They call Philadelphia the “City of Brotherly Love.” It’s one of America’s oldest urban centers, where the nation declared independence from Great Britain 248 years ago, and the sixth-most populous city in the United States. Today, Philadelphia’s close geographic and transportation connections to other large metropolitan economies, such as New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, offer a significant competitive advantage for business creation and entrepreneurship.
They also provide significant opportunities to perpetrate retail theft, which is up roughly 26 percent this year from the same period in 2023, according to Philadelphia police. And some of this crime has turned incredibly violent, as seen in the fatal stabbing of Loss Prevention Officer Eric Harrison, aged 27, at the Macy’s store in Center City three weeks before Christmas 2023.
Almost exactly two months after Harrison’s murder, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office created the city’s first Organized Retail and House Theft Task Force within its Economic Crime Unit to combat the city’s rising rate of retail crime.
The task force outlined three focus areas at its February 5 press conference. The first includes repeat retail theft offenders like Tyrone Tunnell, 30, the man charged with Harrison’s murder. Tunnell had an extensive prior criminal record that included more than a dozen arrests for offenses including retail theft and an active arrest warrant at the time of the crime. The second focuses on fencing operations where thieves buy or receive stolen goods and resell them. The third involves those who steal to support an addiction to drugs, in which case the course of action would be getting them into treatment, not jail, said Philadelphia Police Department Inspector Raymond Evers, who is helping lead the task force on the law enforcement side.
Roughly six months in, how is the task force working, and what other strategies are the city of Philadelphia, suburban police departments, retailers, retail organizations, and the state employing to take down retail theft?
Communication, Collaboration, and Crackdowns
In November 2022, Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Esack partnered with Philadelphia Police Department central detectives to launch a pilot program in Center City to target prolific retail theft offenders. They found that less than 30 percent of criminals committed 70 percent of the retail thefts.
“When we met with the Commerce Department, Philly police, and the DA’s office, we got more than an earful about the number of retail thefts and the issues they were having,” Evers said. “There obviously was a slight battle between the police department and the DA’s office about charging, things of that nature.”
The charging Evers mentioned was the DAO’s controversial policy to prosecute thefts under $500 as summary cases, something Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has said was misinterpreted. The task force’s new policy does not include a particular dollar amount. The DAO’s office failed to respond to multiple interview requests for this story.
From its initial Center City pilot, the task force branched off into the South Police Division in South Philly. When the city’s new mayor, Cherelle Parker, and new police commissioner, Kevin Bethel, came into office in January, they wanted to spread the program to every police division in the city, Evers said. Now, each police division has between four and eight officers working on retail thefts, with a dedicated detective in each. Evers noted that about ninety‑five businesses are participating in the task force.
Year to date, the police department has locked up 86 percent more people than this time last year, which Evers chalks up to more reporting thanks to a stronger relationship between the police and retailers. This past summer, it also took down two sizable retail theft groups.
In the first, a group of about ten people, including a 9-year-old, are alleged to have committed a series of high-end retail thefts in the city and the surrounding area, including at lululemon stores in Philadelphia and nearby King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, totaling $60,000. Some stores got hit multiple times.
In the second, Philadelphia police arrested members of a “diaper crew” who they say stole hundreds of diapers and other items from Family Dollar, Dollar General, and Rite Aid stores throughout the city. Police believe the “diaper crew” committed at least twenty-five retail thefts and two retail robberies and stole at least $14,000 in items since April. Investigators say the crew may have been reselling the stolen items to daycares or other stores.
In this last incident, investigators used a free app called GroupMe. Here, retailers throughout the city share information with street officers, detectives, and other businesses—including if the same perpetrator or group of perpetrators has hit them. According to Evers, the GroupMe app now has about 1,750 participants. Better information sharing was one of the needs outlined in the retail theft task force, Esack told Fox 29 News in July.
The Philadelphia Police Department also recently rolled out a new procedure for taking retail theft reports, allowing officers to conduct initial interviews on body-worn cameras at the business where the incident occurred, said Sgt. Eric Gripp, the department’s public information officer.
“This negates the need for the victim/witness to be transported to the detective vision of occurrence to be interviewed,” he said. “The goal is to help encourage more victims/witnesses to provide the Philadelphia Police Department with the information needed to charge an individual when and if they are apprehended.”
