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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 critical threshold where individual retailer responses—including store closures and market exits—are insufficient without coordinated community-level intervention. She contends that the flight of major retailers from high-crime cities signals a systemic failure requiring collective action to disrupt organized theft networks at their source.

breaking point

Retailers abandoning cities signals crisis requiring community coordination

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

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

Three critical failure points in current retail crime response

Individual retailer responses insufficient without coordination9
Organized theft rings operating across multiple jurisdictions unimpeded8
Community-level intervention mechanisms absent or underfunded8

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36%Individual retailer
Individual retailer responses insufficient without coordination
Organized theft rings operating across multiple jurisdictions unimpeded
Community-level intervention mechanisms absent or underfunded

multiple cities

Major retailers simultaneously abandoning high-crime urban markets

The problem extends beyond any single retailer's loss prevention capability or budget.

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

Without coordinated community action, retail disinvestment will accelerate and organized crime will expand.

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

“Store closures are symptoms of systemic failure, not solutions to organized retail crime.”

Themes:Coordinated community intervention required for organized crime preventionIndividual corporate responses exacerbate rather than solve retail crimeRetailer flight from cities signals market failure demanding systemic reform

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