The Alberta RCMP recently dedicated a week-and-a-half to tackling retail crime, which police said has been increasing over the past five years in the province, and said officers recovered over $40,000 in stolen goods.
The retail crime blitz took place over 10 days last month, involving Mounties from Airdrie, Lloydminster, Parkland County, Red Deer, St. Albert, Strathcona County, Wetaskiwin and Fort McMurray.
Tens of thousands of dollars of stolen merchandise was recovered both during that time period and afterwards, with the bulk of the items appearing to be Team Canada clothing and merchandise made by Lululemon.
Between March 10 and March 20, RCMP Staff Sgt. Luke Halvorson said Mounties partnered with several retailers, including stores selling hardware goods, groceries, liquor and clothes, along with malls across Alberta.
During that time, dedicated officers were posted in close proximity to stores and worked with both staff and loss prevention officers to catch shoplifting and thefts in real-time.
RCMP said 65 arrests were made, resulting in 48 criminal charges. Of those arrested, 10 of the people were wanted on warrants and 21 had over 30 previous charges.
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RCMP said that suggests a large portion of retail crime is perpetrated by recidivist criminals.
“More frequently, we are finding violent recidivist criminals engaging in retail crime, elevating the risk for employees and shoppers alike,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Luke Halvorson.
Halvorson said while there has been an overall reduction in property crime in Alberta in recent years, retail remains the exception and stores are seeing an increase in robberies and thefts.
“The Alberta RCMP uses data and intelligence to focus resources. While many other property crime types have decreased, the Alberta RCMP can focus on the rise of retail crime,” Halvorson said.
RCMP said some of the items were intended for resale in online spaces like Facebook Marketplace, or in the case of food and liquor, sold to stores or restaurants for use there.
Other items were just going to be for personal use, Halvorson added.
Information from the 10-day blitz was used by the Alberta RCMP community response team to search a home in St. Albert and arrest a 33-year-old man.
That home search resulted in $26,498 in clothing being recovered, contributing to a total of over $40,000 in retail goods recovered throughout the blitz.
The clothing was primarily high-end athleisure items from Canadian retailer Lululemon, which is the official clothing provider for Team Canada at the Olympics.
The 33-year-old is facing two counts of trafficking stolen property and possession of stolen property obtained by crime (over $5,000.)
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