Michigan FORCE Team
On this episode of Retail’s Most Wanted, we sat down with Assistant Attorney General Michael Steckel and Special Agent Steve Temelko from the Michigan FORCE (Fraud and Organized Crime Enforcement) Team for their insights on investigating and prosecuting organized retail crime cases in Michigan, and their innovative approaches to combating sophisticated theft networks that target retailers across the state.
Key Takeaway
The Michigan FORCE Team is making significant strides in combating retail crime through multi-jurisdictional operations.
Why it matters
The team's integrated approach, with embedded prosecutors and cross-state collaboration, is creating a replicable model for organized retail crime units.
What's next
The team identified three key needs to expand their impact:
Additional prosecutors (currently have 2, need 4-5)
Fiscal analyst for money tracking
More storage space for seized goods
The bottom line
Despite resource constraints, the Michigan FORCE Team has become a point of contact for multi-state investigations, with their model being adopted by other states like Pennsylvania.
