Organized retail crime rings are hitting Charlotte, NC retailers because of the "growing heroin problem." And Charlotte Police are fighting back with a unit they call their target action plan, or Trap for short. "It's been a surge." It’s a surge in what police call organized retail crime, fueled in part, they say, by the increase in black tar heroin in the area, and addicts who police call heroin boosters. "These are predominantly heroin abusers," Sgt. Marc Robson said. "This is what they do. This is their job -- to steal to support their habit." "There are hundreds of these people, happening every day at every store," Robson said. Target is one of several big stores working with police to break up those professional shoplifting rings. Police say the crime bosses actually place specific orders and send shoplifters out to various stores to fill them. It's just one of several property crimes where the Trap team has had an impact. Two years ago, they made 244 arrests. Last year that number almost doubled to 459. This year they're on track to make even more. Deputy Chief Kerr Putney said it's working. "These guys really heard the public complain about property crime and they've done their job so well, they've made property crime fighting sexy," Putney said. (Source wsoctv.com)

ORC ring operating in Glenarden, MD hitting J.C. Penney cosmetics and police bust two "bit players" of the bigger ring with $20,000 worth of cosmetics. Women, police said at a news conference Friday, were professional shoplifters — bit players in an organized ring of cosmetically-inclined thieves. Three and four times a day, police said, Darquesha Wilkinson, 19, and Latasha Mungo, 24, both of the District, would walk into department stores across the region, swipe high-end perfume, lotions and makeup, then sell them on the streets at a discount, often out of the trunks of their cars. And until Tuesday — when a J.C. Penney loss-prevention employee recognized the pair as suspects in previous shoplifting incidents — they hadn’t been charged there, blending in with other shoppers because they were charming and well-dressed, police said. "That’s what they do. This is their job," said Sgt. Aubrey Thompson, who heads the Prince George’s County Police’s Organized Retail Crime Unit. "It only takes them but 30 seconds." Investigators seized nearly $20,000 in perfume, makeup and other beauty products when they arrested the women Tuesday at the J.C. Penney at Woodmore Towne Centre, Thompson said. Wilkinson and Mungo were carrying about a third of the merchandise in large canvas shopping bags filled "to the brim" and the rest was in their car, Thompson said. The alleged thieves preferred big brand names, police said. Victoria’s Secret, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana perfumes — sold normally at prices ranging from $25 to nearly $80 a bottle — were among those displayed at the news conference Friday. Investigators suspect that the women sometimes took orders from smaller beauty salons — which wanted to get the products in bulk at discounted rates — and are probing others’ involvement in the ring, Thompson said. "It’s the tip of the iceberg," Thompson said of Wilkinson’s and Mungo’s arrests. (Source privateofficerbreakingnews.com) (source myfoxdc.com)