The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed a new RCMP initiative designed to curb the rising number of shoplifting calls in Coquitlam.
During a presentation to council last week, Supt. Annette Fellner said the detachment has seen a steady rise in shoplifting calls since 2016. There were plans to launch a “shoplifting blitz” in coordination with retailers, but she added that the idea has been temporarily shelved while physical distancing protocols are in place due to the pandemic.
“[The blitz] was to be set out between March and April and unfortunately that has been put on hold,” she told Coquitlam council during a year-in-review presentation earlier this month. “When we are able to get back to our normal way of business, we have some plans to address that.”
According to RCMP crime stats, there were 333 shoplifting calls in the final four months of 2019, up from the 288 average.
In Port Coquitlam shoplifting was down during the same time period, with 72 calls compared to an average of 91.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin noted, however, there was an uptick in PoCo last month, with 29 shoplifting incidents, up 38% from the three-year average.
Overall, property crime — which includes shoplifting, break and entering, theft from and of vehicles, and fraud — dropped in Coquitlam last year, from 5,154 calls in 2018 to 5,025 in 2019, continuing a five-year downward trend. Port Coquitlam’s property crime was up slightly in 2019 to 2,360 from 2,023 in 2018.
While the data shows ups and downs for various offences, the total number of crimes reported in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam is trending downwards.
Coquitlam’s crime rate was 53 offences per 1,000 residents, down from 64 in 2016. PoCo’s figures are also trending down, with 65 offences per 1,000 people, below the five-year average and down from 73 in 2016.
“There are various reasons for these positive results,” Fellner told Coquitlam council earlier this month. “A lot of our activities are intelligence-driven. Through that intelligence we are able to target crime and ultimately reduce it.”
