On September 27, the Santa Ana Star Casino hotel held the 2024 second annual New Mexico Organized Retail Crime Conference in the Vista Grande ballroom.
The conference was organized by the New Mexico Organized Retail Crime Association (NMORCA) and included numerous experts and speakers, among them New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“I appreciate the private sector and the public sector partnership here. It’s critical, and quite frankly, this association is now being replicated around the country because it’s a model that works,” Governor Grisham said.
Grisham went on to discuss the retail crimes she has witnessed firsthand while shopping, stating, “In the last 24 months, I have not been at a single retailer where theft was not occurring while I was in line.”
The governor noted that her New Mexico State Police security detail has intervened in crimes she observed while in line.
“We have to do more about preventing it,” Lujan Grisham said in her address at the Santa Ana Star Casino Hotel. “I believe it’s all related to drug trafficking, retail theft, human trafficking, illegal guns and the distribution of those that are connected to the same set of individuals.”
More than 250 representatives from 30 law enforcement agencies, six police chiefs, and five district attorneys, along with 175 representatives from 25 retail companies were in attendance.
“We have got any number of incredible experts here from the entire criminal justice system but also on the private sector side. Thank you for standing up for New Mexico. Thank you for standing up for accountability. Thank you for standing up for businesses, particularly small business,” Lujan Grisham said.
She stated that House Bill 234, passed in 2023, is now being implemented. This law allows prosecutors to combine the retail market value of multiple shoplifting incidents and charge a suspect with a more serious second-degree felony if the total value of the merchandise exceeds $20,000.
Thirteen leaders from law enforcement and the business sector were honored with NMORCA Leadership Awards at the conference.
Other speakers included Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, Senior Vice President of State and Local Policy at the US Chamber of Commerce Tom Wickham, VP of AP at the Retail Industry Leaders Association Khris Hamlin, Retired Detective Sean Smith, representatives from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and Bureau Chief of the Northern US Jason Daughrity.
“The ability to get all of the players that are dealing with this problem in the room at the same time, what that does is facilitate excellent communication, awareness of what each other’s roles are, and discovering the ability on how to better work together,” Daughrity said. “This problem, as I was saying during the presentation, can’t be solved from that singular lens . . . you need partnerships.”
“Even if you don’t feel you have very good evidence, if you know they stole from you, report that,” Bregman said.
The conference provided retailers and law enforcement with resources, tools, and an opportunity to collaborate in the battle against organized retail crime in New Mexico.
At the conference, each attendee received the NMORCA Best Practices Playbook for Law Enforcement and Retailers. This playbook, created by NMORCA in collaboration with retailers and law enforcement from across the state, demonstrates the importance of strong collaboration between the business community and law enforcement.
To learn more about the many upcoming ORCA conferences you can attend, check out this page.