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Karen Edwards

Karen Edwards serves as interim associate dean of academic programs as well as interim co-director / BAIS and online programs and is a senior instructor in the Department of Retailing at the University of South Carolina. Recipient of the University’s 2019 Garnet Apple Award for Teaching Innovation, the 2017 Faculty Integrity Award, and the 2010-11 Harry E. Varney Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award, Edwards teaches in the areas of digital commerce, asset protection and law-related issues affecting retailers. Edwards has developed numerous undergraduate and graduate-level courses, such as Law for Retailers, Fashion and the Law and Asset Protection for Retailers. She has also led numerous study abroad programs and co-developed the University’s first-ever virtual study abroad course. In 2016, Edwards received the Brian J. and Linda L. Mihalik Global Scholar Award. She is a frequent presenter and past associate director for distributed learning at the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), where she presently serves as a faculty mentor for individualized coaching.

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Contributor Brief·Karen Edwards · 1 article
Updated Sep 5, 2023

Retail crime requires coordinated community action, not isolated corporate responses

Edwards argues that organized retail crime has reached a breaking point where individual retailer security measures are insufficient, and that coordinated community intervention—involving law enforcement, local government, and business coalitions—is the only effective deterrent to organized theft rings. She contends that retailers fleeing high-crime cities signals systemic failure requiring structural community-level solutions, not corporate band-aids.

multiple retailers

are simultaneously abandoning high-crime urban markets

“Retailers fleeing high-crime cities signals a breaking point demanding coordinated community intervention.”

More Community Action is Needed to Help Prevent the Growing Amount of Organized Crime Targeting Retailers

retail crime problem dimensions requiring community response

Organized theft ring coordination9
Retailer departure from urban centers8
Need for law enforcement coordination9
Effectiveness of isolated corporate security3

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31%Organized theft
Organized theft ring coordination
Retailer departure from urban centers
Need for law enforcement coordination
Effectiveness of isolated corporate security

systemic

nature of organized retail crime requires community-level not corporate-level solutions

Individual retailer responses prove insufficient against coordinated, organized theft networks.

More Community Action is Needed to Help Prevent the Growing Amount of Organized Crime Targeting Retailers

Community coalitions involving law enforcement and local government must lead intervention efforts.

More Community Action is Needed to Help Prevent the Growing Amount of Organized Crime Targeting Retailers

“Without coordinated action, retail deserts will expand and organized crime will intensify.”

Themes:Organized retail crime as systemic community problem requiring collective actionRetailer exodus as failure signal demanding structural interventionCommunity coalitions as essential counterforce to organized theft networks

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