Crime affecting more small businesses in Alberta
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on October 25, 2024.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
A sign on a downtown business asks customers to knock to gain entry.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Canadian Federation of Independent business says the number of small businesses directly affected by crime in Alberta has nearly doubled in the last year.
A report issued by the CFIB on Thursday said the percentage has risen from 24 per cent in 2023 to 54 per cent in 2024.
“It’s been a nightmare on Main Street. Imagine working hard, providing jobs, contributing to the community, just to have your goods stolen, windows broken, and property vandalized. For small businesses, it’s devastating when they are hit by crime over and over again,” said SeoRhin Yoo, CFIB senior policy analyst and report co-author.
The report says that vandalism, theft, and waste and litter including drug paraphernalia, garbage, excrement were the most common types of crime small businesses in Alberta experience.
Crime and safety issues are also having an emotional toll on small businesses with 72 per cent worrying about their own safety and safety ofstaff and customers.
The report states that businesses in this province have spent a median of $5,750 on crime-related expenses in the last three years.
Those expenses include replacement of stolen inventory or equipment and repairs because of vandalism. Seventy-one of Alberta’s small firms don’t consistently file crime-related insurance claims, says the report, mostly because they worry about their their insurance premiums rising even higher.
Fifty three per cent of Alberta business owners consistently file police reports, but only 29 per cent are satisfied with police response times and services, says the report.
“Some business owners reported that the crimes they experienced, such as theft or vandalism, were too small for police to act, or that police wouldn’t come for hours or even days after they have been called in these cases,” it notes.
To address safety, more than half of small businesses have adjusted the way they operate including shifting to appointment-only services, locking doors during business hours and/or leaving lights on overnight.The report states an additional 71 per cent have invested in extra security measures such as surveillance cameras, window bars and security guards.
“Some security measures, while helpful and necessary, may come at a steep price, deter customer foot traffic and, as a result, lead to lower revenues,” said Yoo in the report.
“Many businesses are already operating on thin profit margins, so just one crime incident could be make-or-break-for a small business owner.”
A majority – 83 per cent – of Alberta business owners “don’t believe their tax dollars are being used effectively to improve community safety, while 84 per cent think that governments are failing to work together on these issue,” says the report.
CFIB is recommending governments address concerns by taking several steps including :
• Address underlying issues contributing to crime, including affordable housing, mental health and addictions.
• Improve resources for small businesses including proactive funding for increased security, crime related repairs, and guidance, prevention and response strategies for business owners and their staff.
• Strengthen collaboration between all levels of government, non-profits, community organizations, and small businesses to develop evidence-based policies and programs to address crime and safety.
“Governments should also improve safety in commercial areas and public spaces, develop an improved approach to recidivism, and support diversity among insurance firms by reducing barriers to entry,” says the report.
“As crime continues to rise, small businesses are being left to fend for themselves, shouldering the emotional and financial burden,” Yoo concluded. “It’s time for all levels of government to step up, protect our communities, and ensure that every tax dollar spent makes a tangible difference in improving safety for small businesses and the people they serve.”
21-20
We do not have police downtown 4 days a week , I can only conclude that we’ve tapped out. Let the business’s fend for themselves.
Pretty much tapped out everywhere.
The NDP/Liberal scourge.
https://vancouversun.com/news/more-than-half-of-bc-small-businesses-report-surge-in-crime
Yet we have a UCP government here
as wire 32 notes very well! the ucp, wearing the con name, has done zilch to help out towns struggling with social, mental health, crime and economic issues. they leave it to the towns to deal with issues that are foremost provincial issues. in fact, they slash away at budgets that require more investment in actions and supports that are increasingly needed.
why is it that folk, as underscored by buck here, are so bought into a party name such that refuse to see that our most pressing issues have far less to do with political team jerseys than they have to do with sordid leadership that is owned by the greediest and most self serving entities.
Who would ever have thought that if we set up food, clothing, shelter within the city and, provided the people with the stores to steal from so they could continue to do drugs, that this would ever happen?
Thank you Al Beeber for this information, which called it out to many who were unaware and thought many were just making up the seriousness of this issue which plagues downtown more than other communities by per capita.
I am waiting to here what the outcome of the task force recommondations to the SPC yesterday were, but much of the same was noted in their agenda.
For those of us who conduct business downtown and have been impacted multiple times, we have had enough watching other businesses leave or fail due to the issues, which were compounded first by the SCS opening, then the COVID closures.
How can you resolve issues when you only have 2 police officers for the whole downtown who work together, 4 days on and 4 days off and those are dayshifts, leaving the highest crime periods overnight wide open for criminals? They know it!
Almost all of the crimes are never reported in the news, but for some of the recent ones, such as the Cookie Crimes Ice Cream shop, this is a good example of downtown policing at its worst. That shop had its large streetside window broke and for over a 5 hour period the lawbreakers who hang on our streets all day and night were in and out steating ice cream products and anything else they thought they might use or sell! 5 hours!
Would this happen in other parts of the city?
the ice cream store example is unacceptable. it underscores so much of what is wrong with how policing policy and city hall seem content to have no respect/support for businesses downtown.