A rash of incidents involving mischief, theft, break-ins and vandalism in Wallaceburg has left some local business owners shaking their heads, looking for answers and searching for stolen goods.
Back in May, the Chatham-Kent Police issued a press release stating that break-and-enters were on the rise in the community. This notice referred to a string of five B&E’s in the Turnbull Avenue area in one night.
That same week officers investigated a mischief incident at the Wallaceburg Legion and another situation at three Wallaceburg schools, which left a total of 36 windows smashed. All of these incidents followed an incident at Colwell Park in Wallaceburg, where some freshly installed playground equipment was tagged with obscene graffiti.
Chamber looking into issues
Karen Debergh, president of the Wallaceburg and Distrit Chamber of Commerce, told the Sydenham Current it is disheartening to see these negative incidents take place.
“Not only as Chamber president, but as a life long resident and business owner in this town… it breaks my heart to see the hard work of so many of our community members vandalized, such as the new playground equipment at the splash pad,” she said.
“It is also upsetting to see the public and private properties with graffiti on it. It only costs us all in the long run when both the Municipality and business owners have to take time out of their day to paint over the graffiti or to fix smashed windows… not to mention the out of pocket costs.”
Debergh said she hasn’t heard anything specifically from local businesses, but she has heard the concerns of all of Wallaceburg’s citizens.
“You start to lose your sense of security when these things happen on an on-going regular basis,” Debergh said.
“The one thing I hear all the time is that the cause of this is ‘that there is nothing for the youth to do in this town’ and those comments do upset me,” she said.
“This comment is disrespectful to the many, many volunteers and organizations that we have in this town that put in hundreds of hours to provide activities for our youth. From sport organizations, to church youth groups, there is something for everyone and not all of them cost money.”
Debergh said the Chamber is taking some measures to see what they can do as an organization to help with the on-going crime issues.
“In light of this, the Wallaceburg and District Chamber of Commerce has decided to explore some initiatives that other communities have spearheaded to combat this issue and work with community groups and businesses to bring those programs to Wallaceburg,” she said.
“We need to promote community pride in our youth so that they won’t vandalize or steal public and private property… whistle blowing only goes so far. We need to stop it from happening to begin with.”
Bike stolen from Wallaceburg home
Rod Langstaff, owner of Ballistic Fitness in Wallaceburg, had his brand new bicycle stolen from his garage back in May.
Langstaff and his wife Joanna realized something was off in the morning, when she spotted someone else’s bike resting by their back door.
“We could tell the door was open. My wife opened the overhead door of the garage and I grabbed a baseball bat and I went out there to see if anybody was still out there… and the only thing they took was my bike,” Langstaff said.
“My truck keys were in my truck, Joanna’s car keys were in her car, there was 4 pairs of Maui Jims out there. They didn’t go in our vehicles. I have cordless drills and saws. We had all kinds of stuff and the only thing they took was my bike and they left theirs.”
Langstaff said, while his family generally makes a point to lock up, it could’ve been a fluke that it was unlocked the night his bike was stolen.
However the next day, while on a field trip with his daughter’s JK class, Langstaff said he got a text from a friend who had snapped a photo of what he believed was the stolen bike.
Langstaff said he contacted the Chatham-Kent Police Service immediately, and within 15 minutes an officer called him saying they had his bike.
“The bike had already moved on to the third set of hands in 24 hours,” Langstaff said.
“It had just been sold to someone biking down the road and that is how (the police) got it. It went through a lot of hands pretty quickly.”
Langstaff said he was happy with the response on social media, as he had posted up a photo of the bike on Facebook.
“Tons and tons of people saw the post and my friend when he was driving around he thought he had seen that bike somewhere, and then he was thinking ‘Rod put that on Facebook, that’s the bike’.”
While the outcome for Langstaff ended up being positive, he said he believes something more needs to be done.
“I think it is a bad situation,” he said.
“It’s definitely bad in town. First it was everybody’s GMC pick ups. When I was up at the cop station there was about two dozen bikes at least. They just keep coming in and coming in,” he said.
Langstaff said the issue in not just a Wallaceburg problem either.
“Many people say it’s pretty horrible and it’s the cops fault, but it’s like this absolutely everywhere,” he said.
“If I talk to friends that work in Sarnia, everybody’s trucks are being gone through and their garages and their houses. I have a friend who lives just off Dufferin and he had a custom fire pit and he had all four family members names on it and somebody stole that. Probably for scrap metal. They will probably get $5 to $10 for it. Costs $250 to $300 to have it made and somebody took it. That is unbelievable. Who would do that?”
Langstaff said he believes the thieves need to face stricter punishment.
