Cargo theft bill advances to Senate as debate over data intensity heats up

The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, or CORCA, passed the House of Representatives 348-60 in May and now awaits Senate action, according to FreightWaves. The bipartisan bill would establish an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center within Homeland Security Investigations to coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement investigations alongside private industry partners. The legislation has drawn recent criticism over whether reported cargo theft statistics justify expanding federal investigative authority. Both supporters and critics acknowledge that organized cargo theft affects the transportation industry and rely on the same documented loss data. The disagreement centers on what those numbers actually represent. Critics argue reported losses represent only a small fraction of freight moved annually across the U.S. Supporters counter that current reporting systems capture just a fraction of crimes occurring nationwide, making today's figures an incomplete picture. Scott Cornell, chair of TAPA Americas and chief risk officer at SPG Cargo & Logistics, noted that many critics examine documented theft reports without considering whether every incident reaches national databases. Beyond establishing the coordination center, CORCA would direct Homeland Security to publish annual reports on organized retail and supply chain crime, identify theft trends, improve information sharing between agencies, and provide training and technical assistance to investigators. The bill does not create a new federal cargo theft crime but rather structures how existing authority gets deployed.