Unlike most countries with national police, the US has thousands of local agencies that historically could not share information effectively. This fragmentation is a major weakness that criminals exploit, creating a large opportunity for tech platforms that facilitate inter-agency data sharing.

Retail "shrink" is not monolithic. Home Depot's asset protection team strategically divides losses into "malicious" (theft) and "operational" (internal process errors). For them, malicious activity accounts for 70% of losses, allowing them to focus resources effectively.

Identifying unauthorized sellers on platforms like Amazon is the easy part. Getting them removed requires building a massive, forensic-level data file that documents every instance of violation. This court-ready evidence is necessary to compel platforms to take action against bad actors.

Cargo theft has evolved beyond simple break-ins. Sophisticated criminals create fraudulent but legitimate-looking carrier companies, complete with fake paperwork, to pick up entire truckloads of inventory from shippers and then disappear with the goods.

Organized crime has evolved from simple theft to complex corporate schemes. One group purchased a legitimate freight brokerage, used it to win contracts, loaded trucks with $7 million of product in a single day, and then dissolved the company, showcasing a new level of criminal sophistication.

Counterintuitively, securing high-theft products can increase sales. The friction for legitimate customers is offset by the benefit of the product being consistently in stock, preventing lost sales from empty shelves caused by theft.

Profits from organized retail crime are often funneled into more sinister activities. They fund transnational gangs and cartels involved in money laundering, drug trafficking, and even human trafficking, elevating shoplifting from a petty crime to a national security issue.

For large retailers, the primary value of AI in asset protection is currently to boost investigative efficiency. The technology helps compress case timelines from months to weeks, allowing teams to handle more cases, rather than preventing individual thefts in real-time.

Organized retail crime has evolved beyond shoplifting. Langley describes an Eastern European group that purchased a real freight brokerage, used it to secure large shipping contracts, loaded a truck with $7 million in goods in a single day, and then vanished after dissolving the company.