Retail crime a ‘full-blown crisis,’ lobby group says

Some Maritime business owners are calling for harsher penalties for shoplifters.

The Retail Council of Canada is again sounding the alarm about retail crime.

“People are starting to understand that it’s a very organized way of stealing,” says Jim Cormier, the Atlantic director for the council. “You can do resale through online marketplaces now where you can sell unlimited amounts of product.”

That leads to unsafe working environments and communities, he says.

“[Criminals] understand that because of the catch-and-release nature of the justice system that you can come in and steal. If you’re arrested, you’re going to be let go within the matter of a day with little to no conditions, so it’s really created that vicious circle.”

Despite budgets being tight, he says municipalities need to invest in ‘beat cops,’ to patrol business districts.

The retail lobby group recently published an op-ed, saying the issue is “not just a business problem- it’s a national crisis. This is our 911 call.”

“Retail crime in Canada isn’t just ‘shoplifting’ — it’s a full-blown crisis,” the post reads.

“[Businesses] reached the point where they need action from governments,” Cormier says. “It’s not just picking on one government.”

For The Oxford Taproom in Halifax, a security system and surveillance cameras captured two suspects breaking into the building over the summer.

Beer and iPads were stolen, but thankfully, tills were locked so no money was taken.

Given the stories the general manager has heard from other businesses, she says this was more of an annoyance than anything.

“I have been waiting for that call for a while,” says Courtney Quinn. “I kind of consider us lucky that it wasn’t worse and that didn’t do more damage than they did.”

She says there are “so many socio-economic layers” to the problem and it’s a “complicated response,” but believes harsher penalties should be imposed for repeat offenders of retail crime.

“We just don’t want to see our downtowns closed and shuttered, bars on windows,” Quinn says. “We want out downtowns to be vibrant and safe.”

Kurt Bulger, the owner of Jennifer’s of Nova Scotia, says it’s a longstanding problem.

“This has been ongoing for 42 years that I’ve been here,” he tells CTV News. “Nobody’s doing anything about retail crime at all.”

Bail and sentencing are two parts of the issue for Crown prosecutors in the province.

In announcing bail reforms earlier this month, the federal Liberal government said harsher penalties would be coming for organized retail theft, specifically new aggravating factors for sentencing.

“These most prolific offenders are able to be granted bail again and again – in some cases 20, 25 times – before ultimately being detained pretrial,” says Brian Cox, the Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys’ Association president.

“Our association is dubious of what impact this (legislation) may have,” he says. “First, it creates a de facto onus on the Crown to disprove a personal-use theft–can be a challenging proof in court. Secondly, it only creates an aggravating factor on sentence.”

Ultimately, it’s up to the judge on what weight to put on that, but they won’t be bound by that factor, he says.

In previous years, he says sentences could be 30-to-45 days; now it’s more common to see three-to-10-day ranges.

“We’ve seen a definite uptick since COVID of retail crime,” he says. “There’s definitely sometimes an organized or more sophisticated aspect to it.”

He says it’s up to provincial governments to deal with a Criminal Code they didn’t create, but need to administer.

Cox suggests adding more courthouses, judges and attorneys could be one part of the solution to the complex problem.