Nagiarry Porcena-Meneus, senior director of communications and marketing for the city’s Department of Commerce, said the retail theft task force provides them with regular updates to coordinate business resources and personalized assistance.
“The department works closely with economic development partners, including the chambers of commerce, local community development corporations, and business improvement districts, to deploy resources and advocate for policies that can help curb issues like retail theft,” she said.
Taking It to the Streets of Philadelphia
The Home Depot and Wakefern, which owns ShopRite, are part of the task force. Scott Glenn, vice president of asset protection at The Home Depot, says the retailer has experienced an alarming year-on-year rise in the frequency and audacity of organized and professional criminal groups stealing in Philadelphia stores and elsewhere. On average, every three minutes during hours of operation, an organized retail crime event is reported in a Home Depot store, up from every five minutes in 2021. Glenn says the company’s experience with the city’s task force has been great.
“The task force has allowed law enforcement to compile cases on repeat offenders and charge them for a series of thefts instead of individual ones, which makes the cases more sustainable in court and targets the worst of the worst offenders,” he said. “We have a fantastic relationship with our PPD partners and many other local agencies. In many stores, we have PPD-dedicated details. And lastly, our asset protection associates regularly collaborate on ORC incidents and large-scale fraud cases.”
Karen O’Shea, corporate communications supervisor at Wakefern, says the company has seen an increase in retail theft in some areas, including Philadelphia, and is participating in the new task force as part of its strategy for decreasing the number of incidents. Wakefern’s asset protection team works closely with its members and their store asset protection leaders, as well as local law enforcement, to develop best practices to keep associates and customers safe. These include training, communicating with stores, incorporating key technology, and working with local community leaders and law enforcement.
“We are also incorporating specialized training and new tools to help our asset protection teams,” she said. “We believe that technology—used thoughtfully and in combination with other measures we take to reduce theft—can help prevent crime and keep our customers and associates safe.”
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), which oversees nearly 600 Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, including about fifty in Philadelphia, has also had initial conversations with task force leaders and looks forward to seeing what its involvement may be in the future, said its press secretary, Shawn M. Kelly. Otherwise, he said the PLCB addresses retail theft through various avenues, including technology, training, a contracted security provider, and partnerships with Philly police, including maintaining a regular presence in its stores and providing records and data to the department to help its investigation of incidents.
“In recent years, we have installed new camera and alarm systems in all our stores, as well as public view monitors in select locations, which alert customers of our video surveillance,” he said.
However, not all retailers rely on the police to solve issues at their stores. In Philly, theft isn’t just a problem for big box stores. And it isn’t the only issue businesses face.
“There have been a few [incidents] specifically in the past where I have seen people try to steal, and it is usually people on drugs,” said Bianca De Pietro, owner of TOILE, a high-end fashion retailer in the city’s Fishtown neighborhood. “Most of our encounters with aggressive individuals have an addiction and/or mental illness problem.”
Fishtown borders Kensington, just off I-95. The neighborhood has long been a hot spot for a thriving, open-air narcotics drug scene. In 2022, a record 1,413 people died in Philadelphia from drug overdoses, mostly from opioids—an 11 percent increase from the previous record high of 1,276 in 2021, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Sometimes these addicted individuals frequent Kensington’s surrounding areas. As outlined earlier, one of the retail theft task force’s priorities is to address those who steal to support an addiction to drugs. Evers said the department does see those with drug addictions being recruited by criminal groups to commit retail theft.
“So, we see a little of each,” he said. “But a lot of the retail theft that we see is for-profit. There are different types of retail thefts. And each one has to be policed differently.”
De Pietro said she sees a limited police presence in the area. Instead, she uses a private security team, which has helped decrease issues. Otherwise, she and other local retailers have created a DIY communication chain to inform each other about incidents in the area. And while she’s not currently participating in any of the city’s programs, such as the retail theft task force, she is on the Fishtown Kensington Area Business Improvement District board, or BID. She says she is actively working toward creating a better environment so retail businesses can flourish on the corridor.
“We have a really nice network in the area where if something happens, we send photos around and alert the other businesses in the area,” she said. “I’ve installed multiple cameras inside the store and outside so we can get very clear images of situations and the people in them.”
Oh, What a Night—Late September Back in ‘23
Kelly of the PCLB was the one retailer interviewed who said that retail theft incidents haven’t notably increased from year to year—except for last September’s concentrated civil unrest incidents.
