The holidays are a busy time for shoppers and thieves.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman says his team is going after these criminals by launching a new organized retail crime unit.

Now he wants to expand the unit, and he's asking state lawmakers to help.

We're not talking about shoplifting.

This ain't about shoplifting.

What we're talking about is organized crime.

What we're talking about is violence.

We're talking about violence to our families as we come in stores.

Violence to employees of great stores like this, violence to law enforcement is they intervene.

But we're talking about it's higher prices for all of us.

And what we're talking about is closed stores in areas not only of Louisville but around the Commonwealth.

We're fighting organized crime.

We're asking the General Assembly to invest $2 million in our new organized retail crime unit.

This will involve hiring three more detectives.

This will involve two investigative analysts to help us connect the dots of all of the data involved in these major investigations, as well as a resource prosecutor, to work with our federal, state and local partners with the support of our General Assembly.

We have seen a General Assembly who focuses on public safety.

If they give us the resources, will be the muscle to help get this done.

Working with our partners.

According to the Kentucky Retail Federation, organized retail crime cost Kentucky more than $2 billion in a year.