The St. Thomas Police Service is issuing a warning to native retailers as police take care of a fast rise in shoplifting circumstances during the last couple of years.
It’s no shock to employees at Purely Depraved, a novelty store on Talbot Avenue. They are saying they typically don’t understand they’ve been a sufferer of shoplifting till it’s too late.
“A lot of small items go missing,” mentioned very long time employees member Jennifer Childs. “Our crystal table is where we notice a lot of sticky fingers. We will only find out some item is missing when we only have one of them, and someone has ordered it online, we come out to try and find it for someone’s order, and it’s gone. You know, it costs us money,” she mentioned.
St. Thomas police say it skilled a 23 per cent improve in shoplifting calls in 2023 over 2022.
In an electronic mail to Ontario Chronicle, Company Communications Coordinator Samantha Wakefield mentioned that for this 12 months, “the service is projecting to see the same level of reported shoplifting calls for service from 2023.”
A discover from St. Thomas Police to native retailers mentioned “newly released national crime statistics show a 28 per cent increase in shoplifting incidents under $5,000 across Canada. In total, Canada experienced 155,280 reported incidents of shoplifting in 2023, marking an 18 per cent rise from 2022.”
CTV Public Security Analyst Chris Lewis speaks to Ontario Chronicle on Oct. 24, 2024. (Bryan Bicknell/ Ontario Chronicle London)
Ontario Chronicle Public Security Analyst and retired OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis mentioned there are lots of contributing components to the rise in shoplifting, together with financial components.
“It’s a sign of people paying bigger prices for stuff, maybe not making as much as they should to pay all their bills, and subsequently turning to theft. And then the other cases is people looking for the easy way out and stealing stuff rather than getting jobs and trying to earn it,” defined Lewis.
Many shops, together with massive chains, have directed employees to not intervene in the event that they observe shoplifting.
“Is it a store clerk’s responsibility or a security guard that’s making barely more than minimum wage to get into physical altercations? I don’t believe it is,” mentioned Lewis.
Not all shops are victimized by shoplifters, and it has quite a bit to do with taking preventive measures.
Dan Tolman at St. Thomas Pawn Store stands in entrance of surveillance screens in his retailer on Oct. 24, 2024. (Bryan Bicknell/ Ontario Chronicle London)
At St. Thomas Pawn Store on Talbot Avenue in St. Thomas, homeowners Dan and Judith Tolman realized to take care of the scourge of shoplifting over 20 years in enterprise and taking their safety severely. One can’t get close to the shop or transfer wherever inside the shop with out discovering themselves on digital camera.
“We don’t get a lot of theft here,” defined Judith. “We have 23 cameras, we have bars on the window, we know our customers, and they respect us,” she mentioned.
Within the meantime, in relation to shoplifting, each police and retailers say that ultimately, everybody pays.
“It’s not fair for other customers,” mentioned Jennifer Childs at Purely Depraved. “We don’t want to have to raise prices if we can avoid that.”
