Caught Stealing

Nathaniel Christopher 5 Comments

I was at the Harewood Arms Pub Liquor store in Nanaimo the other day when I saw this, the biggest anti-shoplifting sign I’ve ever encountered:

Anti-theft sign at the Harewood Arms Pub Liquor Store in Nanaimo, BC.
Anti-theft sign at the Harewood Arms Pub Liquor Store in Nanaimo, BC.

This is a liquor store in the neighbourhood of my youth. Harewood is an area of south Nanaimo that used to be a separate municipality. It’s got a very strong sense of community and identity compared to other areas of Nanaimo. When people ask me where I grew up I tend to say “Harewood” before Nanaimo.

Anyways, this particular liquor store is in the corner of Harewood where I grew up. It used to be called “Five Acres” on account of the farms that were there, but now it’s just grouped in with the rest of Harewood.

It was my first visit back to the place where I grew up in years… apparently this particular store has had a lot of problems with shoplifting. This guy, in particular, took a bunch of bottles of gin and other expensive booze.

I am not sure if he’s in custody or not.

Based on his photo who do you think he is? What’s his story? Why do you think he robbed the Harewood arms Liquor Store? I want YOUR comments!

I am a resident of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, who has been blogging here for nearly 25 years. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and feelings on my own online platform. From 1998 until 2017, I worked as a journalist, and I have posted most of my articles in the 'News' section of this website.

5 Comments

  1. The laws need to change as it seems shoplifting is acceptable in society today. The courts are back logged and the police are overwhelmed with several files every day.

    There has to be a conseques for a action and we can not reward back behavior. The public, the people need to express there voice and concern to the Prime minister of Canada and the Justice Department of British Columbia in order to inact change for the protection and personal safety of the public.

    We all see how things have changed and at times how dangerous it can be. Home invasions, shopplifting, and break and enters.

    The police can’t police everyone and everything, tie public and people that live in Canada and the Province of British Columbia need to make a stand for changes to be enacted for the safety of everyone.

    People may not think shopplifting is a big deal.
    Loss prevention put there lives at risk every day apprehending people that shopplift. Shopplifting has a ripple effect. It affects the cost of our food a d consumer merchandise. It affects the safety of the public, it affects everyone that works at that establishment and there ability to provide for there families and the employer.

    Yes there needs to be changes to the Criminal Code of Canada and no not everyone that shopplifts is going to go too court especially first time offenders. But in saying that there should be a mandatory diversion program in place at every municipality and city where shopplifters are referred to by the attending police.

    The individual or individuals would then at the least be held accountable for there actions and behavior in society. They can be made to pay restitution or community hours service and have it stay on record of the theft. They should have to be accountable and held accountable but also given the opportunity to make a positive change and have a positive change come out of it.

    When a shopplifter steals they are stealing from our community and everyone that lives in that community is affected by it one way or another.

    Also people that do loss prevention or security are being assaulted, stabbed and among many other things over a $2.00 dollar or $5.00 dollar item.
    How does some one that steals justify doing that and how are they being held accountable?

    Loss prevention and Security are not the police but at the same time they are there for the public’s safety first and foremost. They should be provided with more training and more tools available to not only protect themselves but also the public safety.

    Times have changed and we need to have more people then just the police to protect our Province and our cities we live in. Security is now perceived as first responders and it can take a long time for a police officer to attend to any type of call as they are responding to many calls and so many officers on shift.

    I plead you to write the Justice Department and the Priminister to ask for change and ask for changes in the Criminal Code of Canada and also the Private Security of British Columbia to give the Security professionals more available options to protect the public and public safety.

    We as Canadians can make change through expression and voicing our concerns to continue to make our Province and Country a wonderful place to live with the least amount of crime.

    But its up to us to make a stand and help make those changes. One voice can make a difference, many voices can inact change.

    We can no longer sit back and complain about crime we all need to stand up and make every effort to make positive changes and immediately not over years and years. If a law is changed or amended then it is done right away.

    The municipalities can also inact bylaws to hold individuals accountable for theft and crime to help pay for the cost of policing and security to help protect the public safety and our cities.

    We can make a difference if we all stand together and write our local government, and Justice Department of British Columbia and local
    MLA

    We may never stop people from stealing but we can hold the person accountable in society and make the changes needed to reduce theft and crime before it has a huge negative impact on our economy, our ability to provide for our families, and a safe place for everyone in British Columbia and Canada to live

    Be apart of that change

  2. He’s a ninja, for sure. I used to know someone who stole from there all the time and never had her picture up. It’s probably a conspiracy!

  3. Maybe he wanted his “15 minutes of fame” otherwise known as “Why do you want to see your ugly mug on the front page of a magazine or in the news?”

    Hey, wait a minute! That’s my boyfriend!

  4. Yeah, it does seem kind of sketchy. I see that in a lot of Vancouver stores. When I used to work at Future Shop they’d post photos of known shoplifters in the back room. But it wasn’t in public view.

    It’s not illegal to post photos of alleged shoplifters like this, but the police generally prefer that you call them as these photos tend to scare shoplifters away. Instead of getting caught they just go off and shoplift elsewhere.

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