Carolinas Organized Retail Crime Alliance (CORCA)
The Carolinas Organized Retail Crime Alliance (CORCA) was created in response to an increased level of retail crime in North and South Carolina and a higher level of sophistication surrounding complex schemes and organized efforts to obtain goods through illegal methods.
Retailers and law enforcement have worked with the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association and the South Carolina Retail Association to form CORCA by building on the network that was established on the www.corca.org. This website, originally founded by Detective Shawn Blee with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Alan Buck with Bed Bath & Beyond, focuses on bridging communication between law enforcement and retailers, and offering a secure method of capturing content between different agencies. Currently, over 750 retailers and law enforcement use the website.
CORCA allows retailers and law enforcement to further the mission of providing consumer education and awareness around the issues associated with retail crime; provide educational resources to industry loss prevention professionals and law enforcement; and work toward a goal of providing scholarships within this field. CORCA will host quarterly meetings to provide insight and oversight of CORCA.org, plan an annual conference and provide education and networking opportunities to members. The Alliance’s professional staff provide oversight to all Alliance operations, including CORCA.org website management, meeting preparations, marketing, planning, execution and accounting.
CORCA.org/Alliance Oversight
The Alliance will further the goal of growing the website through outreach to the retail and law enforcement communities, providing site feedback and timely and useful content.
Networking
The Alliance will offer face-to-face networking opportunities via quarterly meetings, continuing education, training opportunities and an annual conference.
Continuing Education
A focus of the Alliance will be to provide meaningful continuing education opportunities for retail loss prevention professionals and law enforcement alike.
Annual Carolinas Organized Retail Crime Alliance Conference
The Alliance will be responsible for determining the timing, content (including continuing education sessions) and appropriate messaging for the conference with the Alliance staff executing the logistics of planning the conference.
