Prince George RCMP says shoplifting on the rise

“Absolutely not. We’ve had people tell us that we’re supposed to just let them steal and that they’re allowed to steal. They say it’s fine but it’s not. It’s time we get a little serious. More serious on cracking down on petty thefts, repeat offenders and just destruction of property in general.” said Jim’s Clothes Closet store manager Kim Hurlston Church.

Hurlston Church says her establishment is lucky as they have more employees on the floor who have been trained and understand how to monitor the store but many other stores around the City dealing with similar incidents don’t have that luxury.

“We are hyper vigilant. It’s in our customer service method that we’re really making sure that we’re always kind of by people and watching people and it’s not even just for crime prevention but also for good customer service as well. But we do try to make sure that we’re we’re watching and vigilant and approaching people before they’re out the door. ” added Hurlston Church.

Corporal Cooper adds that although it may be first instinct to stop a suspected thief you never really know what your dealing with and that can lead to some bad results.

“It might not be worth, confronting some of these people who are stealing, from your location because you don’t know, their state of mind. They’re suffering maybe from a mental health illness or maybe, some, you know, side effects of recently ingesting some drugs or alcohol. Additionally, sometimes they are armed. We find many times that they are armed with a variety of different types of weapons. So it’s best to let the product go. Have really good CCTV so that we can positively identify these people afterwards. And the real big linchpin in all of this is be willing to go to court.”

by Nick Dube

Prince George RCMP says shoplifting on the rise

What's Trending