Retail Theft Down Slightly in 2011

Despite reporting an uptick in organized retail crime, the National Retail Federation (NRF) revealed that retail theft rates decreased in 2011, according to preliminary results of the organization's latest National Retail Security survey. The results, which were presented at the NRF's Loss Prevention Conference and Expo in New Orleans, revealed that retail shrinkage — a loss of inventory due to employee theft, shoplifting, paperwork errors or supplier fraud — decreased to 1.41 percent of retail sales in 2011 ($34.5 billion), down from 1.49 percent in 2010 ($37.1 billion).