Crime Stoppers Blog | News & Events

Shoplifting is stealing and stealing is a criminal act. Theft is converting to your use or the use of another person anything that deprives the owner or a person who has a special interest in it. Did you know that a person commits theft, when with intent to steal anything; he moves it or causes it to move?

Did you know that the penalty for theft, where the value is less than five thousand dollars, is up to imprisonment for two years? Did you know that a person can be sent to prison for ten years if the stolen value is five thousand dollars or more?

No matter what you hear elsewhere, Shoplifting is theft and a person who shoplifts is a thief.

Many people all across Canada are arrested daily for shoplifting. They think it is a sport or a prank and do not realize how serious it is. Most people are unaware that shoplifting can result in a criminal record, even though the sentence may be a fine and/or probation. That record can remain for life and it clearly says loud and clear one thing: THIEF

Many people feel that they cannot get a record. This is not true. An arrest is an arrest. The identity of the Young Offender is not made public but a police record can result. Many young people when arrested will say, “Why didn’t someone tell me that Shoplifting was a crime?” Ignorance of the law is no excuse and no defence against prosecution and conviction.

Many people think that stores make a lot of money and won’t miss a blouse, belt, a pair of sunglasses or a book. This is not true and shoplifting is costing stores thousands of dollars annually. Stores are no longer letting people off with a warning or a lecture; they are turning them over to the police. All parents of Young Offenders are notified.

Shoplifting occurs for a variety of reasons; including impulse, peer pressure, revenge, desperation, and kleptomania (rarely). A permanent reduction in shoplifting can only be accomplished by making citizens aware that it is a community responsibility to prevent such theft. Everyone pays for shoplifting ‑ Businesses suffer lower profits and consumers ultimately pay higher prices. More importantly, Shoplifting is stealing and stealing is a Criminal Act.

Theft of a $2.00 item from a store operating on a 10% profit margin requires the sale of $20.00 in merchandise to make up for the loss. Supermarkets and others merchants operating on low margins of 1% must sell $300.00 in merchandise just to cover the theft of a $3.00 item. The cost to business management is in the billions of dollars.

And guess who helps to recoup these losses? That's right...we the consumers.


Cpl. Marc Trioreau is the Crime Prevention / Victims’ Services - Community Policing Officer for District #2 RCMP in Oromocto, N.B.
Cpl. Trioreau can be reached at Marc.Trioreau@rcmp-grc.gc.ca