MOUNT FOREST – Business owners and residents gathered at the Mount Forest sportsplex on Monday night to discuss what’s behind a recent spate of break-ins, vandalism and theft in the town.
The most blatant crimes — namely break-ins to downtown businesses — have been confined to the Main Street corridor.
In October, five businesses were broken into, including two retailers, two restaurants and a thrift store. As of Dec. 2, no arrests have been made.
The same month a vehicle was vandalized, a bank window smashed, and an empty Birmingham Street West residence broken into.
Police charged a 16-year-old Mount Forest youth, who cannot be named by law, with two counts of mischief for the vandalism.
Police also charged a 33-year-old Arthur woman and a 49-year-old Mount Forest man with breaking into the empty residence.
Those are just the publicized incidents. The OPP has said more than 30 residential and commercial break-ins occurred in Mount Forest between July and November.
Wellington OPP Staff Sergeant Corrie Trewartha told the Dec. 1 gathering of roughly 70 people, and another 75 viewing an online stream, the stores were broken into by people after whatever money they could find.
“Front doors were smashed, cameras were tampered with, it was financially-motivated crime; cash register, tip jar and donation boxes were targeted,” Trewartha said.
Most of the break-ins happened between midnight and 4am, with Wednesday being the most active day, according to OPP data.
“We are in a season of economic challenge,” the staff sergeant said.
Economic downturns give rise to an increase in petty offences, such as thefts and mischief, Trewartha suggested, as people with unmet needs find other ways to support themselves.
“We know, this room knows, that we lack community supports for a number of these folks,” she said.
Addressing the room, a resident said it’s a “very small group of people that’s brought us all here out tonight.
“How come we can’t deal with this small group of people as a town?”
Affected business owners have told the Advertiser they believe a handful of local people are responsible for the vast share of recent crimes.
Trewartha blamed the courts for handcuffing police.
When someone is charged and released from custody, they’re either given a notice to appear in court to answer to the charges, or released with bail conditions.
“Sometimes we will arrest them in the morning and they will be released in the afternoon back into the community, and sometimes that cycle does go on again and again,” Trewartha said.
Factors behind a local spate of break-ins, thefts and vandalism are complex and often tied to economic circumstances and a lack of social supports, residents and business owners heard at a Dec. 1 town hall meeting at the Mount Forest sportsplex.
Bail is a constitutionally protected right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – “reasonable bail” must be granted unless there are compelling reasons not to – so Canadians generally aren’t kept behind bars at the whim of the state.
As their case trudges through the courts, the presumption of innocence remains unless proven otherwise.
But the challenge for police, the room heard, is a pervasive cycle of catch-and-release, leaving cops “on a hamster wheel” of rearresting chronic offenders left without local supports.
Trewartha said officers are limited in what they can do, but organizations such as the Ontario and Canadian police chief associations are lobbying the government to restrict who gets bail.
Vehicle and foot patrols have increased in downtown Mount Forest in response to the October spree, though Trewartha twice said resources are limited.
How often police frequent downtown “ebbs and flows” with call volume, she said.
A free security audit, performed by OPP volunteer auxiliary members, was recommended to business owners, along with a suggestion to embrace the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
A woman urged the room to advocate for more social services in the community.
“These folks can only do so much on their end, we do not want to criminalize our neighbours,” she said.
“I’m going to guess that a lot of these people that committed some of these crimes are locals, as much as we want to think they’re others.”
She added, “We don’t want to criminalize poverty, we don’t want to criminalize mental health, we don’t want to criminalize addiction.”
Without in-town supports, she said to applause, “we’re not going to solve the problem.”
Following the spring closure of Stonehenge’s Main Street Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic, Trewartha suggested there was a “direct correlation” to a spike in crime.
But Mount Forest, and Wellington County as a whole, Trewartha emphasized, remain “very safe.”
Since October, OPP statistics suggest a decrease in break-ins, thefts and vandalism in Mount Forest.
A town hall meeting was held on Dec. 1 at the Mount Forest sportsplex about a recent crime spree in Mount Forest.
Mayor Andy Lennox urged residents to “please engage” local politicians at all levels of government, saying more voices will help advance the issue beyond the community.
“We will be revisiting this issue at the council table,” the mayor said.
Leanne Clark, whose store Art Arrows was broken into last year, is responsible for the Dec. 1 town hall.
It was hosted by Wellington North Township and attended by township staff, municipal politicians, Wellington County OPP and Guelph-Wellington Crime Stoppers.
Clark stepped into the spotlight in response to the recent crime spree, hoping for siloed community groups to band together and address the problem, announcing the grassroots town hall on social media in November.
Before moving to Mount Forest from Oshawa in 2022 – she fell in love with the community’s quaintness and opened Art Arrows the same year – Clark had no connections here.
Seeing break-ins continue after her store was robbed of $2,500 worth of product in 2024 left her asking why.
She reached out to other communities, including North Bay, Bracebridge, Kingston and Peterborough, that have experienced similar challenges to find out what worked.
Outdoor security cameras, discussed several times at Monday’s meeting, was one of the first things those municipalities turned to, according to Clark.
But there’s dithering on cameras locally, as its unclear who would take responsibility and who would provide funding.
When Clark reached out to the other municipalities, she noted a recurring theme.
“Everybody had their own responsibilities and roles, but they also were all interacting and working together,” Clark said.
The town hall was a start, but more work is needed to get community groups focused on the status quo to put aside differences and get to work on safety and security, Clark said.
She’s hoping a suggestion of a January roundtable meeting between business groups, local government and law enforcement will come to fruition.
“If we work together, if we collaborate, we can really make changes happen, but that does require open-minded thinking and willingness,” Clark said.
