Insights
Security Research and Data
Primary sources for retail theft, crime, workplace violence and security workforce data, with notes on how to read them.
Security, loss prevention and facilities leaders are often asked to support budgets, coverage plans and policies with numbers. This page collects the public security research and data behind that work, with a link to each original source and a note on what it measures.
- Retail theft
- Shrink
- Crime reporting
- Victimization surveys
- City crime trends
- Workplace violence
- Security workforce
- Physical security
- Applied research
Start With Retail Theft Statistics 2026
McCray’s Retail Theft Statistics 2026 page brings together sourced figures on shoplifting, shrink, organized retail crime, violence in stores, fraud and theft trends in major cities, each tied to its publisher and the period it covers, with guidance on reading and citing them. Related pages cover organized retail crime laws by state, the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, shoplifting prevention and security guard costs.
Retail Theft and Shrink
National Retail Federation: The Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2026
NRF’s survey of senior loss prevention and security executives on theft, violence and fraud; the 2026 edition, released with the Loss Prevention Research Council on July 30, 2026, compares 2025 with 2024.
National Retail Federation: National Retail Security Survey 2023
NRF’s survey of retail loss prevention professionals on shrink, retail crime and violence; the 2023 edition reported an average shrink rate of 1.6% for fiscal 2022. NRF has since stopped publishing an industry shrink figure, saying an average was no longer an accurate benchmark for retailers.
Crime Data
FBI Crime Data Explorer
The FBI’s public portal for Uniform Crime Reporting data, where offenses reported by participating law enforcement agencies, including shoplifting recorded in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), can be queried and downloaded.
Bureau of Justice Statistics: National Crime Victimization Survey
An annual survey that measures nonfatal personal crimes and household property crimes, whether or not they were reported to police, drawing on a nationally representative sample of about 240,000 people in about 150,000 households.
Council on Criminal Justice: Crime Trends in U.S. Cities
Reported rates of 13 violent, property and drug offenses, including shoplifting, from police data in large cities; the Mid-Year 2026 Update compares the first half of 2026 with the same period of 2025 and 2019.
NYPD CompStat
Weekly crime statistics for New York City, citywide and by borough and precinct, including a retail theft category, with an interactive version called CompStat 2.0.
Workplace Violence and the Security Workforce
BLS: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Workplace Violence Data
A complete count of work-related fatal injuries, including 470 workplace homicides in 2024; the Bureau of Labor Statistics also combines fatal and nonfatal data in a workplace violence fact sheet covering 2021 and 2022.
BLS: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for Security Guards (33-9032)
Employment and wage estimates for about 830 occupations, including security guards, nationally and by state and metropolitan area; the latest estimates, for May 2025, were released May 15, 2026.
OSHA: Workplace Violence
OSHA’s definition, risk factors and prevention guidance, including recommendations for late-night retail establishments, with the agency’s note that there are currently no specific OSHA standards for workplace violence.
Physical Security Guidance and Applied Research
CISA: Physical Security
Free tools, training and informational materials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on active shooter, bombing, unmanned aircraft, vehicle ramming and insider threats; these are planning resources rather than statistics.
ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
Research- and practice-based guides from Arizona State University on common crime and disorder problems, organized by category, including burglary and theft, robbery and business-related problems.
Loss Prevention Research Council
A professional association of retailers, solution providers, manufacturers, and industry and law enforcement organizations that conducts lab and field research to prevent and detect theft, fraud and violence; members have access to its labs and studies.
Reading Security Data Carefully
Surveys describe their respondents. NRF’s 2026 study drew on senior loss prevention and security executives at 66 companies whose brands represented 31.6% of total retail sales in their 2025 fiscal year, and its headline changes are averages across those respondents. Shrink is a separate measure: NRF describes it as inventory loss found by comparing book inventory with physical inventory, which also captures administrative errors, damage and spoilage, and states that shrink is not a direct or sole indicator of theft.
Police data counts what is reported. In NRF’s 2026 survey, 63% of retailers said they report fewer than half of store-related theft incidents to law enforcement, and the Council on Criminal Justice notes that reported shoplifting figures almost certainly undercount the total. The National Crime Victimization Survey captures unreported crime, but crimes against commercial establishments, such as stores, fall outside its sample.
Reporting systems change. In 2021 the FBI phased out its Summary Reporting System, which counted only the most serious offense in an incident, in favor of NIBRS, which can record up to 10; 2,074 agencies still submitted summary data for 2024. Because NIBRS records more of each incident, the FBI cautions that more complete NIBRS data does not by itself mean crime is rising. Participation is largely voluntary and NIBRS coverage has grown, so the FBI’s December 2025 report on flash mob shoplifting notes that the rise in reported incidents, to more than three times the 2020 total in 2024, may not reflect a true increase, and bases its trend analysis on agencies that began NIBRS reporting by January 1, 2020.
Periods and revisions differ. NRF’s July 2026 study compares 2025 with 2024, and BLS released its 2024 fatal injury census in February 2026. NYPD CompStat figures are preliminary and subject to revision, and the Council on Criminal Justice notes that its city figures often differ from data police departments publish later. Each figure should be cited with its source, period and retrieval date, and read alongside a site’s own incident records for the same period.
Last reviewed November 2026.
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Call (833) 832-6647 or request an assessment online. McCray’s security risk assessments weigh a site’s threats, layout, people and procedures together. Journalists can find background and media contacts on the Press page, and new articles are published in Insights.