In North America, the top 10% of retail offenders are responsible for 70% of stolen value, according to 2025 incident reporting data from Auror. Those same individuals are 2.5X more likely to involve a weapon. The 2026 RILA Asset Protection Conference gathered the leaders tasked with stopping them together in Phoenix under a theme that reflected the moment: Ground Truth.
In asset protection, ground truth is the full picture of risk. We each hold a piece of that picture. Retailers see what's happening in their stores. Law enforcement sees what's happening in the community. When we come together and connect that intelligence, we can see the full journey and magnitude of organized crime.
The conversations across the week kept returning to the same point: the criminal networks targeting retail are connected and moving fast. Matching them requires a network that is larger and more coordinated than any single retailer or agency can build alone.
Key takeaways:
- Stopping the 10% requires a connected network. Auror is providing that network at scale.
- Retailers making the biggest difference layer Risk Detection and AI onto a strong intelligence foundation.
- Law enforcement moves faster when retailers structure intelligence in a way that’s compelling and actionable.
The new network effect in retail crime
Phil Thomson, Brian Friedman of REI, Dan Petrousek of Ulta Beauty, and Detective Sergeant Nicholas Ferrara of Gainesville PD took the main stage Tuesday morning. The session's core argument: retail crime requires a combination of the right network and the right technology to tackle crime.
AI is the force multiplier that makes that network function at speed, surfacing prolific offenders across stores, retailers, and jurisdictions, and building connected cases law enforcement can act on without replacing human judgment. Ferrara was direct about what that means for enforcement:
"Working with Auror, the retailers that are on the platform have a clear advantage over the ones that are not."
Stopping the 10%: what focused intelligence makes possible
The breakout, moderated by Jon Briegel of Auror, brought the main stage argument into operational specifics with Rory Stallard of Ulta Beauty, Deputy Chief Brian Wilson of Anchorage PD, and Jonathan Novack of H&M. Three things landed hard:
First, the top 10% of repeat offenders generate nearly 4X higher event values than the average offender, making them the same source of both your biggest loss and your biggest safety risk.
Second, stopping a prolific offender is worth far more than a single case closure: at one retailer, half of targeted repeat offenders did not return after a successful intervention.
Third, law enforcement moves faster when reporting is done right. Anchorage PD focused on their top 20 retail offenders by value and frequency, driving 194 cases and 181 arrests or warrants in roughly 10 weeks.
At H&M, Jonathan Novack reframed what that means for frontline teams: accurate, complete documentation is how the intelligence layer surfaces patterns. Deterrence only works when teams have context before an incident escalates, not after.
What Auror revealed at booth #911
Conversations at Auror’s booth centered on two areas generating the most momentum across the network:
The first was the evolution of risk detection: extending Auror’s existing Vehicle Recognition to include Subject Recognition. Together, these help retailers responsibly detect known high-risk vehicles and persons of interest, before harm happens.
The second was a preview of agentic AI built on verified retail crime intelligence, where AI accelerates human decision-making rather than replacing it. Strong engagement from North American retail partners alongside growing law enforcement momentum through the Retail Crime Hub, reflected a network effect that was visible in the room.
What asset protection leaders took back to their teams
RILA's Ground Truth theme asked AP leaders to face the full picture of risk without flinching. The week showed the industry is ready. The Auror Network connects the people protecting stores across North America, and every partner that joins makes the intelligence stronger for everyone in it. The real work ahead has never been more clearly defined, or more achievable.
