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Police chief: It’s not a surprise to see a rise in break and enters

Estevan is experiencing a wave of thefts, break and enters and frauds. Anything from golf clubs to pickup trucks and industrial equipment has disappeared.
Paul Ladouceur
Estevan Service Police Chief Paul Ladouceur.

Estevan is experiencing a wave of thefts, break and enters and frauds. Anything from golf clubs to pickup trucks and industrial equipment has disappeared.

Estevan Police Service (EPS) Chief Paul Ladouceur talked about the main reason behind this problem.

“When the economy starts to suffer we tend to see some of the property crimes increase. There is a lot of correlation between the economy and some of the calls for service that we predominantly deal with.”

It’s quite common to see crime rates going up when the economy falls into a nosedive. The decrease in the amount of cash in people’s pockets comes along with an increase in domestic disputes, impaired driving, increased drug use and of course thefts and break and enters and other types of property crime cases.

“When the money is not there people are looking into other means of obtaining cash. Some of those people, unfortunately, turn towards criminal activity to do that,” said Ladouceur.

Crisis times are especially tricky for people who have drug or alcohol addictions. Usually, they can support their habits while working, but if suddenly their shifts are cut or they are no longer employed, all hell breaks loose for them.

“Sometimes what we see is people turn to thefts or break and enters or, worst case scenario, even robberies to gain cash to support those habits,” said Ladouceur. 

So it’s not a surprise to see new break and enters happening in Estevan. In past months Estevan has experienced everything from break and enters, break and enters with commit and an indictable offence, thefts over $5,000 and thefts under $5,000. There are also a number of charges that can go along with that, such as possession of stolen property, public mischief, fraud, obstruction during the course of the arrest and more. Thefts over $5,000 were more common and usually involved larger items or vehicles.

Fortunately, EPS could clear many of those cases quite fast and returned the property to owners.

“Often times it’s a small group of people that commit the majority of these incidents, so when we can identify these individuals and bring them to justice then we see those numbers start to drop,” said Ladouceur.

And that was the case with the break and enter at the Wicklow Centre. The parties have been arrested and charged and numerous pieces that were stolen on different occasions, were recovered.

There is another bundle of ongoing investigations of some of the recent thefts, which, according to the chief, will probably give some positive outcomes in the near future.

“We want to send a strong clear message that if you are going to commit those offences in this community you are likely to get caught. There are other means to support incomes. We encourage people if they are suffering from addictions to reach out to people and get the help they need,” said Ladouceur.

Community support that EPS gained through the years of work, is what allows them to solve crimes more promptly. Hundreds of eyes and ears notice things that police don’t have the capacity to catch.

“We have a lot of assistance from the public. And to that, we are very grateful, because it allows us to solve a lot of our crimes very quickly, and we would be able to do that without the public’s assistance. And I mean that sincerely,” said Ladouceur.

On top of that almost total video surveillance and improved technologies allow the police to identify and locate criminals. There are not too many places nowadays that people can go to without being captured on video.

“It might not be the business you think you are breaking into; it might be the business across the street or down the road. It’s really naïve to think that you can get away with these things nowadays. It’s just a matter of time and you do end up getting caught,” said Ladouceur.

Sometimes sentences people receive for different theft-related crimes may not sound too harsh, but any kind of criminal charge strongly affects the life and future of any individual.

“Picture yourself in jail for six months. That’s a huge impact on someone’s life,” said

Ladouceur.

And the saying is it's better to be safe than sorry. There are a number of often-simple steps that can be taken to protect the property.

It’s recommended to always lock vehicles, and take all tempting items out of sight and even out of the vehicle. Home alarm systems and surveillance cameras help to keep thieves away or at least to find criminals later. And yard lights are always a good idea.

“Good lighting on houses, motion lights, we are big fans of motion lights. If someone is lurking around, you are going to know very quickly when those lights go on. Criminals don’t like bright light, that’s a given,” said Ladouceur.

And when those steps are taken, it becomes quite difficult to take over somebody’s property.