WLWT Exclusive: Inside Kroger's organized retail crime unit
Unit works with police to deter theft
Most shoppers go to the grocery store with lists. Professional criminals do too, Middletown police said.
We're not talking about shoplifters who steal for themselves, but "boosters" who swipe for a living.
"We have boosters that tell us they go out three or four times a day to steal from retailers," said Dennis Dansak, senior corporate manager of the Organized Retail Crime Unit for Kroger. Dansak has investigators all across the country.
"Organized retail crime (ORC) is the gateway crime and I preach that throughout the country," Dansak said. "The typical crimes that are associated with ORC are narcotics, guns and counterfeiting other products."
This week, Dansak took WLWT News 5 inside the Kroger in Middletown.
He explained, just like they do in bigger cities, crooks are ripping off stores right here in the Tri-state -- stores that everyone shops at, like Kroger, CVS, Walmart, Meijer and Lowes, among others.
"What drives the booster, the products he steals and boosts from the stores, is dictated by what the consumers want to buy," Dansak said.
Tide, liquor, Red Bull, batteries, Crest Whitestrips and over-the-counter medicine are some of the more popular items that are being swiped from store shelves.
"The boosters come in, take the product off the shelf and go out of our store without paying. That translates into not enough product being on the shelf for our customers," he said.
Because the goal is to keep the customer happy and prices down, Kroger has partnered with other retailers and law enforcement officers. In the last six weeks, Kroger, Middletown police, CVS and about a dozen other agencies worked together to nab about 100 boosters.
They said the criminals were brazen and often worked in teams. They would load up their carts and head out the door to a getaway car.
"We had them trading product for drugs or we had them selling products to fences to get money for drugs," said Sgt. Steve Ream with Middletown Police.
A "fence" could be a flea market or an online business that may provide the booster with a list of hot items.
Those stolen products are often sold for less than half of the retail price, Dansak said.
What concerns Dansak is that some of the items that are being stolen and then resold are perishables, like baby formula.
"If they're not stored at a proper temperature or stored in an area that is not clean and being sold by the fence, it is a safety issue for the consumer," said Dansak.
Kroger has started tagging some of the products with stickers that can't be peeled off, hoping to deter thieves.
Middletown police said the partnership between law enforcement and retailers is only going to get stronger and they warn thieves that the crackdown has just begun.
"We are going to be very aggressive in targeting these groups," said Ream.