New unit cracking down on shoplifters
Community F.I.R.S.T. officers made 117 arrests and recovered $22,000 in stolen goods
The unit arrested someone leaving Home Depot with a cart full of new power tools they were allegedly attempting to shoplift
A new unit of four Peterborough police officers focused on property crime has made 117 arrests, plus returned $22,571 in allegedly stolen goods to 78 people, since its launch in January.
Officers recovered a cart full of power tools allegedly shoplifted from Home Depot on Lansdowne Street, for instance. More items were also recovered, including three bicycles, according to data from police Chief Stu Betts, plus 66 shopping carts (each worth about $300) and 11 large green bins.
Betts updated city council at its meeting Monday night on the new police unit called Community F.I.R.S.T. (Community-Focused Investigation and Response Support Team), which is a year-long pilot program.
The chief said the unit arrested someone leaving Home Depot with a cart full of new power tools they were allegedly attempting to shoplift. The four officers have also investigated “an organized ring of shoplifters” targeting Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Peterborough and the GTA, Betts added.
The chief had also been asked to update council on Safer Public Spaces, the police service’s no-tolerance approach to people consuming illicit drugs in public, launched last fall.
Betts said citizens have brought many concerns lately to police about lack of safety arising from public drug use, and the new program is the police response to those concerns.
“This is not about making our most vulnerable members of the
community more vulnerable,” Betts told council. He said that, instead, it’s about increasing safety in public places.
“No one was going to be criminalized because of this,” he said.
Also at Monday’s city council meeting:
Doctor recruitment
Council voted a final time to approve a new approach to attracting family doctors to Peterborough — one that doesn’t use a professional physician recruiter.
Instead, it involves developing a new set of cash incentives for doctors who recruit other doctors, states a city staff report from chief administrative officer Jasbir Raina, or for those who have a high number of patients on their rosters.
The report also states the city could try to use cash incentives to encourage Peterborough natives who study medicine to come back to their hometown to practice.
The pilot project is expected to cost $580,000 between now and the end of 2025. Council had previously given preliminary approval to the strategy and on Monday night voted a final time to make it a done deal.
The matter carried on consent, meaning there was no discussion or debate about it before the final vote. There had been no citizen deputations about it either.