The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, which has heavy implications for trucking and cargo theft, has made it out of committee and faces a wider vote as Congress readies to pass major legislation.
CORCA, as the bill is known, would establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
That federal body would enhance collaboration between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, along with retail crime associations, to create a cohesive strategy to combat these crimes and share valuable resources, bill's sponsors said when it was originally introduced in April.
The bill would also amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code to allow criminal forfeiture for convictions related to interstate shipments, transportation of stolen goods, and sale or receipt of stolen goods.
This bill followed two different versions in both prior Congressional terms that failed. Yet on Jan. 13, this version of CORCA passed the House Judiciary Committee.
"It started off as organized retail crime bill," said Scott Cornell, VP of Transportation Risk & Strategy and Crime & Theft Specialist for Logistiq Insurance Solutions. "But different members within law enforcement saw it and thought, 'the bones of this bill are such that just some added basic language around cargo theft'" could give trucking the resources it needs to fight back against the growing cargo theft problem.
Why is the bill so important? Ask anyone who has had cargo stolen.
"Right now, the federal government doesn’t track cargo theft," said Cornell. "Some states track it, but for the most part it's not tracked by the government and it gets diluted into other types of crimes."
Police in Iowa might report a cargo theft as an auto theft, but an officer in Illinois might say the trailer had expensive electronics on it, so they'd mark it down as a property crime, maybe grand theft.
"Cargo theft disappears across the country in these other various crimes," said Cornell. "This leads to the industry really not knowing the true size of the issue or the problem, but those in the transportation industry know it’s a huge problem."
[Related: Prime time for cargo theft: $18M vanishing every single day]
Using CargoNet data, Cornell said that between 2021 and 2024, "strategic theft," or cargo theft using double brokering or fake carriers as a mechanism, "went up 1,475%."
A federal task force that could provide funding, resources, and uniformity across states could really move the needle, said Cornell.
"That task force is the biggest and strongest part of the bill," he said. "It would really give the federal government some reach" into the problem and a real chance to cut off the "head of the snake," which Cornell said were "big, massive organized theft rings" mostly coming from overseas.
Cornell also serves as the Chairman of the Transported Asset Protection Association, where he said he's seen a notable change in industry attitudes about cargo theft.
[Related: $400K lobster heist a 'black eye' for broker, or a wake-up call for trucking?]
As noted by Overdrive, brokers previously didn't really like talking about cargo theft. Now, they're putting out press releases and doing news hits when $400,000 of lobster goes missing.
"We’ve seen the big changes, foundational changes after 2022," said Cornell. "I think the industry has gone from thinking 'we have to hide the facts of theft for fear of losing business' to an understanding that everyone is being impacted."
A recent incident of cargo theft from broker ITS Logistics showed the negative ripple effects of the widespread problem for carriers, brokers and shippers alike.
[Related: ITS Logistics tried to 'offset' $85,000 payment to carrier before Echo Global acquisition]
The TAPA's National Cargo Theft Summit in May, Cornell said, is now a sellout event, and people there "openly talk about cargo theft" in a way he didn't see ten years ago.
"In today’s environment, everyone understands nobody's safe," he said. "It's been a big change in mentality."
Owner-ops, let us know just how bad trucking's fraud problem has become. Take our survey below about double brokering/other fraud (including cargo thefts) and some brokers' payments "offsetting" practices.
