Vancouver police announced Friday that they have made 258 arrests in the latest wave of their crackdown of “violent and chronic shoplifters.”
In a media release, police also that they had recovered nearly $57,000 in stolen merchandise.
The arrests, part of Project Barcode, were made during a two-week operation between Sept. 11 and Sept. 26.
“We’ve seen the impact rampant theft and violent shoplifting has had in other North American cities, where some major retailers have decided to no longer do business,” Staff Sgt. Mario Mastropieri said in the release.
“We’re determined to not let that happen here.”
Mastropieri said the department’s crackdown will continue through the holiday season.
In addition to the 258 Vancouver arrests, the department coordinated with police across the region, resulting in another 82 arrests by investigators in Delta, Langley, Richmond and Burnaby.
The update follows another Project Barcode crackdown in the spring, when police announced the arrest of hundreds of accused shoplifters, recommending 278 charges.
A Global News review of those recommendations later found just 56 per cent of them resulted in actual charges.
The BC Prosecution Service said it had actually received just over 140 files from the department, 83 per cent of which resulted in charges.
The Vancouver Police Department said the case files it submitted included 234 charge recommendations, but that more than 100 other files were not forwarded for a variety of reasons including departmental discretion, insufficient evidence or uncooperative witnesses.
In the end, 48 per cent of police files from Project Barcode did not result in Reports to Crown Counsel and more than half — or 57 per cent of the files – did not result in charges.
With files from Kristen Robinson