“The guy that was into my garage was on probation from April… he (doesn’t care) and he is not really in trouble,” he said.
“That is their lively hood, that’s what they do. That’s their job and they don’t really get in trouble for it. We are out here trying to make money to live and they are just taking our stuff. So when they catch (these people) they have to not just catch and release them right away. Those guys have got to serve a penalty. Something should be done.”
Langstaff said him and his neighbours try to look out for each other and their homes, but it is hard to be on alert 24/7.
“They were in my place between probably 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. We keep an eye throughout the day when we are around and all my neighbours do.. but the people who are getting broken into are probably sleeping, because they probably have to wake up the next day and go to work.”
Langstaff said there are other options to protect your property, but no clear cut solution.
“You have security systems, but that takes a big process,” he said.
“It’s about 15 minutes before a cop will be at your house with that. How long would it take to go in my garage and take my bike? 10 seconds, so you are not catching that guy. There are lots of ways to combat it but it’s not easy for sure.”
Son’s bike stolen, stripped, sold
Another Wallaceburg business professional has had to deal with a stolen bicycle from his home in July as well.
However, Shawn Moore, manager at Tom and Al’s, only got a part of his son’s stolen bicycle back.
“Somebody decided to steal my son’s bike off my front porch,” Moore said.
“It was the only thing he wanted for his birthday, and he’s been so responsible with it.”
Moore even went as far as offering up a $100 reward to anyone that brought the bike over to Tom and Al’s
“My son is sick he’s so upset,” Moore said.
After sharing a post on social media, Moore said he was able gather some information that potentially identified the thief.
“But they had it stripped and sold off by the morning,” he said.
“A good friend of mine managed to track down my son’s tires and handle bars, but we probably will never find the rest. I’ve given the reward to the person who helped retrieve parts, and he’s also given my son a frame and set of front forks. I’ve got a couple more parts to pick up, then my son and I will have a project bike to put together.”
Moore said he was able to see the bright side, to an otherwise negative situation.
“We’ll have some fun, and my son will have a fun experience building his next bike,” he said.
“Hopefully it’ll help turn this into a lesson learned. Not just about how unfair life can be, but also how good people can be. We had a lot of help and support.”
Police offer tips to local residents
Police officials say the Chatham-Kent Police Service will continue to remind citizens of a few basic steps they can take to protect their property.
– LOCK ALL DOORS. Especially doors that lead to your residence as well as your vehicle doors
– Do not announce your travel plans or absence from home on social media or your phone’s voicemail
– If going away on vacation or an extended absence, ask a trusted neighbor to watch your house and make your home looked lived-in by:
– Using timer-controlled lights
– Having mail and/or paper delivery temporarily stopped or delivered elsewhere
– Arranging for neighbours to park in your driveway
– Consider installing a quality security system with motion sensors and/or video monitoring
– Secure all basement and ground-level windows and patio doors
Police officials remind people to be aware of suspicious people or vehicles in your neighbourhood and call police immediately if you’re concerned
Officers will respond to these calls, police officials say.
Anyone with information pertaining to break and enter type calls-for-service are asked to call 519-352-1234 or 9-1-1 (in the case of an emergency).
Anonymous callers may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) and may be eligible for a cash reward.
In an interview back in May, Const. Kelly Helbin, public information officer for the Chatham-Kent Police Service, told the Sydenham Current the citizen’s in the community need to do their part.
“I know this from working in Wallaceburg and Chatham and every area in Chatham-Kent, when that nice weathers arrives throughout the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and through all hours of the night there are people wandering around on bicycles, on foot and they are luring around neighbourhoods,” she said.
“We do our best to patrol those neighbourhoods but again when they are on foot or on a bicycle they use them to hide. We have to lock our doors. Yes, they may still break in, but lets not make it convenient for them.”
Helbin said for example, an ATV stolen on Heritage Line in Wallaceburg back in May, was taken from an unlocked garage and the keys were in the ignition of the ATV.
“We as citizens in the community, we have to do our part too,” Helbin said.
“It can’t just be the responsibility of the police. We do our best… why are we making it easy for these people to just go in and steal our belongings. Let’s make it more difficult for them, let’s keep our lights on, lock our doors, lock our windows especially when we are not home. Let’s not just make it easy for them. I don’t want to put the responsibility or all the blame on the home owners, but I think we have to lock our doors, and light things up. People are not usually going to go into well lit areas because they are easier for us to see.”
Helbin added: “I don’t know if I can stress enough but there are some very basic steps that we can take to ensure that our property and our house and everything are safe and I just don’t think we are fully doing that yet.”
The notion of revitalizing the Neighbourhood Watch program in Wallaceburg has also been discussed.
Read our coverage on that story, here.
