Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Chief Hugh Stevenson was a little more than taken aback when he looked over the shoplifting statistics for the first quarter of 2024.
There were 409 shoplifting incidents reported to Sault Police between January and March — representing a 100 per cent increase over the previous year where 204 such incidents were reported within the same period.
“I was flabbergasted, to be blunt,” Stevenson told reporters following the monthly Police Services Board meeting held Thursday. “I’ve never seen that increase on a quarter-to-quarter analysis, and it means that something different is going on in our community.”
Stevenson believes the dramatic increase in shoplifting incidents isn’t just a policing issue: It’s tied to the “drug subculture,” and needs to be addressed collectively as a community.
“It’s an indicator of, to my point of view, community health,” he said. “I mean, if people are stealing, it’s either for sustenance — but more importantly, it may be for selling products and buying drugs.
“This is where we need to continue to have discourse in our community about, what are we doing about this population? It’s not always the homeless in any way, shape or form. It’s not about the homeless. It’s usually about long-term drug addiction and mental health, and these two situations need to be mitigated in our community to stop this type of criminality.”
For years, the Sault Police chief has publicly expressed his concern with so-called 'catch and release' policies that lead to offenders being released from custody repeatedly, despite having a laundry list of charges before the courts.
“The number of people that are released on property offences based on the Criminal Code — Bill C-75, and the Supreme Court decision of R. v Antic — has to be revisited,” said Stevenson. “I believe everybody, all the actors in the justice system, are doing their best with the current legislation and common law at the Supreme Court level. But this has to be re-examined, because it’s not working.”
As previously reported by SooToday, more and more businesses — particularly in the city’s downtown — are beginning to lock their doors during regular business hours as a way of deterring thefts and other disturbances.
Sault Police has been sharing Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) techniques with local businesses in an effort to reduce the risk of property theft.
“They’ll be there a couple hours, and they’ll take a look at where the cash register is, where the view of their aisles are — can they see people doing it? Can they tell people to put it back and leave the store?” Stevenson said, adding that lots of businesses will have people slapped with a trespass notice. “But at any time you can tell people, ‘you’re not welcome in my store,’ and I think that’s another piece of it that they need to also use.”
Stevenson is advising store owners to avoid confrontation with shoplifters or individuals with a history of shoplifting, and to call police if they’re feeling nervous.
“Call the police, let us do our job,” he said. “If it’s a matter of simply escorting the person out, we can do that with you. If they refuse to leave, obviously you’re going to call us and let us take care of that situation for you.”
Business owners interested in a CPTED assessment can call Sault Police at (705) 949-6300 and ask for Sgt. Jeremy Stevenson.