MIDDLETOWN, Ky. (WAVE) - Shopping carts clanking. Registers ringing. Christmas music ringing. They all create a carol of the holiday shopping season.

However, while we focus on sights and sounds of the holiday shopping season, Kentucky leaders say organized retail theft is thriving right under our noses.

Organized retail crime has grown and evolved over the years. In 2022, the crime cost retailers more than $2 billion in 2022.

Last year, the Attorney General Coleman says there was a 30% increase in documented incidents.

“It is not a victimless crime,” State Representative Jared Bauman said. “It preys on consumers and retailers alike.”

On Friday, Rep. Bauman announced plans to introduce a bill next month to create an Organized Retail Crime Task Force.

If passed, the task force would e

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