New look at the technology helping track cargo theft

Earlier this week, we took you inside a Cook County Sheriff's investigation into the suspected buyers. Well, now we're going to see how software helps retailers and police connect cases across stores and state lines. Tia Ewing follows the goods and the people profiting. I have them breaking into the train track containers. Catching the thieves is one step. Connecting the network is another. We've seen offenders that can have 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 events across the country. Raul Aguilar heads North American Law Enforcement Partnerships for Aura, software that helps retailers document crime and share information with police. He says that intelligence is shared with Cook County Sheriff's Commander Michael Ware and other investigators. What was stolen? Suspect descriptions, vehicles, whether someone used a weapon. The platform's analytics help find possible connections across stores and state lines. If you weren't there for Cook County sheriffs, what would they be lacking without your services? Unfortunately, there's silos in law enforcement and that information does not pass. In an expeditious matter. Our earlier report showed why retailer information matters. In a separate investigation at Future Fashion in Brighton Park, the first clue came from a retailer. Victoria's Secret reached out to me and said, hey, we see a lot of our products that's in the side of the stores haven't even been released yet. Investigators say undercover officers sold items represented as stolen then bought them back. The owner said he had records from his sellers. He and an employee were charged with theft and continuing a financial crime enterprise. But why steal entire shipments? Aguilar previously led a national initiative for Homeland Security investigations. He says the goods can become funding for a much larger criminal operation. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of iPhones are being stolen across the country and then shipped overseas, which then fuels that transnational criminal network into other potential drug weapon violations, et cetera, et cetera. Some thefts are opportunistic. Others, he says, involve targeting shipments through cybercrime or insider information. The question for investigators, where do the goods and the profits go next? And as technology helps connect reports, what protects people from being wrongly identified? Are there safeguards in place to make sure when you're using AI for criminals that innocent people aren't caught up in it? So we are not a camera company. We're a software company. And the way it works, again, is to reiterate is that the information is captured post the theft, post the threatening behavior, post the assault. And then that information is captured solely for the retailer. Aguilar says retailers own the data and decide whether to share it with law enforcement. The software can provide leads. Investigators still have to verify the connections and build the case. You know, the ones that we're getting now have tentacles everywhere. From who takes the goods, to who buys them, to who pockets the money. Investigators are trying to reach beyond the break-in to the people keeping the business going. Tia Ewing, Fox Chicago.