Another overnight robbery in Westlock has downtown business owners worried about the safety of their stores and questioning what police are doing about it.
Ryan Provencal, owner of NAPA Auto Parts in downtown Westlock, said his store was burglarized overnight Monday, with more than $5,000 worth of merchandise stolen.
He is one of the most recent victims in a string of incidents of mischief and theft in Westlock over the past few weeks, which has him questioning what the police can do about the situation.
“They just said ‘Too bad,’ basically,” he said. “What are you going to do? With the windows smashed you’re not going to get fingerprints or anything.”
Last week, thieves broke into True Value Hardware and stole $10,000 worth of merchandise, owner Ali Jamaly said. Two weeks ago, thieves also broke into the Westlock Independence Network and stole some petty cash. There have also been several incidents of vandalism reported in the past several weeks.
The losses are covered by insurance, but insurance offers no compensation for the hassle of replacing broken windows, upgrading security systems and filling out paperwork.
“It’s frustrating,” Provencal said. “Whoever’s doing it, they don’t realize the headache.”
“It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” Jamaly said, adding he has lost several nights worth of sleep as a result of the break-ins.
Cpl. Sandra Milner of the Westlock RCMP said officers actively patrol the area at night, but unfortunately can’t be everywhere at once.
“We’re not always seen out and about, but we are out on the street,” she said. “We can’t cover every square inch of the county every shift, but for the downtown area, we’re always going through there to check if things are out of place or if there are any suspicious people.”
She added that while there have been a few break-ins in the last couple weeks, there have not necessarily been an unusual number of incidents.
“No one likes to see any crime happening, but reported break-ins to businesses do occur,” she said. “I wouldn’t say there have been a large number of them, but they are very concerning. It’s very brazen in the downtown area.”
Milner added that the police rely on eyewitnesses to report if anything is out of the ordinary in the neighbourhood, and encourages people to phone police promptly if they have suspicions.
Assurances by police have are of little value to the people who have been victimized, however, and do little to mitigate the sense of violation felt after someone steals personal property.
“It’s just sad what the world’s coming to. I never had to worry about that, and now it seems like every night you go to bed and wonder if it’s your turn,” Provencal said. “Who’s next?”
Anyone with information about this crime or any other crimes is asked to phone the Westlock RCMP at 780-349-3391 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
