NOTE: This article was updated on Sept. 13, 2023 to reflect new information provided by the BC Prosecution Service and the VPD regarding the number of police files submitted to Crown for charge recommendation.
When Vancouver police made more than 200 arrests during a three week crackdown on chronic and violent shoplifting earlier this year, Walley Wargolet warned our city was on the cusp of becoming San Francisco – where brazen shoplifters act like they have a right to steal.
Five months later, the executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society said the group continues to see blatant shoplifting impact businesses across Vancouver.
“That really troubles me,” Wargolet told Global News in an interview Monday.
“Just the nonchalantness of folks’ ability to just steal things and walk out the door like there’s no shame in it, and that is a scary place to be.”
Between Feb. 18 and March 10, the VPD arrested 217 people including 47 repeat offenders during an anti-shoplifting blitz with 28 participating businesses.
Police recommended 278 charges after Project Barcode.
Global News cross-checked court records and determined that so far, 155 cases (VPD Project Barcode files) or 56 per cent, have resulted in no charges.
Of the 147 charges approved by Crown counsel, 58, or 39 per cent, saw convictions. Twenty-six charges, accounting for 18 per cent, were stayed, while 62 charges, or 42 per cent, are still pending.
One charge was abated, which is what happens when a suspect dies.
Of the suspects convicted, the majority received a one-day jail sentence followed by probation.
Five months after Project Barcode, Global News asked the BC Prosecution Service(BCPS) how many of the 278 charges recommended were approved. The BCPS asked for police file numbers or the names of the accused. Global News provided the BCPS with 276 VPD file numbers.
“Given the large number of files the BCPS will not be providing the information requested. You can, however, locate the information you seek using the Court Services Online (CSO),” Dan McLaughlin with the BC Prosecution Service said in an email.
Global News ran the 276 VPD files for Project Barcode. No charges showed on 56 per cent of them. The BCPS has since said that is because it only received 143 of the files the VPD sent to Global News. Of the 143 police files it did receive, 83 per cent resulted in charges.
Vancouver police say they submitted 149 Reports to Crown counsel from Project Barcode (with duplicate files, that number is closer to 143), representing 234 charge recommendations. Reports to Crown counsel were not completed on 33 other police files representing 44 charge recommendations for various reasons including departmental discretion, insufficient evidence or uncooperative witnesses.
As for the outstanding 100 VPD files, Sgt. Steve Addison said in an email “The remaining files were investigations that did not result in evidence that warranted Reports to Crown counsel.”
In the end, 48 per cent of VPD files from Project Barcode did not result in Reports to Crown counsel and more than half or 57 per cent of the files – did not result in charges.
“I think this is one of the patterns that were most concerned about,” Wargolet said.
“We caught these thieves in the act, we had very secure, solid evidence,” Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison told Global News.
The Vancouver Police Department said its focus is apprehending offenders and securing enough evidence to support criminal charges. Once cases enter the court system, Addison said police have no control over whether a suspect is charged or convicted.
“We understand it is frustrating for businesses and it’s frustrating for many of our officers who work hard to identify criminals when there’s a perception that these people aren’t suffering the consequences that many believe that they should suffer.”
Criminal defence lawyer Leo Fumano said Crown counsel’s charge approval standard is a two-part test of whether there’s a substantial likelihood of conviction, and whether or not the prosecution is in the public interest.
“There’s no sort of freeze on charging people for shoplifting,” Fumano told Global News in an interview Monday.
Judges and Crown counsel are aware that there’s a toll it takes on the public and Fumano said he believes the Crown is doing everything it can to look at charges and deal with things on a case-by-case basis.
“I can assure you the Crown’s not saying, ‘Oh, we’re not interested in this,’ there is a very good reason, particularly with chronic offenders to proceed and to lay these charges,” Fumano said.
Wargolet said he hopes to see federal bail reform legislation, or Bill C-48, passed this fall to give the provinces more tools to tackle prolific and violent offenders, and to hold people accountable for their actions.
Casually walking into a business and taking something off the shelf and walking out without paying for it is a shocking social norm that Wargolet said we cannot allow to be normalized.
Otherwise, he said, were not far from San Francisco — where stores have chained up their freezers to prevent theft.
“It doesn’t take long to, you know, inch to that type of activity,” Wargolet said.
“That’s the reason why we need our provincial leaders and our federal leaders to take action now.”
It’s crucial Wargolet said, as businesses are also dealing with vandalism costs and other pressures including inflation, employment costs and pandemic-era Canada Emergency Business Account loan repayments, all of which are impacting their ability to remain open.
Vancouver mayor Ken Sim said San Francisco “provides a cautionary tale.”
Sim told Global News his ABC party is delivering on its public safety promises but senior levels of government need to step up.
“Or we won’t be solving the problem,” said Sim.
The BCPS sent an unsolicited response to Global News stating it cannot comment on the decisions in each individual case, but “no Reports to Crown Counsel alleging criminal conduct forwarded by police to the BCPS for assessment are approved to court unless the conditions set out in the Crown Counsel Policy Manual are met.”