WARMINGTON: Lawlessness on the rise during COVID-19 pandemic
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He should have stayed at home.
Instead this robber’s attempt to climb the crime ladder ended up coming to a crashing halt Thursday.
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WARMINGTON: Lawlessness on the rise during COVID-19 pandemic Back to video
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Toronto Police received a call at 3:30 p.m. for a male attempting to break into a building “using a ladder” near Danforth and Coxwell Aves.
But the ladder had fallen to the ground and he couldn’t climb down. So he climbed up instead.
“He was jumping across rooftops,” say police.
But when he made his way back to ground level and after kicking in a window was greeted by 54 Division officers who rung him up.
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This kind of crime is what police are seeing more of these days. Businesses are preparing for the worst.
Plywood covering the windows of stores and restaurants downtown are not just a sign of the strange times we are living in, it’s also a sign of the frightening times we could end up witnessing.
When you see the spike in commercial property crime during this pandemic over what we had at this time in 2019, one can hardly blame businesses for boarding up the front windows of their shops.
You can see it on Bloor St. W., on Yonge St., and many other areas of the city.
The fear is that unemployment and despair could lead to looting during a time when there’s no one around keeping an eye on commercial properties. While we have not seen looting so far, there have been numerous commercial and retail break-ins during this coronavirus crisis.
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As police spokesman Meaghan Gray explains, some crime statistics are down.
Some are up.
“While it is far too early to make any determination on possible crime trends during this time, we do know that since March 16, 2020, our weekly statistics have shown the following: A decline in overall robberies but, when broken down, an increase in hold-ups and retail robberies combined with a decrease in street robberies
“Break-and-enters fluctuating, which appears to be due to a decrease in residential break-and-enters and an increase in commercial break-and-enters.”
Auto thefts, assaults and sexual assaults are down but shootings are up.
“Since March 16, we have seen a small decrease in intimate partner violence reports,” said Gray.
But that number is under reported and she encourages anybody who runs into this to contact police for help.
As for crimes against commercial properties, restaurants and retail stores, police are on top of it.
There have been numerous arrests. Turns out there’s no easy climb to victimize commercial businesses.
As the guy who’s ladder caper didn’t work out so well found out.
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