was almost no mention of actual ringleaders or how often they are caught, etc. Instead, the focus was on people who are battling drug addiction, mental illness, and/or poverty,” BIDS legislative committee member Jennifer Roth wrote in opposition to the bill. “By all accounts, the people who will get caught up in this new high severity level offense are people who are desperate, unwell, and struggling.”

Proponents in the Senate said the legislation is necessary to create a specific crime to target the behavior. Currently retail theft done by an individual for their own use is treated the same as someone who steals as part of a broader scheme.

“Currently we don’t have the proper tools to prosecute that type of crime, so that’s what this bill does” said Sen. Kellie Warren, R-Leawood.

But opponents worried that the bill is too broad and could be used to prosecute crimes that aren’t organized retail crime.

“The testimony that we heard in the judiciary committee was really focused on the need to combat organized retail crime," said Sen. Ethan Corson, D-Prairie Village, "and I think that that’s really where we should stay focused.”

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Stores say they've seen a rise in organized theft, now Kansas has a specific crime for it