The Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board plans on writing a letter to federal and provincial lawmakers to express its concern with the number of people out on bail for property-related offences locally.
According to the most recent statistics from Sault Police, there have been 536 calls for shoplifting between January and April — an 80 per cent increase over the same period last year.
“I can tell you the community is getting fed up with the number of people walking on shoplifting charges that continue to be released and do it the next day,” Stevenson told reporters following the open portion of Thursday’s police board meeting. “I find it unreasonable for a society to think that a person on 15 shoplifting charges won’t go out and re-offend tomorrow, and the deterrent value of our system has to be checked.”
Police board member and city councillor Marchy Bruni recounted a story to fellow board members where he witnessed an individual filling up their bags and stuffing items in their jacket while in a local retail outlet. A store employee advised the person they were banned from the business before escorting them out the door.
When asked, the store employee told Bruni that it was the direction from the company to avoid altercations with shoplifters. Bruni says he feels bad for store employees, because “they can walk in the store and steal and there’s no punishment.”
“There’s no stopping them, and these people are taking over these mom-and-pop shops and these bigger stores,” said Bruni. “And you’re right: there has to be more done by our two levels of government.”
The Crown Attorney’s office is doing everything it can, Stevenson told the board, but it’s the lawmakers at the federal and provincial levels that need to effect change.
Police board member and city councillor Sonny Spina offered to write a motion directing the board to author a letter to the federal and provincial levels of government in order to “basically explain the frustrations and ask for support.”
“I know that you’ve been asking for this change for many, many years,” Spina told the police chief. “We should probably look at giving you everything we can to support you on that — especially if you’ve got the Crown Attorneys that are doing everything and being stonewalled the same way you are.”
Stevenson hopes — and expects — the correspondence from the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board will start a dialogue.
“Yes, we are a small-to-medium sized service — but we matter. We matter because we have a concern in this community that our justice system is not doing what it’s supposed to do, and that is hold people accountable,” Stevenson told reporters. “Whether it’s the deterrent value, whether it’s rehabilitation — which I’m a firm supporter of. And that when you have long-term drug addiction, and you have bail situations like this come into play, we need to deal with it and not look away.”
The police board also heard there have been 223 calls for service related to the Mental Health Act in the first four months of 2024, representing a 41 per cent increase over the same period last year.
“We have the perfect storm of long-term drug usage and mental health issues in our community that contributes to the shoplifting piece,” Stevenson said.
The police chief says the solution to the mental health and addictions issue plaguing the Sault cannot be addressed through policing and the justice system alone. Rather, there needs to be adequate services and facilities in the community in order to address the issue at hand.
“We need a collective effort to deal with the issue in our community,” Stevenson said.