Celebrating the ORCA community

This article was featured in our latest print publication called Inside Auror, a collection of stories from the Retail Crime Intelligence community, and has been adapted for The Intel blog series.

What began as a grassroots effort to partner against Organized Retail Crime (ORC) has quickly grown into an effective nationwide movement. Helping power this movement is Auror, the national ORCA platform leaders across the country are leveraging.

Together, we are connecting the dots and reducing crime.

To learn more about the success and outlook of these ORCA relationships, we had a quick chat with Bobby Haskins, VP of Retail Partnerships at Auror.

Why did Auror choose to partner with the ORCA community? 

Bobby: ORCAs are doing such impactful work to help protect our communities. We saw an opportunity to support the ORCAs with a best-in-class technology to help them identify repeat people, build cases faster, and increase collaboration between law enforcement & retailers. Also, the ORCAs survive on donations from their members and the last thing they should worry about is paying for the platform. That is why we offer the ORCA version of Auror for free.

Can you give an example of a key win in the movement?

Bobby: We have many examples of the ORCA community working together on key wins, with Auror as their platform to help connect the dots. Two stories immediately come to mind because both relied on collaboration to go from information to meaningful action. They’re good examples of how case management and actionable intelligence differ – Auror being the latter.

ORCA Win #1: Bulletin Comments within Auror help ORCAs build investigation

A repeat person was arrested as they attempted to take high-end electronics from a retailer in Boise, Idaho. Using the information provided, ORCA users were able to connect the dots on incidents spanning three retailers and four states. Police and retailers were then able to collaborate, building a larger investigation within the Auror Investigate solution.

‍

ORCA Win #2: From single incident to criminal charges in under three weeks

Through intuitive collaboration, this investigation has grown into 48 events totaling nearly $115,000 in reported value. Talk about action; investigators are working to bring this group to prosecution on federal charges. These types of outcomes are driven by everyone working together within a single, easy-to-navigate platform. It demonstrates the power of ORCAs to create investigations for our retail partners.

We, the members of ORCAID, have always been united to combat theft, fraud, and ORC. Our definition of "we" has now changed to include every ORCA signed on. The ability to collaborate with other ORCAs inside the Auror platform is a game changer.

- Ed Fritz, Chair of Organized Retail Crime Association of Idaho

‍

Why is Auror excited about the future of this movement?

Bobby: We’re excited about actions and outcomes, to put it simply. That is, what we’re doing together to drive real results for our ORCA and retail partners. It takes a network to defeat a network. ORC is made up of networks, and now there are networks like the ORCA community and Auror to defeat them. This movement is leading to more efficient identification, collaboration, and case closure. And those lead to safer communities.

Ready to see Auror in action? Reach out to us today.