Almost half of VPD files in recent shoplifting crackdown not sent to Crown

More than half of the Vancouver Police Department files associated with a recent shoplifting crackdown have not resulted in charges to date, and Global News has learned that’s because almost half of the files were not sent to Crown counsel for charge assessment.

Project Barcode netted 217 arrests between Feb. 15 and March 10, and the VPD said 278 criminal charges were recommended to Crown counsel.

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Five months later, Global News asked the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) how many of those charges were approved.

The BCPS asked for police file numbers or names of the accused.

When Global News provided 276 VPD file numbers, spokesperson Dan McLaughlin advised: “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).”

Lawyer Ravi Hira, K.C., said the open and transparent CSO system gives the public an opportunity to search whether or not charges have been laid by names of the accused or police file numbers.

“If you run a police file number and nothing happens there is no name, there’s nothing, that is a strong indication that no charges have been laid on that police file,” the Hira Rowan LLP partner explained.

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Global News ran the 276 VPD files for Project Barcode and no charges showed on 56 per cent of them.

The BCPS said that is because it only received 143 of the 276 files the VPD sent to us.

Of the 143 files the BCPS said it did receive, 83 per cent resulted in charges.

The VPD said the files Crown received represented 234 charge recommendations. Reports to Crown Counsel (RCCs) were not completed on 33 other files with 44 charge recommendations for various reasons including departmental discretion, insufficient evidence and/or uncooperative victims or witnesses, the VPD said.

As for the 100 outstanding files, Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said “the remaining files were investigations that did not result in evidence that warranted Reports to Crown counsel.”

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“What was the point of it at the end of the day?” asked business owner Sunan Spriggs.

“Because even if they were to have received 100 per cent convictions, those individuals would have been back on the street within a matter of days.”

Spriggs has experienced repeated thefts at her CityLux Boutique in downtown Vancouver – including a couch boosted by a brazen suspect in broad daylight during the pandemic.

The system is broken she said, and she believes it’s a complete waste of her time and taxpayer dollars to even report crimes anymore.

“I’ve lost complete faith in our legal system to be able to do anything to prevent crime,” Spriggs told Global News in an interview.

“It’s not because the police aren’t doing their job, and it’s not because the courts aren’t doing their job, it’s simply because the sentencing isn’t strong enough — it doesn’t deter the crime to begin with.”