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By Ben Tompkins

Preventative Measures

Melfort RCMP, City, Chamber working together to combat recent shoplifting spike

Feb 15, 2023 | 8:55 AM

A recent spike in shoplifting crimes in the Melfort area has caused significant concern for the business community, the city, and local police.

Melfort RCMP commander and staff sergeant, Darren Simons, joined Mayor Glenn George and Melfort Trade Alliance Chamber of Commerce (MTACC) executive director, Cal Gratton, to discuss the issue.

All three had a meeting on Tuesday to share ideas and solutions on how to fix the growing problem.

According to Simons, he believes numbers are rising due to the time of year and addiction rate in the area.

“February seems to be a month where people deal with more mental wellness issues, and that’s just my personal experience from dealing with it through my years in the RCMP,” he said.

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“As for the shoplifting, it has to do with the fact that a lot of our suspects are also involved in illegal use of substances, so they steal from different businesses and trade or pawn off these items just so they can get their next fix.”

One of the things the detachment is currently working on is a project to identify which businesses in the area have cameras that police can rely on.

Simons said if criminals see things like cameras, monitors, pictures of banned individuals, or anything to that degree, it can persuade them to drop whatever plan they had to commit a crime.

“We can’t do it ourselves, we require the community to assist us,” Simons said. “Whatever the community can do to make it more difficult for these crimes, it will benefit all the businesses in the community.”

While there are things that can be done to reduce the possibility of crimes, they aren’t 100 per cent preventable.

“Any business that has product that is accessible by a customer is viable and could be the next victim,” Simons said. I”t could be a grocery store, it could be a hardware store, anything where someone could grab something and run. We’ve seen that where they just grab and run, or they grab and put it in their pockets, so that’s the difficulty. Businesses are unlimited to be victims of theft.”

As for the MTACC, they said shoplifting has always been a potential con to owning a business, however, lately, it’s been much worse.

According to Gratton, inventive criminals and a lack of manpower have been an influence in the rising numbers.

For him and the business community, there are a few options but they do cost money.

“There are a number of businesses that have portions of their inventory and their stock, kind of under lock and key, and I think that’s a great idea. Maybe gone are the days where you can pick something and look at it without having a store employee beside you,” Gratton said. “I do, however, understand the cost behind that, and that’s just another issue that the business community has to work through.”

Gratton said it might well be worth it.

“I think a business has to have to look at a five-year plan or a long-run plan and just see that there will be cost up front, but in the long run, it’s going to benefit. Things like saving on insurance, having less break-ins, and losing less product could be crucial.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8