toronto police retail theft probe leads to 546 arrests, more than 4,000 charges
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toronto police have made 546 arrests and laid 4,033 charges in a retail crime probe that has seen more than $1.6 million in merchandise stolen across north etobicoke.
police set up an organized retail crime unit two years ago in response to a rise in retail thefts.
video provided wednesday by police shows thieves carrying bags and suitcases into an lcbo and blatantly making off with stolen booze, walking out of a shopper’s drug mart with bags of stolen goods, and using pepper spray on employees and passersby while leaving a walmart.
in all the cases, arrests were made.
one investigation resulted in 20 arrested individuals and more than 400 charges, while a second series involved four arrests and over 100 charges, and a third involved four individuals and more than 100 charges.
”these are not minor offences,” supt. ron taverner told a press conference. “retail crime costs businesses billions of dollars in losses every year.”
‘not first-time offenders’
taverner also noted that “many of those involved are not first-time offenders.“ in fact, of the arrests made, 259 cleared multiple cases, demonstrating that repeat and prolific offenders are out there and active in their criminal activities, he said.
the accused, he alleged, are “connected to large organized crime networks involved in the distribution and resale of stolen goods.”
in most cases, taverner said, stolen liquor, clothing, and jewelry from smash-and-grab heists end up at one location and are then quickly resold in person or online or shipped overseas.
rui rodrigues, of the retail council of canada, said the “growth of the reseller market and illicit market is 100-fold of what it used to be five years ago with the online marketplace and networks where you can sell goods.”
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rodrigues noted “clear and troubling trends: an increase in violence towards retail staff, organized groups moving quickly across municipal boundaries and transit corridors, stolen goods that are being pushed into online marketplaces, informal resale networks and cross-border channels, (and) repeat and prolific offenders cycling through the system with limited deterrents.
“this is no longer a retail problem. it is a community safety problem and, increasingly, an organized crime problem,” he added.
‘not meaningful consequences’
police chief myron demkiw said retail theft “hurts big chains and mom-and-pop shops alike. it hurts the economy and it makes people feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods.”
demkiw also said the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
“there’s not meaningful consequences,” he said. “the cost benefit of doing the crime versus the consequences is tipped in the wrong way.”
rodrigues said canada needs consistent enforcement, prosecution and use of the criminal code, and the targets should be “retail criminals.”
“we’re not talking shoplifters,” he said. “we’re talking the organized, the prolific, the 15% that causes 90% of the issues. ontario needs to move beyond individual jurisdiction-led responses. we need a provincially funded joint force operation dedicated to retail crime.”
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