Frustration over recent break-ins at storefronts in London’s Old East Village is prompting some area business owners to consider starting their own community foot patrol to combat the issue.
It comes on the heels of multiple break-ins over the last several months in which businesses in the area of Dundas Street west of Adelaide Street saw their store windows and other property damaged and had items stolen.
One of the more recent break-ins occurred late Friday night at Mystic Bookshop, the OEV mainstay located near Adelaide and Dundas streets, kitty-corner from London police headquarters.
“We had our computers stolen, all our point-of-sale machine s… Our cash register was smashed and all the money was taken,” said Lyndon Horsfall, Mystic Bookshop’s co-owner, in an interview earlier this week. The store’s doors, locks and windows were also damaged.
The break-in was reported the following day to police, who say the matter remains under investigation.
A GoFundMe to help the store had raised more than $3,500 as of Thursday.
As a result of the incident, Horsfall has been sleeping inside of the bookstore to deter other wannabe burglars until a new security system can be installed and bars put on the windows. He says he believes those causing the issues in the area aren’t interested in “actually, physically hurting people. It’s more crimes of convenience.”
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Mystic Bookshop is hardly the first business in the area to be hit by a break-in or vandalism, he adds, suggesting that it was just a matter of time for them.
“The Wisdom Teashop shop right next to us, they’ve been broken into three times. The brewery down the street has been broken into a bunch of times. The hair salon next door to us…” he said.
The problem isn’t just limited to OEV. Businesses elsewhere in the city, particularly in the downtown core, have also seen an increase in break-ins since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared last year, resulting in a continued dearth of foot traffic as people worked remotely.
Police figures published by the London Free Press show reports of break-ins at businesses in London’s downtown numbered 205 last year, up from 112 the previous year, while property damage reports climbed to 151 from 102 in 2019. In residential areas, meanwhile, reports of break-ins fell roughly 16 per cent as people stayed home.
D’Wayne Price, an inspector with the London Police Service, says property crime has increased, but notes there’s an “ebb and flow” to the numbers which vary from month to month.
“We’ve definitely had months that things are down, or other months that they’re quite comparable to other years,” he said, adding that the main issue is a lack of people working in the core which creates an opportunity for crime.
“The business owners downtown are very frustrated. They’ve been down there for years. They’ve seen what they believe is decay. They’ve seen things change … I understand what they’re saying, and we see it, too,” Price continued.
“We’re out there every single day. It’s not like the police are just sitting back in the station waiting for people to tell us what’s happening. My foot patrol officers are there every single day dealing with these issues every day. We see it, we feel it too.”
Horsfall says he and other businesses have been calling on police to step up overnight patrols in the area.
“They keep talking about being there for certain hours, and it’s like, the people who do this learn what hours you’re there. We need somebody there all night,” he said.
Talk has now begun among area store owners and neighbours about potentially forming a community night patrol to keep an eye on things if the situation doesn’t improve.
“We’re trying to get as many people as possible to do shifts walking up and down at night. Not engaging anybody, but calling the cops if anything happens and just trying to protect our stores and our homes,” Horsfall said.
Price appreciates the fact that community members want to do something, but says he believes citizen foot patrols aren’t a safe way to do it, citing arrests officers have made in the downtown involving people with weapons.
“That’s not a position that I think that the citizens should be putting themselves in,” he said.
“I’m sure that their thought process is ‘as long as I’m nearby, the perpetrator will leave, or they won’t target my business.’ Well, I’m telling you, with mental health and drug addiction, that’s not always the case.”
“Even police officers within eyesight aren’t enough to deter some people from smashing a window, or two or three before they’re arrested, he says. “Just because you’re there and present doesn’t mean that the crime isn’t going to happen with what we’re dealing with right now.”
“I’m hoping that we, as a community and as a city, try to harness that (enthusiasm to do something) and start working together with the city, with social agencies, with the police, with the business owners … something a little more comprehensive than what we’re doing now, because this problem is much bigger than one agency alone.”
The incidents have come amid an already challenging time for small businesses in the OEV who, like others in the city, have been dealing with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19.
In addition to the pandemic, area business owners have also been bracing for the start of the second phase of a major two-phase sewer and water main construction project on Dundas Street.
Phase 2 of the project will have vehicular traffic on Dundas closed east of Adelaide for months, and pedestrian traffic corralled through the use of metal fencing accompanied by two mid-block crossovers. Work officially began last week.
In an interview Wednesday, the city’s newly appointed manager of downtown projects, Jeff Shaughnessy, said maintaining pedestrian access and being available to impacted businesses would be a main focus for the city during the months-long construction process, which is occurring in a denser section of Dundas compared to Phase 1.
Shaughnessy said he was disappointed to hear of the break-ins, and says the city has been in contact with area businesses and with the Old East Village Business Improvement Association. He noted that private security officers contracted by the construction firm monitor the worksite 24 hours a day, and are able to call in incidents that occur outside of the perimeter fencing.
“The construction team is in very close contact with our partners at London Police Service and the city’s Coordinated Informed Response group to communicate construction updates, impacts, and any other unseemly activity that would be occurring outside of the fences,” he said.
“We have eyes on the site, we have eyes on the street, and we have communication lines with all the appropriate services to mitigate that as best we can.”
It’s not clear whether the break-in at Mystic Bookshop was witnessed by a member of the security team.
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