“Organized theft rings” screamed headlines toward the end of 2021 as a string of incidents riddled authorities and shook shop owners in major cities across the country, moving some retailers to beef up security and municipalities to reroute traffic to stop the trend.

Even before the recent headline news, organized retail crime (ORC) was on the rise, according to the National Retail Federation, which reported three-fourths of retailers saw an uptick in organized retail crime during 2020.