Vancouver police say they arrested three people on Tuesday after unrelated downtown shoplifting incidents turned violent.
“We’ve seen a number of recent incidents involving violent shoplifters, so people who go into stores to steal and then resort to using violence whether its a weapon or physical force, and so it turns into a robbery,” Sgt. Steve Addison said of the incidents.
In the first case, police allege a 34-year-old man assaulted a staff member at a Davie Street grocery store around 8 a.m. Police say the suspect shoved the worker, before going behind a counter to try and steal a carton of cigarettes.
Other staff members intervened and held the suspect down until police arrived.
The second incident happened around 5 p.m., when police say the suspect walked into a retailer on Robson Street and stole $326 worth of clothing, before going into a neighboring store and trying to get a staff member to take the security tags off.
The 33-year-old then pulled a folding knife on a security guard at a third store, as he tried to steal $144 in lipstick. Police say witnesses kept an eye on the suspect until officers arrived and arrested him.
The third incident happened at a vape store on Davie around 7 p.m., where police say a 22-year-old man brandished a box cutter at staff and stole merchandise. Police were able to locate him nearby and arrest him.
“We are seeing a concerning trend throughout the city, but particularly in the downtown core and the north end of the city where we have people who are committing thefts, so shoplifters who are carrying weapons,” Addison said.
“It’s a concern for us, because we don’t want to see staff et hurt, we don’t want to see members of the public get hurt. And in a lot of these cases, these are small stores, with young staff members, often times working their first job trying to make a living.”
Addison said police were working “proactively” with businesses and business associations to try and address the issue.
Recent enforcement blitzes in the Cambie corridor and the Renfrew-Collingwood area netted 22 and 15 shoplifters respectively, according to police.
Addison cautioned the public against trying to intervene in such thefts, given their potential to turn violent, but said people should call 911 immediately if they see a crime in progress so that officers can attend.