In 2018, the Greenwich Police Department (GPD) recognized a marked increase within the central business district of crime against area merchants such as forgery, identity theft, fraudulent credit card and other financial transactions and shoplifting.
In response, the department created an Organized Retail Crime Activity (ORCA) Team consisting of three dedicated officers with support from other members of the GPD tasked with countering the crimes afflicting downtown Greenwich.
The result was hundreds of charges, large and small, brought against suspects and information shared with local business establishments to improve crime prevention procedures. To date, the ORCA Team has investigated 101 cases, resulting in 136 arrests for 311 felonies, 217 misdemeanors and dozens of infractions and a total of 803 charges. Many of these local arrests are tied to major regional cases investigated by federal law enforcement agencies, with some of the suspects connected to violent crimes committed elsewhere.
According to Police Chief Jim Heavey, the ORCA Team has played an essential role in the redeployment of officers on Greenwich Avenue. Heavey describes the primary objective of the professional crime rings as “not for personal usage of goods, but to turn the stolen property from retail stores into financial gain through re-sales. These criminal operations are responsible for tens of billions of dollars in losses each year nationally. Locally the losses can devastate a retail business.”
