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Published on October 30, 2024 • Last updated 29 minutes ago • 2 minutes reading
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Sault Ste will identify more ways to combat shoplifting. Marie Police Service as thefts from stores continue to rise.
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The number of reported shoplifting incidents increased by 32 percent in August compared to last year, with 940 incidents reported compared to 713 in 2023.
“I would like to see us adapt locally and change our response to try to bring these numbers down because they are only going to continue to rise,” said Ward 1 Coun. Sonny Spina during a Sault Ste. Marie Police Services board meeting on Wednesday morning. “We would like to see a plan to reduce those numbers by a certain date.”
Spina is a former municipal employee.
Section 4 Coun. Marchy Bruni said police should ‘protect’ business owners.
“This cannot continue,” he said. “The numbers cannot continue to rise.”
Stevenson told reporters that additional strategies will be used by officers and discussed with the police board when members meet again on November 20.
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“We will come back with more strategies that we can implement in the community at the municipal level,” Stevenson said during the meeting. “There is always something we can do.”
The police’s community mobilization unit can go to businesses and suggest crime prevention tips, including merchandise placement and customer access to the building.
Burglaries of homes and businesses have fallen by 28 per cent in the first eight months of this year, with 280 burglaries reported, compared to 387 from January to August 2023. Stevenson suggests shoplifting is easier than breaking into a building and could explain why burglaries have fallen and shoplifting has increased.
Stevenson supports the Ontario government’s recent call for the federal government to update the Criminal Code and strengthen bail laws. The province wants mandatory minimum sentences for serious crimes reversed, ending the possibility of bail for people accused of major crimes, including drug trafficking and intimate partner violence, and limiting who can get suspended sentences to spend time in the community to sit out.
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“It is high time the federal government looked at this legislation,” Stevenson said. “Anything more than what we have now is a good thing.”
David Eby, leader of the NDP in British Columbia, wants involuntary care for people with serious addictions and mental illnesses. The conservative leader of the federal opposition, Pierre Poilievre, supports involuntary treatment for minors and prisoners dealing with mental health and addictions, but still considers it when it comes to adults.
“I would like to see more than what we have now,” Stevenson said when asked if he would support a similar move by the Ontario government. “How that plays out in the province is up to them.”
– with files from Postmedia Network
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On X: @Saultreporter
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