Over the past few years, Cambridge business owners have been hit hard by thieves who steal everything from tools and catalytic converters to entire vehicles.
A group of mostly auto mechanics and local shops have banded together to say enough is enough.
Peter Simpson is the owner of Combined Auto and Truck Repair on Pinebush Road and told CambridgeToday thefts have become a weekly occurrence.
"It's really getting out of hand and these guys keep coming here, because there are no consequences for them," said Simpson.
On a regular basis, his trucks are getting broken into and tools are being stolen. Often times these are customer vehicles that are being damaged, putting further strain on his business beyond the loss of material goods.
"You know we don't want to get a reputation of being in a bad area and losing customers," said Simpson. "We try to do everything we can to fix any damages and do right by the customer, but it's like we're paying twice."
Simpson spoke on behalf of the group at a recent city council meeting where he supported Ward 6 Coun. Adam Cooper's motion on police reform and changing catch and release laws.
Council passed the motion unanimously and called on city staff to write a letter to all levels of government asking for reform and greater importance on speeding up the court process.
"Something needs to change, because you're seeing the same thing over and over," said Simpson. "Someone will break in, get arrested and then be back out on the street the next day doing the same thing."
Cooper hopes that with his motion passing it will inspire other municipalities to make the call for change and bring attention to issues this and other communities have been facing for years.
"There's no question that the system is broken," said Cooper. "The police are working with broken tools and we need to fix them."
Last year an individual named Adam Taplin is alleged to have broken into over 30 auto shops around the region. He was known to police, but eluded them for months after getting back out on the street and committing crimes.
Simpson caught Taplin on his security camera during his crime spree, but was told by police they don't come out for motion calls.
"I don't understand what they expect us to do in these situations. I don't think it's fair for us to live like this," Simpson said.
The councillor said police often get a lot of unwarranted hate, because the public views them as not doing their jobs and releasing criminals who go about committing more crimes.
"It's not about arbitrarily keeping people in jail that are on trial. Everyone has the right to the assumption of innocence until proven guilty," said Cooper.
"This is about having a balance between that and the protection of the residence, more specifically relating to what we're seeing, which is multiple repeat offences from the same people."
Police did not respond to requests for comment on this story, but in an earlier response to CambridgeToday, communications manager for Waterloo Regional Police Services, Cherri Greeno said police must follow criminal code requirements and consider "a number of factors" before determining whether a person can be held in custody for what's called a show-cause hearing.
"Officers must give primary consideration to the release of an accused person and at the earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions that are appropriate in the circumstances," Greeno wrote in an emailed response, citing a section of the criminal code.
Simpson wants to keep talking about this issue and let policy makers know that these laws are not protecting people, but slowly degrading local businesses.
"It really feels like the businesses are the ones who are paying for the crimes of these individuals, not the thieves," said Simpson. "We get hit on every single avenue, first the damage costs money then we can lose customers and God forbid we make an insurance claim. We'd get put out of business."
Another aspect Simpson said doesn't get talked about often enough is the rise in insurance rates companies face once they file a claim after being robbed or vandalized.
He added that it's easier and more cost-effective to cover damages himself rather than go through insurance, because then he would be labelled high-risk and potentially get dropped by the company.
Cooper echoes this sentiment and says the time to act is now to avoid more innocent business owners and community members having to pay for the crimes of others.
"The whole system is collapsing and these thefts are becoming weekly and daily occurrences for some," said Cooper. "We need to change the system in which the police operate, because the tools that they have that back up their actions are failing them."