What he’s talking about has come to be called the Nights of Mayhem.
On September 26 and 27, 2023, looting and unrest erupted after a Philadelphia judge ruled to dismiss all charges against Mark Dial, a former police officer accused of shooting and killing Eddie Irizarry, 27, while he was sitting inside his car during a traffic stop the previous month in Kensington. While some peacefully protested the decision, others took to the streets to loot large Center City retail stores like lululemon and Footlocker and small businesses along 52nd Street in West Philadelphia.
It’s important to note here that Philly has a long, complicated history of looting, even in the best of times. After the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in 2008, more than twenty people were caught on surveillance cameras stealing high-end suitcases from Robinson Luggage in Center City. After the Philadelphia Eagles won the 2018 Super Bowl, looters struck a Sunoco gas station in South Philadelphia. There have also been incidents of looting and rioting after other incidents of civil unrest, such as George Floyd’s murder in May of 2020, after which police arrested more than 100 people for setting large fires and looting Center City stores.
In the case of the Nights of Mayhem, the looting provided some lessons for retailers who want to protect their stores from similar events in the future.
Caleb Bowyer, a research scientist at the Loss Prevention Research Council (LRPC), examined looting in Philly in the context of broader mass attack incidents like flash robberies and mobs he is studying elsewhere in the country, such as in San Francisco. The Nights of Mayhem affected several LRPC members, such as Rite Aid, lululemon, Walgreens, Apple, Family Dollar, and AutoZone. “The looting is a bit different in that it’s a lot more chaotic and can grow in size a lot faster, and there’s usually a lot less prior coordination than flash robs,” he said.
Bowyer gathered open-source data and information from retailers in Philly to understand how this extended, spread-out looting occurred. He’s been documenting the security measures at looted and unaffected stores and estimates on financial damage—which has thus far amounted to roughly $20,000 per store affected on average. The most common measures used by affected retailers included alarm systems, gates, and CCTV. Most of the affected retailers had no security guard present. One of the affected retailers that used a guard and shared data on their security measures had only an attempted burglary at the store.
“We want to provide them with information on how to make better decisions about what technology or equipment to invest in to safeguard their store better and protect their people and assets,” he said. “That’s another goal—the preparedness and detection pieces.”
Bowyer said security officers, shatter‑resistant glass, active sound deterrents triggered by crowds forming, and adaptive lighting technology with different camera angles to gather more evidence are all measures that could prevent looting. In the future, cell phone tracking could also help detect when crowds descend on a store and how they travel throughout a given location. These tactics could help law enforcement reach a store faster and capture the suspect.
“I think quicker communication with law enforcement is key, retailer-to-retailer communication is key, and you can share communication quickly with your neighbor so they can maybe lock the door and take some quicker action,” he said.
Rocking the Suburbs
Philly’s retail theft problem has also spilled over into the suburbs. William McVey, public safety director for the police department in Bensalem, just off Interstate 95 bordering Philadelphia’s Northeast section, says a lot of his township’s crime is tied to Philadelphia’s policies, “good or bad.”
Bensalem has seen an over 30 percent increase in retail theft, with 25 percent of arrests represented by local residents and 40 percent by Philadelphia residents. These include brazen thefts such as a serial shoplifter accused of using a suitcase to lift $9,000 worth of circuit breakers from The Home Depot.
In January, the township launched the Bensalem Secure Theft Reduction Taskforce to combat the issue. The program targets internal and external theft at retailers and other businesses in partnership with the local police, the mayor’s office, the Bensalem Economic Development Corporation, and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. So far this year, Bensalem’s retail theft incidents have increased by 27 percent, but their closure rate has been as high as 68 percent, representing a 10 to 15 percent increase from prior years, McVey said.
“I attribute that to collaboration with our retail box stores and the changes we made on the police side to address retail as more of a priority,” he said. “What I mean by that is, it’s no longer, ‘Go take a report if [the suspect] is gone.’”
Instead, Bensalem PD now leverages new technology such as intersection cameras, store video surveillance, license plate readers, and signage throughout the town at stores warning potential criminals that they will be arrested. They are even trialing drones—an idea borrowed from first responder drone programs around the US—in specific areas near larger box stores. Operators are set up in the field, and if they hear a call for retail theft, they launch the drone immediately—sometimes minutes before the police arrive. McVey said the drones then successfully tracked the suspects, sometimes even recording them getting into public buses that the police then intercepted.
