Police in Charlotte said the growing heroin problem is driving another crime problem: shoplifting that's run by organized crime rings.

Police are fighting back with a unit they call their target action plan, or Trap, for short.

If you think shoplifting is a small-time crime in Charlotte, take a ride with Officer Barry Kipp.

“It's a big problem that affects retailers across the board,” Kipp said. “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.

Robson heads up the police department's Trap team that's been going after those so-called heroin boosters.

People like Morgan Cope, who the team has arrested half a dozen times in the past three years.

“And that's just one person. There are hundreds of these people, happening every day,” Robson said.

Eyewitness News tried to reach Cope but could not find her.

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.

“At the end of the day, it's a $30 billion industry and it affects each one of us,” Kipp said.

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.