‘Bold’ thieves at mall targeted by police

Police officers have conducted a crackdown on thefts at the Capri Centre Mall in Kelowna.

Members of the Community Safety Unit (CSU) say the operation took place Wednesday Jan. 11 in the area that has seen an increase in thefts and other reported incidents.

“The goal of the project was to not only reduce these incidents, but also target repeat offenders,” Const. Mike Gauthier with the CSU said.

Officers in uniform and plain clothes conducted surveillance and enforcement starting in the morning, catching the first thief within forty-five minutes. Over the next few hours, officers arrested six individuals resulting in the recommendation of several charges of theft .

A man with numerous warrants for his arrest, was also located.

“The boldness of some of these thefts have become concerning, including one man who grabbed about 50 dollars worth of merchandise, made no efforts of concealing it and then simply walked out,” Gauthier stated. “Fortunately, he was noticed and taken into custody immediately.”

Sgt. Scott Powrie of the CSU said more of these types of enforcement will take place.

“We have additional projects happening soon where we will be working with our local retail loss prevention officers throughout the city to focus on apprehending repeat and violent offenders,” Powrie explained.