“So, we’re throwing all the tools we have as law enforcement into the fight against retail theft and to try and send that clear message that we are taking it seriously, and if you commit that crime in our township, we’re going to arrest you,” he said.
The Bensalem Police Department has also recently employed a somewhat controversial tactic of publishing weekly retail theft arrests on its website, including photos of suspects, where they’re from, and related charges. McVey said the department is getting more tips from the public because of these alerts.
“Our messaging was that most of these offenders are doing it in a variety of places and municipalities, so we want their picture out there,” he said. “We want the public to know who’s responsible for the rise in all the price increases that result from this retail theft.”
As for what Philly is doing with its retail theft task force, McVey remains optimistic about the direction.
“We have embraced Philly’s approach to this,” he said. “We do work with the Philadelphia Police Department very well, sharing information on all crimes, especially now retail theft, and working together to help each other out.”
Tackling ORC at the City, State, and Federal Levels
Philadelphia doesn’t have to carry the problem of retail theft all on its shoulders.
The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act is still in motion at the federal level. It aims to create a federal task force under Homeland Security Investigations to increase coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement. It also changes Title 18 of the US code, providing more leverage for investigators and prosecutors.
At the state level, the Pennsylvania government passed a new law—Act 42 of 2023—this January that allows the Attorney General to prosecute cases where groups cross county lines. Pennsylvania is among the worst states for organized retail theft and has the highest average total value of stolen goods in the country per resident. According to state data, retail theft offenses increased by 30 percent between 2021 and 2022.
The new law cuts the retail value thresholds that correlate with second and third-degree felonies in half. Now, if the loss to any retailer is over $50,000, that becomes a felony of the first degree. This law also established the Office of Deputy Attorney General for Organized Retail Crime Theft, which went into effect on July 1 and includes a team of five deputy attorneys for each region of the state and ten special agents.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Patrick Schulte will lead the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Organized Retail Crime Section. “While the Office of Attorney General always investigated and prosecuted cases in this space, Act 42 gave OAG the resources to maximize our attention and effort on these cases,” he said.
The unit primarily focuses on multi‑county criminal gangs and organizations targeting retailers. It investigates and prosecutes traditional ORC cases, counterfeiting cases, supply chain thefts, and account takeovers in which criminals infiltrate the accounts of legitimate customers to steal goods.
“We have learned that the best way to combat the problem posed by organized retail crime is to take a multidisciplinary approach,” Schulte said. “That means that we bring all stakeholders together—loss prevention professionals, local law enforcement, district attorneys, Pennsylvania State Police, and others—to collaborate on how to most effectively and efficiently tackle these cases head-on.”
The Philadelphia Police Department is also looking to form a group to examine larger patterns and fences and work with bordering counties on ORC. Evers said it would have dedicated officers and detectives working directly with the counties as a one-stop shop for combating retail theft in the Greater Philadelphia region. 
Ben Dugan, CFI, former president of the National Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR), a collaboration between law enforcement and retail loss prevention professionals to improve public safety, said Philadelphia has significantly invested in reducing retail crime and prosecuting it correctly. The organization has over 3,000 members who collaborate and work on cases with law enforcement. They also help educate and train on retail theft and have even advocated for better state and federal laws.
“The partnership with the Philadelphia PD and the retailers themselves has never been better,” he said. “They’re in the store constantly; they talk to the managers and the employees. They make themselves available if any incidents occur.”
The city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania are doing a lot to combat retail theft. The question remains: Will these efforts be enough to continue chipping away at the problem as the city experiences a contentious presidential election, potential sports playoff games, and hosting the next World Cup in 2026?
Evers said the partnership between the Philadelphia Police and the DAOs is critical because it can’t just be the police alone. “We’re a lot better than where we were with our relationship with the DA’s office,” he said. “The most important thing is the communication we’re getting with the retailers about how we’re conducting business.”
Dugan says his organization has a lot of work to do nationwide and in Philly to reduce retail crime, but he remains optimistic. “If we’re looking at some of the avenues of where this [stolen] product goes, we’ve got a proactive police department and district attorney,” he said. “The stores and the communities are getting safer. It’s great for everyone. So, CLEAR applauds what they’re doing in Philadelphia, and we think it could be an example for the rest of the country.”
