Standing Up for Brampton Businesses Against Organized Retail Crime
The Voice of Canada
Ask anyone who works a till or runs a shop in Brampton and they will tell you the same thing. Retail theft is no longer the occasional shoplifter. It is organized, it is brazen, and the people who serve us every day are paying for it.
Residents raise it with me often. Earlier this year I launched a petty crime survey in Wards 1 and 5 to understand how theft is affecting people where they live. I heard from 161 residents, and I took what they told me to the Peel Police Services Board as a delegation. The message was the same one I hear from local businesses. Owners are losing inventory and sleep. Staff worry about intimidation and violence on shift. Shoppers see it happen in front of them.
The numbers back that up. Peel Regional Police laid 2,210 retail theft charges in all of 2025. By the end of August this year, they had already laid 2,241.
Behind many of these incidents are criminal networks that move across municipal borders and resell what they steal. Rui Rodrigues of the Retail Council of Canada said he has heard of more weapons and more harm to retail workers in the last two years than in the previous 28 years of his career.
This week, Peel Regional Police hosted the Retail Organized Crime Conference, bringing together police services, retailers and the Province. Mayor Patrick Brown spoke on behalf of the City of Brampton and pointed to what worked on auto theft: find the gaps, put dedicated units on the problem and work with the courts.
Peel is already getting results. Since its mandate expanded this spring, the Break, Enter, Auto and Retail Theft (BEAR) Unit has made 53 arrests, laid 263 charges and recovered more than $1 million in stolen property. Deputy Chief Marc Andrews announced that BEAR will expand to every division in Brampton and Mississauga in 2027.
Peel Police also renewed its partnership with the Retail Council of Canada on targeted retail blitzes. That work has led to 63 arrests and 158 charges so far this year.
The Province is at the table too. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner spoke about Bill 119, the Protecting Ontario Streets and Communities Act, which would create major theft prosecution response teams to prioritize the most serious cases.
Thank you to the officers doing this work, and to the business owners and employees who keep speaking up. If you see retail crime, report it. Every report helps police connect the dots.
“Retail theft across Canada is a blight on businesses large and small. Here in Brampton, it hurts the shop owners who invest in our neighbourhoods and the workers who deserve to feel safe on the job. Expanding the BEAR Unit across Peel is the kind of focused response our community has been asking for.”-Rowena Santos, Councillor, City of Brampton
